Evening Star Newspaper, July 28, 1935, Page 17

v | The Sunday Shar WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MOR.NING, JULY 28, 1935. v City Heads’ CAR LABLTY KT T0 G0 T EFFE: PEVALTES SEVER Next Thursday Will See New Law Start Drive on Reckless Motorist. REVOCATION OF TAGS AND PERMITS PROVIDED Violator May Not Operate Auto Unless He Proves Financial Responsibility. Bristling with drastic penalties, the District’s new automobile operators’ financial responsibility law goes into effect at 12:01 am. next Thursday, {naugurating a campaign to run the reckless, irresponsible motorist off the streets of Washington. The law not only is intended to put out of commission the habitually reckless driver, but also to afford financial protection to the careful motorist who has often suffered prop- erty loss in accidents with financially irresponsible operators from whom it has been impossible to collect dam- ages. The law provides for automatic sus- pension of the operator’s permit and registration certificate and surren- dering of the license tags of any driver convicted of operating an automobile while drunk or under the influence of narcotics; convicted of leaving the scene of an automobile accident in which personal injury has occurred without making known his identity; or against whom a judgment has been obtained for damages resulting from an automobile accident which has not been satisfied within 30 days. Applies in Other States. The law applies not only to District motorists involved in violations or accidents coming within the scope of the law in the District, but in acci- dents in any of the States as well. The permit, certificates and tags will not be returned until the driver has made good the judgment against him in case of accident and until he has furnished evidence of his ability to make good possible damages in future accidents involving life or property. The law covers the automobile in- volved in an accident or violation named in the act as well as any and all other automobiles owned by the operator in the case. The owner of a fleet Of taxicabs or trucks who fails to make good a judgment for dam- ages caused-by one of his usfl surrender the registration Certifitates of all motor vehicles owned by him, putting them out of operation until the damages are made good. Proof of financial responsibility un- der the law may be given in- the form of liability and property darhage insurance written by an approved com- pany; in the form of bond of an au- thorized surety company, or bond fur- nished by at least two private indi- viduals and secured by real estate, cr by cash deposit. No Permanent Personnmel Yet. Although the law goes into effect | August 1, funds have not yet been provided by Congress for additional personnel in the District Traffic De- partment to administer the lfw. Three or four additional clerical employes will be required to check records, issue orders and handle other details. Until permanent employes are provided by Congress, the work will be done by extra clerks now employed in handling three-year renewals of operators’ per- mits. No additional personnel will be re- quired by the District Insurance De- partment, according to John A. Mar- shall, director. This department will be required to pass on the soundness of the companies authorized to write automobile policies and on the form of the policies themselves, but will have nothing to do with actual en- forcement of the law. Operation of the new law is illus- trated by the following typical cases: Mr. A, owner and operator of his own automcbile, is arrested, tried and convicted of driving while drunk. He has no liability insurance or other proof of financial responsibility. Im- mediately on conviction, he is called on by the traffic department to sur- render his operator’s permit, auto- mobile registration card and license plates. If he fails to turn them in to the trafic department within the time allowed in the notice, he becomes subject to a penalty of not to exceed $100 a day for every day he with- holds them beyond the deadline des- ignated. It now is illegal for him or for any one else to drive his auto- mobile or any ather automcbile he may own or for him to drive any motor vehicle. To regain possession of his license, certificate and tags, he must satisfy the traffic department of his financjal responsibility by tak- ing out insufance in the amount of at least $5,000 in case of personal in- Jury to or death of any one person; at least $10,000 for injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident; and at least $1,000 for damage to property resulting from any one accident. Until he furnishes such proof, his operatei’s permit and Tegistration certificate remain sus- pended and no other. motor .vehicle may be registered in his name. Failure to Pay Judgment. Mr. B, who has no insurance or other proof of financial responsibility. drives through a stop sign and crashes into another car, injuring one of its occupants. He is sued and 2 judg- ment is returned against him. At the end of 30 days, he has not paid the judgment. He is ordered to sur- render his permit, certificate and plates. Before he ever can drive again or before any car which he may own can be driven again by any one, Mr. B not only must pay the full amount of the judgment out of his own pocket, but he must furnish proof of his financial responsibility in case of future accident. Mr. C., a Washington motorist, is driving with his family on a Wash- ington street, when his car is struck by the of a visiting Mis- souri and he is injured. The Mlnoflumwpsydlmlnl.but does not'db so and goes back to his (See LIABILITIES, Page B-4.) L 1 Bill to Increase Power Written by Prettyman Fis iscal Provision, Giving. Greater Con- trol Over Budget, Is Big Change - in New' Plan. BY JAMES E. CHINN. OCEAN. CITY, Md., July 27.—Al- though on a “vacation” here, Cor- poration Counsel E. Barrett Pretty- man today began drafting a compre- hensive bill to give the District Com- * | missioners many additional powers as well as increased control over the an- nual District budget. By Thursday, when he is due to re- turn to the Capital, Prettyman plans to have the measure whipped into shape for approval of the Commis- sioners and formal presentation to | ton. Chairman King of the Senate District Committee and Chairman Norton -of the House District Committee. Already the corporation counsel has tentatively decided on the major fea- tures. The outstanding provision will be the one to give the Commissioners more authority than they now have to determine the amount of : the yearly budget estimates and at the same time increase their control over municipal expenditures. Lump Sum To Be Known. He would accomplish this by & section requiring the Budget Bureau to inform the Commissioners, in ad- vance of their submission of annual estimates, as to the size of the Fed- eral lump sum for the pending fiscal year. The Commissioners would base their estimates on this amount, plus the recommended expenditures from local revenues—but the amount of local revenues to be spent would be set by the Commissioners, and not the Budget Bureau. At present, the Budget Bureau in- forms the Commissioners of the amount of estimates they may sub- mit, despite the fact the major part of the money is raised through local taxation. It has long been urged that the Budget Bureau should not exer- dise the same sort of restrictive pow- er over the municipal budget, repre- senting local tax funds, that it exer- cises over the Federal budgets which are made up, of course, of Federal funds. Prettyman's aim is to free the Com- missioners of Budget Bureau control over local funds, although he has not decided definitely on the phraseology of his bill nor has he consulted the Commissioners on his plan. ‘Auditor Donovan has made extensive studies in the past of the question of Budget Bureau control over local estimates and will doubtless have much to say on that point when Mr. Prettyman consults him. Board Powers Not Sought. ‘The corporation counsel does not intend to & ANy new pawers of eontmém citizens’ , such es the of Education, Board of Trustees of the Publi gnry ~or—Publie” -Welfare Board, bélfeving publft sentiment was sufficiently demonstrated as opposed to such extensions of power when sug- gested in the tentative bill he drew up last year. In connection with proposals giving the Commissioners more autharity to deal with “marches” on Washington, such as the famous bonus march dur- ing the Hoover administration, Mr. Prettyman is suggesting that the Com- missioners be given power to return home at public expense “indigent transients” who come into Washing- Many of the remaining provisions Prettyman plans to put into the bill will be minor in character, by com- parison, but all of them, nevertheless, will be framed for one or two pur- poses, to clarify existing legislation and to relieve Congress of many of the picayunish duties they are now called on to perform for the District. For instance, it will give the Com- missioners authority to regulate the use of all streets, from building line to building line, to change the names of streets, to settle and pay damage suits in amounts of $100 or less, to make specific regulations for special events, such as the Shrine convention and the presidential inauguration, and to issue permits for construction of pipe lines, etc. At present the Com- missioners must seek legislation to carry out these functions. Health Powers Planned. Prettyman also plans to write into the bill a section to give the Health Department undisputed control over the spread of any contagious disease. Existing law, he said, enumerates cer- tain of these diseases, but with blan- ket authority to regulate every type of disease, it would not be necessary for the health officer to ask special legislation every time a new disease became epidemic. Another provision Prettyman said he would insert in the bili would be designed to give the Commissioners power to issue and renew permits for hospitals, boarding houses, etc., and to issue permits for the solicitation of funds. In order to remove any doubt as to the authority of the Commissioners to revoke automobile registration cer- tificates and to impound cars for vio- lation of traffic regulations, Pretty- man said he would include a provision to make that power specific. Prettyman explained the provision giving the Commissicners authority to regulate the use of all streets would be put into the bill because of an old statute which gives the Federal Gov- ernment control over thoroughfares within the limitation of its property. Assistant Corporation Counsel El- wood Seal, who also is on & brief vaca: tion here, plans to assist Préttyman in drafting the bill. VRGN HAS 24 PARALYSS ASES | State Also Has 6 of Rocky Mountain Fever, Death Reveals. By the Associated Press. RICHMOND, Va., July 27.—The number of cases of infantile paralysis in Virginia mounted today to 244 since June 1, as the death of a child at Ballsville attributed to Rocky Mountain spotted fever resulted in disclosure there were six cases of that disease in the State this month. At the same ¥time a C. C. C. camp at West Point was quarantined be- case of a case of measles. 20 Cases in Albemarle County. Nine poliomyelitis cases were re- corded today, four of them in Albe- marle County, where 20 cases had been reported previously, and four in the city of Roanoke. The remaining report was received from Campbell County. Health department officials said the Rocky Mountain fever was a Summer disease carried by ticks infesting cattle, dogs, ground squirrels, rabbits and other animals. Sixteen cases were recorded in Virginia since Janu- ary 1, and there were 47 cases and eight deaths in 1934. In Spotsylvania, where no cases of poliomyelitis have been reported, Dr. W. A. Harris, county health officer, has served notice that persons from infected areas will be put under quar- antine. Camp Meeting Canceled. ¢A Holiness camp meeting sched- uled near Spotsylvania next week was canceled as a result of a warning by the County Health Board against such gatherings, which usually - are numerous during August. Action of the board does not apply to regular church services. These steps, officials explained, were precautionary, as paralysis cases had developed in the adjoining counties of Orange and Caroline. Convict Who Fled San Tugwell’s Agency Gets Walsh Home For $1,603 Monthly Br the Associated Press. Undersecretary Tugwell's Resettle- ment Administration is vaying $1,- 603.50 a month to occupy the $3,000,- 000 mansion of Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean at 2020 Massachusetts avenue, it was disclosed yesterday. This amount, it was said, represents a cost of $1 per square foot per year for 19,242 square feet of office space. The lease was signed for one year. Despite the cost, officials said em- ployes can work amid palatial sur- roundings, which include a pipe organ, for less money than would have to be paid for an office building. The cheapest space available in an office building was said to cost $1.50 per square foot per year. FOUR TAXI DRIVERS PICKET D. C. BUILDING Protest Utilities Commission’s Or- der for Uniform Zone Rate. Four union taxicab drivers picketed the District Building yesterday in pro- test against the Public Utilities Com- mission’s uniform zone rate order as union officials went ahead with plans to seek an injunction against enforce- ment of that order. Chairman Riley Elgen and Vice Chairman Richmond Keech of the commission refused to comment on the derogatory placards borne by the picketers, who were unmolested by police in their walk up and down before the building. The union seeks meter operation of a zone rate of 20-40-60-80 cents rather than the commission basis of 20-30-50-70 cents. Adolphe Hohensee, business agent of the union, said the pickets would return to their posts daily for an in- definite period. Quentin Betrayed by Drinking Spree A couple of drinking sprees in the Capital proved the undoing of John F. Sullivan, 35-year-old escaped convict, who last night was on his way ‘back to San Quentin penitentiary to finish out 8 20-year sentence for robbery. Sullivan, who had been living in the 1800 block of Newton street, broke away from a road gang working out- side San Quentin in January, 1929, and never had been apprehended as an escaped convict, although he was arrested here by park police a year ago for drunkenness. At that time he was fingerprinted and his prints filed at the Justice De- partment. His previous record was not uncovered until after he had been re- leased. Thursday night he again was dr- rested for drunkenness and this time it was discovered he was & fugitive. Sullivan, police said, was convicted of robbery at San Jose, Calif,, in 1921 > . and sentenced to 20 years. After hises- capefrom San Quentin, he told police, he went to New York, where he shipped on a freighter to the Dutch East Indies. ‘Thence he went to South America, where he stayed until 1931. He re- learned in prison, but a fear of “stool |PAR|-[Y EXPECTED Flower GardenCamouflagesGarbagePlant TORESTOREG. A0 BULDING FUNDS House Conferees Ready to Oppose Air Conditioning in Offices. 30-DAY-LEAVE BILL TO COME UP TUESDAY Army Promotion Measure One of Several of Importance Slated for Advancement This Week. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ‘The $4,700,000 item to provide the General Accounting Office with an adequate home in Judiciary Square, passed by the House and stricken from the deficiency appropriation bfll in the Senate, is expected to be restored when the bill goes to conference this week. This would preserve the entire budget of $16,085,000 for three much- needed new buildings for the Govern- ment Printing Office, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Gen- eral Accounting Office. House Conferees under Chairman Buchanan of the House Appropriations Committee are ready to oppose the Senate amendment which appropriates $2,550,000 for air conditioning the Senate and House Office Buildings. The conference on this appropriation bill totaling some $225,000,000 as it passed the House and nearly $295,- ‘The House expects tomorrow under a special rule to pass the Army pro- fons bill under which the Army will be dragged out of stagnancy resulting thousands of officers being held orderly promotion when at of the World War many of- ter of promotions. 30-Day Leave Up. ‘Tuesday the House expects to pass the two big civil service measures in which all Government workers are in- terested. One of these restores the old 30-day annual leave, which was cut to 15 days under the so-called “economy act.” The new bill would be immediately effective in allowing 15-additiagtal days tion this year. The other bill estal 16 days sick leave, cumulative to 120 days, with authority to grant 30 days in advance of any accumulated leave in the event of serious sickness. There is no known serious opposi- tion in the House to either the Army promotions bill or the two Govern- ment workers' leave bills. There has been serious controversy over the $4,700,000 project to remodel the old Pension Office Bullding on G street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, with two new wings for offices, to accommodate the General Account- ing Office, which has been working under a handicap since it was estab- lished in 1921, with its force scattered in many buildings. Chairman Buchanan stated his be- lef last night that when the bill is finally passed it will contain the $4,700,000 item as it passed the House, linked in with $5,500,000 for a new building for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and $5,885,000 for new structures for the Government Print- ing Office to replace fire-traps and antiquated buildings with serious structural defects that endanger the lives of thousands of workers and mil- lions of dollars worth of property. Site Is Factor. When the Senate passed -the de- ficiency bill last week, it cut out all reference to the General Accounting Office, because the Senate commit- tee recommended $11,150,000 for a new building on Capitol Hill, which would have meant the razing of the historic home occupied by the Na- tional Women's party, one of the old- est houses in Washington, now beau- tifully restored. ‘The Senate committee had consid- ered another site on lower Pennsyl- vania avenue, but rejected- the pro- posal on the ground the site was too low. to permit of a subbasement re- quired for the housing of priceless and voluminous records, many of which must be preserved to protect the Gov- ernment from extortion in claims cases, Controller General McCarl told the Senate committee the remodeling of the old Pension Building, as approved by the House, would be entirely satis- factory for requirements of his office, but that naturally he wouldn’t object to a new building on Capitol Hill if Congress wanted to provide it for his agency, which is directly - responsible to Congress. Chairman ‘Buchanan, however, is decidedly opposed torthe proposed new workshop or office building on-Capitol Hill, “The House conferees are not yet named,” he said, “byt I feel very cer- tain that we will stand firm for the provision as it passed the House—this will give the General Accounting Of- fice adequate space; in fact, a surplus of some' 7,300 feet for later expansion. Protests Crowding. “I don’t believe in putting up any Men Unloading Trucks of Waste Can Look Over Into William Wood’s Little Eden of Blooms. SENATE UNIT ACTS SOONOND.C.BLS Airport Problem Among Questions Due for Commit- tee Action This Week. The Senate District Committee | probably will be called into session before the end of this week to con-| sider several pending measures, in- cluding the question of whether to seek action at this session on the air- port problem, Chairman King indi- cated yesterday. The House has passed a bill leav- ing selection of an airport site to a commission, but Senator Gibson, Republican, of Vermont, sponsor of airport legislation in the Senate, has favored development of the Gravelly Point site. The three local social security bills —old-age pensions, pensions for the blind and unéfiployment insurance— also are awaiting committee action. Senator King said these would be taken up as soon as the national so- cial security bill is acted on finally by Congress. The bills relating to pensions for the aged and blind are ready to be reported, and legislative drafting experts also have made 8 study of proposed changes in the House unemployment insurance meas- ure. Another bill which passed the House recently and is awaiting Sen- ate committee action is the measure to require regular mechanical inspec- tion of motor vehicles in the Dis- trict. : There are several minor District bills on the Senate calendar that may be called up in the Senate tomorrow, including amendments to existing laws to allow District policemen and firemen to reside in nearby Maryland and Virginia counties. The proposed new small loan law for the District, which has been postponed on previous calendar days, also may be considered again tomorrow. VANDENBURG SEES F. D. . C. JUSTIFIED Corporation Report Given Senate. Income of $11,000,000, Costs of $7,000,000 Counted. By the Associated Press. Senator Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan, said yesterday the results of the 18 months’ existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “jus- tify every promise and claim made in behalf of this great social and eco- nomic adventure.” ‘Vandenberg's views were expressed in transmitting to the Senate informa- tion on the activities of the corpora- tion as supplied by its chairman, Leo T. Crowley. Crowley’s letter, furnished the Sen- ate in conrection with the omnibus banking bill which provides for a per- manent deposit insurance plan, said 14,000 of the 15,000 licensed commer- cial banks had been admitted to the fund. Crowley reported aggregate deposits of the insured banks exceed $40,000,000,000, of which more than $17,000,000,000 is protected by in- surance. The total expenses of the corpora- tion from inception September 11, 1933, to June 30, 1935, said Crowley, were $7,246,000, including $5,678,000 operating expenses and $1,568,000 in- surance losses, while income from in- vestments was $11,331,000. SCOUT CAMP TO OUST FOUR BALL DIAMONDS Permits for Games to Be Discon- tinued by August 1 So Facili- ties Can Be Arranged. A number of Washington base ball teams are going to find themselves without diamonds during the Boy Above: A view of Willam Wood's garden with trucks unloading garbage in the background. Below: Wood tending his flowers. ILLIAM WOOD has made a place for himself some- thing like that of the man who planted a flower gar- den on the pathway from his cell to the death house in Sing Sing. —Star Staff Photos. sey avenue and Second street south- east, unhappily regarded the barren, sandy yard beside the garbage plat- form. “I always loved flowers,” he thought. “I've always wanted to be with pretty ‘Wood is superintendent of the Dis- | things.’ trict garbage disposal plant, where tons of garbage from all the homes in ‘Washington are transferred to freight cars to be shipped to Cherry Hill, Va. ‘The memory of flowers that ran in a riot of color and filled the air with perfume about his Charles County boyhood home inspired Wood to plant his garden, which is 30 feet from where garbage is dumped into the cars. Men unloading trucks of waste can look over a stone wall at a neat little paradise of petunias, zennias, china asters, snapdragons and chrysanthe- mums. Farmers who come for hog food remain to gaze and women of the Twentieth Century Club visit the garden several times a year. Began Six Years Ago. Six years ago Wood's campaign for beauty began. Feeling, with Keats, that “a thing of beauty is a joy for- ever,” Wood, then newly named su- perintendent of the plant at New Jer- Mint Will Store Silver Dollars in Treasury Vaults By the Associated Press. Cramped by a shortage of stor- age facilities, the Treasury De- partment shortly will begin move- ment of silver dollars from the Philadelphia miné to the Treas- ury vaults in Washington. Shipments are expected to ar- rive within the next few days and will be stored in the new vaults completed here a year ago. The total to be transferred was not made known, but officials said they “doubted if it would amount to $100,000,000.” WILLIAM GLASGOW D. C. LAWYER, HURT Injured When Car Overturns North of Fredericksburg. Skull Fracture Feared. William A. Glasgow, 28, a lawyer with offices in the Union Trust Build- ing, was injured seriously late yester- day when an automobile in which he was a passenger turned over 20 miles north of Fredericksburg, Va. At the Martha Washington Hos- pital there it was said he was un- conscious last night and physicians feared a skull fracture. ‘The Associated Press reported Glas- gow was en route to Colonial Beach from Washington with two friends and that the accident occurred when the driver, attempting to avoid colli- sion with another car, pulled off the road. The identity of his companions was not ascertained. Glasgow, a Virginian, is the son of Circuit Judge Joseph A. Glasgow of Augusta County. FIRE DAMAGES. SCHOOL By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. HUNTING HILL, Md., July 27.—A To the jeers of some he began the arduous task. He combed the neighborhood of the disposal plant for stones to build his garden wall. In moments spared from counting garbage trucks he spaded the ground and planted seeds and bulbs. Instead of going home to supper and his fam- ily, he spent his evenings watering the flowers. Vegetables Grow, Too. The garden today is the biggest thing in Wood's life. He looks over this small green plot and says: “It is my own yard.” ‘Whatever money has been spent on beautifying the garbage plant, Wood has spent from his own pocket. Tomatoes, parsley, even muskmelons grow beside the flowers along the wall and in the round rock-beds that dapple the yard. “On one vine alone” Wood said yesterday, “I counted 42 tomatoes.” ‘There was a note of creative pride in his voice. FATAL ACCIDENTS INTRAFFIG CURBED Big Stick Drive on D. C. Streets Gets Results in 9-Day Period. The “big stick” campaign to clean Washington streets of reckless drivers ended its first week last night with no fatal accidents recorded nine days. i Police arrested 215 operators yes- terday and handed out 42 more tickets as only two automobile accident in- juries were reported. One of them occurred outside the District. The total arrests for the week were 2,319. The parade through Traffic Court yesterday included 98 who had posted collateral to appear and 7 who gave no collatera] when handed tickets. Collateral was forfeited by 193 who did not turn up in court. Maj. Ernest W. Brown, superintend- ent of police, ordered his men to con- centrate on week end traffic in and out of the District as he expressed his satisfaction with the results of the drive. Joseph Warren, colored, 30, of 923 St. Pauls court, received a possible fractured skuil in the most serious traffic injury of the day, when a loose brake caused his truck to jam him against a building at Cherrybrook, Va. He was in critical condition at Georgetown University Hospital last night. Harold Morgan, 6, of 311 Fourth street southeast, received lacerations of the forechead when an automobile operated by an unidentified man struck .him at Eighth and I streets southeast. The child was treated at Providence Fospital and sent home. Lawrence E. Smith, 35, of Baltimore, suffered a bruised shoulder last night when he was struck by a street car at the intersection of Fourteenth street nd New York avenue. He was treated at George Washington Uni- versity Hospital. Accokeek Merchant Injured. for | Sports—Pages 7 to 11 TAKE-ORLEAVEAT' PLAN T0 CUT GAS RATE 15 DUE SOON Roberts, Spurning Private Parleys, to Submit His Proposal Saturday. MAY ASK TO DOUBLE PRESENT 8/2% SLASH People’s Counsel Seeks to End Protracted and Costly Hear- ings on Subject. People’s Counsel William A. Rob- erts plans to submit to the Public Utilities Commission Saturday his proposal for agreement on the amount of reductions in gas rates as a means of ending the three-year valuation case, now facing a court battle. Roberts declined yesterday to state the figure he will propose to be ap- plied in permanent rate cuts. How- ever, on the basis of the stand he has taken in the past, he is expected to suggest an agreement on reductions amounting to approximately $1,000,- 000 annually in consumers’ bills. This would be about twice the total of the present 8.5 per cent temporary discount which: the company has ac- cepted since the valuation case started in the Summer of 1932. His exact proposal may run somewat higher or lower than this figure. Refuses Negotiations. Roberts insisted again yesterday he would not engage in any negotiations or private conferences with company officials regarding an agreement on a rate cut, and said he would offer & “fair” figure on a “take-it-or-leave- it basis.” He added that if the com- mission or the companies offered a lower figure, he would hold himself free to fight it before the commission or in court. His purpose, he explained, is to bring to an end the protracted and costly hearings on rates of the company, now in progress, as a sequel to the lengthy valuation case. He said he would not disclose his calculations in arriving at his figures of “justified” reductions and would Teave it up to the companies to make their own calculations. Marcy L. Sperry, president of the Washington and Georgetown Gas companies, stated recently he was will- ing to consider Roberts’ proposed offer and that this was not changed by the fact the companies have appealed to District Supreme Court from the de- cision of the commission fixing the values of the combined companies at $16,993,000. Discount Now Held Too Low. The temporary 8.5 per cent discount, Roberts argues, is considerably less than the public should have been get- ting. During 1934, the 8.5 per cent discount is calculated to have given gas consumers rate cuts totaling more than $400,000. Several experts close to the commission have been expecting the rate reduction at least would amount to twice the present tempor- ary cut. Meanwhile, the gas rate hearings are to be continued and will be re- opened tomorrow before the commis- sion. August C. Klein, engineer and accountant of the Stone & Webster Engineering Corp., will be subjected to further examination by Hinman D. Folsom, commission counsel. Roberts also will participate in the hearings. During the last week the companies have taken a new tack in their fight for acceptance of a higher valuation figure. Earlier in the rate case they started to “trend” the costs of gas properties on the basis of the com- mission’s valuation. The valuation was as of June 30, 1932. This was to be brought up to date to December 31, 1934. ‘The companies last week offered evi- dence to “trend” up to current figures costs of properties on the basis of its own original valuation claims as en- tered in the past valuation case. Experts interpret this as a shelv- ing by the gas company of considera- tion of the commission’s valuation de- cision and a determination to use its court appeal on that valuation in an expected contest against the ultimate commission rate decision. HEAT WAVE IS DUE BACK TOMORROW High Mark Today Expected to Be Considerably Above 81 Top Yesterday. By tomorrow the heat wave that abated for a few days here will be in full swing again, according to the Weather Bureau. This afternoon is expected to be considerably warmer than yesterday, when the mercury did not go above 81, but the maximum is expected to be under 90. Thundershowers may break over the city tomorrow, but not enough rain is in sight to keep the temperature from climbing into the 90s. While Washington was enjoying comparatively pleasant weather yes- terday, some other sections of the country, particularly the Middle West, were sweltering. A scorching 110 was recorded at Mitchell, S. Dak. Topeka, Kans., had a record-breaking 105, and Kansas City 103. U. S. DEFICIT IN 8 DAYS IS ONLY $30,000,000 Lull in Spending Slows Mounting Federal Debt, Now Totaling $422,835,210. By the Associated Press. A lull in the Government's emer- gency spending program has caused the Treasury’s deficit to mount only $30,000,000 in the last eight days. From July 1 to July 17 the deficit for the new fiscal year climbed precipitate- 1y to $392,204,497. At the close of busi- .| mess, July 25, it was $422,835,210. For the first 17 days of the menth,