BOMB SHELTER IS BEING BUILT FOR ROOSEVELTS| Empty Treasury Vaults! Would Do, House Told. [Chleage Tribune Press Service.) Washington, D. C., Dec. 19. — The fact that a bomb shelter for Presi- dent and Mrs. Roosevelt and the exec- utive staff is being built between the White House and the treasury building was brought into the open jfor the first time today. It was brought out during house gebate on a| new $550,000,000 deficiency appropria- tion bill, which was passed by a voice vote after brief debate. Rep. Clare E. Hoffman [R., Mich.] termed the project an unnecessary nondefense expenditure and asserted that there is ample room “In the empty treasury vaults" for sheltering the White House residents and em- Ployés in the event of an alr raid on the capital. “ Nothing but I. O. U.’s There.” “There is nothing in the treasury vaults except I. O. U.'s anyway,” he declared. “If Mrs. Roosevelt, Mayor La Guardia, and their friend Sidney Hillman want to hide when the enemy planes come over, why can’t they run a few steps further into the vaults? “I can't see the justice in spend. ing the money for this ditch between the White House and treasury for the safety of the White House staff when other Americans—the common, ordi- nery American boys—are out in the front, exposed to all the dangers of war while they fight our battles. It seems to me that this money might better be sent for guns and ammunl- tion for those boys." Hoffman's mention of the White House bomb shelter conveyed little not already known to most Washing- ton residents. ‘The site of the pro}- ect, a few yards off Pennsylvania ave- | nue, has already been placed on the/ list of capital sights by professional | guides and tourist services. Public Sees Workmen. The workmen, shouting and clank- ing, have been busy on the excava- tion for all to see, both in broad day- |} light and at night under | ging has been known and is still fre- quently a topic of envious conversa- tion among those for whom bomb | shelters are yet to be provided. | Mr. ‘Roosevelt is reported to have | issued the order for construction of | |the shelter shortly after signing the | declaration war on Japan, setting || |aside funds out of blank check ac- counts given him by congress for “defense purposes.” I | Heretofore, no paper has been per- || mitted to print information on the project because the administration | Placed it in the category of a mill- tary secret. Hoffman's mention of it on the floor of the house, however, made it privileged for publication. ©