Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1923, Page 1

WEATHER. Rain tonight and tomorrow; warm- er; temperature above freezing. Temperature for twenty ended at 2 p.m. toda. at 2:15 p.m. yesterday b am. today. WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION oifice Was| No. 28/151. & Entered as second-class matter hington, D. C. __WASHINGTON, D. C., 6 RUHR ‘BARONS’ SEIZED:; BANKERS DEFY FRENCH; | MEDIATION PLAN LOOMS ' Thyssen Facing Penalty for Attitude. | { | | | | { RAIL WORKERS | HOLD UP COAL | Troops Occupy All Lines Running Out of District. By the Associated Press. Further drastic steps were taken v by the French today in their efforts to enforce reparation payments by thelr occupation of the Ruhr valley. ¥ritz Thyssen, son of August Thys- ®on, leader among the Ruhr coal mag- nates resisting the French coercive measures, s arrested with five other leading mine directors. The French have announced they would try Herr Thyssen and hls as- sociates by court-martial for refusing to obey the orders of the occupational Ruthorities. Bankers Continue Resistance. German bankers in the Ruhr con- tinued resistance to the French meas- ures. The directors of the Duessel- @orf branch of the Relchsbank re- fused to reopen that institution while ¥rench soldiers were on the prem- fses. Gen. Degoutte declined to with- draw the troops. Punitive action L inst the directors is forecast. While there has been no general walkout of the Ruhr miners or rail-{ waymen, considerable unrest is re- ported among them, and miners in some of the seized coal pits have quit work. Five thousand men at the Reckling Hausen m ing to strike Monda Refuse to Haul Coal. es are threaten- The German rallroad workers in the Eiderfeld district, south of the ocoupled zone of the Ruhr, decided to refuse to transport coal requisitioned by the French away from the valley. Parls indicates satlsfaction with the progress made in carrying out the Ruhr occupation scheme. Confl- dence is expressed that the vast in- dustrial machine in the Ruhr, which still is functioning, can be kept going despite the German resistance. A boycott movement against French and Belgian nationals is reported from Germany. It iy expected the ex- @mple set by the Berlin hotelkeepers in declaring a boycott will be fol- lowed all over the country, REFUSE POINT BLANK. Bank Directors Face Penalty by French. January 20.—A point-blank refusal from the direct- ors of the Reichsbank branch here to reopen the bank's doors was deliver- ed today to Gen. Degoutte, the French commander in chief in the Ruhr. The bank will remain closed so ! 1c as there is a single Fren soldier in or around the premises, the directors declared. Gen. Degoutte, in replying, held the directors per- @onally” responsible, and _informed them that the military guard would be removed only after the bank had reopened for business. Tt was expected that penalties would be imposed upon the directors during the day. Military Occupy Rall Lines. A majority of the private banks, which were also closed yesterday, were doing business this morning. | Their managers said they would con- | tinue to do so until the supply of | vas exhausted. raflroad station on the lines running out of the Ruhr has been occupled by the military. The pas- sengers on all the trains are required to produce their passports. This pre- caution, especially directed against incoming travelers, is intended to pre- vent agitators from outside entering the region in an effort to foment trouble. RAIL WORKERS QUIT. ‘Refuse to Transport Coal Requisi- tioned by French. the Associated Press. ELBERFELD, January 20.—The rail- road workers in'this zone decided today 0 longer to transport outside of the uhr coa! requisitioned by the French. This decision was reached after an all- night_session here, in which many of the delegates favored continuance of work. ESSEN BANKS CLOSE. Shut Doors in Reprisal for Reichs- bank Guard. By the Assoclated Press. ESSEN, January 20.—All the private banks in Essen were closed today as a result of the Reichsbank branch here being put under guard. They announced hat they would not reopen until the easures against the Reichsbank were scinded. it was reported here this morning hat_Marshal Foch would arrive in he Rubr valley during the day. The postmaster of Essen, whose of- fco handles all telegraphic messages Fled here, was arrested today on the sharge of “willfully delaying tele- Brams destined for Paris.” Threaten to Quit Work. The personnel of the postal. tele- hone and telegraph services held a nference at noon on the question of whether to qQuit work as a result of Postmaster Juenger's arrest. The director of post office construc- tlon, Herr Zehme, also was arrested, on the ground that he had refused to perve the occupying forces. Director Schultz, in taking over the administration of the office after the mrrests, advised the French author- s ities he intended to abide by the of- ders of the federal government. Pay Day Brings Crisis. Pay day In the Ruhr brought labor N ued on Page 2, Golumn 2.) |OFFICIALS ARE ALARMED Ruhr Unions Urgei General Strike Against Invaders BY GEORGE WITTE. By Wireless to The Star and Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1923. BERLIN, January 20.—The Ruhr miners and steel workers' unions have gent an appeal to the head- quarters of the German Federation of Labor Unions here to call a general strike throughout Ger- many, beginning Monday, as a Protest against the French occu- pation of the Ruhr. In this appeal | it is especially ‘stipulated that this strike should apply not only “to the newly occupied Ruhr dis- trict and unoccupied Germany, but also to the territorfes occupied under the treaty of Versailles.” FRENCH ARREST MINE OPERATORS Seizure Follows Refusal to Aid in Delivery of Coal. i Authorities Declared Living in| Constant Fear French Will Jail Them. By the Associated Pres: { ESSEN, January 20.—Fritz Thyssen | and five other leading mine operators were arrested here today and taken to Duesseldorf. The operators arrested besides Herr Thyssen were Herren Spindler of the Querry mines, Tenzelmann of the Essen Anthracite Coal Company, Wuesten-| hoeffer of the Essen Mine Association and Herr Kesten and Herr Offe. When these five were brought before the French authorities last Thursday and reiterated thelr refusal to aid in the delivery of coal they were advised t6 hold themselves In readiness to ap- peéar before a military court. 8 ARRESTS IN 24 HOURS. Official Class Living in Fear of Seizure. BY WILLIAM E. NASH. By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1923. DUSSELDORF, ‘January 20.—Eight arrests by the French within twenty- four hours may well cause reflection by other Germans who stand under the sword of Damocles. Following its threat to adopt sterner tactics in case of necessity, the French showen their teeth today by throwing into prison Dr. Relffeisen, director of the German state mines In the Ruhr | district, and another official and five mine directors who had refused to obey orders after the mines had been selzed by French soldlers. Leading bankers and prominent railway men in Dusseldorf told the writer this afternoon that they, tao, feared the visit of the military po- lice. Without exaggeration it cdn be said_that the whole officlal class in the Ruhr valley lives in fear of | arrest. Relchsbank Big Question. Outside of the arrests the big ques- tion of the hour is the status of the reichsbank. The German deny that the branch in Mavence or any other branch ever closed Its doors of its own free will. The German and French accounts of the situation con- tradlct each other absolutely with the welght of evidence in favor ot the Germans, according to the most unbiased observers. It was Frénch soldiers and not orders from Herlin which made the reichsbank in Dussel- dorf close its doors, says a director of that bank here. It was a normal transfer of money to the Deutsche- bank for the payment of wages of workingmen and not a secret ship- ment of marks to Munster whicl caused the trouble. . Tried to Import Marks. “We have never had the intention of shutting the Reichsbank branches any- where in the Rhineland or Westphalia,” continued the director, “because we know that such steps would play di- rectly Into the hands of the French. The issue of local script, which would follow closure, would serve as excellent propaganda to separatist leaders like Dr. Dorten, who want to proclaim an independent republic In the Rhineland. Likewise, it. would cause untold suffer- ing to the local population. “Not only have we not attempted to remove any paper marks from the occupled territory, but actually we have attempted to import more from Beérlin. Late yesterday we received an impor- | tant consignment by rall from unoccu- pied Germany. What seems to have! happened is that the French have lost thelr heads and took an ordinary com- mercial transaction for an extraordina. flight of capital.” i Cash Sealed in Vaults. Hereupon the overwrought man burst into tears at the memory of the alleged wrongs heaped upon his head that day. For a time all the banks of Dusseldorf were said to be on the point of closing and the wild- est reports ran about the city ‘con- cerning the impossibility of chang- ing forelgn money. Foreign soldi:rs now keep guard at the doors of the Reichsbank branch. The cash is sealed in the vaults and the ac- counts have been considerably de. ranged by the inquisition, but it is expected that business will be re- sumed today as usual. The same prediction Is made for the branches in Mayence, Wiesbaden and Bonn, which also underwent military in- spection. Officials Here: Expect New Proposals. NO SYMPATHY WITH TACTICS Britain Is Reported to Have Rejected Italian Offer. - BY DAVID LAWRENCE. Mediation between France and Germany by one of the allied powers is the next step in the reparations -ontroversy. Officials of the United States gov- ernment fully expect it. The exact moment when good offices will be tendered depends upon the effect which the favasion of the Ruhr shall have on opinion in France and Ger- many. As one official expressed it, nothing can be done “until both sides recover their sanity and recognize the futility of what they are doing.” No Sympathy Felt Here. There is no sympathy here either with the passive resistance of the ! Germans or the coercive tactics of | the French. Both are expected to| yield nothing for their respective| peoples. One member of the cabinet | said today that he believed the net | effect of the invasion of the Ruhrl would be to prove to the French that | they cannot collect what they went after and to convince the Germans | that they must cease evasion of| obligations and mak: a bona fide| statement of what they can really! pa;_\;. Then a settlement will Be pos- | The United States government is anxious to be helpful, but it woula| seem more likely that Great Britain| or Italy would attempt the mediation between France and Germany, as they are In closer touch with developments on both sides of the controversy, though it would not be surprising if| a hint came to the American gov-| ernment from one of the Interested parties to mediate. Must Walt on Franee. Germany has already attem persuade Great Britain to afi-(': but the likelihood is that until France shows a readiness to listen to me- diation none of the allied govern- ments will make any formal effort to ring France and Germany together. People in the government here who know the European situation inti- mately feel that even from the French viewpoint the invasion of the Ruhr will prove of doubtful value. They concede that it will bring the German government to a realization of its obligations, but they fear that since France will have used the one club she has always been talking about, the Germans will not be intim- idated in the future as much as they have in the past. In other words, eco- nomic pressure was a stronger weap- on unused than used, so far as psy- chological effects are concerned. Cannot Hope to Get Coal. H As analyzed here, the French can- not hoj o get coal out of the Ruhr even by arresting the owners of the mines. In America the coal’operat- ors have their own system of dis- tribution through agents and dealers, but in Germany distribution is cen- | tralized and when the Gerinans ullh«| drew thelr distributing machinery from the Ruhr they left the *rench in a hopeless situation. #The Ruhr | area is very small and the productive machinery is very complicated. The Germans will be miseraole and will suffer exceedingly, hut oficials here think they will probably thwart ine French effort to.get coal. War of Exhaustion. It is, threfore, & war of exhaustion. When the pinch of hunger begins to be felt and the entire productive ca- (Continued on Page 2, Column 3.) e d iyt T Destroyed by Health Depart- ment as Unfit for Con- sumption. Two tons of candy were condemned by the health department as unfit for consumption and destroyed this week, Health Officer Willlam C. Fowler an- nounced today. The sweets were taken from a man- ufacturing concern in the northwest section, transported on trucks to a dump on the outskirts of the city, where they were saturated with kero- sene and covered wlith dirt. Owner to Be Prosecuted. Dr. Fowler stated he would prose- Cute the owner of the establishment and that a warrant probably would be applied for In a few days. The health officer alleges the candy was exposed to rats. Several pounds of the seized choco- lates were retained at the health de- partment laboratory for use as evi- dence. ‘Wil Be Given Hearing. The health department from <time to time condemns quantities of candy and other foodstuffs regarded by the inspectors. as inedible, but- this 1is believed to be one of the largest con- demnations made by the food inspec- tion service, which is headed by Dr. R. R. Ashworth. Dr. Fowler sald that, under the federal food and drug act, he must flve the owner of the candy a hear- ng before referring the case to the district attorney’s office, GRP WAVE SWEEPS THROUGH COUNTRY Unusual Number of Persons Suffer From Malady, Reports Show. A wave of grip secondary to the in- | | fluenza epidemic of 1918-19 is sweep- | ing the country, with unpleasant but | accord- | health not widespread fatal resul ing to reports to the public service. Surgeon General Cumming. in mak- ing public the records of his service for the week ending January 13, to- day explained that the disease has been most severe in the southern sec- tion of the country, although spread- ing 8o generally that it has become prevalent in all parts of the United States. > Mnfiaenza Not Generall ™" Influensa preper, Dr. Cumming said, is not much more in evidence 1hal.l usual. A modification of it seems to Be followed by less pneumonia than in the cases of influenza, but with much prostration. The common name of the wave would be “grip,” the surgeon general sald, but it could also be called influenza in a milder form. The epidemic, it was explained, 1s somewhat similar to one which fol- lowed the severe influenza of 1892 for two or three years. In fact, the grip now following the epidemic of 1918-19 was said to resemble in a striking fashion the wave that struck the country in 1893. Symptoms Described. Symptoms at first, it was said, are simllar to a severe cold, but they de- velop frequently into a fever, some- times rising to high temperatures. When this fever begins, officials of the public health service sald, is the time to call the doctor. .. first thing to do when a victim feels that his slight cold fs developing more serious proportions is to take no chances, officials said, but to go to bed, and stay there until danger of the fever is past. The most outstanding symptom of the wave of grip, Dr. Cumming point out, seems to be the extreme prostration, or feeling of weakness and fatigue. This symptom was said also to be the most characteristic of the disease.now prevalent. Reports Not Complete. The figures reported to headquarters here of the public health service, it | was belleved, by no means represent- ed the whole extent of the epidemic. The figures showed only those actual cases reported by physicians, and find- ing their way to the public health records. ‘There were innumerable cases, it. was believed, of persons who had suffered with the disease, but had taken home treatment, recovered, and made no report. Just how extensive this unreported part of the grip wave has been officials said they were un- able to estimate. GETS ONE YEAR IN JAIL FOR §175,000 THEFT Charles O. Clevenger, twenty-two vears old, world war veteran, who stole $175,000 worth of bonds while employed in the office of the register of the Treasury, in October, 1921, was sentenced today by Justice Stafford in Criminal Division 1 to serve-one year at Occoquan. Urcel O. Walmsley, about the same age, who roomed in the same house and who pleaded gullty to receiving some of the bonds, was given four months in jall. Walms- ley has already been in jall for ten months awaiting disposition of the case. ¥y The honorable war service of, the boys and the fact that Clevenger has a wife and child and has been work- ing to support them since the dis- covery of the theft moved the court to impose short sentences. The bonds ‘were all recovered and the govern- ment sustained no loss, it was stated. The bonds were a portion of a large batsh returned for cancellation, and the canceling machine failed to perforate the last eighteen. Cleven- er noticed this and took the bonds gome with him. He gave some to Walmsley, who tried to sell them to a man in Clarksburg, W. Va. The larger portion Clevenger concealed under the flooring of the attic in his home. been twice gassed in the service. \ . Highest, 46, lowest, 28, at Full report on page 19. ! e 3 & ocks and Bonds, Page _1_8 ; | as the papers “From Press to Home Within the Hour” ‘The Star’s carrier system covers ¢ city block and the regular edition z delivered to Washingtor n homes as fast are printed. Yesterday’s Net Circulation, 94,556 SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1923—TWENTY-SIX PAGES. TWO CENTS. CITIZENS STATE CLAIMS TO DISTRICT SURPLUS LYING IN TREASURY Brief Filed With Joint Select Committee Recites Equities in Accumulated Funds. Presenting the claims of the District of Columbia to the surplus of District tax revenues now lying in the Treasury, amounting, according to the lowest estimate, to $4,676,457.65, the citizens’ joint committee has filed with the congressional joint committee on fiscal relations, created under the provisions of the District appropriations act approved June 29, 1922, a brief that sets forth the cirgfimsmg; inwhich the fund was accumulated vhy and ‘the reasohs w 1t sHould now be placed in full to the credit of the District for appropriation purposes. The joint select committee, at its meeting this morning, gave out the brief for publication. The citizens’ joint -committec advances three basic conten- tions : L. That there is a tax surplus to the amount stated to the District’s credit in the Treasury. 2 United States credits, but that ing both legal and moral indebted be largely increased. 3. The interest applied equitably, 2. That there are no offsets to this fund in the shape of on the contrary if the United tates-District of Columbia account since 1874 is restated, cover- nesses, the District’s surplus will _provisions of the act of June 29, 1922, if _will not reduce the District’s net surplus. Incorporated in the brief is the report of Alonzo Tweedale, chairman of the subcommittee on accounting and auditing, com- menting on the report of Haskins and S ants. . With the exception of Mr. printed tomorrow in The Star, lows: The_Citizens’ Joint Committee on the Fiscal Relations between the United States and the District of Co- lumbia was organized in 1915 to aid in presenting the District's case at hearings before the Joint Select Con- gressional Committee, appointed pur- suant to the Act of March 3, 1916, This joint select committee was to submit to Congress “a statement of the proper proportion of the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia. . . . which ghall be borne by said District and the United States, respectively, together with the rea- sons upon 'which their conclusions may be based.’ The Citizens' Joint Committee was made up of representatives.of the Board of Trade, Chamber of Com- merce, Retail Merchants’ Association Federation of Citizens' Associations, Committee of One Hundred, Builders & Manufacturers’ Exchange, Bar| Association, Columbia Helghts Citi- zens' Assoclation, Northeast Citizens’ Association and Georgetown Citizens’ Association. On the death of Mr. H. B. F. Mac- farland, chairman of the joint com- mittee, in 1921, he was succeeded by Mr. E. F. Colladay, and to the con- stituent organizations were added the City Club, the District of Columblis PRESIDENT MAY QUIT SICK ROOM BY MONDAY President ' Harding has improved sufficiently from his attack of grip to ralse the hopes of Brig. Gen. Sawyer, his physician, to have him at his desk in the executive office on Mon- day. The Executive, however, is today confined to his room by, Dr. Sawyers orders, although there is no trace of fover, and his‘appetite has returned. Secretary Christian, who was with the President for more than an hour to- day, announced afterward that he noticed ‘a great {mprovement'in his chief and that he felt sure the latter would be on the job early Monday morning. 2 He -stated that no engagéments, however, had been made for the Pre: ident for next week -and that none ‘would ‘be made until Mr. Harding resumed his active busine: The President and Mrs. Harding sat together in the former's llbrary in the White House last night and en- joyed a rddio concert for more than an hour. “The End of a Perfect Day,” “The President HerlnI March” and other selection's were on a pro furnished by the United States avy Clevenger, it'was shown, had | Band Orchestra, transmitted from the naval radio station at Arlington. ells, the official account- T\v:ed§l&'5_ report, which will be the brief is substantially as fol- Bankers' Association, the Real Estate Board, the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Civitan Club, th - tan Club. % Fostionoll The Citizens' Joint Committee ap- peared and argued In support of financial equity for the District at the hearings before the Joint Select Con.. gressional Committes In 1915, the House District Committee in Decem- ber. 1919, and the Senate Appropria- tions Committee in April, 1920, By the act of June 29, 1922, Con- gress enacted a new organic flscal lTaw for the. District and answered the question of 1915 by declaring that the proper proportion of the gxpenses of the government of the Distriot which shall be borne by the District and the United States, respectively, is sixty per cent to be paid by the Dis- trict'and forty per cent by the United States. e same act appolnted committes to . examine - into tne amount of the District's accumulated tax surplus, and in effect to state the account between the United States #j3 the District of Columbla since (The brief at this poi: ¢ toxt of thor Ay this point recites the of June 29, 1922, - ating ‘the joint select commmzce'. ‘ana Tecites the functions of the commit. tee. It then proceeds:) WASHINGTON’S BASIC CONTEN- TION! . ‘We seek to demonstrate three basic Ppropositions: raFart I—There s now a I tax surplus, approximat 84.076.457.05, to the credls of the Dir. trict in the Treasury. Part Tl—There are no offsets in shape of United States credite. eithes in the period since 1878, or the period between 1874 and 1878, {0 make a net reduetion of the amount of the Dis- trict’s present tax:surplus. * On the contrary, if.the account betweén the District and the. United States since 1874 is restated, covering both leg: and moral indebtednesaes from one to the other, the District’s present sur- plus will be largely increased. Part IIl—The. provisions concern- ing interest in the of June 29, 1933, if applied in a spirit of equity and In aceordiance with terms of law to moral_as well as legal indebted- nesses, will not redace the District's net surplus. accumu- Part 1. Distriet tax surplus is not but a‘conerete fact, raising a distinct bligation not to be waved aside. Proofs of this Proposit: 1. Analysis of the conditions creating this surplus demon- strates its_concrete existence and the definite obligation, le- gal and equitable, attached to 2. Analysis of the District au- ditor’s figures of net surplus or deficits in District tax reve- (Continued on Page 4, Column 1.) MORE TIME IS ASKED TO WEIGH DISTRICT’S CLAIM TO $5,000.000 Joint Congressional Committee Defers Recommendations on Surplus in U. S. Treasury PROPOSED NEW AUDIT TO COVER PERIOD FROM 1874 TO 1911 Reports Submitted by Various Experts Made Public After Decision to Delay Is Reached. The District’s right to surplus revenues on deposit in the fed- eral Treasury, amounting to approximately $5,000,000, probably will not be determined until the new Congress meets next Decem- ber. The joint congressional committee appointed to investigate what surplus revenues, if any, are due the District, at a meeting today decided to ask for further time in which to report its con- clusion to Congress. Furthermore, it was the sense of the committee at the meet- ing today that an audit should be made of the accounts of the Dis- trict with the federal government back to 1874. The aduit which was recently completed and reported by ex- pert accountants employed by the joint committee covered only the period from 1911 up to the present time. Obviously, it will require months to make the audit now proposed, even if the old audit made a decade ago is used by the accountants in making their checks. At the conclusion of today’s meeting Senator Phipps, chair- man of the joint committee, announced that the committee would meet again next week and determine finally what its procedure would be. public the reports which have committee, the Department of Senator Phipps, authorized by the committee, made been submitted by the citizens’ Justice, the general accounting office and the District auditor on the audit of the expert ac- countants for the years 1911 to 1922, inclusive. Galloway's Report. The spirit of the entire arrange- ment for appropriation and expenses of the District of Columbia has been violated in the creation of the sur- plus of $5,000,000 of District revenues, in the opinion of H. J. Galloway, the representative of the Department of Justice, who has been assisting the joint congressional committee on the District surplus. Mr. Galloway in his report to the*committee on the report of the public accountants, mads pub- lic_today, said: “I wish to state a thought which oceurs to me in connection with the balance which the report of the auditors states exists in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the District of Columbia. So far as I am able to ascertain in the brief time allowed for this purpose, I do not see how any law has been violated in the creation of such a surplus. However; 1 do feel that the spirit of the entire arrange- ment for appropriation and expenses of TEACHERS' SALARY RAISES APPROVED District Committee Makes Favorable Report to House. Early Vote Planned. Carrying the amendments approved by the House District committee sev- eral days ago to take care of In- creases for high and normal school teachers and reducing the proposed salary of the superintendent of schools from $10,000 to $7,500, = favorable report on the teachers' sal- ary and school reorganization bill was submitted to the House today by Representative Fred N. Zihlman of Maryland. > Under the rules of the House any measure must have been reported to the House three days prior to being called up. However, as Monday is District day in the House, Represent- | ative Zihiman belleves thdt he can pérsuade House Leader Mondell and members of the rules committee to glve the teachers’ salary bill privi- leged status for immediate considera- tion, as is done In appropriation and similar important measures. Proposed Amendment. In his report today. Representative Zihlman says that the House District committee feels that this bill is pri- marily designed to benefit the teach- ers of the District. He points out that the great mass of high and nor- mal school teachers, “and they are the most highly trained members of the teaching corps,” he says, receive no material increase under the bilj as it passed the Senate. The amend- ments proposed by the House commit- tee would give these teachers an in- crease of $200, which would bring their maximum up to $2,800, compar- able with the salaries paid in other cities the size of Washington. Cleve- land has a maximum of $3.300; New York, $3,800; Newark, $3.800; Jersey City, $3,400, and Cincinnati, $2,800. This grade and rating would only be open to those teachers who are re- quited to have a college degree and pass in difficult entrance examina- tions. The other amendments are for the purpose of giving all teachers in the system—the elementary, high and normal school teachers—tull credit for their teaching experience. Under the bill, as it passed the Sen- ate, elementary school teachers would receive credit for only.thres years' teaching experience, and high and normal school teachers for four years' teaching experience. The amendments give them full credit for professional services and add nothing to the ultimate cost of the bill, except tlie amendments rais- ing the basic salary for teachers in senfor high and normal schools who are classified in group B. the District of Columbia has been vio- lated. Legal But Improper. “It seems that the plan is to pro- vide for the levying of suffictent taxes which will produce a sum of money which together with the other revenues of the District will equal the District’s proportion of the ex- penses of its government. And that the purpose is that the tax levy should be fixed at a sum sufficient to produce that amoynt and no more, and that \frapyimwpius does exist It should only be such surplus as re- sults from an jnabllity to calculate With exactness the tax levy necessary to produce this result. “It ls hard to see how any such er- rors in calculation should have re- sulted in the accumulation of approxi- mately $5.000.000 in the period of time since 1914. However, I do not say that such is impossible. It is my con- clusion, therefore, ‘that if any such surplus does exist it may correctly be said that it legally exists, but im- properly exists.” Mr. Galloway commented in con- siderable detail on the report of the expert accountants employed by the committee. He goes particularly into the legal phases of the matters dis- cussed. He calls attentlon to the fact that the accountants say they have given no consideration to the question of interest that may be due the federal government for advances made to the District, or the other way round. and after quoting from the act creating the joint committee regarding p sible interest that might be due, sa; Hard to Determine. “It occurs to me that this clause is not capable of literal administra- tion for several reasons, among which are the following: It seems to contemplate the calculation by your committee of interest upon sums which Congress may in the future find due and this would require you to do a thing which is physically impossible. “It algo requlres a determination of whether anything is legally or moral- 1y due from the District to the United | States, or vice versa. This in itself s a dificult question and it is very probable that to literally fulfill such requirements the committee might have to determine the daily balance in favor of either of the As the state of the account between the District and the United States changes daily and is constantly varying, to determine these daily balances would be practically an endless task. 1f anything Is due from one to the other the audit does not purport to show when the same became due. “It may be contended that if there is any money now in the hands of the United States belonging to the District that such is merely a deposit, perhaps a demand deposit, and is not due to the District until payment is requested s authorized by law.-and therefore, le- gally, there is nothing due from the United States to the District upon which interest could be so calculated until after a proper demand has been made by the District for the money, in ac- cordance with the methods that the District Is authorized by law to with- draw such money from the Treasury. Another question in this connection Whether any such balance could in an: sense be considered as a loan or a vancement as s enumerated in the act authorizing interest.”” Army Officers’ Pay. Taking up the report of the ac- countants item by item, Mr. Gall refers to that part of the au report which discusses the fac! certaln officers of the Army have been detailed for the performance of services for the District of Columbia and their compensation paid wholly out of revenues of the United States and certain employes of the Treasury Department have done a greaAt amount of work upon District of. Co- lumbia accounts, their compensation for such work being paid by the Unlted States. “The report infers,” says Mr. Gallo- | way. “that this shouid be considered in arriving at any balance In the ace counts. From a legal standpoint, these questions are also settled, as there are specific statutes providing for the payment of these Army officers and for thelr assignment to District duties 'and specific statutes creating the positions of the Treasury Department employes, who 'were re- quired to keep these District ace counts. Again, it may be said that the committee and Congress my feel that a moral question exists, upon which question 1 should express no opinion.” Views on Bo: Mr. Galloway, commeting upon that part of the ‘auditor's report in which reference is made to the pay- ment from funds of the United States of the bonus of certain employes tinued on olumn 7.,