Evening Star Newspaper, July 22, 1937, Page 21

DG HEADSSEEKING $389.000 AS SHARE IN CHANNEL WORK Propose to Ask Inclusion of Item in Third De- ficiency Bill. MARKHAM INSISTS CITY BEAR PORTION OF COST Money Must Be Put Up Before U. S. Will Allocate Any Out of Rivers, Harbors Measure. The District Commissioners are | proposing to ask that an item of $389.000 be included in the third deficiency bill for improvement of the ‘Washington Channel water front. This was learned today, after it de- veloped that Maj. Gen. Edward M. Markham, chief of Army engineers, has declined to recede from his posi- tion that the District must put up its share of the $1.650,000 Washington | Channel water front program before the Federal Government will allocate any money out of the omnibus tivers and harbors measure. The District's share is $389.000. Although the projects pertaining to | the District of Columbia were not | planned until the third year of the | eight-year program, spokesmen for the | Federal Government take the position that the District must follow the gen- | eral rule that local interests must first put their cash on the table before Uncle Sam starts moving with money and materials. Officials of the House Appropriations Committee said today the third de- ficiency bill is slated to be introduced “toward the end of the session.” No definite date has yet been set for this. Maj. Walter D. Luplow, District | engineer for the War Department in the Washington area, plans on spend- ing $285.000 in the first year's pro- gram. This will include erection of | & yacht sales and service building and | construction of part of the four yacht basins. and later a new police and fire | department wharf will be built, as| well as provisions for docking sizable | commercial steamers here. ALLIANCE PLANNING ‘JOB MARCH’ ON D. C. Trek Next Month to ‘Protest W. P. A Layoffs—Lasser Asks Shelter in Tents. The Workers’ Alliance of America has announced plans for a “national job march” on Washington next month as a protest against W. P. A. layoffs. The announcement was made in & statement by David Lasser, president of the alliance, issued from national headquarters, 1211 I street. He de- clared the marchers will arrive August 23 from all parts of the country. The War Department will be asked to provide shelter for the marchers in the “tented city” recently used by the Boy Scouts for their jamboree, Lasser sgid. The marchers will “demand” pas- sage of the Schwellenbach-Allen joint resolution against further W. P. A. discharges unless those dismissed can find jobs in private industry. Increases in pay of W. P. A. workers also will be requested. BERRY QUI QUITS OFFICE WITH LABOR GROUP News of Resignation as Head of Non-Partisan League Is Disclosed. News seeped out today of the resig- nation two months ago of Senator George L. Berry of Tennessee as presi- dent of Labor's Non-Partisan League, organized last Summer as a political bulwark for President Roesevelt “I felt that the duties of my new | office as Senator demanded most of | my time,” Berry explained. He was appointed Senator May 5, after the death of Senator Bachman. Eli Oliver, executive vice president of the league, has been directing the league’s activities. NEW YORK MUSICIANS TO GIVE CONCERT HERE Will Direct Group of Jobless Artists Here Tomorrow. Guiseppe Creatore, at one time con- eidered one of the great bandmasters of the country, will lead a group of unemployed New York musicians in 8 free public concert in Lincoln Park, Eleventh and East Capitol streets, from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow. For the past two years Creatore has been working on a W. P. A. project in New York. The 80 other musicians taking part in the Jeoncert all were dismissed recently from various W. P. A. projects there because of a cut in the fund allotments. Several years ago Creatore led his famous military band in a series of stage and radio concerts in the East. He also conducted a successful concert series in Washington at the Rialte Theater. BILL FROWNED ON ‘The Commissioners reported un- favorably to the House District Com- mittee today on a bill proposing to incorporate all life-saving organiza- tions in the country into the United Btates Life-Saving Corps. The or- ganization proposed to prevent loss of life by drowning and to save per- sonal property from maritime and flood disasters. ‘The bill listed 21 incorporators, none of whom, the Commissioners said, is Pationally known. The Commission- ers.also declared there is no need for the proposed corporation, since its ob- Jectives are covored by the Coast Gl?rd and the American Red Cross. Guiseppe Creatore | get With a card in his poc resident service of the Publ the man stranded without ton finds a refuge at the House, 310 Third street. @b WASHINGTON, D. C, TUNICIPAY LOIGING HOUSIS ket from the non- ic Welfare Division, money in Washing- from high Municipal Lodging since 1895 AIRPORT PROTEST HEARINGS 10 OPEN |House Naval Affairs Group to Weigh Criticism of Camp Springs Site. Public hearings on the Navy De- | partment protest against the proposed | construction of a District airport at Camp Springs, Md., will begir. oefore the Aeronautics Subcommittee of the| House Naval Affairs Committee at | 10:30 am. tomorrow, it was an- nounced today by Chairman Delaney of New York. The subcommittee has invited rep- resentatives of the Navy, the District Airport Commission and other inter- ested parties to appear before it in the first public airing of views on the Camp Springs proposal. The Navy protest, delivered by Admiral William Leahy, chief of naval operatins and Acting Secretary of the Navy, is based on the contention that Camp Springs is too close to the! $1,000,000 naval radio station at Cheltenham, Md. Ignition interfer- ence from airplanes passing over the station at low altitude would interfere with radio operation and the 350- foot’radic masts proposed at Chelten- ham would constitute a hazard to aircraft in bad weather, the Navy contends. Benjamin King, local sportsman pilot and holder of eight world avia- tion records, is expected to take a leading role in the defense of the Camp Springs site. He characterized the Navy theory of ignition inter- ference as “absurd,” said that the Navy is mistaken in its estimate of the distance of the landing area of the proposed site from Cheltenham | and held that the hazard presented by radio towers is minimized by their distance from the fleld and the fact that they are to stand on much lower ground than Camp Springs. LABORER, 62, CARRYING 90 BILLION NOTES HELD Under Observation at Gallinger After Demanding Cash From Treasury. Unsuccessful yesterday in trying to cash for what he said was $90.000,000.000 worth of promissory notes at the Treasury Department, Harry B. Bender, 62, an itinerant la- borer, was under observation at Gal- linger Hospital today. L. P. Sturm, District sanitary offi- cer, who had Bender taken to the hospital at request of Treasuty offi- cials, said the man offered him $1,000,000 for help in collecting what he claimed was due him. Bender carried a satchel containing stacks of “notes” and an account book list- ing his ‘“debtors,” principally the Government. Gallinger physicians had not com- pleted examination of Bender this morning. BAND CONCERTS. By the Soldiers’ Home Band at the bandstand at 7 o'clock tonight. John S. M. Zimmermann, bandmaster; Anton Pointner, assistant. Program. March, “March Blue”. Overture “Spiritual Rivers' Entr'acte (a) “Elsa’s Dream “Lohengrin”) (b) “Elsa Entering the Cathedral,” ‘Wagner Scenes from the grand opera, “Gabriella” Popular numbers, the Sugar Cane”_ “Dancing With the Daffodils”_Little Waltz suite, “Kauffman’s Casino Gungl Finale, “Hercules”_. Losey “The Star Spangled Banner.” By the Marine Band at the Marine Barracks auditorium at 11 am. to- morrow. Capt. Taylor Branson, leader; William F. Santelmann, second leader. Program. “The Marines’ Hymn.” March, “The Presidential Review,” Hoyer Waltz, “Ciribiribin” -Pestaloza Baritone saxophone ‘solo, “My Regards” ____ -Llewellyn (Musician Felix Eau Claire.) Badinage, “Musical Snuff Box”_Liadow Intermezzo, “Little Blond" Rohde Suite No. 1, “Peer Gynt _Grieg Bassoon solo, “Rondo”. Langey (Musician William Koch.) Danza, “Zingaresca”. Cur: Excerpts from “Fifth Symphony,” “Song of the Bay Slumber music from “Hansel and “Viatava,” from “My Fatherland,” Smetana Hymn, “O, My Father”__McGranahan “The Star Spangled Banner.” éwnea. WEAKNESS SHOWN Case Workers in Certifica- tion Task Reveals Tragic Plight of Many. | Tragic weaknesses in the Dl.smcu‘ unemployment relief program were en- \ | countered by case workers under the | $55,000 fund made available last April by Commissioner George E. Allen tor‘ the certification of unemployed em- ployables to W. P. A. rolls, according to Miss Alice M. Hill, director of public | assistance, Board of Public Welfare. ‘The division received 3,133 applica- tions for certification from jobless em- | ployable people and extended imme- diate aid to 1,377 of them, Miss Hill said in a report yesterday. | “A survey of this employable load.” | she reported, “revealed the pathetic need of many persons for either work relief, temporary care or intensive case work treatment. It shows definitely that certification to W. P. A. solves only part of the problem presented by the unemployed. It does not serve those employable persons needing only | temporary care during some crisis nor | does it admit the need of many fam- ilies for continued treatment after certification or even after assignment to jobs. Need Rehabilitation Program. “The problem shows very clearly the | need for a program of rehabilitation of relief in addition to wholesale certi- fication and assignment to work. Ve-| nereal disease and tuberculosis were the chief health problems encoun- | tered. While such diseases are infec- tious these people should not be em- ployed, but the period during which treatment is necessary is much longer in many families and such treatment should be supervised.” The special fund was exhausted on | June 25, Miss Hill reported and before that time 536 employable persons were certified to the W. P. A. for assign- ment. Their names were added to the list of 600 employables already await- ing’ assignment and none of them got Jobs. “The experience during the period that funds were available has proved anew how regretable it is that there are no funds for relief and the re- habilitation program on a stable basis for employable persons in need of as- sistance,” Miss Hill said. “The short period in which funds were available was a rather bitter experience in mnny‘ ways. It built up such false hopes in the minds of needy people that they could again have some feeling of se- curity and protection only to have such hopes dashed in a few weeks. The temporary help without a doubt helped some families to reach an ad- justment on a basis of which they could become self supporting, but there are many more for whom the future holds little hope.” Otto J. Cass, District W. P. A. dep- uty administrator, pointed out that the District is limited to a quota of 6,000 W. P. A, jobs. The quota is filled now, he said, and there are 1,400 persons whose projects expired awalting reassignment. In addition there are 1,180 persons certified in need of work relief who are awaiting their initial assignment. Miss Hill reported that 26 per cent of the familles to whom immediate aid was extended under the $55,000 fund had never received relief pre- viously. The average amount of reliet to a family over the whole period from April 7 to June 25 was $21.78, Miss Hill reported. COLORED RESIDENTS PROTEST RAZINGS Alley Dwelling Authority Action on Apartments Is Criticized. Colored citizens of the West End last night protested the Alley Dwell- ing Authority’s action in razing col- ored dwellings in that section and replacing them with model apart- ments to be tenanted by white persons. Ninety-four homes of colored per- sons were torn down to make way for the A. D. A. structures, Edward F. Harris said at a meeting of the Lincoln Citizens’ Association in the Liberty Baptist Church, Twenty-Third and E streets. E. F. Harris, Rev. T. W. Alstorks, Rev. Hampton T. Gaskins, Dr. Henry Heath, William I. Lee and Mary Ma- son Jones were named to a committee to present the association’s side of the problem to the Alley Dwelling Authority. The association protested also that notifications of deaths of colored persons at Gallinger Hospital are brought to the decedents’ homes by undertakers. The group felt that such news should be brought by the | money, | to sleep? | ington recently. | ticing medicine in New England, but ¢ Foen Wlfl( SUNDAY MORNING EDITION ing Staf His name, age and home address go into the records along with thousands of others and low stations in life who have been cared for at the public lodging house THURSDAY, JULY 22, After helping to wash the dishes to pay for a wholesome supper, he gets a chance to look over the newspapers in comfort hefter lhan a park bench, mwway. JOBLESS RE”EF iMumapal Lodging House Aids Men Stranded Without Money ‘What happens to the man who gets stranded in Washington, with no nothing to eat and no place Many such men—about 35 each day during temporary refuge at the Municipal Lodging House, 310 Third street. There they get a clean bed and two whole- some meals a day while they are looking for a job or scraping together the money to get to the town where they may have a job And surprisingly few of these men dovn on their luck are of the rourder” or hobo type that jammed lodging houses of the cities a few years ago, Supt. Henry A. Koch said today. There was the physician from the ‘West who ran out of money in Wash- He had begun prac- his wife contracted tuberculosis and they moved to Arizona. She died there. The doctor spent all of his money taking the body back to the old home in New England flat broke when he got as far as Washington on the way back to his | business in Arizona. With nowhere else to turn, the dbc- the Summer—are finding a | | eat He was | tor went for help to the non-resident | service of the Public Welfare Divi- sion. There he was sent to the munic- ipal Lodging House, where he stayed three nights while the relief officials verified his story and bought him a railroad ticket to Arizona. When he left, he took with him enough food from the lodging house to until he got home. Koch recalled another “guest” who exhibited unusual gall in writing from New Orleans for ‘“reservations” at the lodging house a few days be- fore he hitch-hiked his way here. But this 50-year-old man had a Gov- ernment job and only wanted a place to stay until his first pay day. The lodging house took care of him for two weeks. Most of the men applying for the free board, of course, are down-and- out laborers. Many get stranded live on | looking for a job and are given a ticket home after spending a few days at the lodging house. Others come here to a job, but have to live on the city until their first pay day. Some are veterans who run out of money while here to see about a pen- | sion or disability pay. A group of youngsters were taken care of last| week until their places in a nearby | C. C. C. camp opened up. The aver-, age lodger is about 35 years old and remains six days The lodging house first was fltab- lished in 1866 by a private citizen “old | who was moved to such action by the stream of discharged Civil War soldiers coming through Washington penniless and pegging something to and a place to sleep. It was taken over as a public charity in 1895 Now financed by congressional ap- propriation, the lodging house spends $4,000 a year for maintenance—food, | heat, light, laundry, etc. Its meals, cost an average of 7 cents each. Itj can take care of 50 men a night,| and usually is full during the meer with a slump in Summer time. The meals are varied. There al- ways is & meat and two vegetables, | bread and coffee for supper. For breakfast, there are prunes and eggs one morning and cereal with milk and fruit the next. Beds are clean, with | resh linen. Each lodger has to take a bath before going to bed and is giv- en a clean nightshirt while his clothes are put through a fumigator. All this costs the down-and-outer nothing in money. He pays for his keep with a little work each day, | making his bed, sweeping the floor or washing dishs 1937. Not for some years has an appli- cant for the free lodging refused to take a bath. “But 10 years ago,”| Koch said, “we had to turn away two or three men nearly every night be- cause they wouldn't bathe. Most of | them were afraid of the water—afraid | it would give them a cold. Now, with the disappearance of the ‘old round- ers' we are getting higher type men.| just emporarily down on their luck.” SHENANDOAH PARK NEEDS SOUTH ROAD Full Development of Public Facilities Delayed—Big Meadows Unit Speeded. Full development of public facilities at Shenandoah National Park will have to await the construction of tre highway in the southerly section of the park, some two years hence. This was announced today by Arno B. Cammerer, director of the Na- tional Park Service, who has just re- turned from an inspection trip. The concessionaire will shortly start the construction of a development at Big Meadows in the central pertion of the park that will comprise cabins and eating facilities, Cammerer explained. Public demand for facilities in Shenandoah National Park will not become stabilized until the section of the park from Swift Run Gap to ‘Waynesboro, Va., has been plarced in commission, the park chief said. He explained that care will have to be taken not to concentrate to) many, facilities in a section of the park, where public demand does not meas- ure up. Cammerer ascertained on his trip that while business is growing in Shenandoah National Park, it reaches its peak over the week ends. From January 1 to July 3, the park chief - has been advised that there has heen a 68 per cent increase in patronage. Whereas there were 335018 persons visiting the park last year up to July 3, in the same period this year, there have been 561,901 visitors. Shenandoah National Park has been constructed in three sections—from Front Royal, Va., to Panorama, Va.; the second section from Panorama to Swift Run Gap and the third section from the Gap to Waynesboro, Va. Highway construction in the park has now been completed from Front Royal to Swift Run Gap and it is now pos- sible to travel over an improved road along the mountain’s crest with scenic views on either hand. Southward from Swift Rur Gap, grading is being accomplishcd and crushed rock surfacing is being placed along the highway, which will extend in this section some 30 miles. Keiser and Carl to Speak. Hugh V. Keiser, president of the Central Business Men's Association, and Fred Carl will be the speakers tomorrow at the weekly luncheon meeting of the Washington Round Tabie Olub at 13:30. T CITY NEWS IN BRIEF. TODAY. Commencement, Strayer Mayflower Hotel, 8:30 p.m. College, Dinner, Federal Bureau of Investi- gation, Mayflower Hotel, 8 p.m. TOMORROW. Luncheon, Reciprocity Club, May- flower Hotel, 12:30 p.m. Luncheon, District Bankers' Asso- | ciation, Willard Hotel, 12:45 p.m. Excursiun District Court, No. 212, atholic Daughters of America, steamer City of Washington, 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. TUBERCULAR CAMP GIFTS AID CHILDREN 27 Enabled to Take Treatment to Stop Disease—More Funds Needed. Contributions from generous Wash- ingtonians have enabled 27 tubercular children to go to the District Tuber- culosis Association’s health camp since it opened two weeks ago with funds to care for only 60 youngsters, Mrs. Ernest R. Grant, managing direc- tor of the association, said tocay. Mrs. Grant said $12 received today boosted the total donations to $2,218, including a balance of $31 toward the care of another child. With $70 re- quired to pay the expenses of each for the remaining seven weeks nf the camp period, only $39 more is needed 1 enable the eighty-eighth child to go to camp. ‘The receipts today included $2 sent through The Star by an anonymous reader and another $2 which the donor wrote “is the youngsters’ per- centage of the winnings in a poker game Saturday night.” All the children admitted to the camp on Bald Eagle Hill are suffering from tuberculosis in the early stages, which in most cases can be perma- nently cured by the treatment provided there. Nearly 300 are on the waiting list. DELEGATES SELECTED Bunker Hill Post Names Those to District Convention. Bunker Hill Post, No. 31, American Legion, announced yesterday its dele- gates to the convention of the District Department, to be held August 12 to 14. They are: Commander, Grover W. Tribble; first vice commander, Mack Myers; second vice commander, Her-' bert F. Audas; third vice commander, William Lee Collins, and adjutants, L. J. P. Fichthorn, R. A. Eichhorn and Thomas Popham Roysipn. ¥H¥ Then, night's sleep in a ter; about 35 of night. with a big yawn, ready for a good the lodging usually are full during the Win- clean bed. The 50 beds at them in use each Summer —Star Staff Photos. SEVEN AGQUITTED IN BONDING TRIAL Jury Out Only 40 Minutes Before Finding for Defendants. By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. UPPER MARLBORO, Md., July 22.! —Disregarding the State's final plel that future Maryland justice would be | governed by the verdict, a Prince Georges County jury late yesterday | acquitted seven men who had stood trial more than a week on charges of conspiracy in an alleged racket” torists. The jury of 12 men deliberated only | 40 minutes before returning in favor | of the defendants—a former justice of | the peace, a professionsl bondsman, four county policemen and a desk sergeant at the Hyattsville police sta- | tion. In its closing arguments the defense, led by Lansdale G. Sasscer, president of the Maryland State Senate, told the jurors no evidence of conspiracy had been introduced and played heavily on the testimony of character Witnesses, including H. C. Byrd, Maryland University president, who | had vouched for the reputation of the defendants. Exonerated Defendants. Those exonerated were former Hy- attsville Magistrate Herbert J. Moffat, Elmer Pumphrey, Suitland, Md., bondsman; Frank Bell, attsville police station desk clerk, and Warren Peake, Claude Reese, Albert Anderson and Arthur Brown, former | county officers. When the trial started July 12, two other county policemen, Howard Slater and Maurice Hampton, were among the defendants, but charges against them were nolle prossed by State’s Attorney Alan Bowie when witnesses failed to appear to testify against them. While the acquitted officers are now eligible to apply for their old jobs, no vacancies exist on the pres- ent county force. Under a new county law applicants must pass a physical and mental test. Pay Was Suspended. Pay of the former officers stopped when they were suspended after in- dictment. No move has been made to obtain compensation for them up to the time the old police set-up in the county expired June 1. At the office of the county commissioners, which handles the salaries of all employes, it was said no such effort is contemplated. All nine were indicted by a grand | jury last December after a lengthy investigation, instigated by the Key- stone Automobile Club, into what it charged was a system of defrauding motorists. The arraignment of the men was made under a blanket in- dictment. There are still individual indictments outstanding, but whether they will be pressed has not been decided by Bowie. ‘The case was given to the jury at 2:55 p.m. after the defense had rounded out its presentation by plac- ing Anderson, Reese, Brown and Bell on the stand to deny they were guilty of irregularities. Police Judge Is Called. As a rebuttal witness the State in- troduced Hyattsville Police Court Judge George B. Merrick, who refuted statements by Moffat that he (Moffat) had modified charges in two speeding cases after J. Wilson Ryon, late Mary- land attorney, had informed him the court had so ordered. In their closing addresses, defense counsel, including, besides Sasscer, Frank Hall, Thomas Van Clagett and CGeorge Burroughs, contended that if the mechanics of handling traffic cases —methods of keeping records, etc.— were at fault, it was up to those who make the laws to rectify them. Ogle Marbury, who assisted Bowie as special prosecutor, in his final ad- dress, referred to the mention of Ryon’s name by witnesses, saying: “As a fellow member of the bar, I per- sonally resent statements made on this witness stand that, in four cases-which could not be explained in any other way, that Mr. Ryon did it. He was an honored and reputable citizen and member of the bar. He is dead and unable to appear here to defend him- self.” SET SPECIAL RATE The Communications Commission said today the Western Union Tele- graph Co. has offered Washington tourists special reduced rates of 25 cents per message on “Wish you were here” greetings to the home folk. The commission said the Western Union has prepared a list of 14 se- lected messages of this nature, which may be sent to any point in the United States. , “bonding | for mulcting Washington ma-‘ | transferred to the Civil Service Com- | former Hy- | BROOKINGS URGES MERIT EXTENSION Report to Byrd Group Rec- ommends Covering Bulk of U. S. Workers. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Extension of the merit system to cover the bulk of Government em- | ployes not now under it, with a com- | petent personnel officer for each de- partment or bureau, is recommended by the Brookings Institution in a re- port made public today by Chairman | Byrd of the Senate Reorganization Committee. Three other recommendations are: That administration of the com- | pensation act for Federal and Distric| employes be left with the Employes’ | Compensation Commission and not be mission. That the Federal Personnel Coun- cil be given statutory recognition and | & small research staff. That the Civil Service Commission enlist the co-operation of the scien- tific, technical and professional bu- reaus in giving and grading exami- nations in their respective fields, at least until it can greatly strengthen its examining corps. Meanwhile, Secretary Ickes today went on record as favoring placing of full power in the hands of the Presi- | dent to reorganize the executive | branch of the Government, subject to the veto power of Congress. Ickes said he thought the suggestion to alter the status of the controller general was one of the best made. He declared that this official should be made an auditor and should not be permitted to become “a little extra Congress or perhaps a Supreme Court.” | He added that he did not see why the controller general should interpret the | laws and block project already passed | upon by Congress. Ickes reiterated his belief that there | should be a new Department of Public Works. He was quick to add that | there should also be a change in the name of the Department of Interior, over which he presides, and it should be called what it has been in effect for years—a Department of Conserva- tion. The Brookings recommendations are in sharp conflict with the Presi- dent's Advisory Committee report and the provisions of the omnibus reor- ganization bill presented by the late Senate Majority Leader Robinson which called for abolition of the Civil Service Commission and substitution of & single “administrator.” Part of Report. This report is the tenth chapter in the survey being made by the Brook- ings Institution under contract with the committee of which Senator Byrd of Virginia is chairman. It is con- fined to consideration of overlapping, duplication and simplification in the existing personnel system of the Gov- ernment, The report discusses: (a) Agencies under the civil service act of 1883; (b) old civilian agencies having, in part at least, distinctive personnel systems; and (¢) new temporary and emer- gency agencles not under the civil service act. It explains that an ex- tended discussion of integration of so-called personnel control agencies is not presented because that problem lies in the fleld of the President’s Com- mittee on Administration Manage- ment. No recommendations, therefore, are made regarding possibilities of simplification and co-ordination through radical change in overhead organization. The recommendations made in this report are said to be based on the as- sumption that the central personnel agencies are to be left essentially as at present. Recrvit Duplication. It emphasizes that some of the newer organizations are not subject to civil service, and do their own re- cruiting. This system leads to over- lapping and duplication, as candidates naturally apply wherever there is a chance, even if that means applying at five or six different agencies. The re- port urges that “all should apply at one central agency.” It is pointed out that under pressure an administrative officer may create an unnecessary position to take care of | & particular individual who has the | requisite influence. Most of the pres- sure is removed if a position, when created, must be filled from a civil | service register.” No effort is made in the report to repeat the familiar arguments in favor of the merit system and the career service as opposed to the spoils system and rotation in office. It is stated, however, that at present many valuable employes have no protective civil service status and are regarded as political appointees. In a change of administration many of these would be removed, although they could have satiafied efvil -m,u requirements. | not be caught | the sewer.regulations up to date. | street southwest, Society and General PAGE B—1 SLAUGHTER HOUSE FACES TIGHTENING OF SEWER CODE Seal Seeks Weak Spots for Revision as Protective Measure. OLD LAW MAY BLOCK LICENSE TO OPERATE Anti-Pollution Statute Could Be Invoked in Violations, Says Corporation Counsel. Corporation Counsel Elwood H. Sea! declared today. there was an appa t need of overhauling local plumbing and sewer regulations with a view to tightening them up” as a protec- tive measure against the threat of large scale slaughter house and stock= vards operations in Benning, which District officials still are trying to block. He said he would take steps to ex= amine existing regulations in order to ascertain any “weak holes” that might require the attention of the Commissioners. Seal reminded that the neglect of the zoning regulations over a period of 17 years had left the District practi- cally at the mercy of the Adolf Gobel Co, the New York meat packers tn which the Commissioners fimally wera compelled to issue a building permit He indicated '.hat the District would “napping” again The Public Health Service report on the slaughter house plans forced public attention to possible pollution of Piney Run, which flows through the Gobel site in Benning and emp- ties into the Anacostia stream. Seal dug up a 39-year-old statute which he believes would be effective in withe holding an operating permit or withe drawing such a permit if pollution from the slaughtering plant is shown. Beal Says Law Plain. Seal said today that if the issuance of an operating license to the Gobel Co. comes to a head, he will advise the Commissioners to withhold or re- use it if there is any indication that waste from the slaughter house would | pollute Piney Run or the Anacostia River. The law is plain in its intene tions, he explained, and could be ine voked, It provides a fine of $10 or not more than $100 for every day of violation, or imprisonment for not more than Six months if the fine or fines are not paid. There was danger also, Seal ree minded, that the “overloading” of the District's $4,125,000 sewage dise posal plant by excessive slaughter house waste might make it necessary to build a secondary treatment sys- tem. An extension of this kind, he said, would cost nearly $2.000,000, a prohibitive price under the existing | state of the District's finances Because of the early operation of the disposal plant, the corporation counsel said that every precaution should be taken at this time to bring The zoning regulations were not overhauled to provide safeguards against nuisance ries of all kinds, until after the Gobel building permit was issued. It was a case, officials said then. of “locking the stable door after the horse was stolen.” To Confer With Senators. Seal said that he would endeavor to consult today with Chairman King of the BSenate District Committee and Senator McCarran of Nevada on the anti-nuisance bill, which is still actually before a subcommittee. Sen- ator McCarran was the chairman that held hearings for several days last May. It is the purpose of the corporation counsel to get the subcommittee consent to reopen the hearings, which were not completed, either before th session closes or during the Summe: recess. The actian of Chairman Palmisano vesterday in suspending further re- gular meetings of the House District Committee killed final hope of reviving the anti-nuisance bill, which had been strangled effectively in committee. Th~ only hope of completing the record of the public hearings, Seal said, now rests with the McCarran subcommittee or the full Senate committee. Seal said he wanted an opportunity to cross-examine Frank M. Firor, presi- dent of the Gobel Co., on the undis- closed financial arrangements involved in the purchase of the site in Benning Firor was not president of the Gobel Co. at the time of the Senate hearing but the former president of the firm had intended to testify before it ended. Firor made a statement to the House committee which only went partially into the financiai transaction involved It is important, in Seal's opinion, to get at the bottom of the matter since the Gobel firm first claimed a $1,400,000 investment in Benning, but finally told the House committee it would be satisfled with a $300.000 compensation if driven out of Wash- ington. MAN INJURED AS AUTO STRIKES PARKED TRUCK Driver Also Suffers Bruises Crash—Youth, 19, Sitting on Bumper Is Hurt. William Orbaugh, 42, of 1415 Cha- pin street was painfully injured last night when the car in which he was riding struck a parked truck in the 4500 block of Benning road. His face was cut, and his nose may have been broken. Jack Sikes, 23, of 433 Sixth street southwest, driver of the car, suffered bruises. Both were treat- ed at Casualty Hospital. Sitting on the bumper of a parked truck, James Crockett, 19, of 474 H suffered a broken right foot yesterday when the driver returned to his machine and started it up without noticing the boy, po= lice reported. Crockett was treated at Providence Hospital. The truck, operated by James Dorsey, 39, colored. of 1828 Seventh street was parked at Fourth street and Maryland ave- nue southwest. Six other persons received hos= pital treatment for minor traffic ine Juries yesterday and last night. \ in