Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1929, Page 11

SUBUR U. 5. AID OFFERED - ROAD FUND PROBE Nelligan Tells Legislators | Their Difficulty in Han- [ dling Vast Data. ! BY WILLIAM J. WHEATLEY, Scaft Correspondent of The Star. STATE HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, Md. February 1.—The helping hand of ti Federal Government, given generously in paying a portion of the construction of Maryland's good roads, is again stretched out, this time to assist State agents in discovering whether. there ‘were any frauds in the making of con- tracts, whether the workmanship was inferior, and whether Maryland paid more for similar road work than did other States. This was disclosed yes- terday to the grand inquest, when it had before it John J. Nelligan, chair- man of the governor's special commis- sion which is conducting a thorough examination into the road scandals. At the same time, it became apparent, as Mr. Nelligan unfolded some of the intricacies of the work facing “he com- mission, that the grand ingnest could not, in the short time the iegislature will be in session, perform any great part in the investigation. It was pointed out by Mr. Neirgan, for in- stance, that the grand inquest could hear charge after charge, but that it would not have before it the mass of data which is being collected b Nelligan committee and thoroughly in- ited to check up on the charges. ‘The Republicans at the first meeting of the grand inquest attempted to choke off the governor's commis the grand inquest could do all tk vestigating, but Mr. Nelligan's re) to the legislative committee has tus the tide, and it developed that it very likely would be the .grand inguest that would be choked off. Aside from tl fact that it is going to take more than 60 days remaining of the present ses- slon, there arose the question as to whether the grand inquest could sit after adjournment and whether its re- rt would be of any use to the Leg ture two years hence, which will be ;e :I:W one elected in November of next Contracts to be Sifted. Mr. Nelligan told the grand inquest that his commission was going very thoroughly into the thousands of con- tragls made for road work and bridges, not only examining them as to their legality, the- condition under which made, but was employing engineers to examine ‘the work to determine whether theére was any inferior work- manship, The ‘material purchases were to be gone into. He said that the com- mittee received the promise of the Federal Public Roads Bureau to furnish it with information . on ‘State road contracts in Maryland in which the Federal Government had an interest :g p:er‘mn! o; t:!he fact that it paid cent of the cost. Reports of the Government inspectors will be given the committee as well as information a8 to the cost of similar construction in'other States at the same period. He said that the committee proposes to have inspections made of certain road work to ascertain whether there was inferior material or workmanship. Speaker E. Brooke Lee of Silver Spring asked Edwin G. Baetjer of Baltimore, special counsel for the governor's com- mission, whether it needed any help of any kind, and the letters said that much of the work of the committee was not to be done at a public hearing, but largely involved office investigation. He sald that the commission ought to have power to summons witnesses and to punish for perjury, and Speaker Lee said that he wouid be glad to rec- ommend the passage of this legislation &5 an emergency acts Nelligan commission examine the con- tracts, would be quite impracticable. He sald, for instance, that if some one gave testimoriy before the committee in regard to a particular contract it would mean nothing, and it would be found that much of it would be mere hearsay and rumor. The particular testimony on a contract might require further in- Vvestigation, and even study and report by competent engineers. He said he didn’t see any common ground on which the two investigating bodies could g Discussing the road-extension con- tracts—that is, where a contractor was given work under an agreement and then performed an additional amount without competitive bidding, he said that he was not quite sure at this time that it was legal. However, he added, that where, for instance, a five-mile con- tract was given and an eighth-mile ex- tension was authorized, that would not be serious, but where a mile contract was given and a five-mile extension m&d the committee was going to in to it very thoroughly. Close Check Suggested. Mere testimony is mot going to do. any good, Mr. Baetjer said. It must be closely checked. He could not estimate the time it was going to take until it had been decided just what contracts were to be gone into, but he said he would have much valuable information in two months. He suggested that a committee of the grand inquest attend the Nelligan hearings. Senator Lansdale G. Sasscer of Up- per Iboro, Prince Georges County, moved that the grand inquest tender its assistance and co-operation to the Nelligan commission in any matter in which it might be of assistance. This committee, he said, should co-operate and not attempt to compete with the governor’s commission, adding that the latter had the intricate machinery for investigation, and there should not be a dual expenditure of funds. The reso- lution was passed. Jaseph C. France of counsel for the grand inquest suggested that that boGy detall certain members to take a more active interest in various phases of the investigation, some sitting with the Nelligan commission, others keeping in touch with the work of State’s Attorney O’Connor, in Baltimore, in the grand Jury investigations. He said that it was impossible for all the members of the grand inquest to do this and urged th: special committee plan. “You have got to start with ls idea af trusting somebody,” he said. This is & fact-finding committee, he sald. It could hold hearings for those having grievances, who wanted to ap- pear before it. But others should go before the Nelligan committee. The Jesattler might want to get the au- ditors biYore it, and even State’s Attor- ney O'Connor. Then it would have something it could embody in a report. Both bodies are out for the same thing, to get at the bottom of the road scan- dals, he said. Charles McH. Howard, also of coun- sel, pointed out that three or four members of a committee could do ef- fective work that 15 or 20 together could not. He also pointed out that when the charges of a particular indi- vidual are heard, the work had only started by pointing W a lead. He told the committee that it had authority to sit outside of Annapolis and that it could get the power to sit after the end of he present session by a special act of the Legislature, He urged the pas- sage of a resolution authorizing the grand inquest to appoint subcommittees and authorizing it to co-operate with the governor's commission and to hold joint meetings with the Nelligan body and to extend the work, if necessary, beyond the conclusion of the present session. The committee adopted the Tesolution. Some instances have heen disclosed. according to Mr. Beztjer, where road materials have been purchased, paid for Wy the State, and then stored in the BA NEWS.: | i | | CLINIC BUILDING PROJECT PRESSED Arlington Women = Want | County to Erect Structure in isnedal Dispatch to The Star. CLARENDON, Va., February 1.—~The Organized Women Voters of Ar- lington County is determined to see that Arlington district is no longer ireated as a “stepchild” in regard to the health clinics, it was stated last | night by Mrs. Mary Morris Lockwood, | chairman of a special clinic committee of the league. Further steps are plannea | following the visit of a delegation to the county supervisors. “Both the Washington and Jefferson districts of the county have perma- nent clinic buildings that are owned i by the county,” Mrs. Lockwood claimed, “while Arlington district, the first to hold such a clinic, has been forced for six years to rent a building that is fit for use only in the Summer, when no heat is needed.” Ask Permanent Building. Mrs. Lockwood and the representa- tives of nine other women's organiza- | tions in Arlington -district Wednesday appeared before the Board of Super- visors to request that a permanent i clinic building be constructed just | around the corner from the present building. The proposed site is already owned by the county, it was pointed out, and would, therefore, greatly re- duce the cost of the project. aking for, the committee, Mrs. wood claims that, while the Jeffer- son district building cost $10,000, it is felt by the proponents of the building for Arlington district that a suitable structure could be erected and equipped for approximately $7,000. Women Back Project. “Frankly,” Mrs. Lockwood stated, “we took the large number of representa- tives of other clubs with us to show the supervisors that the women are solidly back of this. While waiting for the decision of the Board of Supervisors and to insure our success, we shall enlist the aid of the women of both other districts, requesting them to use their influence with the supervisors from . their districts to vote for the appropriation.” On_Mrs. Lockwood's committee are Mrs, Bertha Kelly, Mrs. Emma Bushong and Mrs. Ruth Lowell. Other organi- zations backing the permanent clinic building are the Fort Myer Parent- Teacher Assoclation, Arlington Parent- Teacher Association, Lyon Park Child Study Group, Lyon Park Kindergarten Group, Lyon Park Parent-Teacher Asso- ciation, Fort Myer Heights Parent- Teacher Association, Ashton Heights Women's Club, Lyon Park Women's Club {and the women’s division of the Clar- endon Citizens’ Association. . REPUBLICAN WOMEN | RE-ELECT MRS. HANSON Montgomery County Federation Decides to Organize Additional . Branches. Special Dispatch to The Star. | ROCKVILLE, Md., February 1.—Mrs. | Elisha Hanson of Alta Vista was unani- | mously re-elected president of the | Montgomery County Federation of Re- publican Women at the annual meeting of the organization, held at the home | of Mrs. John A. Holmes, on the Rock- | ville pike at Montrose. Other officers chosen were: Vice | president, Miss Grace E. McEwen of Chevy Chase; corresponding secretary, | Miss "Olive Kinsman, Burnt Mills; re- cording secretary, Mrs. Morris Edwards, Battery Park; treasurer, Mrs. Edgar W. | Moore, Kensington; directors, Mrs. John |C. Newell, Bethesda; Mrs. Owen K. | Truitt, Garrett Park, and Mrs. Milton | H. Bancroft, Sandy Spring. Miss Kins- {man and Mrs. Moore were re-elected. It was decided to organize additional branches in various parts of the county {and otherwise continue activities, —_— TEXAS TURKEY WINS. GRAND FORKS, N. Dak., February 1 | ().—A bronze yearling tom, owned by | the Martin-Laney Turkey Farms at Dal- | las, Tex., is grand champion of the all- | American turkey show being held here. Col. J. M. Martin of Dallas, owner of the champion, was elected to the board of directors qf the show association. The assoclation authorized appoint- ment of a committee to consider forma- |tion of a world-wide turkey congress. | Another committee was asked to draft solutions urging Congress to give con- to a duty on turkey imports, o h _other farm products 2. warehouse, and then taken out and re- sold again. Thus, he said, the State paid for it twice. It is difficult, how- 'ever, he .continued, to find these out, unless some particular persons who | know about it come forward. It is more | difficult to find these than cash pecu- lations. Before . adjournment the grand in- to appear before the g date. Organized Women Voters of Arlingto.. County, and Mrs. Emma Bushong, a | member, urging erection of a permanent building for health clinics. Interest of Public Health. quest adopted a motion of Speaker Lee that State’s. Attorney O'Connor, who has been handling the road stealing prosecutions in Baltimore, be summoned nd inquest at Annapolis at 3:30 o'clock Tuesday aft- H ernoon and tell what he had done to NING STAR. special _committee of the | Virginia Working 2,000 Convicts on 21 Road Projects RICHMOND. Va., Fehrnarv 1 (#)—More than the usual amount of work is being done on the State highway system this Winter, State Highway Commis- sioner H. G. Shirley said today. Approximately 2,000 convicts are being employed on about 21 proj- ects, consisting for the most part in excavation and grading work. Spring work on the highway system is expected to start about the 1st of Aprik | DICKERSON IN MOVE FOR WATER SUPPLY Fire Protection Question Taken Up | | chance to attend the meetings and that | | National Capital Park BRIDGE APPROACH CONFERENCE TODAY Virginia and U. S. Officials Seek Solution of Road Connections Problem. BY LESTER N. INSKEEP, Staft Correspondent of The Star. | CLARENDON, Va, February 1—A | conference will be held this afternoon | between members of the Virginia Park i‘ and Planning Commission and Col. U. 8. | Grant, 3d, director of public buildings and public parks of the District of Co- lumbia, to arrange, if possible, a meet- ing between Federal and State officials and the planning organizations of Washington and nearby Virginia, W. L. Bragg., chairman of the Vir-| ginia commission, said today that Col. H. J. Shirley, chairman of the Virginia Highway Commission, has been regu- lariy invited to meetings of the Virginia and the Natlonal Park and Planning Commission. b Chairman Shirley was quoted recently as saylng that he had not received ade- quaté notices of meetings held by the organizations on questions of road con- nections with the bridge and that the State highway department could do nothing until it was able to learn what was wanted. He said he had not had a the State was not represented, as it should have been. Says State Was Represented. Mr. Bragg stated today that the State | Highway Commission was represented at & number of the meetings. “There have been many meetings held by the and Planning | Commission and the Virginia Park and Planning Commission regarding this very problem, and at most of them the resident State engineer has appeared | as Col. Shirley’s personal representative, | said Mr. Bragg. And I am astonished | to learn that Col. Shirley has never been advised as to the action taken at these meetings.” Mr. Bragg disputed s statement of Col. Shirley that he has never been notified in sufficient time, before the meetings of the Virginia body, to attend. “I notified Col. Shirley fully a week before the last meeting,” Bragg de- clared, “and I feel that is sufficient time for any one to either arrange to | attend or request that the meeting ments can be made” While he feels that the Virginia Park and Planning Gommission was unjustly criticized by Col. Shirley in front of the delegations at the public hearings on State road allocations in Charlotts- ville Tuesday, Mr. Bragg, and Frank G. Campbell, another member of the com- mission, are doing everything possible, they say, to bring about an under- ‘With Rockville for Advice and Committees Named. Special Dispatch to The Star. DICKERSON, Md., February 1.—A movement has been started here to provide the community with a water supply for fire-fighting purposes. It is being sponsored by the Home and Com- munity League, and in the interest of the project a committee, headed by Lloyd J. Jones, was .appointed to con- fer with members of the Rockville de- partment for advice. The committee attended the monthly meeting last evening of the Rockville department, and upon presenting its case, President F. Barnard Welsh of the local organization was authorized. to appoint a committee to visit. Dickerson to look the situation over. ard T. Brosius, chairman; O. W. Anderson, William F. Disney, Joseph N.Starkey and Albert Moulden were named. TRI-STATE RALLY HELD. 200 Junior Order Delegates Attend | Winchester Gathering. Special Dispatch to The Star. ‘WINCHESTER, Va., February 1.—Ap- proximately 200 memibers of the Junior Order United American Mechanics and Fraternal Order of Americans from Vir- | ginia, West Virginia and Maryland. met here today in a tri-State rally. Local “100 per cent American cit- izens” were invited to meet with the visitors and many accepted the invita- tion. National officers attending in- clyded E. A. Llewelan of Cincinnati and Jemes L. Wilmeeth, secretary, Philadel- phia, State officers included W. W. Hall, Richmond; James R. Mansfield, Alexandria, and E. L. Alger, Millwood. Maryland and West Virginia delegations were headed by members of their State councils. Reports submitted showed a standing as to what the State High- way Commis§ion will do to sure a connection with the new bridge. Both will attend the conference this afternoon with Col. U. S. Grant, 3d, director of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the District, and hope to formulate plans that will relieve the apparent existing tension between the Federal and Virginia bodies. C. R. Taylor, representative of the Straight-to-the-Bridge Association, and Dr. Samuel M. Johnson, advocate of the Lee Boulevard, proposed connecting soads with the bridge, aliempted to impress upon the members of the State Highway Commission the fact that un- less Virginia starts immediately to con- struct one or the other of these roads the new bridge will have no connection on the Virginia side when it is ready to be opened on the District side. Anxiety on the part of the representa- tives of both projects became acute when the tentative allocations for con- struction by Virginia this year failed to contain an appropriation for the bridge connections. ‘The money appropriated this, year does not become available until next July, it was pointed out, and if no provision is made this year it will be July of 1930 before thé money can be obtained. Col. Grant has announced that the bridge will be ready to-open | in March of next year, three months | before Virginia's road revenue for that year will be available. LEGION MEN HONORED. Rockville Post Cited for Loyal and | Meritorious Service. ; Special Dispatch to The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md.,, February 1.—Be- cause of loyal and meritorious service in behalf of the Legion, the Henderson, Smith-Edmonds American Legion Post of Rockville has received a citation !roxfl!mllanll headquarters, at Indian- apolis. Only one other post in Maryland was similarly honored. The citation makes the Rockville post eligible to participate steady increase in membership. The | 'Ne "TOWNS IN FAIRFAX | b2 postponed until . suitable arrange- | HOUSE LULL BARES INSURGENT PEACE Challenge of Lee Ignored,| When Recess Is Taken Until Monday. By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. ANNAPOLIS, Md., February 1.— There was evidence in the House of Delegates yesterday that the Republicans and Democratic insurgents have about talked themselves out in their efforts to heckle the administration on the State roads scandals. It came when the House had run out of business and was awaiting an agreement with the Senate for the time of convening next week. Speaker E. Brooke Lee of Silver Spring, announced that the House has run out of business, and there was nothing to do and added that the time could be taken up with a “debate on the honesty of the State.” There were no takers to the challenge. ‘The House won out on its insistence that the Assembly reconvene next Mon- day night at 8:30 o'clock. The Senate wanted to adjourn until Tuesday night at the same hour. But the administra- tion leaders in the House pointed out that if they waited until Tuesday they would not have any committee meetings until Wednesday, which would be a delay and they could not afford to per- mit the Republicans to have a chance of attack on the und of wasting time. When this was laid before the Senate by the conference committee the senior House yielded. Efforts to have the House of Dele- gates pass a bill which would prevent non-resident persons or corporations from being appointed guardians of in- fants or committees for lunatics unless there was also appointed a resident of Maryland in the same capacity, were successfully blocked yesterday by Dele- gate Paul Berman of the fourth Balti- more district. The bill was favorably reported to the House by the judiciary committee, but was recommitted on Berman's motion. Berman charged on the floor that it was an attempt to throw/a Chinese wall about the State, made' on behalf of | some selfish Maryland corporations, who wanted to keep all the business in the State. He said that if Maryland did it that other States might follow, and he was not willing to see such legislation passed. PLAN FEDERATION McLean, Chesterbroook, Franklin | Park, Langley and Others to Be | ! Represented at Meeting. Special Dispatch to The Star. MCcLEAN, Va, February 1.—Prelimi- nary steps were taken last night looking toward formation of a federation of the school and community leagues and other civic organizations of Providence district of Fairfax County. At a largely attended meeting held in St. John's Hall at El Nido, with representatives from McLean, Chesterbrook, Franklin Park, Langley, El Nido, Selva, Viresco, Rockwell and other stations along the line of the Washington and Old Dominion Railway, H it was decided to issue a call for al meeting to be held in the schoolhcuse at McLean at an early date. J. M. Patterson of Franklin Park acted as chairman at last night's meet- ing, with Vincent B. Phelan, president of the Franklin Park Citizens’ Associa- tion, as secretary. Mr. Phelan is in- | structed to communicate with each | league in the district, and ask for the | appointment of a committee with power to act in the matter of federation. Franklin Park already has a committee | on' co-operation, and the Selva-El Nido Road Association, which was largely | responsible for the call for last night's meeting, will elect its represenhuves!‘ next week. One of the chief topics last night was | the possibility of bonding Providence ' district for a large enough amount to| insure the. immediate construction of the most important district roads not yet improved. | o FIRST 1929 FOREST FIRE. | Prince Georges County Warden ne-' ports Several Wooded Acres Burned Special Dispatch to The Star. | BALTIMORE, February 1.—The first | fire for 1929 has been reported to thc’ State Forestry Department by J. . | Pyle, forest warden of Cheltenh: Prince Georges County. The fire occurred on January 14 and burned several acres in woods adjacent to the Popes Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania in a contest for a silver loving cup to be presented by national headquarters. FIVE $1295 Delivered Fully Equipped Railroad near Duley. 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