National Republican., 1874-05-09

OhEL
jurtous to health, and that question has beer
trtct, and Is still undecided, think, involving
the power of the board.
Mr.. Thurman. Does the Board Of Health
Mr.. Msttingiy. Yes, SIR they pass regulal
ordinances, just as any Municipality DO.
| Mr.. Thurman. Aud sffix penaltiesl
MI. Msttingiy. Yes, sir.
Mr.. Thurman. Do the courts enforce thost
ing.
Mr.. Stewart. There Is some doubt whether
the board will abolish the soap factory or the
soap factory abolish the boardf
Mr.. Mattingly. Thsy undertook 70 exercise
Legislative functions. Z q q 4 -
Mr.. Thurman. want TO know how many
Lawmakers there are in the District
Mr.. Mattingiy. Well, sir, you have given u
| good many. -. = t-1-- u r 2 ~ -.
Governor Shepherd. In reply to your ques.
tion about the cost of pumps, I see that for flf
teen months, from September, 1871, to Decem.
Der, 1s7s, it cost 3d., 900 for repairs Of pumps
By the Chairman: @. How much does the
District pay to this Board of Health annually
A. l think the appropriation list year wal
81, 900. ~
Q. They have no control over the Distric,
funds, except through an appropriation A
| Do you mean the Board of Healthl
Q. Yes, sir. A. Oh, no; the appropriation
Is made to them absolutely. They disburse it
Q. 1t is paid over to theml A. Yes, SIR.
By Mr.. Bass: Q. Have you a list Of appro-
priations made BY this District Legislature
since 1t was established, and the object fol
which the money was usedi A. l can give
them to you from the appropriation bills di
/ rectly.
Q. They are all included in that volumei A
/ Yes, sire &"
By the Chairman: Q. They have one genera
| appropriation bill7 A. Yes, sir. .....
Mr.. Stanton. There are two; there Is gener
ally deficiency bill also.
The Witness. They pattern after Congress
pretty closely in that respect.
BY Mr.. Bass: Q. Have you made up an esti
mate of the expense for the ensuing fiscal yeai
on approximate estimate I A. No, sir; the
estimate has not been made up. II is usually
done and submitted to the Legislature, but on
account of the peuding Investigation did moi
do It. -.
By the Chairman: Q. You have in the Dis
trict Governor and Legislature A. Yes,
| sir.
Q. Is there any limit on the power of the
A. Yes, sir; 1t is limited in the organic act.
Q. There is no limit except that in the or
ganic act? A. None, sir.
Q. Then you have Board Of Public Works.
| A. A Board of Public Works.
Q. And Board of Healthi A. Yes, sir; and
Board of Police Commissioners.
Q. Consisting of five or three commissioners
A. Five commissioners.
Q. I find various OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
tendents of water, superintendents of gas, sc.
State the number of them. A. They are sub
ordinate officers to the Board of Public Works.
All except the water registrar and the, superin-
tendent of lamps are District officers, under the
control Of the Board of Public Works. You
will find all the officers in the acts Of the Legis-
lative Assembly.
@. There Is an act creating vast number of
officesi A. That is It, sir.
Q. You said that you reduced the salariesl
A. No, sir; did not reduce the salaries, / re-
duced the offices.
Q. And thereby reduced the expennesi A.
Yes, sir. 1 did not appoint them. vacated
the offices. For instance, they had q collector
lector, and vacated the three deputy collectors.
think it Is great deal more efficient than
they were with four.
Q. In that way you reduced the expenses Of
the District governmehti A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is this police commission in any sense
under the control of the Governor and LegisIa-
ture3 A. No, sir; there is no connection with
them at all. They are appointed by the Coy
ernment.
By Mr.. Thurman: Q. That Is the Capitol
policei A. No, sir; the Metropolitan police;
they are appointed by the President and con-
confirmed by the Senate. The Government
pays two thirds and the city one third.
BY the Chairman: @ Please state how you make
up 81, SOC, 900 charged against the United States
- A II l..
By turning to page IL, you will find that, car
rying out the assessment on the areas of ground
belonging to the United States In detail, as 1t is
there, 1t aggregates $6O4 ,566.15. Then the
area of the streets and avenues, carried out at
the same rate which the property-owners are
taxed, makes up the difference and the SO, 740
900. The assessment at the same rates charged
| reservations of the United States, aggregate:
| $604. 500 Is; and the same rate of taxation
charged to private property on the avenues and
streets make the sum total Of 81, ,740, ,681 yS3
Q. That is assessing the avenues and streetsl
A. Putting sewer-tsx on the avenues and
streets, which have to be drained.
Q. Do you do that at the rate of twenty
mills and eleven mills, &c., on the dollar1 A
No, sir just at the same rate that 1t Is assessed
in the different localities. had the table
made up, and have 1t. =.
@. Is the item Of a million Of dollars made
| upin this wayl A. No, sir. At the last ses
sion of Congress there was Q general disposi.
ton that the Government should pay all the
expenses of improving the avenues that wa!
not assessed upon private property, and we sub
mitted a bill, or statement of expenditures
amounting to 81 10000 They cut of s700, :
900 when the thing came up in the Senate, and
left that to stand over until this session. Since
that time there has been about $500, 900 worth
| of work done, which makes up the million
here on account of the avenues. In regard to
avenues, 1t might be well to remark that In Nc
other city do you find such thoroughfares-dc
you find such streets. II this city was merely
| Intended for anything but q capital, there
would be no need of them, and they would be
| taxable, and pay q revenue as other property
does. But here you find that 81 per cent. oil
the whole erea of this city is In streets, avenues
and reservations owned by the Government.
Q. In making up your table Of assets you do
not include the amount due from the United
Statesi A. No, sir; we do not treat 1t at oil
Q. You do not treat 1t as an asset a. No,
sir; I find here, by reference to page 50, tab.
| ular statement of the area Of avenues and
streets and the drainage section of the city Of
Washington, aggregating 90,S57 ,240 square
feet at the same rate Of assessment charged
private property owners In the various sections,
namely, 5 mills, II mills, and 20 mills. The
aggregate tax would be 81 ,699, ,738 80.
q. In making up that estimate, would you
charge the Government property just as you
would private propertyi A. Yes, sir; just at
| the same rates. .--... ...--.-.
BY Mr.. Thurman: Q. was not in this
| morning when you explained these sewer dis
triets. One thing has puzzled me, upon which
should like to hear your explanation; and
| that is, why this district In which we now are
No. s, believe, should have been assessed Al
cents square foot for these main sewers
when, according to the way make it out, look
ing at the map, about three-dfths Of the district
Is drained into the Anacostia or into the Potomac
and Is not at all benefited by these sewe-si A
think you are mistaken about the ares
| drained into the rivers. If you Will look al
| this ridge here straight through to the river
| and then take Boundary street, that whole val
ley Is drained by the Tber. ..g H1
Q. The divide is about A street northeast
A. Yes, sir.
@. Now, all south of that Is either plateau
that needs no main sewer at all, needing moth.
| ing but ordinary street sewers, as It lies on q
| slope toward the Anacostia or toward the Po
tomac7 A. It needs large brick sewers, one o
which we have built on Seventh street, . blicl
sewer five or six feet In diameter; and It need
other sewers Of that kind, into which the late
| raj sewers can be turned. You cannot IuI
small pipe-sewers from East Capitol street
i down to the river. You have to run them into
| large sewers; the idea Is to build the Seventh
street and Eleventh street main sewers, tntC
which the lateral pipe-sewers VIII run.