Evening star. [volume], March 10, 1936, Page B-1, Image 19

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Society and General
WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1936. *»* PAGE B—1 1
March 15 Last Date for Qeneral Relief Cash Unless More Is Qranted
NUMBERUCENSED
Commissioners Fail to Act
on Recommendation
for Limit.
APPEARS “POLICY”
TO BE MAINTAINED
\Vill Seek Legal Advice on Au
thority to Work Dealers
Down to 400.
BY DON S. WARREN.
The District Commissioners today
failed to take final action on a recom
mendation by the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board for a limitation of the
number of class A liquor licenses to
400, but stated that the decision lay
' within the province of the A. B. C.
Board.
While there was some uncertainty
as to the efTect of the Commissioners’
action on the proposal, it appeared to
leave the A. B. C. Board free, tem
porarily at least, to maintain a “policy’’
of allowing no more than the present
number of 400.
The question has been under study
for a number of weeks. The limit of
400 licenses for stores selling all kinds
of liquor “off sale” in sealed containers
was invoked for the license year which
ended March 1.
Asked Reduction Permit.
The A. B. C. Board recently asked
the Commissioners to extend the rule
for the new license year and to include
a proviso that the number could be
cut down to 300. as existing permits
were either revoked or given up from
time to time The minutes of the
Commissioners’ meeting today stated,
“the Commissioners are not inclined
to favor reduction of the number of
class A license from 400 to 300, but
it is felt this lies within the province
of the Alcoholic Beverage Control
Board ”
Memoers of the board said they
Would maintain the present 400 limit
as a matter of "policy,” and would
seek legal advice as to their authority
to work the number down gradually to
300. The Commissioners, of course,
have the right at any time to upset
policies of the A. B. C. Board.
Commissioner George E. Allen, who
supervises administration of the liquor
law. does not favor any arbitrary limit
on the number of permits.
Opens Door to Racket.
"Such a rule opens the door to a
real estate racket in that it gives the
holder of a permit the opportunity to
hold up some applicant for a class A
permit the right to transfer the li
cence,” Allen said prior to the meeting.
"A liquor permit is a privilege granted
to a dealer and in my opinion is not
a vested right which permits him to
make a profit when he is giving up the
permit and leaving the liquor busi
ness ”
Allen was favorably considering a
suggestion that if there was to be a
definite limit on the number of li
censes which could be issued there
should be a proviso the number could
be exceeded when a qualified appli
cant was able to show the additional
permit should be issued as a matter
of convenient# and necessity for the
location concerned. He was not
finally committed on the point. Mem
bet's of the A. B. C. Board said they
felt, such an exception to limitation
on the number of class A permits
might mean in effect there was in fact
no limit.
Might Amend Law.
The board considered an appeal to
the Commissioners to propose an
amendment to the liquor law which
would eliminate the present provision
allowing transfer of a permit from a
licensed dealer to another seeking to
enter the business. The A. B. C. Board
members agreed with Allen that a man
about to be forced out of the liquor
business because he was not succeed
ing in it should not be allowed to make
the new applicant pay him a price to
obtain his permit.
Reports have been current that some
licensed dealers are demanding any
where from $500 to $20,000 to agree to
a transfer.
HOLD-UP SUSPECTS
HELD FOR D.C. POLICE
Detective Goes to Chicago to Quiz
Pair Said to Have
Confessed.
Detective Sergt. Frank O. Brass was
In Chicago today, questioning two men
alleged to have confessed staging sev
eral hold-ups here.
Meanwhile, local police claimed to
have identified the men, through
photographs, in the robbery of three
liquor stores and a taxicab driver.
The prisoners, paroled convicts from
Joilet Prison, were held in Chicago in
connection with several robberies
there. They are Raymond Agnew, 23,
and Richard Breen, 25.
Chicago authorities also were hold
ing two women, who claimed to be the
wives of the alleged bandits.
Those who identified the men
through the photographs are Frank
Delveccio. 1208 Eleventh street south
east; Harry Dovkin, 2300 Pennsyl
vania avenue southeast, and Charles
' McGee, 1619 L street, liquor dealers,
and Leonard Scott. 2118 Alabama ave
nue southeast, taxicab driver.
Women Form Club.
BERWYN, Md.. March 10 (Spe
eiol).—Mrs. Geneva Barbe has been
chosen president of the nfewly or
ganized Hollywood Women’s Club,
with Mrs. Miriam Lawson as secre
tary, and Mrs. Lida Parker as treas
urer, according to an announcement
today. The club will meet every two
weeks at members’ homes.
. I
Girl Shot at Gay Dinner Party
Believed to Have Killed Self
.- I _ -
Edna Trathen Found
Dying in Host’s Room
After Leaving Table.
A coroner’s certificate of suicide was
expected today to tell the sequel of a
gay dinner party last night in the
home of a middle-aged jeweler at 3220
Walbridge place, climaxed when a
17-year-old girl slipped upstairs to
her host’s bed room and shot herself
through the stomach with a gun she
had found in a compartment of a spe
cially-designed bed.
The girl was Edna Trathen, an at
tractive brunette waitress, who had
roomed with chums at 1418 W street
after coming to Washington several
! months ago from her home at Chev
erly, Md. Her host was Bernard Liv
ingston, Washington jeweler, who lives
at the Walbridge place address.
Miss Trathen was having dinner
about 6:45 o’clock with Livingston
| and two other couples. The additional
1 girls were Miss Trathen’s roommates,
j Anne Portell and Eleanor Shearer,
i while the men were described to po
; lice as Harry Lasoer of the Chastleton
Apartments and Ernest Hammersla, a
“traveling man.”
The girl was said to have excused
herself after the soup course and as
the filet mignon was being brought in.
She ran upstairs to Livingston’s bed
room and a moment later the guests
heard the muffled report of the gun.
Lasoer. police reported, found the
girl stretched across the bed beside
Livingston’s .38-caliber revolver, one
cartridge of which had been fired. Miss
Trathen had been shot in the stomach.
Police said the girls and two of the
men came to Livingston’s house yes
terday afternoon while the latter was
still at work. At that time, according
to Officer R. F. Goodwin of No. 10
precinct. Miss Trathen showed one of
I the girl’s the cabinet built into the
I head of Livingston’s bed. She pre
sumably knew where the gun was lo
j cated.
The girl’s right hand was stained
! by pow’der marks, police said. Fol
| lowing an investigation, Dr. A. Ma
j gruder MacDonald, coroner, said a
| certificate of suicide probably will be
--a-u-'
EDNA TRATHEN.
issued following an autopsy at the
District Morgue today.
Miss Trathen was still breathing
when found. Dr. R. R. Stevenson of
1654 Columbia road was summoned
and she was pronounced dead shortly
after his arrival.
Police notified the girl's brother and
a sister, Mrs. Loyette Beall, of the
1200 block of Massachusetts avenue.
The men said that Miss Trathen
seemed despondent after she made a
telephone call before dinner to a "boy
friend.”
Miss Trathen asked one of the men
on the party to telephone for her be
cause the boy’s parents objected to
their romance. When the man got
the youth on the telephone he turned
over the instrument to Miss Trathen.
Homicide squad detectives this
morning questioned the youth, John
Hallett, of 21 L street northeast. Hal
lett said he had gone out several times
with the girl, but was not in love with
her. He explained they had a slight
misunderstanding at a dance Friday
night.
Hallett said the girl had invited
I him to join the party last night when
she called him but that he was un
able to do so.
The girl was the daughter of Wil
liam H. Trathen of Tuxedo, Md.
Senate Committee Told
Lives Could Be Saved by
Lowering Compartment.
By the Associated Press.
The equipping of transport airplanes
with huge parachutes, which in em
ergencies would lower the entire pas
| senger cabin to the ground, has been
j suggested to a Senate committee study
j ing aircraft hazards and accidents.
The proposal was presented to the
committee, headed by Senator Cope
land. Democrat, of New York, by S. L
Van Meter, jr„ of Lexington, Ky., a
former lieutenant in the Army Air
Corps and an inventor of parachutes.
Van Meter, who has two patents on
parachutes for individual use. has
asked the committee to consider a
: further development of his device for
| lowering an airplane cabin and its
i entire load with one big chute.
He contends a cabin parachute would
j have been effective in saving lives in
several recent ariplane crashes and
suggests the authorization of govern
mental experimentation to develop j
standard equipment of that kind.
“Given a choice of two planes iden
tical in appearance, one equipped with
a chute which would lower the loaded
cabin safely to the ground in an emer
gency. and the other, not so equip
ped, air travelers would unanimously
choose the former,” he wrote the com
mittee.
Under Van Meter’s plan, the para
chute would be stowed in the fuselage
back of the cabin and the plane would
be equipped with a table device to slide
the cabin off into the air.
Government experts say they are not
sufficiently familiar with the Van
Meter device to pass judgment on It.
It is their policy to keep an open
minded attitude toward proposals to
enhance the safety of air transport.
They say transport planes would
have to be redesigned for such equip
ment. Government tests, they contend,
probably would entail years of experi
mentation at tremendous cost.
Bored by School,
Tivo Young Girls
Take Road South
Bored with school, two young Mac
farland Junior High girls were hitch
hiking somewhere in Virginia today,
while police sought to intercept them
ueiuic .t n e y
reached the deep
South, their
affirmed destina
tion.
The girls are
Ruth Dixon, 12,
of 728 Upshur
street, and Esther
Kishter, 13, of
618 Keefer place.
They left their
homes about 7
o’clock last night
met on a corner,
mi uiovuootu llicii
Esther Kishter plaH? ^ith a
couple of young
friends, and headed out of town with
only the clothes they wore and about
$6 between them.
Their parents learned they spent
last night at Warrenton, Va., and had
left there early today. It Is believed
they may stop at Roanoke to visit
Ruth’s grandparents.
Both girls were described as attrac
tive, with brown hair and eyes. Ruth
was wearing a gray plaid coat and
black shoes, while Esther had on a
reddish brown coat and brown and
white sport oxfords.
*
Chairman Kennedy Indicates
Committee Stand as
Hearings Adjourn.
BY JOHN L. HACKNEY.
A favorable report on the Sisson
bill to repeal the rider banning the
teaching of communism from the pub
lic schools was indicated by Chairman
Kennedy after prolonged hearings on
the proposal were adjourned late yes
terday.
Kennedy said the District Subcom
mittee on Education, which conducted
the hearings, will not be called to
meet again until after the record of
the recent proceedings can be printed.
He estimated 10 days or tw’o weeks
will be required.
"We will hold an executive session
then,” he said, "to make our report to
the whole committee. There is a good
chance that it can reach the House
calendar in time to be called up March
30.”
Only One Opponent.
It was indicated that only one mem
ber of the subcommittee, Representa
tive Jenckes, Democrat, of Indiana,
will oppose the repealer. She asked
that it be tabled at the closing session
yesterday. The following members
have indicated they disagree with the
existing red rider: Chairman Ken
nedy, Schulte of Indiana and Short
of Missouri, Democrats, and Brewster
of Maine, Republican.
Most of yesterday afternoon’s hear
ing was given over to the members
of the Board of Education, who an
swered charces twice marie bv Mrs.
Jenckes. The Indiana Representa
tive stood on her rights as a member
of the subcommittee and refused for
the second time to be cross-examined.
Charges Answered.
Mrs. Marion Wade Doyle, president
of the School Board, took up her five
charges, one by one, however, and
answered them, and was joined by
four other board members and Dr.
Prank W. Ballou, superintendent, in
refuting the Jenckes assertions. Mrs.
Jenckes was not present at the time.
There was agreement among wit
nesses that the present controversy
largely is the result of opposition to
Dr. Ballou and a desire to have him
removed as head of the school system.
He was defended vigorously, however.
Representative Sisson, Democrat, of
New York, author of the repeal meas
ure, tried vainly to have Mrs. Jenckes’
clerk, H. Serkowich, called as a wit
ness.
"He was permitted to testify for the
gentlewoman from Indiana before the
Blanton committee,” Sisson said, “and
I want to ask him a few questions
here. I want to question his credi
bility as a witness.”
Transactions Explained.
Members of the board were par
ticularly incensed by Mrs. Jenckes'
charge that “bigotry and religious In
tolerance” had dictated the board’s
refusal to sell the old Tenley School
to St. Anne's Parish for use as a
parochial school.
Henry I. Quinn, in explaining the
transaction, said it had been leased
for two years to St. Anne’s School
but that when an effort was made
to purchase it, other nearby schools
had become so crowded that the
board expected to be forced to re
condition the building and return it
to service.
“Religion plays so little a part in
the conduct of the board’s affairs,”
he said, “that I was a member for
two years before I knew our presi
dent (Mrs. Doyle) belonged to the
same church I do. It was my own
co-religionists, the Catholic Church,
that wanted to buf this school prop
erty.”
A
AUIO INSPECTION
Bell Says He Is Unable to
Determine Value in Re
ducing Accidents.
INFORMS CITY HEADS
OF ACTION IN LETTER
Keystone Engineer Urges Exten
sion of Staggered Opening and
Closing Flan in Offices.
The Budget Bureau today turned
thumbs down on the measure spon
sored by the Commissioners which
would require semi-annual mechanical
inspection of all motor vehicles.
In a letter to the Commissioners
Acting Budget Director Daniel W.
Bell said that while it is difficult to
object to the principles of the plan, “I
have been unable to determine, either
from the director of traffic or from
available statistics, just what such in
spection is worth in actual reduction
of accidents In cities which now have
inspections.
Mechanical Defects Low.
"Less than 3 per cent of vehicles
involved in accidents in the District
are reported as having some mechan
ical defect, usually either defective
brakes or lights, and only 8 per cent
of fatal accidents were caused by ve
hicles having mechanical defects.
“Even on the assumption that all
these could have been prevented had
the vehicles been in good mechanical
condition, there is still the question
as to whether semi-annual inspection
would assure that all vehicles would
be in such condition, which, of course,
must be answered in the negative."
Bell also questioned whether the de
sired result could not be obtained
at less cost or possibly at no cost at
all, by carrying on inspections through
designation of existing private garages
as official testing stations. He said the
majority of States hating inspections
use that method.
Makes Traffic Suggestions.
Meanwhile, before the House special
Traffic Subcommittee William S. Can
ning, engineering director of the Key
stone Automobile Club, urged further
extension of the staggered opening
and closing plan in the Government
Departments and its application to
the public schools.
Canning also made a series of other
recommendations designed to improve
traffic conditions. These included:
1. An increase in the police force.
2. Specialized training of traffic of
ficers.
3. An enlarged accident investiga
tion analysis set up to check on all
accidents, with the objective of bring
ing the guilty to justice.
4. Assignment of roving mechan
ical inspection crews to clear the
| streets of unsafe cars.
5. Extension of the system of one
way streets during rush-hour periods.
6. More playgrounds for children to
keep them off the streets after school
hours and during vacation periods.
“Fixing” Is Not Evil.
Canning also told the subcommittee
that ticket “fixing” in Washington is
not an evil, pointing out that adjust
ments made in some cases have an
educational value.
A Police Department record was
introduced by Canning, showing that,
of 75,174 arrests for various traffic
offenses in 1935, there was conviction
or definite court disposition in all but
1,700 cases. Some of these 1,700, he
explained, were turned over to mili
tary authorities or to the National
Training School for Boys or resulted
in suspended sentences.
Canning pointed out, however, that
“fixing” had reached extensive pro
portions in some cities. In Philadel
phia in 1929, he said, 162,000 tickets
were issued, but only about 4,000 paid
fines.
The subcommittee is making a
study of “fixing.”
“My idea of ticket fixing that
should be stopped,” said Chairman
Carpenter, “is in the case of a mo
torist who is arrested for speeding or
some other major traffic violation and
uses influence to escape punishment.
That should not be tolerated. I don’t
care whether he is rich or poor.”
$238,000 ESTATE LEFT
BY MRS. JENNIE TORRE
Son and Daughter Request They
Be Named Administrators in
Absence of Will.
Mrs. Jennie E. Torre, 5401 Connecti
cut avenue, who died suddenly March
1, left an estate valued at about
$238,500, it was revealed in District
Supreme Court today, when her son
and daughter, Andrew D. and Beatrice
Torre, asked to be appointed adminis
trators.
There was no will, and the estate
will go to the children in equal shares.
Through Attorney Godfrey L. Munter,
they told the court their mother left
$5,500 in personal property and real
estate assessed at $233,000, including
two apartment houses, about 30 pri
vate dwellings and two large unim
proved lots.
Mrs. Torre was a lifelong resident
of the District. Her son is in the real
estate business here, and her daughter
is employed in the office of the con
troller of the currency.
FLEMMING TO SPEAK
American IT. Man Will Address
Progress Club.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 10.—
Arthur 8. Flemming, director of the
Institute of Public Affairs of American
University, will speak before the Prog
ress Club of College Park tomorrow
afternoon at 3 o’clock in the parish
house. HU subject will be "Interna
tional Relations."
4
Starting the Day Right at the Zoo
The swans are once again paddling serenely about the Washington Zoo after a long, cold Winter, which
kept the ponds frozen over until recently. Here is papa swan enjoying his morning bath. No. 1. off to the bath;
No. 2, washing behind the ears; No. 3, a case of shivers; No. 4, looking over his work; No. 5, lying in the sun to
dry; No. 6, off to new adventures. —Star Staff Photos.
ELLENBOGEN BILL
ACTION DEFEATED
Rent Commission Measure
Remains on Calendar
for March 23.
BY JAMES E. CHINN.
Bearing the scars of its first major
conflict, the Ellenbogen bill to revive
the District's war-time rent commis
sion remained on the House calendar
today, awaiting another call into ac
tion.
Chairman Norton of the District
Committee, who fought as she never
did before to overcome various and
sundry obstacles that were suddenly
placed in the path of the measure,
said she would call it up again March
23, the next so-called “District day."
Representative Blanton, Democrat,
of Texas aided chiefly by Representa
tive Taber, Republican, of New York
by a series of parliamentary maneuvers,
prevented action on the bill yesterday,
but Mrs. Norton is confident it will
reach the voting stage March 23.
Meanwhile, however. Budget Direc
tor Bell told the Commissioners today
there would be no objection to their
recommending to Congress adversely
on the Rent Commission measure.
Blanton Asasiled.
Charges and counter-charges were
bandied all around the House floor
during yesterday’s debate, and at one
time Mrs. Norton became so angered
she turned loose a blistering attack on
Blanton. First, by implication, she
called him a “dictator.” Another
time she denounced him for cutting
appropriations for Washington hos
pitals and for public health protec
tion.
And in the midst of the battle came
a charge by Representative Ellenbogen,
Democrat, of Pennsylvania, sponsor of
the bill, that a powerful real estate
lobby is working to defeat it.
Mrs. Norton did not put on her
fighting togs until the filibustering
activities had forced three roll calls
and several quorum counts and de
layed her from getting the bill before
the House until late in the afternoon.
“It is plainly evident," she began,
“that a few members in this House
misrepresented this bill to so great
an extent that they have been suc
cessful in wasting almost the entiae
afternoon in filibustering to prevent
this bill from consideration.
“Strange Government.
“We have a very strange sort of
Government in the District. The peo
ple here pay taxes. They are not
allowed to say how their money shall
be spent; in fact, they are not al
lowed to say anything about what
they want done in the District. They
have to take what they can get.
“It would seem to me that this sort
of day is one of the best arguments
that could be brought forth for giving
the District people the right to vote
so that they may say for themselves
what they want and bring into this
House sufficient influence to have
their bills considered fairly at least."
Mrs. Norton then exhibited a folder
filled with correspondence which she
said represented complaints against
high rents.
“I hold in my hand the corre
spondence which has come injuring
the last month from poor tenants who
have not a voice in District affairs,"
she said. “These people have been
gouged by certain real estate men in
the District.
“I am not one bit in doubt as to
what the reason is for the attitude of
certain members of the House today.
Of course, the real estate people of
the District have a lot of influence.
They have a lot of influence on mem
bers of the House, which is the reason
this filibuster is going on. That is
the reason this bill has not been
permitted to be considered on its
merits.
“The real estate men have been
very cute about this matter. Most
of them have seen to it that the rents
in high-priced apartment houses and
hotels have not been raised. But
*
when you come to the one and two
room houses in the city it is a differ
ent story.
“It amounts to a scandal that the
Federal employes who come here can
not live decently or get a place to
cover their heads for less than $50 a
room in any decent, respectable com
munity in this city. That $50 room
includes one room with a Murphy bed,
bath and a small kitchenette.
"I leave it to the members of the
House Who come from big cities to
say whether the rents in their respec
tive cities compare with rents in Wash
ington. There is no question about
it. They cannot. There is not a city
in the country where rents are higher
than in the city of Washington, and
I know something about the situation.”
Clashes With Blanton.
There was an outburst of applause
when Mrs. Norton finished, but again,
only a few minutes later, she clashed
with Blanton.
Mrs. Norton wanted to ask a ques
tion, but Blanton declined to yield
unless she would agree to permit him
to read a telegram he said she had
sent from Bostcn in February.
Although Mrs. Norton said she did
not remember the particular wire,
she gave permission for its reading.
It w*as a message to Dr. Sterling Ruf
fin. president of the District Medical
Society, urging Congress to grant ade
quate public health appropriations.
“I sent that telegram and I am
very proud of it,” declared Mrs. Nor
ton. "If members of this House only
knew of the conditions in hospitals
here they would arise and denounce
any one who refused adequate appro
priations for health needs.”
Representative Dirksen, Republican,
of Illinois, a member of the District
Committee, opposed the bill on the
ground that it is not only uncon
stitutional, but that a housing emer
gency does not exist in Washington.
Representative Ellenbogen insisted,
however, that the measure is consti
tutional. "It is clear as a bell,” he
declared.
Ellenbogen also explained that the
bill had been demanded by 95 per
cent of the residents of Washington
and that it is supported by the Cen
tral Labor Union and organizations of
Government employes.
I
REVIVAL DECIDED
Hazen and Committee of
Citizens Plan Blossom
Fete for April.
Revival of the Cherry Blossom
Festival is being planned by Commis
sioner Melvin C. Hazen and a citizens’
committee who hope to bring thou
sands of visitors here in April, w-hen
a three-day program would be staged
at the time the trees are in blossom.
Two years ago a festival attracted
a throng of District residents and
visitors estimated at nearly a half
million. Hazen hopes the program this
years will bring out an even greater
number. The event was not held last
year because of the Shrine convention.
Decision to proceed with plans was
reached yesterday at a conference
between Hazen and civic and business
representatives. Among those attend
ing were President Thomas E. Lodge
of the Federation of Citizens’ Associa
tions, Robert J. Cottrell, secretary of
the Board of Trade, and spokesmen for
the Washington Hotel Association.
A meeting for an enlarged commit
tee is planned for next Tuesday.
Thousands of visitors in this region
w’ould be urged to come here to wit
ness programs which w'ould include
horse shows, parades, pageants, a
regatta and other athletic events.
—1— •
Warn of Tax Rise.
CUMBERLAND. Md.. March 10 (A>).
—In, a letter to State Senator Robert
H. Kimble and Delegate C. W. H. Baer,
Mayor George W. Legge warned that
if the Legislature failed to enact a
measure to provide revenue for relief,
the tax rate in Cumberland and
Allegany Counties would have to be
raised about 10 per cent to carry the
relief burden.
-1
Young Washington
Pets are a specialty at the Henry Clay School in Clarendon, Va.
Here is Doris Ann Jones, 11, with her pet bunny. Doris is the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Jones, 3209 Fourth street north. Tomorrow
Jimmy Crumrine, son of Mr. and Mrs. Burton Crumrine, and Jeanne Priel,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Priel. Both are students at Henry
School. —Star Staff Photo.
<* *
T*
r
on nun FUND
Welfare Check-up Shows
Less Than $100,000 Will
Be Available April 1.
WIDESPREAD SUFFERING
FEARED BY OFFICIALS
Nearly 10,000 Cases Here Not
Eligible for Jobs on Works
Projects.
Budget Bureau action on the Com
missioners' urgent request for approval
of a $608,000 supplemental District re
lief appropriation was being awaited
anxiously today by welfare officials,
as a check-up showed the March 15
disbursements will be the last general
payments to needy families under
present finances.
These checks are intended to cover
the needs of more than 9,000 relief
cases to April 1. It had been calcu
lated the dwindling District relief
funds would meet needs to about April
15. but the financial review today
j showed an advance of the date.
There will be insufficient funds left
on April l, according to Board of
I Public Welfare officials, to meet the
| relief payments to all on the list.
Less Than S100.000 Available.
Elwood Street, welfare director, es
timated there would be available for
disbursements to families on that date
less than $100,000. He emphasized it
would be necessary for the District to
meet out of that sum the cost of rental
j °f properties used for relief stations
j and the necessary accounting and
auditing force charged with respon
sibility for use of the funds.
The review stressed the urgency of
prompt action by the Budget Bureau
| and Congress to prevent a collapse in
i emergency relief. Officials are con
; cerned over the definite expectations
of immediate widespread suffering that
would result from the impending ex
haustion of relief funds.
Many Are Unemployable.
While operation of Works Progress
Administration projects has taken
some 13,000 persons off the relief rolls,
there still remained subject to District
aid last month nearly 10.000 cases of
families and unattached individuals
who were not eligible for assignment
to jobs under W. P. A. Officials say
I they can expect only a comparatively
I small decline in the relief load in the
; next several months, even allowing for
some further assignments to W. P. A.
They are anticipating early action
by the Budget Bureau, since the facts,
. in their opinion, are conclusive as to
j the need of the additional sum at an
; early date.
After Federal grants for relief, other
| than the W. P. A. program, w ere flalted
last November, Commissioner George
; E. Allen turned direction of the relief
i administration back to the Welfare
I Board, where it had rested prior to the
j starting of the large Federal grants.
TONS OF DEAD FISH
TAKEN FROM BASIN
Week More Will Be Required to
Clean Up Heavy Run
of Shad.
Despite the recent activity of fisher
men hauling thousands of Winter
shad from the Tidal Basin in Potomac
Park and the fact that hundreds of
sea gulls feasted upon the fish. C. Mar
shall Finnan, superintendent of the
National Capital Parks announced to
day that there are still many tons
of dead fish there.
The fishermen, he observed, might
well have caught thousands more of
fish and still not have exhausted the
supply.
"They didn’t even dent the surface,’*
he said.
The sea gulls, which w'ere depended
upon in a measure to aid in cleaning
up the fish after the warmer weather
came were "a bitter disappointment,’’
declared the parks chief.
As a result, park workmen are tak
ing tons of dead Winter shad out of
the Tidal Basin down to Four-mile
Run, on the Mount Vernon Memorial
Highway, where the old refining plant
existed, and burning them there. The
job,, he said, will take a week and a
half more before the waters will be
cleared. Mr. Finnan asserted that the
fish cannot profitably be used as fer
tilizer in the park system.
RACE TRACK BACKED
BY BUILDING MEN
Trades Department of A. F. L.
Favors Norton Bill—Sees
Jobs Created.
Because of the employment possi
bilities of a race track in the District,
the Building Trades Department of
the American Federation of Labor has
voted to favor legalised racing in
Washington.
J. W. Williams, president, and Her
bert Rivers, secretary, issued a joint
statement today pointing out two
reasons for supporting the Norton bill,
now pending in Congress.
"First,” the statement said, “it will
give employment to a great number
of building trades mechanics and la
borers who have been unemployed for
a long time and who are badly in need
of work.
“Second, if unemployment is to be
relieved, it is necessary that funds
from private interests are expended
and it is our understanding that this
project will be financed from privately
owned money and will cost in excess
of $2,000,000. It will further give per
manent employment to a great num
ber of workmen after construction is
completed.”
•