64 architects to the nation
There should be a bureau of construction, authorized by law, and
a competent person permanently appointed as its chief, with an
assistant, an architect and an assistant, chief clerk, and as many as-
sistants as the proper discharge of the duties may require. There
should also be a general disbursing agent, who, in addition to dis-
bursing the works in Washington now under the Treasury
Department, and for local payments of distant works, should, un-
der the chief of the bureau, examine and adjust all accounts,
claims, and estimates for the various works, and refer them to the
proper office for settlement; and a computer, whose duty it shall
be to estimate the exact cost of each building offered for contract,
so that when the bids for the work are reviewed, there may be in
the hands of the department a standard by which to measure the
bids offered. Draughtsmen, to copy the plans of the architect,
should be employed, so long as their services are required, to com-
plete the drawings of all buildings directed by Congress to be
erected.57
The Dimming of the Federal Government
Building Program
By the end of 1858, the looming conflict between the North and the
South and the financial panic that gripped the country caused the U.S.
Congress to slow the pace of appropriating funds for federal build-
ings already under construction. In addition, Congress did not ap-
propriate funds to commence new buildings. In November of that
year, Secretary Cobb dismissed Mathius Martin, who was working as
a  special agent for the Bureau of Construction, because  it having
been determined to commence the construction of no new Building
at present, and many of those in the course of construction at the
date of your appointment having been completed and occupied. 58
Several major federal buildings, most notably the Charleston cus-
tom house, the New Orleans custom house, and the Treasury Exten-
sion, were still under construction. Suggestions that these works be
stopped prompted Cobb to state that such a move would, in the long
run, cause additional costs and constitute a  serious detriment to the
public service. 59 He urged that the works be completed. However,
by late 1859, Bowman was calculating the cost of preserving the ma-
jor unfinished buildings in their current condition.