Evening Star Newspaper, March 27, 1940, Page 7

Officials Defend Decrease in Realty Assessments Here Valuations Too High Before 1934, Budget Hearing Is Told Members of the House District Appropriations Subcommittee voiced “amazement” on finding that realty assessments of taxable properties in the District now have a lower total than they had eight years ago, it was revealed today with publication of hearings on the 1941 municipal budget. Assessor Edward A. Dent and Jo V. Morgan, sole member of the Dis- trict Board of Tax Appeals, both » Were questioned closely by various members of the Caldwell confhittee for explanation of the lack of a con- siderable rise in assessed values. The two officials, with some help from Maj. Daniel J. Donovan, Dis- trict auditor and budget officer, declared their belief property asses: ments here had been held too high prior to 1934, that some properties still were assessed at more than the sales value, that land and im- provements of great value had been taken out of taxation by acquisition by the United States. Tables Put in Record. Apparently not satisfied, Subcom- Art. Service, looks on. EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, MOVED UP FOR ART’S SAKE—Sterling P. Eagleton, superintendent of the Interior Department buildings since 1936, today was promoted to building superintendent of the National Gallery of His broad knowledge of air conditioning will be put to use in the installation of equipment to protect the priceless masterpieces placed in the new gallery. W. E. Reynolds (left), commis- sioner of public buildings, is shown congratulating Mr. Eagleton at a luncheon given in his honor at the Interior Department yesterday. A. E. Demaray, associate director of the National Parks —Star Staff Photo. mittee Chairman Caldwell inserted into. the record a series of tables showing comparative assessment figures between some years in the | past decade, figures showing the numbers and values of new im- provements, estimated values of properties taken out of taxation and . comparisons between tax rates and | assessments here with those in 11 | other cities of populations between | 300.000 and 500.000. | The latter figures were taken from a table compiled by the Detroit Bu- reau of Governmental Research from » data furnished by city officials and members of the Governmental Re- search Association, the report said. | Figures which particularly drew fire from committee members were: ‘That assessments for land and build- ings totaled $1.226.000,000 in 1932. whereas the sum was $1.211,000,000 | for this year (Assessor Dent report- | ing the total for the next fiscal year would be some $1,228.000.000); that whereas realty taxes in 1929 amount- | ed to $19.346.984, the total for 1939 was but relatively little higher, being $20,918,546. U. S. Property Value Rises. | In connection with the latter point, it was explained that the tax rate in 1929 was $1.70 per $100 of value as against $1.75 in 1939. Mr Dent also explained that the valua- tion of United States property, tax exempt, was $500.000.000, whereas it now has been increased to Tax Appeals Board Setup Crificized By Subcommittee Change in System of Valuation Reviews By One Man Urged Outspoken criticism of the' set- up of the District’s one-man Board ot Tax Appeals—which had been praised by civic representatives at the Commissioners’ hearings on pro- posals for municipal reorganization —was registered by the House Dis- trict Appropriations Subcommittee in its report made today to the House. Florida, said: “In recommending $14,040 for the Board of Tax Appeals, which is the amount of the current appropria- tion, the committee wishes to call attention to the fact that this board is composed of a single member The committee, headed by Rep- | resentative Caldwell, Democrat, of | | $669.000.000. When Mr. Caldwell asked Mr. «Dent whether he took the position that the value of privately-owned | land in the District was reduced nearly $50,000.000 between 1932 and 1939, Mr. Dent replied: “I would say there has been a reduction in value over that seven-vear period, be- cause in 1932 it was generally con- | *gidered and known that assessments | were too high. That is the reason | & “general reduction was made in | 1934 by the Board of Equalization| and Review. They were swamped | with appeals and in a great number of cases could not justify the assess- ments based on the sales.” Mr. Dent drew a distinction be- | tween assessments for those years and the real values of the properties. | voicing belief the real values had | not declined, but that assessments| were lowered because it was found | the assessments had been too high | When Mr. Morgan was called to the stand and asked to give his opinion on property values and assessments, he declared: “My ex- perience on the Board of Tax Ap- peals of a year and a half is that| the property in the District is assessed at from 120 to 125 per cent. | . and in some instances 150 per cent | of its value. * * * I think even at| forced sales it is assessed 100 per | cent of its value. In business sec- | tions, not at forced sales, but at an | ordinary sale. The residential prop- | erty is assessed, I should say, slight- JJy under its value.” I Rabaut Questions Morgan. without any considerable training and experience in matters of prop- erty valuation. who is called upon to review fixed by which has the Board of Assessors, the experience, back- ground and informatioh to do a better job than any one else. The committee finds difficulty in recon- ciling a condition of this kind and recommends that consideration be given to improvement of the situa- tion bv the appropriate authorities Jo V. Morgan, former assistant corporation counsel, is the sole member of the board. He had ex- | plained to the Caldwall Commit- tee. during the hearings, that he had had no experience as an as- sessor, but that he had been a member of the District bar since 1909 and that, “I practiced law daily with one of the largest law | firms and most of my business was real estate from 1909 to 1937; actual practice.” In making his original draft of proposals for District reorganiza- tion, Corporation Counsel Elwood H Seal suggested abolition of the one- | man board, to leave appeal decisions to the Commissioners or the courts, but the - city heads, after study, finally struck the suggestion from their revamping program. Jewish Center Board Honors Harry King Harry King, retired merchant, for and adjust assessments | D. C. Budget (Continued From First Page.) vide funds to start construction of two new school buildings, to erect an addition to the Syphax School and to finance the prepartion of plans for another senior high school in Northeast Washington. Funds for purchase of two new school sites also were allowed. Other major cuts were made by reducing from $1,300,000 to $1,100,- 000 an item for continuation of construction of a new armory for the District National Guard elim- ination of an item of $75,000 for purchase of a site for a new nigh temperature incinerator in North- east Washington and $13.000 for purchase of a site in the Nor(h- west for an additional health cen- ter. sized that the $200,000 recuction in the estimates for the armory would have no effect on the date of completion of the building. which is being constructed under a three-year program. It explained, however, the appropriation next year would have to be $1,150,000. Underpass Plans Provided. Aside from the new school build- ings the bill fails to carry funds for any important new projects, except the widening on 1 street N.W. between Thirteenth and Fit- teenth streets and installaticn of a big trunk line water main connect- ing the Anacostia pumping sia- ticn with the Anacostia second high service storage tank at the Stanton School. It does, however, provide $15,000 for preparation of plans for con-| ! struction of an underpass in the | line of Sixteenth street N.W. at Scott Circle—a project that District of- ficials say is more urgent tnan ever since opening of the Thomas Circle traffic tunnel. Also the subcommittee approved $200,000 for continuing constiuc- tion of the new main public li- brary building on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue N.W. between John Marshall place and Sixth street, and $44,000 for completion of an addition to the jail for which $64,000 had been recommenrded by the Budget Bureau, an amonunt that will prevent construction of a walled inclosure for the jail yard. No Additional Policemen. The city Refuse Department is granted increased funds in the bill for purchase of modern snow-re moval equipment. An appropria- handicapped and shut-in children is earmarked for the Board of Public Welfare, but the subcommittee, in its report, declared the program should be worked out with the thorities. This work has been car- tion of $15000 for education of | _ co-operation of public school au- | for the fire chief or one of his battalion assistants. Tuition for Non-Residents. One of a series of legislative riders attached to the bill would force all non-resident children who enroll in pay tuition as prescribed by the Board of Education. The subcom- mittee said it was advised during | present time there are between 2700 and 2800 children living in Maryland and Virginia attending the schools and that last year their $265,000. The subcommittee took the posi- tion 1t is “‘unfair” for this burden to be borne by taxpayers of the Dis- trict. ‘The long sought goal of employes | at Gallinger Hospital and the Tuber- | culosis Sanatoria at Glenn Dale, The subcommittee report empha- | Md., for a shorter work week was | | recognized by the subcommittee, | 1which included funds in the bill for | personnel increases chiefly for that | purpose. Nurses and employes in the dietetic departments at Glenn | Dale, it was said, are working from 49'2 to 56 hours a week. The pro- posed increase in staff, according to the subcommittee, will permit the establishment of a 44-hour week for those employes. Eight More Jail Guards. Eight of the 13 additional guards the Budget Bureau approved for the enlarged District Jail were allowed in the bill, but funds were denied for 10 additional guards and a chief steward at the workhouse and re- formatory. The subcommittee report, however, did praise the “efficient” administration of affairs at these two institutions. “The so-called ‘prison industries are well planned and organized and are being carried on under intel-| ligent direction,” the report de- clared. “Discipline among the prisoners is good and the physical condition of the plant is excellent.” | Believing that economies in the electric bill at the two institutions might be effected if power was generated by their own Diesel or !steam plants, the .subcommittee recommended that District officials make a careful study of the ques- tion. |11 U. S. Ships Examined i LONDON, March 27 (#) —The ‘Ministry of Economic Warfare an- | nounced today that 11 United States | merchant vessels were examined at British contraband control bases | between March 9 and 23. Does Your Breath Shout the public schools in the future to| hearings on the bill that at the | education cost the District about | Representative Rabaut, Democrat, many yvears prominent in civic life of Michigan sought to question Mr. | here, yesterday was honored at a Morgan as to whether the program | testimonial luncheon given by the ried on for the last two years by | of the Federal Housing Administra- tion had had a tendency to de crease values or tendency to “freeze real estate values in home building, | but Mr. Morgan said he did not know the answers. Asked to specify areas of the city | he felt had a lesser valuesnow than | in 1932, Mr. Morgan mentioned a | Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community Center in commemora- tion of his service as the center’s first president and in celebration of his 75th birthday anniversary and his golden wedding anniversary. At the luncheon, held in the Am- bassador Hotel, Mr. King was pre- sented a bronze plaque, commem- business section of Ninth street. |orating his service to the center, by He cited the case of one Ninth street building, originally sold for $80,000, on which the District had reduced the assessment to $48.000. On appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals, Mr. Morgan said, he found the assesment should be reduced to $27,000, “and then I thought I was going too high,” he added. Committee members brought out that the Board of Tax Appeals had had but about 10 realty assessment . appeals out of a total of some 300 cases so far handled. , Veteran Editor Dies BOZEMAN, Mont., March 27 (). —James P. Bole, 71, editor of the an Chronicle 33 years, cied yesterday in a Los Angeles hospital. Benjamin Ourisman, center presi- | dent. Mr. King observed his birth- day and wedding anniversary last | month while he and Mrs. King were in Florida. Mr. King was president |of the Jewish Community Center | from 1923 to 1928. | Speakers at the luncheon included Morris Cafritz, a former president | of the center; Col. Julius I. Peyser, Maurice D. Rosenberg and Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld of the Eighth | Street Temple. Among the guests at the luncheon were Mrs. King and Herbert L. Willett, jr., director of the Community Chest. District motor accidents during January and February of 1940 fell off 467 from the 2,286 accidents dur- ing October and November in 1939. the Works Progress Administration. Despite repeated pleas of Maj. Ernest E. Brown, superintendent of police, for funds to add 100 or more men to his force, the bill does not allow salary for additional officers. The only new employe will be a part-time physician for the treat- ment of eye, ear, nose and throat cases, a service that is now being performed by doctors in private practice. The Fire Department was among those that suffered a slight cut, but funds were allewed for the pur- chase of some new equipment, in- cluding three pumpers, an aerial hook and ladder and a new red car GET Stera-Kleen Preveats False Teeth Odor— Cleans Without Brushing | _ “False teeth odor’ is the curse of denture | wearers. Ordinary brushing or_antiseptics | often will not remove scum and food pare | ticles that collect on your plate or bridge. | This uncleanliness gives off the most vffenc | sive of breath odors—you do not know if you | have it—but others do. | _ Prevent this odo: by using STERA-KLEEN and make sure of absolute cleanliness, STERA-KLEEN dissolves scum and food particles from the tiny crevices of your plate that brushing does not reach. It is safe—economical—easy to use. Stir a little STERA-KLEEN in water, put in your plate ot bridge for a few minutes. | Rinse, and it is ‘ready for use without br ing. Daily use prevents “false teeth odor.”" Get STERA-KLEEN today. Only 30¢ » packe age at any drug store. WIY SHIFT. GEARS INTO A CHRYSLER TRAVELER AND “FLUID-DRIVE"” AWAY! on...Fluid ‘FALSE TEETH'? D. C, WEDNESDAY, State Supreme Court Halts Gambling Ring Testimony in Defroit Six Defendants Win Fight to Avoid Preliminary Hearing By the Associated Press. DETROIT, March 27.—The taking of testimony in the preliminary ex- amination of a group of individuals charged with conspiracy to protect gambling and vice in Wayne Coun- ty (Detroit) State Supreme Court today. The action came on a petition by six defendants who sought to examination and avoid the presentation of testi- “waive” preliminary mony before formal arraignment. Circuit Judge Homer Ferguson had ruled they must submit to prelim- inary examination after counsel for the grand jury which indicted them expressed fear that key witnesses now on hand might not be available for the later arraignment. Police Chief Suspended. On the stand today when notice of the appeal was given was Barney J. Nowicki, police chief of suburban Hamtramck, who was suspended by Public Safety Commissioner Ray- mond F. Matyniak after Nowicki had testified yesterday that he bought his job with money paid by vice dens. Nowicki made the statement while testifying as a State witness yester- of 34 individuals, including Prose- cutor Duncan C. McCrea, Sheriff Thomas C. Wilcox and others, on charges of paying or accepting money for protection of vice in Wayne County (Detroit). Mayor Walter Kanar of Ham- tramck said Nowicki would face a trial board as a result of his ad- missions before Circuit Judge Homer Ferguson, . Was to Get $300 a Month. Nowicki testified that Michael Fi- gurski, one of the defendants, told him 1n January, 1939, that he could have the job as police chief for $1,- 500. He added that an arrangement for monthly payments was made when he told Figurski, a Ham- tramck politician, that he did not have that much money. He was ap- pointed acting chief February 3, 1939. “Figurski said I was to get $300 a month for the protection of these gambling places,” Nowicki testified, “and that he would keep it until the $1.500 was paid.” Police Commissioner Matyniak, | who appointed Nowicki, said today he was at a loss to understand why Nowicki had dealt with anybody | about “a job that was his anyway.” lea |For Clemency Fails ‘The Justice Department has de- clined to act on a petition for clem- ency for Felipe Buencamino, a mem- ber of the Philippine Legislature, who was convicted of conspiracy last year along with William P Buckner, jr., in a Philippine railway | bond swindle. IBuencumino's 4 | Officials said today that United | States District Attorney James Cahill in New York had been ad- | vised that Buencamino’s petition no }longrr was pending in the depart- ment. | reason for acting on the application had been found and that no recom- | mendation to the President would | be made. 3212 14th 14th&G Tth&K was halted by the day at the preliminary examinaion ' This means that insufficient MARCH 27, 1940. By STEPHEN J. McDONOUGH, Associated Press Science Writer. The wide-vision eyes of aerial colior cameras may prove to be one of the most effective weapons of warfare yet invented. Color photography makes the art of camouflage a doubtful defense, officials of the Army Air Corps said today, because it makes visible a range of colors which cannot be dis- tinguished by the human eye or in ordinary black-and-white photog- raphy. Gun emplacements, troops, supply trains and trenches which now are carefully concealed by nets, branches and colored cloth snap into sharp relief on a color photograph. Air Corps brought out camouflaged buildings and other details of the: black-and-white pictures. Ships and airplanes painted various colors in Important War Role Forecast For Aerial Color Cameras broken patches were clearly visible in color, but invisible on ordinary photographs. % The color camera has wide vision, an Air Corps photographer ex- plained, because the sensitive emul- sion of the film used “sees” far down into the infra-red and far up into the ultra-violet ends of the spec- trum of light beyond the range of human vision. The Air Corps is seeking to per- fect quick methods of developing the color pictures in a small labora- tory within the cabin of the airplane from which the photogrdphs are A¢ present several hours are required for the developing process. If a speedy process can be de= Test color pictures made by the | vised, it will be possible for a recon- naisance airplane to fly over a bhat- | develop landscape which were invisible cn!them and drop them in the hands | of the army commander in a few | made. tle area, make pictures, minutes, Air Corps officers said. Subpoenaed Red Fails to Appear to Testify fo Dies Group Communist Secretary Was Called to Tell of Card Bearing Roosevelt’s Name | Bv the Assoclated Press. The Dies Committee ran into a | new difficulty today in its effort to | | find out who was responsible for the | |issuance of a Communist party | membership carg inscribed with he name of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Committee officials announced | |that George Powers, identified as | | district secretary of the Communist party in Allegheny County, Pa., had | failed to appear at committee head- | | quarters today at the time fixed in | a subpoena served on him in Pitts- | | burgh yesterday. | Robert Stripling, secretary of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, told mewsmen that Mr. | Powers was directed to appear at 10 am. An hour later, he said, the Communist official had not shown up. A telephone call to railway of- | ficials in Pittsburgh established | that he picked up a ticket furnished by the committee last night and boarded a train which was scheduled to reach the Capital early today. Mr. | Stripling suggested that he might be conferring with Communist lead- ers here. The subpoena was served on Mr. | Powers yesterday following the | questioning of James H. Dolsen, | another Communist leader, in Pitts- burgh last Saturday, when the| | membership card bearing the name | | of Franklin D. Roosevelt was taken |in_his room. Before the committee here, Mr. Dolsen said he knew President Roosevelt was not a member of the Communist party. When Mr. Dolsen declined to | answer questions about party affairs | and some of his own activities the | Chairman Dies issued a warning last night that he would seek to have every Communist leader in the United States sent to jail for con- tempt unless they furnished . the | committee a complete list of Com- | | munist party members. | Japan has rejected plans for a | state lottexy, which was expected to absorb surplus funds. | 4483 Conn. Ave. | Man Awaiting Phone Breaks Booth Glass In Rage at Talker By the Associated Press. NEWPORT NEWS, Va, March 27.—The place: A down- town grill. Inside a telephone booth, a man talked and talked. Finally, John McKay, waiting for a chance to use the phone, could stand it no longer. He doubled up his fist and rammed it through the glass. The startled customer left a long-distance conversation hanging in the air. Mr. McKay left with the court a $25 fine for disorderly conduct and a $10 fine for destroying property. Boy, Missing Since Fire, Is Returned to His Home | By the Associated Press. NEWARK, Del, March 27.—Alfred Lindell, 11-ye#r-olc Newark boy missing since fire destroyed a $25,000 barn and outbuildings in which he and another boy were playing yes- terday afternoon, returned to his home iast night. Twenty-seven registered Guernsey cows were de- stroved and two men slightly burned in the blaze. The boy was returned to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Lindell, by an uncle, Albert George, of near Chesapeake City, Md. The boy told Chief of Police William Cunning- ham of Newark that after the fire broke out he ran to Newark and then thumbed automobile rides to | the home of his uncle. Both the Lindell boy and his play- mate, Arthur Mayer, jr., 8, accused each other of playing with matches | i in the hay-packed loft of the bam.‘ Study Recommended 0f Columbia Hospital For Operation by City D. C. Supply Bill Report Urges Commissioners To ConsiderStep Possible acquisition and operas tion of Columbia Hospital as a mu= nicipal institution, or its use for other purposes, should be given further study by the Commission= | ers, the House District Appropria= tions Subcommittee recommended in its report on the District supply bill today. The Caldwell group said the city heads should go into the matter with a view to reaching an equita= ble solution as to the District's re= sponsibility for providing funds for the hospital, in whose buildings the District has about a half-equity. The discussion arose over the sub= committee’s action in restoring to the District budget an item of $5,000 for general repairs and improve- ments to the hospital, which had been eliminated from the Commis- sioners’ 1941 estimates by the | Budget Bureau. Such a sum has been paid by the District annually for many years. Hospital officers estimated that charity services pere formed in 1939 amounted to $57,378, In one quarter, the subcommittee’s recommendation for possible District operation of the hospital was taken as an indirect suggestion that this building might be used for the con= valescent homegwhich Commissioner George E. Allen and Health Departe ment officials have proposed as a | means of reducing the number and the cost of patieats now given care at Gallinger Municipal Hospital. Health officials say the cost of care of a recuperating patient in a con- | valescent home is much cheaper |than at a hospital, that perhaps {such a development might bring about a saving as great as $50.000 annually in the operation of Gale linger. Novelist to Speak | Mrs, Justin Miller, auther of the | novel, “First the Blade,” and Clar- | ence Smith of the United States ;Biological Survey will be guest | speakers at the founder's day cele- bration of the Washington Chapter ot the University of California | alumni at 7 pm. tomorrow at the | Admiral Club, 1640 Rhode Island | avenue NW. John H. Guill is pres- | ident of the group. WHEN YOU NEED ‘Copt.rMmV\;hun Ordered' To Duty at Canal ‘ By the Associated Press. | Dies Committee decided to start | transfer of Capt. Stewart A. 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