Evening star. [volume], February 04, 1940, Page B-1, Image 17

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
General News faf Sport News, 7-11 g
1 WASHINGTON, D. ' C., FEBRUARY 4, 1940. * B—1
Health Fund
Cut to $1,280
Is Defended
Executive Committee
Of Association Cites
Lack of Reserve
*
The Executive Committee of the
District Tuberculosis Association
yesterday strongly defended the ac
tion of the association’s Board of
Directors in appropriating only
$1,280 for supplementing payment of
salaries of District Health Depart
ment personnel in the face of "ex
traordinary pressure" for an ap
propriation of $11,300 requested by
Health Officer George C. Ruhland
The action of the board, accord
ing to a statement issued by the
Executive Committee, “was based on
the long-established policy of the
local and national tuberculosis as
sociations to furnish funds to offi
cial agencies for the purpose of dem
onstrating methods of meeting
health needs not cared for by tax
funds.”
Asserting that in 1939 the associa
tion exhausted its reserve fund of
over $10,000 in its effort to support
• the Health Department, the Execu
* tive Committee declared that “the
* issue comes to the point of whether
# or not the association should further
cripple or abandon its recognized
Is service* or, in fact, whether or not
the association should act princi
pally as a subsidiary tax organiza
- tion.”
No Mention of Increase.
No mention was made in the
statement of the possibility that the
I appropriation to the District might
be increased. The statement, on
! the other hand, said the Executive
a Committee will continue its study of
all tl* "other items” in the budget
* and Will not hesitate to make such
| further revisions or deletions as it
? may find in its judgment desirable
to. recommend to the Board of Di
; rectors.
• Those who attended tne commit
i tee meeting were Dr. J. Winthrop
i Peabody, president of the associa
r tion: Dr. Luther H. Reichelderfer,
Willard C. Smith, Ross Garrett, W.
Frank Persons. Dr. Numa P. G.
Adams, Maj. Daniel J. Donovan and
Mrs. Ernest R. Grant.
Dr. Ruhland had contended, in
a plea to Dr. Peabody, that unless
the department is given a grant of
$11,300 Instead of $1,280 the work
of the department would be “se
riously impaired.” The larger sum,
he explained, would go to pay six
clerks in the city's tuberculosis clinic
and to augment the salary of the
new chest surgeon at the District
Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Glenn
Dale. Md.
' Pointing out that the Health De
partment’s current request is nearly
twice as large as has been given by
the association in any preceding
year (last year's appropriation being
about $5,000), the committee main
> tained that “some of this requested
money had been promised by the
Health Department as salary sup
plement before action was taken by
the association.”
Allotments Reduced.
“Obviously the association cannot
obligate funds which it does not
have,” the statement continued.
“Not wishing, however, to necessi
tate the dropping of employes with
out adequate notice, the Executive
Committee reduced the budgetary
allotment for several regular and
long-established projects, including
the Children's Health Camp, medi
cal research and legislation, in order
to make full provision for the clinic
during the first two months of this
year.
“The association now finds itself
not only unappreciated for its past
generosity but under pressure and
actual attack for not abandoning
“ such part of its regular program as
might be necessary in order to grant
requested cash subsidies to the
Health Department. The Executive
Committee feels that the associa
tions past and present support
of the Health Department is a mat
- ter of general knowledge and that
the evidence of its present intention
to continue supporting Health De
partment needs cannot now be dis
counted or questioned.”
The only two directors register
ing dissenting votes on the recom
mended appropriation of $1,280, the
Executive Committee stated, are
members of the Health Depart
...w.v. * tnu aic Ul . XV U 1110,11U
and Dr. A. B. Coulter, director of
the Tuberculosis Bureap.
Tracing the history of its estab
lishment of the first general tuber
culosis clinic in the District the
association committee stated that
the association financed the clinic
from 1908 to 1918, when tax funds
were made available. Since 1929, it
was added, the association has sup
ported a children’s clinic under di
rection of the Health Department.
For the last four years part of the
association's funds have been used
for “regular activities of the de
partment for which official appro
priations were available.”
* Cash Subsidy Asked.
"To our knowledge,” the commit
tea contended, “no other local pri
vate health agency has provided
cash for demonstrations in the
Health Department.
"• • * In the spring of 1939 the
association, in addition to support
ing its health education, emergency
relief, census tract, health camp and
rehabilitation demonstrations, was
paying the salary of one clerk who
was engaged in clearing the files of
the Health Department chest clinic.
The Health Department at that
time was maintaining several cleri
cal and part-time positions out of
‘unexpended social security bal
ances.' In that same spring of
1939 the health officer asked the
Tuberculosis Association to assume
the payment of the salaries of these
clerical and part-time positions. The
health officer did not ask for this
assistance to demonstrate the need
for these positions, they being. ah
ready in existence, but asked for a
cash subsidy to replace the social
security funds which expired June
' 30, 1939. There was no railing at
the United States Public Health
Service when social security funds
for these positions, already estab
lished, had to be suspended, because
the association came to the rescue
v and drained its reserve fund • * *.”
Doomed Girl's
Parents Hope
Against Hope
The parents of Leslie Lee Ros
still hoped last night that somehow
the life of their 3-year-old daughte
would be saved.
At Children’s Hospital, where th
child is battling against the ravage
of lymphatic leukemia, it was sail
her condition was unchanged. Ear
lier in the day she was reported i
little stronger.
For several days the parents, Mi
and Mrs. Leslie Edward Ross o
Cheverly, had pinned their hopes 01
reports that a serum for the diseasi
had, been discovered in Germanj
The State Department, respondini
to their plea, cabled Emil Sauei
American Consul General in Frank
fort, to obtain a phial of the serun
and rush it to this country b;
clipper pl^pe.
Yesterday the department wai
advised the report of the cure wa
unfounded.
The disease works slowly; its ef
feet is the destruction of the re<
corpuscles of the blood. Physician
have been resorting to blood trans
fusions in an effort to stem it.
Shafer Urges District
Elect Commissioners,
Spend Own Taxes
Committeeman Thinks
Votes Would End
Congress Criticism
Disfranchised residents of the Dis
trict should at least be given the
privilege of electing Commissioners
and appropriating their own tax
revenues, Representative Shafer, Re
publican, of Michigan said last
night.
Mr. Shafer, a member of the
House District Committee, declared:
"I believe if the people of Wash
ington could elect their own Com
missioners and appropriate their
own tax revenues, complaints against
members of Congress for not treat
ing the District properly would be
avoided.”
Sees “Double” Representation.
He made the statement in re
sponse to questions by newspaper
men as to what he believed should
be done to correct conditions at
the Home for the Aged and In
firm and two other District in
stitutions Mrs. Franklin D. Roose
velt found to be "shocking” on re
cent visits.
"Let the people of the District
elect their Commissioners, or the
mayor, city manager, or whoever
else might constitute the governing
body of the city,” he declared, “and
half of the trouble will be solved.
And let the governing body have
the authority to appropriate the
tax money that is needed to meet
the needs of the District, and I
don’t believe there will be any
more trouble. Personally, I don’t
think Congress should have to
trouble itself with these affairs in
the District. • I have been asked
time and time again why I try to
represent the people of the District
and my own constituents at the
same time. I believe the same ques
tion has been asked other members
of the committee.”
No Answer on Letter.
Chairman Randolph of the House
District Committee said late yester
day none of the Commissioners had
answered his letter asking them to
revise their plan for reorganizing
the District government to provide
for an elective rather than an ap
pointed citizens’ advisory council.
"I am still hopeful.” he said, "that
the Commissioners will favorably
follow the suggestion I made.”
The Commissioners, in the reor
ganization plan now under consid
eration by a subcommittee of the
House District Committee, pro
posed an advisory council of nine
members to be appointed by them.
Representative Randolph suggested
that, in order to give the people some
degree of representation in the af
fairs of their own government, the
council be elected.
New Taxes Bring D. C.
$100,000 Thus Far
District Assessor Edward A. Dent
announced yesterday the District
had collected about $100,000 thus far
from the District’s new corporate
and personal income levies, although
under existig law the payment would
not be due until March 15.
This sum amounts to about 3 per
cent of the grand total expected to
be received. The latest estimates of
revenues are $2,400,000 from the 5
per cent corporate levy and some
$1,000,000 from the graduated, per
sonal net income tax.
Mr. Dent said about $70,000 of the
receipts so far have come from
the corporate levy and about $30,000
from personal income taxpayers.
The proposed amendment to the
tax laws which would extend the
time for filing returns to April 14
and permit semi-annual payments,
the first half on April 15 and the
second by October 15, is scheduled
for House action February 12.
Snow Removal
Delay Is Called
: Inexcusable'
Citizens' Federation
Is Urged to Seek
i Action by Congress
i
A charge of “Inexcusable delay’
in th$ removal of snow from Wash
ington streets brought a suggestion
at the Federation of Citizens’ Asso
i ciations meeting last night that
' Congress investigate the adequacy
. of equipment available for that
i purpose.
The city’s efforts in combating
■ the latest snowfall were ridiculed tc
l some extent and one delegate ques
* tioned whether the District had
■ "more than three real snow plows.’
There were accusations that en
trances to hotels and other down
town establishments were opened
readily, but that residents of outly
ing sections were left to “shovel
their own way out.”
A recommendation was made that
District Committees in both branch
es of Congress inspect what snow
fighting equipment the city has,
and then, if necessary, take steps
to provide additional apparatus.
Formal action on this motion was
reserved, however, pending further
study of the subject by a special
committee.
Compared With New York.
Baxter Smith, vice chairman of
the Federation’s Safety Committee,
! who led the attack on so-called
! laxity in coping with snow, com
■ pared Washington’s methods with
’ those of New York, which he said
; is 25 times more efficient.
, Mr. Smith said a number of Dis
trict contractors had enough trucks
and other equipment to handle
any snow here in recent years, and
I he added that the Commissioners
’ might have done well to employ
' these facilities. %
Vemis Absher of the Southeast
Association warned, however, that
increased taxation might be in
volved if further plows and other
equipment were purchased by the
■ city. He said, too, that such equip
l ment would get little use, and there
; would be the question of main
■ tenance.
No-Parking Signs Kidicmea.
W. J. Tucker of the Anacostia
Association left the main argument
: to refer to no-parking signs in
i snowy weather as “jokes.”
Wilbur Finch of the Burroughs
' Association accused the District of
1 not only failing properly to clean
• the streets of snow, but of also
neglecting other publie services.
During the last snow, he said, there
were no collections of garbage or
ashes in North Woodridge, and that
this refuse was allowed to “pile
up for two weeks.”
1 Discussion of snow removal, how
i ever, came at the tail end of a
1 hectic three-hour session at the
1 District Building, during which
' delegates engaged in prolonged and
! heated debate over “boundary over
[ lapping.”
‘ An old federation problem cropped
up when K. R. Armstrong, chairman
of the Committee on Membership
! and Credentials, presented a report
' recommending disapproval of a Chil
1 lum Heights resolution calling for a
1 re-hearing on admittance of the
> Hampshire Heights Association.
Report Put Aside.
After much argument, during
; which Acting President Harry S
Wender sometimes rapped futilely
for order, it was voted to put aside
the Armstrong report until anothei
| time. Debate on this subject had
! been limited amid cries of “gag
| rule,” and the motion to table was
! made by American University Park
• Delegate Thomas E. Lodge, who was
| last to take the floor.
Earlier the federation passed a
, number of resolutions, including
ones calling for:
Congressional approval of funds
to draw plans for the new Wilson
Teachers College; funds for the
purchase of a site for an elemen
tary school in American University
Park; money for equipping the new
Thomas Jefferson Junior High and
t the Calvin Coolidge Senior High
t Schools.
W. P. A. aid in maintaining gar
• dens on public school property;
i additional appropriations to provide
l for the teaching of "shut-in" chil
dren unable to attend regular
■ classes.
> The Federation, among other
f things, turned thumbs down on a
i proposal to increase the gasoline
‘ tax as a substitute for the new in
come levy and said it was opposed
to use of the gas tax fund for gen
■ eral purposes.
Exhibition of Coins
i A discussion and exhibition ol
, coins from members’ private col
lections will feature the meeting oi
| the Washington Numismatic So
[ ciety at the Washington Hotel at
8 pm. tomorrow.
WHERE GEORGE WASHINGTON LEARNED A TRADE—Auc
tioned off yesterday was this surveying office, together with the
rest of Ferry Farm, where America's first President was reared.
In this structure, the only one left on the estate from Wash
ington’s time, he studied his mathematics and map draftsman
ship in preparation for his extensive surveys before entering
military life. \
---* -
Lucian R. Colbert waves his cane over the broad acres of
the Washington plantation, across the Rappahannock River
from Fredericksburg, Va. At the auction Mr. Colbert was a
friendly rival with his niece, Miss May Belle Colbert (right).
By bidding $25,000 to her uncle’s $20,000, Miss Colbert won pos
session of the land where the Father of His Country is sup
' posed to have chopped down the cherry tree. —Star Staff Photos.
-* «#.
Carmody Studies
Elliott's Criticism
Of Welfare Ass'n
Works Chief Planning
No Hasty Action
On Association
While denying he plans any
“hasty action.’’ Federal Works Ad
ministrator John M. Carmody is
making a careful study of the re
cent report on the Welfare and
Recreational Association to de
termine what steps should be taken
in the light of Acting Controller
General Richard N. Elliott’s vigor
ous criticism of the association's
financial management.
The report was taken up at a
stafT meeting attended by W. E.
Reynolds, commissioner of public
buildings, and Allen Johnston, coun
sel. The study will be continued
next week, according to Mr. Car
mody, who made the following
statement:
"While I’ve not had time to study
the report hi detail, I’ve discussed
it at length with my associates.
These discussions will be continued
next week. We have deferred the
drawing of any conclusions and the
preparation of appropriate recom
mendations until these discussions
have been completed. Operations
of the sort carried cm by the Wel
fare and Recreational Association
have been going on in Federal
buildings since the war and have
been carried on by this associa
tion for more than 13 years. I
have no thought of any hasty ac
tion that in any way would inter
fere with continuing all of these
services without disturbance.”
$187,592 Debt Alleged.
The report of Mr. Elliott not only
questions the legal authority of the
association, but also declared the
semi-official group of Government
employes uweu me ouvn iimeiu.
$187,592.70. Payment of this sum
should be demanded, the report said.
The report also suggested that the
facilities of the association, espe
cially the cafeterias in Government
buildings, might be operated by pri
vate concerns or that the Govern
ment might take them over under
the supervision of the Federal Works
Agency.
Voiding of Contract Urged.
Government counsel no doubt will
examine thoroughly the legal as
pects of the association. The re
port declared the contract with the
Government under which the asso
ciation is functioning should be
canceled in accordance with the six
month notice agreement. Even this
contract was illegal, the Acting Con
troller General said, since it was
entered into by the then director of
public buildings and public grounds,
Lt. Col. U. S. Grant III, on behalf
of the Government and Maj. Carey
H. Brown, assistant director, as vice
president of the association.
It was probable that officers of
the association would be called into
conference with officials of the Fed
eral Works Agency.
Remon Named Trustee
John A. Remon, vice president
of the Chesapeake & Potomac Tele
phone Co., yesterday was renomi
nated trustee of the Worcester Poly
technic Institute Corp. at the
board’s meeting at Worcester, Mass.
Mr. Remon, a member of the
board since 1938, will be re-elected
in June. He was graduated from
the institute in 1909.
Washington's Early Home Sold
As Public Ignores Auction
470-Acre Rappahannock Estate Brings
$25,000, With Only Two Bidders Present
s
By HENRY GEMMILL,
Stir Stiff Correspondent.
FREDERICKSBURG. Va.. Feb. 3.
—George Washington's boyhood
home. Ferry Farm, was sold on the
auction block today amid public
indifference.
The 470-acre estate, lying just
across the Rappahannock from this
city* undoubtedly played a large
part in the early life of the first
President, as did America's na
tional shrine, Mount Vernon, during
Washington's mature and declining
years.
Nevertheless, only a score of
townsfolk and roughly clad farmers
were curious enough today to come
to watch the sale of land where
young Washington is fabled to have
cut down the cherry tree, and
where he undoubtedly did develop
the traits which made him great.
Only two bids were cried out
after a quarter-hour exhortation
by the a,utioneer, red-faced in a
biting wind. The historic planta
tion was bought back by a mem
ber of the family placing it on sale,
Highest Bid $25,000.
The Washington estate was
bought in by Miss May Belle Col
bert, a small bespectacled woman
whose father built the present wood
en farmhouse upon foundations ol
the old Washington homestead. She
paid $25,000 to the estate of her
father, J. B. Colbert, and assumed
about $18,000 in Federal Land Bank
mortgages.
It appeared that no representative
was present from the George Wash
ington Foundation, which in 1928
began an enthusiastic program tc
buy the farm for a shrine dedicated
to American youth.
A. Stedman Hills. Washington at
torney and head the George Wash
ington Foundation, said the property
cost the organization $125,000 ir
1927, of which $85,000 had been paid
In the last several years, however
interest had lagged and donation!
were insufficient to take care ol
payments and interest.
At the time the purchase wa!
made, he said, the value of the
property as a farm was conserva
tively estimated at $50,000 and it!
historic value at an additional $50,
000. Members of the foundation
would be consulted in the neat
future as to whether to proceed any
further with the project, but hope:
of consumating the deal were no1
considered good, he said.
The sale today was ordered by th«
Stafford Circuit Court to clear title
to the 470-acre farm.
After the George Washington
Foundation was organized, the Col
bert family continued to live there
and retain possession of the farm
although title was held by the
foundation under its purchase con
tract. With much principal and
interest in default, Circuit Judge
Frederick W. Coleman decreed the
sale to settle the estate.
Still standing quite sound is the
surveying office where the youthful
George studied trigonometry and
drafted his maps. It is built ol
whipsawed timber, held tight by
hand-wrought nails against wind!
sweeping up from the river, and i!
wanned by a great brick fireplace.
George Washington came to Ferry
Farm when he was 6 years old, th«
son of Augustine Washington, a tall
broad-shouldered man who com
manded respect from his son and
who was his chief tutor. George
also went to classes in “Hobbie’s”
school, conducted by the parish sex
ton. Out of hours he rode horse
back, hurled quoits, wrestled and
drilled as a soldier with his school
mates beneath an elm still standing
like a giant on the hillside.
Historians say that the death of
his father, when George was 9, was
another of the great factors forming
Washington’s character at Ferry
Farm. It placed on him a large re
sponsibility and increased the in
fluence of his mother, Mary Ball
Washington, “the belle of Epping
Forest.”
Weems Labored There.
Another ghost besides that' of the
Father of His Country hovers over
Ferry Farm. It is that of the rol
licking parson, Mason Locke Weems
of Dumphries, Va„ who wrote a
biography of Washington whlfch has
ever since set serious scholars frantle
but enlivened American folklore.
Parson Weems wrote “The Life
and Memorable Actions of George
Washington”—for which, about 180#.
he apparently invented the cherry
tree-hatchet story, the tale of Wash
ington’s hurling a silver dollar
, across the Rappahannock, and the
famous legend concerning George’s
breaking the neck of his mother's
colt. His book, a best seller, went
through 70 editions, five of them in
German, and has echoed ever since.
The authenticity of all these tales
is sworn to by Miss Colbert, who
thinks she should know, having
lived in the vicinity all her life. She
points out the pasture where the
colt died, the spot where the dollar
was heaved, and the dirt where
the fruit tree grew.
All that can actually be deter
mined about the question of silver
dollars is that in 1932 Walter John
son, baseball star, did throw one
from Ferry Farm to Fredericksburg
on the opposite bank.
Plaque at Tree Site.
There is an impressive bronze
plaque marking the site of the
cherry tree. It was erected in 1935
by the local Chamber of Commerce
but dodges the question of whether
George ever did any hatcheting.
There is also a new little cherry
tree which was given as a move by
Michigan orchard interests, and be
side it a big decaying stump. The
stump represents the earthly re
mains of a tree alleged to have
sprung up rather miraculously from
the greenery destroyed by George.
When Auctioneer Elliott Brooks
rang his bell for the sale today,
only one person besides the pur
chaser was a bidder for the old
Washington 1 arm. He was Lucian
Colbert, brother of the former
owner, who offered $20,000.
But there are indications that the
Federal Government will not in the
future be entirely unaware of sen
timental value attached to this
otherwise ordinary plot of hay, com
and wheat land, stretching back a
mile from the river.
Representative Bloom, Democrat,
of New York, in the past head
of special patriotic committees deal
ing with President Washington’s
memory, declared before the auc
tion today that Congress might be
interested in acquiring Ferry Farm,
“if the seller is a public-spirited
American, who doesn’t do too much
flag waving and charge four or five
times as much as the estate is
worth.”
Several D. C. Dairies
Plan Milk Price Hike
To 15c, Says Schulte
Enactment of His Bill
Would Let Public Pay
Only 11c, He Asserts
Washington will soon be paying
15 instead of 14 cents a quart for
milk, it was predicted last night by
Representative Schulte, Democrat,
of Indiana.
Long a champion of 11-cent milk
for the District, Mr. Schulte declared
the recent marketing agreement for
the local milkshed which Secretary
of Agriculture Wallace signed “is a
forerunner” of 15-cent milk.
"The price of cream already has
gone up 3 cents a pint,” he said. "I
have been informed that several
dairies are now planning to raise
the price of milk ‘to 13 cents a
quart.”
Representative Schulte, a membei
Of the House District Committee, ha<
a bill pending on the House calendai
which would permit shipment intc
Washington for fluid consumptior
milk and cream produced outside
the local milkshed.
“Only through enactment of that
bill will Washington be able to gel
cheaper milk,” he declared. “The
recent milk marketing agreement
has forged around the throats of the
people of Washington the link that
prevents 11-cent milk. 1 am now
going the limit to have my bit
enacted into law.”
The milk marketing agreement ii
expected to pave the way for the
sale of milk to the poor and joblese
in the District at 5 cents a quart
No plan has been worked out as yet
for the distribution of the low-pricec
milk.
The Maryland and Virginia Mill
Association will hold its annua
banquet tomorrow at the Willard ai
noon. The association always ob
serves the noon banqueting houi
sb that its members, more than 1,00(
strong, can get back to their farms
some as far as 50 miles away, in time
for the evening's milking.
Fair, Slightly Warmer
Forecast for Today
Fair and slightly wanner weathei
was forecast for today by th<
Weather Bureau. Cloudy skies, wit!
rain, is the prediction for tomor
row with light west winds, moderat
ing in the afternoon and shifting
to the southwest.
A high of 38 degrees was registered
yesterday between 3 pm. and !
pm. The low of 18 degrees was re
corded at 1 am. At midnight the
temperature was 34 degrees.
Two wonfen late yesterday slipped
on ice and received injuries. Julia
Knight, 18, of 325 Ninth street SB.
fell on the ice at Second street and
Pennsylvania avenue S.E. and wai
taken to Providence Hospital foi
treatment of a possible fractured
left wrist and then sent home.
Mrs. Mary F. Baily, 28, 1241
Eighth street N.W., according to
police, fell while walking in the
3500 block of Chesapeake street N.W,
and sustained a broken right ankle.
She was taken to Emergency Hos
pital for treatment and then sent
home.
Order Issued
For Slash in
Power Rates
Annual Adjustment
Affects Domestic,
Commercial Users
By DON 8. WARREN.
For the 16th consecutive year,
rates of the Potomac Electric Power
Co. have been reduced by opera
tion of the sliding scale plan used
for annual adjustment of the
charges, giving Washington domes
tic and commercial rates lower than
those of most communities.
The Public Utilities Commission
yesterday issued a formal order for
a rate cut for the next 12 months
aggregating some $575,000, with
$155,375 allocated to residential cus
tomers and $419512 to customers
using commercial schedules. The
new rates are effective on all meter
readings on or after February 1.
As the new schedules were an
nounced, study revealed that Wash
ington’s rates for power were lower
than the average electric bills for
other communities of the country
of 50,000 or more population—ex
cept for industrial schedules. The
industrial charges are higher here
in many instances, and the explana
tion is given that Washington has
little industrial current demands.
Based on Rate Comparisons.
These unofficial estimates are
based on comparisons of Washing
ton’s rates with the average elec
tric bills for 1939 as reported in the
latest publication of such statistics
by the Federal Power Commission.
In one instance one bracket of
Washington rates for commercial
power use was higher than the low
est State average.
Some observers say Washington
domestic schedules compare favor
ably with the “yardstick” rates of
the T. V. A.
The new domestic, or residential
schedule announced by the commis
sion, was calculated to call for a
reduction of 10 cents a month in
the bills of the average domestic
consumer. The benefit to the in
dividual householder is so small be
cause there are so many customers
over which the domestic cut must
be spread. However, last year the
average residential cut was figured
to about less than half of this
year’s.
The new residential schedule “A”
is available to individual residences
for any purpose, except that it may
not be used for auxiliary, emer
gency or breakdown service or for
buildings in which there are five or
more rooms for hire as lodging.
The new rates are:
For the first 40 kilowatt hours
monthly consumption. 39 cents; for
the next 90 kilowatt hours, 1.75
cents, and for electricity consumed
monthly in excess of 130 kilowatt
hours, 13 cents. If bills are not
paid within 20 days there is a 10
per cent increase in charges.
Past Tear’s Bates.
The residential rates for the la ~r
year were: For the first 46 kilowatt
hours, 39; for the next 80 kilowa't
hours. 1.7, and for electricity con
sumed monthly in excess of 126 kilo
watt hours. 13 cents.
The new commercial schedule ‘‘D"
which is available for low voltage
service for general lighting, power,
industrial motors, battery charging
and other industrial purposes, is as
1 follows:
For the first 80 kilowatt hours,
1 monthly consumption, 3.8 cents;
next 400 kilowatt hours, 2 3 cents,
and for any in excess of 480 kilo
watt hours, 2.1 cents.
The old rate was: For the first
100 kilowatt hours, 3.8 cents: for
the next 150 kilowatt hours, 2 8
cents; for the next 4.300 kilowatt
hours. 2.5 centp, and for any excess
over 4,550 kilowatt hours, 2 cents.
The new commercial schedule ’’E.”
which is available for low voltage
electric service used for general
lighting, power, industrial motors,
battery charging and other commer
cial purposes, is as follows:
For the first 70 kilowatt hours,
monthly consumption, 3.8 cents; for
the next 380 kilowat hours, 22 cents;
next 1,550 kilowatt hours, 2.0 cents;
next 23,000 kilowatt hours, 12 cents:
next 25,000 kilowatt hours, 1.1 cents:
next 150,000 kilowatt hours, 0.7 cents,
and for any in excess of 200,000 kilo
watt hours, .6 cents.
commercial schedule L.
For the first 80 kilowatt hours’
monthly consumption, 3.8 cents next
400 kilowatt hours, 2.3 cents: next
5,220 kilowatt hours, 2.1 cents: next
33,050 kilowatt hours, 1.3 cents: next
150.000 kilowatt hours, 0.7 cent: in
excess of 188,750 kilowatt hours,
0.6 cent.
A “small” portion of the rate cut
was given to users of commercial
schedule “L.” This is available for
high-tension electric service used
for any commercial purpose, the
consumer providing at his own ex
pense all necessary transformers
or other converting apparatus,
switches, disconnectors, regulators
and the like.
The new schedule “L” Is as fol
lows:
For the first 15,000 kilowatt hours,
1.1 cents; next 35,000 kilowatt hours,
0.9 cent; next 140,000 kilowatt hours,
0.6 cent, and for any in excess of
190.000 kilowatt hours, 0.5 cent.
The old schedule was:
For the first 13,750 kilowatt hours,
1.4 cents; for the next 25,000 kilo
watt hours, 0.9 cent; for the next
150.000 kilowatt hours, 0.6 cent;
for any in excess of 188,750 kilo
watt hours, 0.5 cent.
Charges for this schedule are sup
plemented by a demand charge,
which under the revised rates will
be $1.50 per kilowatt for the first
100 kilowatts of consumer’s month
ly maximum peak period demand,
as against $1.60 last year; and $1.10
per kilowatt for any in excess of 100
kilowatts of consumer’s monthly
maximum peak period demand, the
same as In the last year.
Benefit Dance
A benefit dance for the scholar
ship fund of the National Catholic
School of Social Service will be held
in the Pall Mall room at the Raleigh
Hotel Tuesday night. The dance is
the second this winter sponsored by
the “Ooamlttee e( U."
Houseboat Colony Fears Potomac River Ice Will Wreck Homes With Spring Floods
(Pictures on first page of roto
gravure section ).
Polk of the houseboat colony
above Key Bridge are telling each
other that the Potomac River is pre
paring to ruin them.
The river is usually their friend.
It has given them a home. More
recently it has donned a shimmer
ing robe of ice upon which the river
people skate—both by day and in
the light of the moon.
But while they frolic the house
boat dwellers dread the future. They
believe • there’s every chance this
ice is lying in wait, to rise in the
spring and smash their homes to
splinters.
Not since they remember has the
Potomac’s ice been so thick. The
houseboat dwellers chop through
and measure—8 inches. They say
that when the thaw arrives huge
blocks of ice are likely to be pounded
against their homes by all the vast
water power now stored upstream in
snow-blanketed hills and ice-blocked
brooks.
Recalls Wrecking of Home.
Seventeen - yew - old Johnnie
Barnes, small for his age but for
nine years wise in the ways of the
river, puts it this way:
“I remember back in 1936, after
a winter not so hwd as this one,
when my mother and I watched our
home go swirling downstream in the
spring flood. It was cracked wide
open by the ice chunks. When the
water went down we found the
pieces of it scattered along the
banks. Now it looks like the trouble
will come again.”
Johnnie and his mother were boat
ing on the Virginia side of the river
before their loss. Ter $50 they
bought another little houseboat
down at Alexandria and had it
towed up to the colony on the Dis
trict bank—but they don’t feel any
safer there.
Other oldtlmers had no money, so
they built their boats from timber
that came floating down the river.
Some left the river for good.
The 30 families which now con
stitute the houseboat colony on both
banks have already made a strategic
retreat from the Potomac. They
have pulled their boats as far as
possible out of the water, up on solid
land.
Hope for Slow Thaw.
Harbor police base their hopes for
the colony upon a slow thaw, which
would gradually dispose of melting
snow-water through a channel in
midstream. But a thaw sudden
enough to raise the riven even 4
or 5 feet at this relatively narrow
point would sweep the vessels' away
into the Ice-grinder, the natives as
sert.
Meanwhile, the houseboat people
are cheerfully fatalistic, like men
who dwell by a sleeping volcano. So
long as the Potomac does not smash
them, the Potomac is their friend,
and they live with it in peace. Where
else can you rent living space at $1
a month?
Typical of these ramllies are the
Forshees, who have dwelled eight
years on the river. They live, mo
ther and father, two sons, one
daughter, one dog and three cats,
in a three-room boat. Their tiny
green vessel is known in the city
records as 3820 K street NW., al
though the "street” is a 2-foot path
on the shore.
The father, George Forshee, an
unemployed baker, made a snug
houseboat from, scrap lumber, and
is constantly improving it. Latest
improvement is an electric system
to light the boat on long winter
nights, and to power a little radio,
Mr. Forshee’s invention is basec
on two automobile batteries whicl
he charges with a gasoline motor
The mother, Mary, has beet
spending her time fighting the cole
wave. She has sewn a steadily in
creasing number of quilts to pile
on the bunks, and kept the pot
bellied iron stove burning day anc
night to cook hot soup and beam
to keep her children warm.
Fish Through the Ice.
The children, Boy, 20; Hazel, 18
and George, jr., 15, have taken ad
vantage of the cold wave by shovel
ing great circles of snow from th<
ice, so they could skate and chargi
visitors for the privilege of skating
They have broken holes in the froaex
layer to fish for carp and catfisl
and have taken advantage of tlx
ic# to walk the breadth of the Po
tomac to visit friends on the op
poaite side.
Theft has been work, too. Afto
•
a fresh snow they have to put on
boots to break a path upstream to
the water pump and another path
downstream to the mailbox.
The river people are hospitable
folk. Drop in most any evening
and you’ll find the Forshees circled
around the steaming coal stove. The
mother will be quietly crocheting
one of her exquisite bedspreads, or
, fashioning a rag rug. The men
folk will probably be working out
a trio on their harmonicas, giving
! their own improvisation of the
i sound of the freight trains which
chug and whistle at night between
k river and canal.
i Yet they think of the summer to
! come. Will there still be the river
• home, where you can dive from the
■ “front porch,” or bask on it? Where
will river folk be after spring, when
• the ioe cracks sharp like a rifle?