National Republican., 1874-05-09

|? A. Section 0 of the sewerage act says that n
Q money arising from the assessment auth0fizt
by this act shall be received and collected
c the Board OF PHolic Works, or one of its of
: GERS, and full and separate accounts of collie
tions from each section kept by them, and Il
C proceeds to be used in the payment of the CO
.. oI INC construction ant completion of the n
speetye sewers authorized by THE act.
: " here is an amount received from commi
! sioners Of the sinking fund.- $S1 ,S31 81; W,
that an appropriation "A. That was an appr
priation by the act of June 81 1872, autho
, lAng the commissioners OF the sinking fund I
pay any Obligations on account of the late CO
porations of Washilgton and Georgetown.
was legitimate appropriation, / should thinl
Y. Then you have added assessments on pr
! yate property, as shown by the statements
the auditor of the Board Of Pubic Worksi 4
That is an appropriation. 1t Is fixed in I'll
! organic act that the Board of Public WorI
shall assess that proportion, and in the "a, 900
900 act It is also stated. It is considered as a
; appropriation, think:
Mr.. Stanton. If yon'will let me call attentio
to the aggregate on page 429, it says, shown
total appropriations and assessments.
Mr.. Wilson. Yes, noticed that; was sim
ply identifying this bessuse 1t Is a matter fc
subsequent considerationby the committee.
The witness. have here the contract In n
gard to Massachusetts, avenue. 1t is a cor
tract between Owen 0'HsFo, Henry Himbei
William H. Groot, and the Board of Publ
works, between P-street circle and Boundar
street northwest, the 5th day of July last.
Q. Had not the assessment on that stree
been made prior to the 5th Of July lasti A
hardly think so.
9. They appear in the report of the board
4. can find out exactly in regard to that. :
can give you the exact date that assessmen
was made. -
Q. Have you ever taken advice of counsel fl
regard to whether you could regard these al
appropriations, and treat them as such II
making eontractsl- A. Do you mean the as
sessmentsa
Q. No, no; these matters that I have beer
calling your attention to in connection with ap
propriations. For example, here is a millior
OF dollars appropriated by Congress to reim
burse the old corporation or the old board-re-
imburse the city OF Wasbington- A. Yes
sir; to be expended under the board.
Q. You treated that as an appropriation A.
There is no doubt of that. think the debate
in the Senate on it win bear out what say in
regard to it. They treated it 30.
Q. Have you taken advice of counsel as to
| whether or not you'll the right to treat all
these as appropriations A. Well, we have, in
all our reports to Congress and the Legislative
Assembly, treated them as appropriations we
never had 1T questioned at ali.
Q. You will remember that the organic act
provides that you shall make no contracts in
advance of appropriations, or in excess Of ap-
preparations? A. No, SIR.
Q. Is not that the provision of the act? A.
No, sir. 1t says except in pursuance of appro-
I tpristious made, and after the appropriation
shall have been made.
Q. Well, ! do not remember the exact
phraseology. A. "The said Board of Public
Works shall have no power to make contracts
to bind the said District for the payment of any
sums of money, except in pursuance of appro-
priations made by law, and not until such ap-
preparations shall have been made"
Q. Very well. Do you coustrue that to
mean that you have right to make contracts
in excess of appropriations Al. Well, do not
construe it at all; simply say that all that we
have done has been in pursuance of appropria-
tions made by law.
Q. The point that 1 want to get at is,
whether you have made contracts in excess of
appropriations made by laWl A. We have not
made contracts in excess of appropriations
made by law. The work that we have done
has exceeded the appropriations; but the con-
tracts made have not been in excess of the ap-
preparations.
Q. Then you have done the work without
contracts? A. Well, we do a. good deal of
work without contracts, of course. Our en-
plOJ6eS are all q contract.
Q. But l am speaking about street improve
ments. A. say that the amount of improve
ments made-the contracts for Improvements
made-have not exceeded the amount of the
appropriation.
Q. Yes, but If understood you, the work
that you have done hast A. Taking all the
outside work, which comprehends great many
details not included in improvements, and not
coming outside of that clause.
n Nf L.
portance, sir, l called your attention to it. You
have been taking bond from parties for the
keeping in repair Of streets that have been con-
structedl A. Yes, sir.
Q. Has 1t ever occurred to you that If you
have made any contracts in excess of and in
advance of appropriations, those contracts
might be illegal, and therefore your bonds ut
terly worthless, and that you could not enforce
them2 A. Well, l am not lawyer enough to
go into discussion with you on that subject
Q. simply asked you whether that never
has occurred to you. desire to know whether
you have taken the advice of COUNSEL A.
Every bond that has been giyen--every con-
tract that has been made-has been done
through our attorney-thlough the District
attorney, and has received his sanction; every
bond that has been given to every contract.
@. Has that point been suggestedG A That
/ cannot tell; 1t Is his business to look out for
that.
Q. Have you ever contemplated bringing any
suits on these bonds, and been deferred from
doing so by reason of this very question: A
Never, sir; we have in most instances held
enough in our hands to have the butt end of
the whip.
Q. Qou protected yourselves In that respect
by holding backl A. We took every precau-
ton, sir, both as regards bonds and holding
back enough to make US good.
Q. Have you held back In any case excepting
these Evans casesi A. We held back in a
good many cases.
Q. Aud protected the board and the Govern
ment 7 A. think the District has been thor
oughly protected, or will be; that has been
our intention.
Q. From what source has the board derived
its authority or its power to make contracts for
raising houses? You remember that when Mr..
Strong was on the stand he said something
about contracts for raising houses, and it has
been stated to the committee that there were
some Chicago parties here raising houses. A.
There was an appropriation made by the Legis-
lative Assembly for that purpose. Here is the
act, approved June 25, 1878, providing for
raising and underpinning houses, $3.50 1000;
raising and underpinning Georgetown market
house, S24 ,9S4.S3.
Q. This seems to be an act making appro-
priations for reimbursing the Board of Public
Works of the District of Columbia for the
money expended by them for the erection and
repair Of pumps, cleaning and repair of streets,
raising and underpinning of houses and market
houses. Had these houses and market-houses
been raised by the Board of Public Works
prior to the passage Of this act A. Only
few Of them; the work was in progress at the
time.
z. Now, what desire to know, is where the
board procured its authority to engage in such
contracts A. Well, it was q matter of dis
cretion, the board had to exercise discretion.
IL would not have donb to have buried people
by change of grade twelve or fifteen feet un-
der ground without making some provision to
protect their property and life, and the board
exercised that discretion by raising their houses:
the matter was laid before the Legislature, and
they made an appropriation.
Q. Was there a statement or report of any
kind made to the Legislature on the subject
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Can that be procuredl A. I think It can.
Q. would be glad if you would furnish that
to the committee. A. will do so, sir.
Q. When you raised and underpinned houses,
having made these contracts for that purpose,
were there assessments made against the prop
ertyl A. no, sir; 1t went in lieu of damages
which would have had to have been paid to
the property for changing grades. The raising
of the honses and the underpinning of them
settled the account.
Q. Had you been advised that the District
would be liable for the damages that were in