Evening Star Newspaper, June 21, 1936, Page 21

oo vews | The: Sundiy Stae TRAINING SCHOOL CONDITIONS HELD TOBEDEPLORABLE Survey of House Subcom- mittee Announced Fol- lowing Visit. NEEDS OF INSTITUTION | OUTLINED IN REPORT Fire Hazard and Lack of Sani-| tation Are Among Disadvan- tages Discovered. Conditions at the National Training | Bchool for Girls were branded as “de- | plorable and intolerabie” by a special | subcommittee of the House District | Committee in a report made public last night by Chairman Norton. The report is based on the result of | a visit to the institution several days ago by the subcommittee, whieh con- sisted of Mrs. Norton and Representa- | tive Carpenter, Democrat, of Kansas. ‘The subcommittee was appointed about a month ago to investigate the school. Varjous needs of the institution were outlined 1n the report, together with a | recommendation that a comprehensive program be adopted for rehabilitation | of the girl inmates. | Fire Hazard Cited. “First in importance,” said the re- port, “is the great fire hazard on ac- | count of old building and old-fashioned | Two Autos Purchased at $1,087.98 Each for Island Travel. Mrs. Whittemore Avers Eight Bids W eighed Before Buying. And now .the vivacious Mrs. Jean Springstead Whittemore, collector of Customs at San Juan, Puerto Rico, knows what i* means to :ave her ears boxed—in a manner of speaking, of course—by Controller General McCarl. WASHIN! GTON, D. C, It appears, in a decision made pub- | lic at McCarl's office yesterday, that Mrs. Whittemore, {.rmer member of the Democratic Nat‘ccal Committee, was responsible for surchase of two | autor~obiles at $1,087.98 each, for of- ficial duties. The money was teken out of customs receipts. It so happens, however, that Con-] gress now watches automobile buying pretty closely, since that celebrated instance a few years ago, when the then Postmaster General Walter F. Brown made a vehicular investment to accommodate his topper, and a law limits all purchases to $750 unless otherwise provided. Credit Is Refused. So, one of Mr. McCarl's bright young men caught up with the Whittemore cars when the voucher for payment came through, and promptly refised to allow credit in the collector’s ac- counts. Mrs. Whittemore was asked for an explanation and gave it right prettily. Bids were asked and eight offers received, she said. The collector even locks, controlled by levers, on the doors. ‘This system of locking, however, we are | informed by the superintendent, Dr. Smith, recently has been discontinued. “We found the buildings in a very unsanitary condition. There are only | six toilets, no basins, no running water | in the corridor on each floor and no | hot-water supply. | “The kitchens are supplied with | large coal ranges, no gas ever having been furnished, but we understand the W. P. A. is now taking care of this problem and that gas pipes are being laid in the different buildings. | “There are practically no recrea- tional facilities at the school. The classrooms are very meager. Employes are under civil service. but there are no trained workers or teachers of any subject. Cleaning Needed. “The buildings are badly in need of rleaning and painting. There are old- fashioned cauldrons for heating water in the laundry instead of a hot-water supply. There is not heat radiation in any of the bed rooms and only one or two steam coils in each corridor to supply heat.” | The statement pointed out that as a result of recent publicity, an appyo- | priation of $100,000 was provided in | the 1937 District supply bill for alter- ations and improvements. The report closes with this state- | ment: | “We believe it would be safe to say that in no other city of this size in | the Nation could be found so intoler- | able a condition as has been that of | the National Training School for Girls in the District of Columbia.” CENSUS, INVENTORY OF J6BS SUPPORTED Movement Is Given Impetus by | Committee of Council for Industrial Progress. | The movement for a Federal census of unemployment and an inventory | of employment throughout industry was given an impetus by a Council for | Industrial Progress Committee, which | yesterday proposed these two objec- | tives. A tentative program of research was completed preparatory to drafting a | report to be submitted to industry and | the Government. | During three years of grappling with | problems growing out of the depres- sion, the New Deal has never made a census of unemployment. After its first meeting, the commit- tee emphasized the need for accurate statistical data on the national prob- | lem of unemployment, variously esti- mated from 9,000,000 to 12,000,000 prior to the formulation of construc- tive policies to deal effectively with the problem. “The_ultimate ®bjective is to estab- | lish a procedure which will give ac- curate and timely information to all industries, mining, manufacturing, construction, services and trade” a statement said. Lighi Bulb F l;res, Hisses Like Bomb, Thrills Detectives| 12.Foot Bolt of Blue | Flame Rockets Over Kuehling’s Chair. The “unmistakable” sound of a hissing bomb and a 12-foot bolt of blue flame threw the, Detective Bu- reau into a furore last night. Hearing a peculiar noise, detectives | fled in various directions. One reached for a fire extinguisher. Lieut. Benjamin C. Kuehling, who- was closer to the sound, ducked under his desk— and just in the nick of time. A mys- terious flash of light, 17 feet long, leaped from his desk to the ‘floor behind his chair. After the fireworks were over, s post mortem disclosed that the cause was not a bomb, nor a new form of firecracker. The excitement Tesulted from a faulty electric light bulb in Kuehling’s desk lamp. h ‘When unscrewed from its ket, the bulb showed a tiny hole t! gh which gas had escaped, and a small quantity of molten resistance wires, which was later found in a pellet of did a bit of shopping and tried to buy used cars, but it was no bet. And, because “the purchase of these two big cars, suitable for traveling through the mountainous interior of the island, were required to meet the needs of $700—unless and until a kind Con- | the service,” Mrs. Whittemore went ahead and bought. But McCarl is not weakening. even MRS. JEAN SPRINGSTEAD WHITTEMORE. | thought he has only two weeks yet to | serve. | Doubts if Cars Necessary. | In the first place, he took exception | to the geographical argument and im- | plied that he didn’t believe the auto- mobiles were needed at all, adding a | bit tartly: “It is not apparent how the pur- chase of automobiles for use in ‘travel- ing through the mountainous interior "of the island’ could be regarded as necessary in collecting customs du- ! tles.” Why, even in the Allegheny and Rocky Mountains field workers |find $750 cars very successful, he | amplified | Then, of course, McCar®said. there is always the law to be considered. And McCarl knows how to find laws. The upshot is is that Mrs. Whitte- more owes the Government about gress comes to her assistance. But Mrs. Whittemore has alwvays been able to take care of herself. SISSON BILL TOPS NEXT CALENDAR Norton Statement Asserts Red Rider Is Blight on U. S. 8chools. The Sisson bill to repeal the “red- rider” to the 1936 District appropri- ation act will not be forgotten when | the application of the Capital Transit | %as $81,824. Congress reconvenes in January, ac- cording to Chairman Norton of the | token fare and abolition of th(dollar} House District Committee. Just prior to adjournment of Con- gress last night, Mrs. Norton issued & statement promising that the first Dis- trict bill to be called up in the House in the new Congress would be Repre- sentative Sisson’s measure to repeal the ban on teaching of the facts of Communism in the public schools. The statement also explained the failure to get House action on the bill before adjournment. “On May 11, the first District day after the repeal bill was duly reported out and approved by the District Committee,” Mrs. Norton said, “the House leadership urgently requested | that it not be brought up for action that afternoon because consideration lof it probably would have run over into the following day. On the next District day, May 25, the House met, but immediatly adjourned out of re- spect to Representative Randolph Per- kins of New Jersey, who had died that morning. Adjournment Final Barrier. “On what would have been the sub- sequent District ddy, June 8, Congress was in recess due to the Republican National Convention. By June 22, the date for the next scheduled Dis- trict day, Congress will be in adjourn- ment. “This repeal bill, in.which all the school teachers of the country have shown a very great interest because of the far-flung threat it contains to personal liberty and religious freedom, may seem .at first glance to be a matter chiefly concerned with the Dis: trict of Columbia and its educational system. However, it has become a national issue now and is regarded as such by the National Education As- sociation. Hits Political Usage. . “The Capil City of the Nation should lead in setting the standard for education for the country. There- fore, this ridiculous rider to the 1936 appropriation act is of paramount importance to every sane, liberal American citizen. The aim of every educational system in the country is to keep our schools out of politics and the Congress of the United States should take the lead in this objective. Theréfore, when legislation aimed at dictatorship in our schools in Wash- ington is permitted, it would undoubt- edly lead to a very serious breakdown in our much- desired freedom from political influence. “This statement is issued to give the facts of the matter as it now stands to the hundreds of parents and teachers who are supporting us faith- fully in our efforts to expunge the malodorous ‘red-rider’ from. the statute books of our Nation.” Charges Reprinted. Concurrently, Representative Jenck- es, Democrat, of Indiana, a member of the House District Committee, in- serted in the Congressional Record a statement reiterating her charges of several months ago that the Board of Education is pro-communistic. She declared these charges had not yet been answered. “Instead,” Mrs. Jenckes said, “the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, its friends and lobbyists, have joined with the friends and lobby- ists who are promoting and protecting the cause of communism throughout the United States, and thrown up a smoke screen with reference to the ‘red rider.’ I specifically stated at a metal at the spot on the floor where 13e flame had ended. congressional hearing that I would ‘vou for repeal of the ‘red ridey§y This has not MEETING TO PASS ONFARE PROPOSED jPetition for Increase i Rates and Routing to Be- Considered. Proposals for additional rerouting fof busses and street cars, as well as | Co. for an increase in the street car | weekly pass, will be considered by | organized civic workers at a mass meeting June 29. | | Plans to this end were announced | yesterday by People’s Counsel Wil- | lam A. Roberts, who has invited the presidents of citizens' associations affiliated with the Federation of Citi- zens’ Associations and the chairmen of their public utilities committees to meet with him on that date at the District Building. The agenda for the meeting, as , announced by Roberts, is as follows: !‘ “Transportation — The application | of the Capital Transit Co. for general | increase in its rates of fare to $1.25 pass, 10 cents cash and three tokens for a quarter: In addition, there are | the questions of ventilation of busses; further rerouting of busses and street | equipment and a new subject, the Jjoint use of the lines and equipment of companies operating in nearby Virginia and Maryland so as ‘o avoid unnecessary operation of busses in the congestel area. | “Electric power — The principal | questions are the pending application for issuance of $15,000,000 in bonds; the need for a revaluation of prop- erty®as you know, there has been no final valuation of the Potomac Elec- tric Power Co., and its property ac- count has increased under the sliding scale from 327: million in 1935 to | over 70 million at the present time; the relation of the Potomac Electric Power Co. with nearby Associated Gas and Electric properties and with the street car company; adjustment of the maximum 3.9 rate which has not been changed for several years. “Gas—The principal questions are the use of a single meter for house heating and other domestic purposes; the distribution of _the reductions which may come from the August hearing of the new sliding scale; and, most important, consideration of the Federal legislation for the control of the price of natural gas. ““Telephone—The principal questions are with respect to elimination of charges on fand sets and miscellaneous switching equipment; a reduction of general residential rate; and the gen- eral rate investigation which the Pub- lic Utilities Commission has indicated it will hold in the immediate future.” SR TR A T $10 FINE SUSPENDED Youth Who Took Garbage for Hogs Unaware of Law. Eugene F. Guy, 20, of Capitol Heights, Md., was given a suspended fine of $10 by Judge Walter J. Casey in Police Court yesterday on a plea of guilty to the theft of two ‘cans of garbage from the rear of the Earle Building. ° The arrest was made on the com- plaint of Raymond Luiba of the Earle Building,” who said the refuse was worth 25 cents a can. Guy told the court he was collecting the garbage for his hogs and did not know there was any ordinance prohibiting: his action, when and if .the charges I made against the Board of Education of the District of Columbia had been sat- istactorily egplained and corrected. done to dateg’ cars; one-man cars; noisy and dirty | cost of natural gas and of pending’ fax County. PROPERTY SALES | T0 BF DENANDED TODEFRAY TAYES D. C. Officials Plan to Push Amended Phipps Act to Force Collection. SOME ARE IN ARREARS NEARLY FIFTY YEARS | | Several Cases Prepared—Prall Holdings Delinquent Almest to Assessed Value. District officials yesterday prepared to invoke the amended Phipps act, which became law last March, to apply to District Supreme Court for auction sale of realty properties as a means of forcing collection of unpaid taxes and | penalties, some of which date back | nearly 50 years. Acting Corporation Counsel Vernon E. West was considering a recom- mendation from Tax Collector Chat- | ham Towers for such action against | the property of the Prall family on | Sixteenth street near I street, on which the delinquency of $65.892 is almost equal to the present assessed \'Elue. Several other cases have been pre- ipared, and recommendations for action | against other property owners will be | submitted soon. The Phipps act of 1929 gave au- | thority to the Commissioners to apply to the court for sale of property at | public auction, after a two-year period |in which the District held a tax lien, | | for non-payment of taxes. Difficulties Overcome. Towers at that time sought sale| of a number of properties on which | there were old and large delinquencies, | | but action was postponed because the | | Commissioners ‘were advised the then | existing law contained provisions of- | fering too many difficulties. The re- | sult was a request for a further | amendment to the law which was | enacted last March. Delinquency in taxes on the Prall | property dates back to 1887. To date, | the accumulated tax amounts to. $27,- | 322,50, plus a penalty amounting to | $3,339.89 plus the cost of legal ad- | | vertisement of $22.65 plus interest figured at $35,065, making the total | debt to the District amount to $65,892.67. The assessed value of the property | for the fiscal years 1936 and 1937 is| | listed at $66,368. In 1935 the total 4 Other Cases Pending. The other cases, on which Collector Towers has court auction sale action, involved the following: Anne E. McQuade for the northeast corner of Twenty-ninth and K streets | an accumulated tax and penalty total | of $3,653.3¢; for W. Grant Wadhams, for an alley property in the center of the area bounded by Fourteenth, C |and D streets, and Linworth place southwest, $2,760.86; Mary A. Wadhams, on which later theye was a tax lien to John Faust, "Ion-nexly a tax broker, for property at | 1239 Six-and-a-half street, for a to-| tal delinquency of $493.58, dating back to 1920; . | John Faust, for property at 740 | Longfellow street, on which there was | | reported to be a delinquency of $1,-| | 898.98, dating back to 1927; | | Henry Ragan, for property at Square | 265, lot 812, on which there was said | to be a delinquency $235.09, dating | back to 1919; and, | |LOCATION DOUBTS END ASSAULT CASE Arlington Authorities Waive| Maid’s Charges That Man Attacked Her. Because they can not determine the exact scene of thg alleged crime, Ar- lington County authorities have dropped criminal assault charges against Wilton W. Bullock, 34, of 603 Ninth street southwest, Bullock was arrested by Washing- ton police a week ago on complaint of Miss Ollie Barb, 25, a maid employed in the 1800 block of Eighteenth street. She charged Bullock picked her up in his automobile at Eighteenth and V streets and drove her to an isolated road in Arlington } County where he attacked her. ‘The man is now being held at the District Jail on a fugitive warrant under $2,000 bond. Laurence W. Douglas, Arlington County commonwealth’s attorney, in- formed the Washington Detective Bureau yesterday that “we are unable to handle the case because we can- not establish the loeation of the al- leged crime.” Douglas explained that he is not certain whether the scene was in Arlington County or in Fair- | | { Capt. Ira Keck of the detective bureau here said last night he was referring the case to the Justice De- partment. Washington police were asked last night to aid in a search for the young- est member of a trio of brothers en- rolled at. West Point, who has been missing from the military academy since Thursday. From his sick bed in Walter Reed Hospital, Lieut. Col. Fred H. Cole- msn, Army Air Corps, told police his son Fred, jr., a plebe, left the acad- emy presumably to visit a New York preparatory school, but had not ar- rived there. " Col. Coleman said he was informed Pred has been deficient (B mathe- SUNDAY S n of Col. Coleman, Missing From West Point, Hunted Here MORNING, JUNE Prall Property Victim of Litigation 21, 1936. * Sports—Pages 6 to 11 |B- PAGE B—1 Sisters, Unable to Meet Delinquent Taxes, Face Possible Eviction From Vine-Clad Parental Home. These old brick buildings, 918-20 Sizteenth street, may go on the auction block for $65000 back taxes that have accumulated as result of long litigation. Mrs. Emma Prall Knorr, one of three sisters who own the property, is shown in front of the buildings. NOMNATORRALLY U SALES TOP 30,000 ‘At Least 50,000 Expected at Griffith Stadium for Roosevelt Speech. Success of the Roosevelt nominators’ rally next Saturday night ingGriffith Stadium is assured, with 90.000 tickets | already sold. Joseph E. Davies, general chairman, announced last night. Its sponsors say it will be the nearest approach to the old-time enthusiastic political get-together Washington has seen in many years. At least 50,000 persons are expected to be in the stadium when President Roosevelt goes on the air from the Democrdtic convention in Philadel- phia to acceg® the party’s presidential nomination. Simultaneous rallies will be held all over the country with the aim of rais- ing a million-dollar campaign fund through dollar subscriptions. s;le of tickets here has been largely | by young people, although Mrs. J. Borden Harriman’s women's division has contributed largely to the success of the affair, Davies stated. He said solicitors have been ordered to abide strictly by the law which prohibits sale | of such tickets on Government prop- erty. Before the President's speech, there will be an outdoor circus, including a donkey base ball game, vaudeville and fireworks. An old-fashioned torchlight parade will precede the festivities at the stadium. The parade will be composed mainly of Democrats from the 48 States now in Washington. There will be illuminations, living cartoons, bur- lesque and civic floats and other ex- hibits, including sections of dancing acrobats and clowns. At least 750 musicians will be in the procession. The parade, which will be divided into State sections, each with mounted aides to Grand Marshal Melvin C. Hazen, starts at Tenth street and Constitution’ avenue ahd moves west to the Veterans’ Administration Build- ing, where there will be a halt to permit those who wish to fall out and | proceed to the stadium by car. RO P i) British Boost Pay. Pay of many government employes in England is being raised. matics and had indicated he was going to'a preparatory school in New York for tutoring. A presidential appointee in June, 1935, Fred entered the military insti- tution a year behind his brother John. Robert M. Coleman is the third mem- ber of ‘the trio. Fred is 20 years old, 6 feet tall, weighs 150 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Col. Coleman, who has been ill in Walter Reed since June B, is sta- tioned at Patterson Field, near his home at Fairfleld, Ohio. - NABLE to pay the District government $65,000 in back taxes, three elderly women who once,. as "“the Prall sisters,” were leaders in the world of wealth here, face possible eviction from the venerable vine-clad house in { which they were born—on" Sixteenth street, near Lafayette square. | Impoveriched by nearly a quarter of a century of litigation over owner- ship of the valuable, but sadly run- down, brick building in which they had hoped to spend the rest of their days, the sisters yesterday learned with emotion of plans of the Com- missioners to auction their home for | the taxes. “It has been through no fault of |ours that those taxes accumulated during all those years of litigation,” explained one of the sisters, Mrs. Emma Prall Knorr, in an interview yesterday in the old house, 918-20 | | Sixteenth street. “We could not pay | | the taxes while the ownership of the | property was being decided by the | courts, and when the District Court |of Appeals finally awarded us the | property in 1926, our funds had b2en | exhausted.” | Rearing Granddaughter. | Mrs. Knorr lives in the old building with her sisters, Miss Virginia M. | | | stock, and with her 14-year-old grand- daughter, known as Jerry. Jerry's mother was | | between 65 and 70 years old. “We ¢an't go out on the street—/ | but there is no place else for us to| ‘go if they put us out of here,” Mrs. | | Knoor declared, &s she sat on an an- cient sofa in the old-fashioned par- lor of her home. “My sisters and I | fought for our rights to the property | for more than 20 years—and now that | | we finally have been given sole title to it for life, the government wants | | to take our home from us. | ‘“‘We are not tax evaders. We want to pay our debt to the government, but by the time we were adjudged own- ers, the tax bill had grown to more | than $40,000. We have tried every way we know to sell this property for a reasonable price, but people a not buying property in this neighbor- | hood, it seems.” Two Adjoining Structures. ‘The sisters make their home actually in two adjoining brick structunes. One of these, at 920 Sixteenth' street, is the*original residence of their father, the late William E. Prall, 1st, noted engineer and inventor. The other was built by their father on what was originally the garden of the house, to the south.” He also built the Gordon Hotel, ' imimediately adjoining the sisters’ home, Making more than half a million dollars on his inventions, which included motors of various types, Prall acquired much valuable property in downtown Washington near Lafayette Square. Prall’s will left the property to his son, William E. Prall, 2d, and his daughters, Virginia, Anple and Emma. All remained in harmonious poses- sion g{ the property until the younger Prall’s death in 1903. Then troubles of the.sisters began. d Prall's will left the property to his sisters. His wife went to court to contest the will, claiming the prop- erty should have been willed to her. some years of litigation the sister-in-law succeeded in breaking the will and was awarded custody of | the property. The sisters fought this action through tig§ court for many Inset show “Jerry” Lavagnino, 14-year-old grandchild, who is co-heir to the property. ~—Star Staff Photos. LUMP-SUM STUDY LAUDED BY HAZEN Thanks Thomas for Getting Break in Deadlock and Passage of Bill. Hope that study of the District- Federal fiscal relations issue by a commission to be named by Presi- dent Roosevelt will result in a just and lasting solution of the problem was voiced yesterday by Commissioner Hazen. wThe statement was contained in a letter to Senator Thomas, crat, of Oklahoma, chairman of the subcommittee which had charge of the 1937 District supply bill, praising the | Senator for achieving a break in the deadlock and passage of the bill. As president of the Board of Com- missioners, Hazen said: “On behalf of the people of the | Prall and Mrs. Annie Prall Fahne- District of Columbia and themselves, | and the muhicipal service generally, Gerald Lavagnino, better the Commissioners of the District of | Columbia extend to yof and to the taining an agreement to, and the pas- age of, the District of Columbia ap- propriation bill for the fiscal year ending June 30,°1937. “While the Commissioners regret the reduction in the Federal contris bution, they realize that the appro- priation bill as enacted represents the best that could possibly be hoped for under the circumstances. “The Commissicners heartily favor the proposal for an independent study to be made under the direc- tion of the President for the purpose of establishing a fair and equitable amount to be contributed by the United States toward the expenses of the District of Columbia. Commissioners express their sincere wfish that the results of this study, as communicated to Congress by the President will settle this question for many years to come justly to the United States and the District of Columbia.” years and finally, on June 1, 1926, were given undisputed title to the pfoperty by decree of the District | Court of Appeals. . Bills Keep Coming In. During all these years, the District government was sending tax bills to the house, addressed to the de- ceased Pralls. As ownership of the property was in question, the taxes remained unpaid. Alvin L. Newmyer, attorney, represented the sisters in their successful fight to defend the will. The Prall family has owned the property since 1860 and five genera- tions have lived there. During its brighter days the house was the scene of many gay social gatherings. Ethel- Roosevelt learned to play the | piano in the parlor of the old house, under Mrs. Knorr's tutelage. ‘The pfoperty has been estimated to be worth from $120,000 to $150,000, | but no buyers have come forward to pay the price. ¢ Demo- | ema—— D. C. Gets Little Legislation in Second Session of 74th Congress McCarl Blocks Credit on Cars: Bought by Customs Collector FIGHTING BLAMED FOR APPROVAL OF BT 22 MEASURES Legislators.Year Before Had Passed 54 Bills for Capital. iHOUSE IS GIVEN BLAME IN DISTRICT DAY LOSS City Deprived of Six and Three | More Were Virtually Wasted by Filibuster. BY JAMES E. CHINN. The final session of the Seventy- | fourth Cangress spent more time scrappirig over controversial bills than it devoted to the legislation it passed and saw enacted into law Altogether, only 22 regular District bills went through the House and Sen- | ate legislative mill, compared with 54 | at the first session. And of these 22, | less than half were catalogued as “ma- ‘Jcr." By comparison, the initial sese | sion did a far better job, not only in | the number of bills passed, but in the | quality of the legislation as well. | To the first session must go credit for passing such imporiant measures as the financial responsibility law for motorists, a modern divorce law, and the social security act. All the sec- ond session has to look back on in | the way of outstandinz and important | District legislation is the act creating |a special commission to select a site for the long-pro) d municipal a [port. bill aut ng merger of the ‘V\'a\nmlton and Georgetown Gas Light Cos.. and an amendment to the | traffic act giving the Commissioners authority to revoke the permits of | non-resident drivers who violate Dise trict traffic regulations i House Largely to Blame, The House is largely to blame for the comparatively poor showing of the second session. Six “District days” in the House were last for one reason or her. And three more “District days” were virtually wasted by a fili- buster and a fight over the Ellen- bogen rent control bill, which was finally killed by a House vote. The Ellenbogen bill was not alone as a fight provok sheer bitter- ness and duration, battles over the 1837 appropriation bill and the Sisson bill providing for repeal of the “red rider” to the 1936 District appropria- tion act. were in a class by themselves. It took three and a half months to | get the supply bill out of Congress and |on President Roosevelt's desk because | of the old controversy over the amount of the Federal obligation toward Dis- trict expenses. As the, bill finally emerged, however, it represented one of the most important in recent yvears, despite the fact-the amount of the Federal lump sum payment was trimmed $700,000 under the present, $5.700,000 figure. But coupled with that reduction is the guarantee of .a study by an impartial commission of | fiscal relaticns between the Federal ‘and District Governments, which is | expected to end for some future years | the controversy over the Federal { payment. D. C. Committee in Headlines. The record of the first session with respect to production and quality of District legislation likewise is true with respect to the production of sensationalism. The District Com- mittee, in the first session, made newspaper headlines with its crime investigation and airport hearings. The second session-produced only one | major inquiry—the one that a special subcommittee of the House District Committee made of the traffic situa- tion. The only developments that bordered on the sensational in the second ses- sion were initiated by a lone meme ber—Representative Blanton, Demo- crat, of Texas. It was Blanton who indirectly inspired the Sisson bill be- cause he sponsored the “red rider” killed in an automobile accident 12|members of your subcommittee their | and used all of his parliamentary skiil | years ago and her grandmother has | heartfelt and grateful appreciation of | to keep the repealer from being con- reared her since. All three sisters are |your splendid achievement in ob- | sidered in the House. It was Blanton, who as chairman of an Appropriations | Subcommittee in charge of the Dis- | trict supply bill, sent the now famous questionnaire to .3.000 public school | teachers to find out if they believed in God and had any Communistic learnings. O nthe legislative side, 12 District bills died from inaction in the House and Senate. Six ‘were on the House (See DISTRICT, Page B-5.) 'HALBERT “RETIRED” " FROM D. C. BUREAU The | | Former Relief Director Forced | From Service “Due to Lim- | ited Funds.” | Leroy A. Halbert, who had the re- sponsibility of organizing the District | Relief Administration as its first di= rector, but who was shifted to research | work two years ago, when Miss Alice | Hill was placed in’ charge, has been | forced from the service “due to lime {ited funds,” it was revealed yestere | day. | His “retirement” was effective June 15, though no announcement of it was made at the time. The develop- ment was disclosed in the monthly diary of welfare activities published by | Elwood Street, welfare director. The Research Bureau, Street said, has become the Statistical Bureau of the Public Assistance Division, with a limited staff, and with Miss Hazel | Spicer, Halbert's former assistant, in charge. He said it had become neces~ | sary to reduce personnel because of | limitation of funds for the divi¢ | sion. | | A testimonial dinner was given by members of the division to Mr. and J‘Mn, Halbert May 11, he added. “Mr. | Halbert has been faithful, loyal and devoted in his service,” Street sald. Tke group gave Halbert a number of boo »