Evening Star Newspaper, April 7, 1937, Page 21

Wash ington News ICKES OFFERS BIL " FORPAN-AMERICAN UNION SITE CHANGE Secretary Seeks to Cancel Act of Congress With New Measure. PRESENT PLAN’S COST TOLD TO COMMITTEE Cabinet Member Would Have $45,000 Paid, However, to Change Location. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. After protesting to the House Public Buildings and Grounds Committee to- day against erection of a new Pan- American Union Building on the site where foundations are being exca- vated. Interior Secretary Ickes laid before the committe the draft of a new bill providing for erection of the structure on the rear of the site of the present Pan-American. His proposal is to place the new building where the Van Ness stables and a sheet metal garage are now located. Ickes and other witnesses told the committee the erection of the building where now planned would obstruct the view, create a serious traffic hazard and upset the general plan for development for that section west of Seventeenth street. Costs Are Cited. Commissioner Hazen testified it would cost upward of $70,000 to move the street lighting and sewer mains in that area. Traffic Director Van Duzer declared it would result in a serious traffic hazard. Melvin Sharp, representing the Potomac Electric Power Co., said his firm would be forced to spend approximately $5,000 if the building is evected. Dr. L. S. Rowe, director general of the Pan-American Union, said any action he might take would have to await instructions from his board of directors, who had gone ahead on the plans, thinking the authority in the act of Congress was sufficient. The directors will not meet until next May, | however. Chairman Lanham broke up the hearing by telling Dr. Rowe not to worry, because “we will still be here in May.” Secretary Ickes reviewed the his- tory of the plan to place the proposed Pan-American Union annex building north of Constitution avenue, in the vicinity of the present building. The act of Congress approved May 16, 1928, authorized erection of the annex on the triangle between Virginia ave- nue and C and Eighteenth streets. That measure was rushed through as emergency legislation. Another bill, approved December 26, 1929, amended the former act, authorizing the con- | struction of the annex on the quad- rangle immediately south of the tri- angle, bounded by Constitution and | Virginia avenues and Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets northwest. Street Relocation Feared. Ickes last year requested Congress to | pass a bill to prevent erection of the annex as contemplated. were held and some objections were made to the bill as then drafted. Ickes explained his main objection | is that Eighteenth street would be re- located between C street and Vir- | ginia avenue northwest and would be projected southwesterly at an angle to connect with Virginia avenue. He #aid that there is a quite general feel- ing that such relocation of Eighteenth street would be a mistake. The Na- tional Capital Park and Planning Commission also considered that such relocation of Eighteenth street would seriously impede the flow of traffic at its intersection with Virginia avenue. Secretary Ickes told the committee the substitute bill he offered had been prepared after conferences with various officials of the Interior De- partment and has been submitted to the Bureau of the Budget. The new bill would repeal the authoriza- tion contained in the acts of 1928 and 1929. Investigation, the Secretary said, has disclosed that removal of the old Van Ness stables and the tin garage would furnish sufficient space for the erection of the proposed building. This ‘would keep the union’s activities con- solidated within one square and would improve the appearance of that lot. The new bill also provides for pay- ment to the Pan-American Union of & sum not in excess of $45,000 to cover the cost of plans and excavations thus far made by the union on the site designated in the act of 1929. Leesburg Church Elects. LEESBURG, Va., April 7 (Special). ~—Three new vestrymen were elected at the annual meeting of St. James’ Episcopal Church here. They are Howard E. Cole, L. R. Lee and Augus- tus di Zerega, jr. Other vestrymen re-elected were 1. M. Fendall, Frank E. Saunders, W. T. Thomas, J. R. Lintner, Dr. J. A. Gibson, Dr. H. C. Littlejohn, H. H. Trundle, A. L. B. di Zerega and W. W. Chamblin. BAND CONCERT. By the Marine Band Symphony Orchestra in the auditorium at 8 p.m. Capt. Taylor Branson, conductor; William F. Santelmann, assistant, Program. Overture, “Barber of Seville”__Rossini “8Scarf Dance” from the ballet “Callirhoe” Chaminade *Gems from Gi Operas” Tarantella” John Auer. *Reve Angelique” (“Kamenoi Ostrow”) Rubinstein (a) “Canzonetta,” Opus 12, No. 4, Herbert (b) “Dance of the Clowns” from “Snegourotchka” Rimsky-Korsakow Valse de concert, “Artist's Life” Strauss Suite from the ballet “The Shoe,” Ansell (a) (b) © @) (e) “The Sabot.” “The Ballet Shoe.” “The Court Shoe.” “The Sandal.” “The Brogue.” “The Marines’ Hymn .. “The Star Spang'~d B~ Hearings | 5000 New Hampshire avenue, clerk; LH Clifton,) freedona.” mnsuuksn// CIRCL! across Rock Creek Park. EARS of nature lovers that the | sylvan beauty of Rock Creek | Park may be marred by a deep | earthen “fill” to support a new | east-west highway have been revived {by a $30,000 item in thc pending District supply bill authorizing prep- aration of preliminary plans for new ’arteml traffic routes. | In hearings on the District supply | | bill, Representative Ross Collins, | | chairman of the House District Ap- | | propriations Subcommittee, suggested | | possibility of filling in the Rock Creek | | Valley north of Klingle road, such as | was done at Massachusetts avenue, to | support a new highway. | | Officials of the National Capital | | Park and Planning Commission to- | | day expressed strong disapproval of | | such a project, declaring it would | ruin the ‘“open valley” beauty of the! park. They were joined by Capt. H. C. Whitehurst, director of thc District | Highway Department, who said he | believed construction of a “fill” might be almost as expensive as a bridge. Grades Held No Problem. i Capt. Whitehurst said that there | is a possibility that construction of a high-level highway might be found | to be unnecessary, pointing out that grades such as are encountered in | {RM‘k Creek Valley present no dim-]‘ | culties to modern automobiles. Rather than an earthen fill as a base for a highway, Capt. Whitehurst | said, he is inclined at the present time to favor construction of bridges across | the deepest depressions in the valley. | There is a possibility, he said, that it | might be feasible to have short “fills” as bases for the approaches to such bridges. If the Senate approves the $30,000 item, Capt. Whitehurst said, his first step will be to send survey crews into the park to make a complete topo- graphic survey. Until that is done no proposed plan can be discussed intelli- gently, he pointed oui. The purpose of the survey will be to establish a route for a highway con- necting Sixteenth street and Connecti- cut avenue “near or north of Klingle road.” John Nolen, jr., director of planning | of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, explains that | his commission feels that heavy fills | across stream valley parks are a detri- ment to the beauty of the park and the feeling of continuity and seclusion that those using the park have. A typical example of where the con- Map showing the locations of the proposed high level bridges | nedy streets on the east. This, Nolen | said, would eliminate the dip into ‘@he Fpen WASHINGTON, D. C, Fill for New Road Protested As Marring Rock Creek Park AR ——An w19l 163 SON ST. AD) — G = NNEDY ST, (R s e D (=4 I "“"’”/Z/\"’/"mw-lfifi ] i o | e el L S —Star Staff Artist. tinuity is interrupted, he said, is at Massachusetts avenue. From the cost standpoint, he as- serted, it may be cheaper to build a bridge, instead of constructing a heavy fill in a deep valley, such as is now suggested in the vicinity of Tilden street. Nolen pointed out that large openings would have to be left in a fill for the maximum flood flow of the stream, for the park highway and for bridle paths and at the Tilden street crossing for two park drives. The prospectlve study by Col. | Daniel I. Sultan, Engineer Commis- sioner of the District, and Whitehurst would go into the question of bridge foundations, approaches and other pertinent factors. Only when this information is available, Nolen said, will it be possible to formulate esti- mates for the trans-valley traffic artery. In 1930, Nolen recalled, the Na- tional Capital Park and Planning | Commission made a study of possible high-level crossings, north of Calvert street, where a new bridge across Rock Creek Park was recently con- structed. One suggestion was to connect Linnean avenue and Tilden street on the west, with Upshur street on the east. The second projected crossing would be at Utah avenue and Military road on the west, with Madison and Ken- the bottom of the valley in the present locatior. of Military road. The third high-level crossing would be at Western avenue, above Pinehurst Circle, connecting with Aspen street. Subsequent studies, Nolen asserted, have shown the possibility of con- necting the easterly approach at Up- shur street with the Park road bridge over Piney Branch. The Piney Branch bridge, said the director of planning, is due for reconstruction. In the case of each of these pro- jected high-level crossing, Nolen said, advantage has been taken of long spurs or ridges that extend into the valley park. Thus, he declared, the bridge construction would be a rela- tively short span above Rock Creek and the park drives. The exact loca- tions and where best to place the bridge in height will be a problem for the District's road builders to de- termine, if the Senate and President Roosevelt approve the $30,000 item. Capt. Whitehurst said he believed the proposed Western avenue-Aspen street connection “is out of the question because it is too far north.” JUDGE INPANELS NEW GRAND R Evidence Obtained in 40 Gaming Raids Will Be Presented. A new grand jury, to which will be presented the voluminous evidence ob- tained in the more than 40 recent gambling raids, was impaneled this morning for three months’ service by Justice Peyton Gordon of District Court. Albert W. Tucker, 41, 1510 Locust road, chief auditor and statis- tician of the National Geographic Society, was appointed foreman. United States Attorney Leslie C. Garnett said he would seek gambling indictments from the new grand jury as soon as his assistants finish work- ing up the evidence, which is ex- pected to support charges of a city- wide gaming conspiracy. i\ Four women hre among the new jurors. They are Mrs. Paula Chase, 61, 1713 Hobart street, housewife; Mrs. Mary M. Edwards, 29, 5333 Geor- gia avenue, housekeeper; Mrs. Marga- ret M. Harry, 33, 4517 River road, housewife, and Mrs. Rosa P. Lewis, 50, 1924 Fifteenth street, also a house- wife. y Other jurors were: Henry C. Althoff, 63, 234 Madison street, manager of the Riggs Market; Francis A. Baker, 29, 3018 Porter street, tree expert; Richard D. Bar- rett, 56, 1721 Euclid street, private ac- countant; Chester F. Bernard, 325, erman W. Bowen, 36, East ‘Terrace, clerk; Dwight E. Carlton, 40, 30 Channing street, post office clerk; Harry Ehrlich, 57, 448 Newton rplace, retired; James P. Geagan, 26, 915 Varnum street northeast, salesman; Frank (Gloodman, 62, 2132 Thirty-sec- ond street southeast, building super- intendent; Alexander F. Hagedorn, 56, 1932 Biltmore street, salesman; Robert T. Highfield, 38, 5335 Forty- second street, executive secretary of the Mount Vernon Liquidating Trust; Benjamin 8. Jackson, 35, 1374 C street northeast, salesman; George T. Long- pope, 55, 2141 Wyoming avenue, gen=- eral rate engineer; Jennings H. Racey, 25, 1438 E street southeast, window trimmer; Ernest N. Reid, jr., 41, 3644 Eleventh street, butcher; Clarence J. Russell, 48, 1821 Monroe street north- east, printing shop foreman; Fred- erick Schwab, 33, 4000 Connecticut avenue, real estate management, and Samuel E. Woll, 36, 4810 Georgia ave- nue, retail hosiery and lingerie, e 71ST ANNIVERSARY OBSERVED BY G. A. R. Department Comdr. Kline 8ays Survivors Are 8till Enthu- siastic for Cause. The seventy-first anniversary of the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic was observed yesterday with memorial services at the G. A. R. Monument, Pennsylvania avenue and Seventh street. John M. Kline, department com- mander, speaking briefly for the Union veterans, said “old as we are, and as scattered as is the little remnant of survivors, we still remain enthusiastic for the cause for which so many true Americans gave their lives that this Republic might have a new birth of bl * WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION BOOKS OVERSIGHT CUTS RELIEF FUND FOR EMPLOYABLES $40,000 Lost to_ Allotment of Aid for 10,000 Jobless in Three Months. COMMISSIONERS TO ASK $130,000 AS DEFICIENCY $1,000,000 Appropriation for Next Year Is Goal—Hidden Cash to Hire Social Workers. A relief crisis made more desperate by a bookkeeping oversight confornted the District Commissioners today 24 hours after they announced they had developed a plan to lead 10,000 impov- erished persons from the city’s “no man’s land” of relief. The oversight cut $40,000 from the $70,000 which the Commissioners an- nounced yesterday they had found in a reserve account and which could be used immediately for the relief of unemployed employables and their de- pendents. The Commissioners in addition an- nounced they were sending to the Bureau of the Budgei a request for approval of a $130,000 deficiency ap- propriation to extend aid to un- employed employables in May and June, the last two months of the current fiscal year, and that they in- tended to ask for an added $1,000,000 in the relief appropriation for next year. In pledging support of the Citizens' Emergency Committee in the Com- missioners’ appeal for the appropria- tion, Canon Anson Phelps Stokes, of the Washington Cathedral, today stated, “The determination of the Commissioners to do all in their power is clear and most commendable and they may be assured of the public support of our committee. We Wwill help also in trying to co-ordinate better the work of public and private relief agencies.” Five hours after the Commissioners acted, Elwood Street, director of pub- lic welfare, following a conference with District Auditor Daniel Donovan, announced that only $30,000 is avail- able for the relief of the 3,000 cases involving unemployed wage earners and their families—a total of 10,000 persons. Reserve Requested. Donovan pointed out that when the Board of Public Welfare received $1,400,000 for relief, exclusive of ad- ministrative expenses, last July it was required by law to set aside 5 per cent of that amount as a reserve fund. The regulations provided that no committments could be made against that reserve, Donovan said. On April 1 the Board of Public Welfare asked Donovan to release the reserve fund. Donovan and the Com- missioners, believing that the fund was unencumbered, decided to divert it to relief of the unemployed employables. After the Commissioners made their announcement, however, Street and Miss Alice Hill, director of the public assistance division of the board, revealed that budgetary com- mitments totaling $40,000 had been made against the reserve fund, and if the total amount were diverted to the employables it would have to be taken away from relief clients who are in- capacitated for any work. $10,000 Per Month Quota. The $30,000 which Street said was “squeezed out” of the remainder of the reserve fund will be distributed at the rate of $10,000 a month. “Obviously,” Street declared, “we will be able to aid only cases of the direst emergency. With 10,000 people needing help, it is obvious that $10,- 000 monthly is wholly inadequate.” Street said the $30,000 is being with representatives of the Council of Social Agencies and the Federation of Churches to determine whether volunteers who have been gathering case histories of the suffering in fam- ilies of the unemployed employables can be used to select the families who will receive meager aid from the $10,000 monthly fund. Streeft said the $30,000 is being budgeted over a three-month period because there is no assurance at this time that the Bureau of the Budget or Congress will approve the request for the $130,000 deficiency appropria- tion. Another Fund Yields $25,000. From another “hidden fund” yes- terday the Commissioners diverted $25,000 to be used in hiring additional personnel to certify unemployed em- ployables as being eligible for W. P. A. jobs. The money was found in a transient relief account. It repre- sents Federal moneys which were turned over to the District Govern- ment by the F. E. R. A. when it abandoned transient relief. This $25,000, Street said, will be used to employ 14 social workers for a six months’ period. He said he would ask the Civil Service Commission to send him a list of eligible social work- ers for appointment. Weeks of delay may be expected before the certifica- tion staff can be expected to begin to function and even then, Street pointed out, 14 workers could make only slight inroads in the 3,000 pending cases. On April 1, Street pointed out, the Board of Public Welfare had $354,000, including the reserve fund, left from the original appropriation for relief. This does not include $200,000 in the appropriation for administrative ex- penses, he said. ‘Unemployables Cut. At that time, before any question of extending relief to employables arose, Street pointed out, allowances to un- employables were cut between 10 and 15 per cent and all fuel allowances were discontinued. Even then, Street said, the board did not expect a sur- plus at the end of the fiscal year. ‘When Donovan completed his audit of the board’s account there was left $324,000 for relief of unemployables and $30,000 for employables. Street would not reveal whether fur- ther cuts will be made in the allow- ances of unemployables to make up the $30,000. 5 “We found the $30,000," Donovan explained, “in that portion of the re- serve fund against which no budgetary committments had been w WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, ny Star 1937. Society and General PAGE B—1 Cherry Blossoms Unfold Their Beauty TAX BILLS STUDY BEGINS TOMORROW IN' SUBCOMMITTEE Fund for Special Adviser First Problem Before Kennedy Group. THOROUGH SURVEY HELD NEED IN D. C. PROGRAM Maryland Representative to De- cide by Tomorrow Whether to Keep Chairmanship. BY JA ES E. CHINN. A special subcommittee of the House District Committee made preparations today to plunge into an exha study of the Collins tax increase bill Chairman Kennedy called a mee at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow for the two- fold purpose of mapping out a program of procedure and to determine whether the Federal or District Governments should bear the expense of the job A fund of $10,000 will be needed by the subcommittee, according to Ken- nedy, Yo employ a special adviser and a staff of assistants to do all the pre- liminary work. If the Federal Government pay. the bill, Kennedy pointed out, the $10,000 probably can be appropriated ou' of the contingent fund of the House and made available without delay. How- ever, should the subcommittee decide | to saddle the expense on the District, efforts will be made to have the item included in the 1938 supply bill now before the District subcommitte= of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Adviser Held Essential. Kennedy pointed out that an adviser Early morning crowd viewing the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin. (Story on Page A-1.) —Star Staff Photo. EARLY REDUCTION INP.WA. DOUBTED Definite Future Program Not Yet Mapped Out, Ickes Says. Despite the fact the Public Works Administration must undergo 2 gen- eral reorganization before long, Ad- ministrator Ickes believes that no im- mediate reduction in personnel is in sight. Due to the general let-down in the P. W. A. spending program in the past year, the administrative per- sonnel has been reduced by approxi- mately 2,000. . The future size of the Nation-wide staff, Ickes said, will depend on the nature and extent of P. W. A.'s future program. Ickes admitted that “P. W. A.'s job is done” as a recovery agency, but pointed out there is still $1,000,000,- 000 worth of projects under construc- tion which must be completed. Working Like “Artesian Well.” “P. W. A. did its job so efficiently that it is now working like an artesian well,” he said, in speaking of the for- mer “pump priming” for the durable goods industry. The effect of the President’s recent declaration of a new Federal spending policy, he said, would naturally “slow up” the P. W. A. Ickes said he has advocated and still advocates the continuance of P. W. A. in nucleus form as a means to provide recovery machinery in event of future depressions. Legislation is pending in Congress to extend its life for two years beyond June 30 and this is expected to pass Congress. Future Allotments. Future P. W. A. allotments, Ickes believed, should be confined to com- munities where there is plenty of labor that can be taken from relief rolls. Ickes received the press yesterday afternoon for the first time in his new executive offices. He said he had an “escape” elevator just outside his door. A huge basket of flowers, he said, was a gift from his division of inves- tigation. The press was escorted about the new building and Ickes invited inspec- tion of his private kitchen and dining room. The doors, however, were locked. It will take the Interior Depart- ment 40 days to finish the moving Job. Ticket on Sweeps Worth $3,000 Lost By Colored Maid, Thelma Landy Offers| $500 Reward for Missing Stub. From being one of the luckiest per- sons in town, Thelma Landy, colored, has become one of the unluckiest. On the morning of March 16 a newspaper reporter telephoned Thelma with the information that she had drawn a $3,000 lottery ticket. “Isn't it nice!” said Thelma, a maid employed by Lieut. Col. Howard Eager, 3513 Rodman street. “I'm all upset.” Thelma wasn't a fraction as upset, however, as when she went to look ifor her ticket. She couldn't find it. | Today she offered $500 to the finder | or whomever can help her obtain her | prize. | The ticket was lost, the holder be- | lieves, during a change of residence. She bought it from a stranger while working at the Home for Incurables, put it away and forgot it until the drawing in Dublin revealed she was among the winners. Doing a little | chicken counting, Thelma planned to “fix up my father’s home and help some poor folks” Then came the realization that the ticket had dis- appeared. POLICE COUR.T HEATING BILL WINS SUPPORT House Committee Reports Favor- ably on Measure to Tap Heating Plant. The House District Committee to- day favorably reported a bill author- izing the Secretary of Interior to fur- nish heat from the Government cen- tral heating plant to the new Police Court Building in Judiciary Square. ‘The District would be required to pay a reasonable fee for the service. Action was delayed by the commit- tee on a bill to regulate and control barbers. Representative Quinn, Dem- ocrat, of Pennsylvania, its sponsor, plans to offer a series of amendments to remove objections raised during re- cent hearings. Representative Palmisano, Demo- crat, of Maryland presided at the meeting in the absence of Chairman Norton, who is confined to her hotel apartment with a severe cold. Roosevelt Gets Advance Copy Of W. P. A. Guide to D. C. President Roosevelt found on his desk today a copy of “Washington: City and Capital,” a 5}2-pound vol- ume representing the most complete and up-to-date guide of the Nation's Capital that has yet been prepared. It represents the second work is- sued by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, which will be distributed for general circulation April 15. Administrator Harry L. Hopkins sent advance coples of it to the President, members of the cabinet and a select group of Government officials. Research and collection of material for this volume, of 1,141 pages, was started 14 months ago under general supervision of Henry Alsberg, director in charge of the Writers’ Project, which is undertaking a historical, economic, political and industrial his- tory of all the States of the Union. Editorial work on the Washington volume was finished December 12 when it was sent to the Government Print- ing Office, after two months of inten- sified work. Herbert Putnam, lbrarian of the Library of Congress, who received one of the first issued Wll._ the historical review of Washington could not have been improved upon. The volume will be sold at $3 when it is placed in general circulation. It is bound in black linen and is replete with splendid historical pictures as well as views of principal buildings in the District, taken by special W. P. A. photographers. LIBRARY GETS FILM Print of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” Given Folger. A complete sound print of “A Mid- summer Night's Dream,” first modern movie made from a play by William Shakespeare, was presented today to the Folger Shakespeare Library by Jacob Wilk, head of the Warner Bros.’ story and scenario department. Library officials have expressed pleasure at receiving the print, since they believe it to be representative of the transitional period in the de- velopment of sound pictures and in the pictorial treatment of Shake- speare’s plays. A D.C.SUPPLYBILL - HEARINGS DELAYED Study by Senate May Start Next Week, Thomas Indicates. BY J. A. O'LEARY. ‘With two other appropriation bills in process of revision in Senate sub- committees this week, work cn the 1938 District supply bill is not expected to start before next Tuesday, Chair- man Thomas of the District Subcom- | mittee indicated today. A definite date for the start of hearings will be announced later. Meanwhile, there is keen specula- tion as to what course the Senate will take on a serles of House provisions which transfer some municipal activ- ities from one agency to another, and | leave the appropriations for several other activities in need of clarification. Among the more important of these questions are those relating to ap- propriations for Gallinger Hospital and the Tuberculosis Sanatoria. Although the House struck out on a point of order the clause that would have transferred control over these hospitals from the Public Welfare Board to the Health Department, the maintenance money for the institutions remained in the health section of the bill. Present Control Seen Kept. One official expressed the view today that merely placing the appropriations for the hospitals under the Health Department heading in the bill would not affect the Welfare Board's present control, if the paragraphs specifically transferring jurisdiction remains out of the bill. At the same time some parliamentarians at the Capitol be- lieved the same point of order on which the transfer of control was eliminated in the House could be raised in the Senate if the clause is restored. The point of order raised in the House was that the transfer was legislation on an appropriation bill. The House bill also places the funds for medical charity work in other hospitals in the health instead of the welfare section. When the House eliminated a para- graph seeking to have the operating expenses of the Department of Vehicles and Traffic, and purchase of motor vehicle plates, financed out of the gasoline tax instead of the gen- eral fund, it had the effect of elim- inating these funds from the bill entirely. It is expected, however, the Senate will restore these items, amounting to about $96,000. As it now stands, the bill also transfers the funds for operation of | 16 playgrounds near school buildings from the Municipal Playground De- partment to the Community Center Office of the school amount involved is $97,565. Assessor’s Transfer. Another reorganization move which went through the House was the trans- fer of personnel engaged in issuing miscellaneous business licenses from the assessor’s office to the superin- tendent of weights and measures. The amount involved was $10,080. This ‘was done on the theory the inspection force of the weights and measures office could help enforce the license laws. . As a move toward empowering the superintendent of insurance to regu- late fire-insurance rates in the Dis- trict, the House bill allows $4,600 for the employment of a fire insurance rate expert. Separate legislation will have to be enacted, however, to en- able the superintendent to fix the rates. It was testified in the House hearings that the insurance super- intendent at present has no control over fire-insurance rates. A similar item was the allowance of $13,040 for four new positions in the corporation counsel’s office, with a view to haying the District handle bonds required in the courts, the fees for such bonds to be collected by the city as a new source of revenus. The system. The | to the subcommittee is esser fa | thorough study is to be m: of the | merit of the various tax bills as well as the proposed reorganization of the | District Government. He plans to give | the job to William A. Roberts, former | people’s counsel The subcommittee was created origi- | nally to analyze the Jacobs fiscal rela- | tions plan which has been scrapped as | & result of the action of the House in continuing the $5.000,000 lump-sum Federal payment toward District ex- penses for the coming fiscal year. Since the Jacobs report recommended a new tax program to offset the antici- pated deficit in District revenues in the 1938 fiscal year, as well as reorganiza- tion of the municipal government in the interest of efficiency and economy, the subcommittee will devote its atten- tion chiefly to these two proposals Some of the Collins tax bills follow so closely proposals in the Jacobs re- port for raising additional revenue that all the measures making up the new program have been referred to the subcommittee To Decide on Chairmanship. Kennedy also plans to reach a defi- nite decision before the meeting to- morrow on whether to continue as the subcommittee chairman or relin- quish the assignment to Representa- tive Nichols, Democrat, of Oklahoma. Engrossed in the work of the Mer- chant Marine Committee and the Claims Committee, of which he is chairman, Kennedy feels he will not have sufficient time to devote to the impending study of the tax bills, as well as the proposed reorganization | of the District government | Aside from Kennedy and Nichols, | the subcommittee is composed of Rep- | resentatives McGehee of Mississippi |and Allen of Delaware, Democrats, | and Dirksen of Illinois and Cole of New York, Republicans Kennedy and Nichols were chair- men of the two subcommittees created early in the present session of Con- | gress to study the Nichols report. These subcommittees were dissolved after two joint hearings and the new subcommittee created Nichols is familiar with the detais of the Jacobs report and believes it has “some good features” which should be considered by the new subcom- mittee. He agrees with Kennedy, how- ever, that no new tax legislation should be enacted with a view to building up a surplus of District reve- nues, but that the Collins program should be shaved down. POLICE BOARD TRIAL ESCAPED BY W'GRATH Failure of Complaining Witnesses to Prosecute Results in With- drawal of Charges. Failure of the complaining witness to prosecute today resulted in with- drawal of four charges involving the practice of law against Officer Wil- liam H. McGrath when he appeared before the Police Trial Board. McGrath, now attached to the ninth precinct, formerly served as clerk of the Police Court branch of the cor- poration counsel's office. His re- moval from the latter job was effected after the charges were placed against him, Assistant Corporation Counsel Matt Mahorner, jr., made the motion for dismissal of the charges, announcing it was with the approval of the Dis- trict Commissioners, McGrath was represented by Attorney James A. O'Shea. Concerning the possibility of Mc= Grath being returned to his old Po- lice Court post, Police Supt. Ernest W. Brown said today: “There is no longer a vacancy.” McGrath was to face the Trial Board on charges of making an un- truthful statement before a court; conduct prejudicial to the reputation, good order and discipline of the police force; performing legal services for compensation in violation of police regulations and accepting employ- ment which interfered with the proper performance of police duties. item would allow for a bonding com- missioner, two assistants and a stenog= rapher. In this case, also, however, a separate enabling act will have to be passed before the municipal bond- ing plan could be put into effect. Members of the Senate subcom- mittee probably will wait until Dis- trict officials appear at the hearings next week before giving any detailed study to these various new proposals lnth‘pendhul‘n.