National Republican., 1874-05-13


been essmpleted. It was then in process. The
underpinSing Of these houses was In nroceas
at the dase Of this law reimbursing the
amount.
Q. do not So how you got any dcb. then
A. We do not understand one another, am
afraid.
Q. am afraid wedo mott A. whakI mean
TO say Is this: You asked me what authority
we had to repair pumps, and to undespin
houses, and these other things which are eey-
cred In this appropriation Of June 2J, 1873. I
say to you that we had authority In the nrse
appropriations bill, which appropriated a haIT
million Of dollars for Improvements generally.
without specifying any Of the details What
they should be, leaving it discretionary with
the board as to what class Of improvements we
should make. Under that we made all inn
proyements necessary Tor the proper covduct
OF affairs In the Distpict; and under this Zoo
900 appropriation we had authority to expend
money In repairing pumps, raising market
houses, and anything else thar was necessary
70 keep proper administration Of the Dis-
Q. Where Is thati A. II is the act Gated
August II 1871, and Is - follows:
[Acts Legislative Asseu1ly.I
CHAPrER XXX Be q enacted, &C., That the
Governor I: hereby authorised 70 anticipate Eas
revenue OF the District, which may arise from tho
assessment and oollectioa q taxes Iarinx -
ourrcns year to tho amount Of fTo hundred thol-
ALnan0D0
dtsbursed for tho improvement and repsirS a thel
streets, aIennss alleys sad roads In The aid Dts
trict, and for the eonstrusiioa aud sspsirs Of
sewers, bridges aud, other public Works fharaln-
according 70 the proyislOa Of The thirfy-ssSsnIS
section Of an act OF the Congress Of the United
mont for the District Of Oolamsia," apprSred
February q. 1871. -. = -
$40. 4 And 6s q further enacted. That IN vie~
OF tho emergency arising from the necessity Tor
the improvement and repairs OF the streets, ave-
naea, slleys sewers roads and bridges tn the DIS
dIatsly upon its passage Approved August II,
1871. - - y
Q. That was the act approved August IL,
T f1S7l, and which appropriated S500, 900, and
that was expended A. Yes, sir.
Q. And 10 addition to that the board had
made further expenditures which made it
necessary to pass the other act TO which
called attention. A. The board had made ex-
penditures upon these certain things which
were authorized by this law, but which should
not properly have come out Of this 81, ,OOO, 900
bill.
Q. You regarded this an approoriatiou buI
to the extent Of $500, ,OO0l A. To the extent
that any such improvement as might be
needed.
Q. The point want to get at is this: Did
you make expenditures beyond that $500 ,OoOl
| The Witness. On account Of these other
itemsl
O.. Yes, sir. A. No, sir; we had not ex-
pended the $500, 900 on account Of them.
| q. Had you not expended this $50O,OO0 at
the timel A. Not the whole of it.
| Q. Then what was the occasion for a reim
bursementl A. Because the work was going
on. As say, after the underpinning of these
houses, large portion of that was done after
the appropriation of the $500, 900. Some of it
had been done, and some was in process of
completion, and Il was to reimburse these az
penditures which had been made back to the
board, so that the $50, 900 there would 90 to
the improvement ofstrests, avenues, and things
of that kind that this was done.
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. Was not the history of
that $500, 900 appropriation this, that the four
million loan, the proceedings under Il, had
been enjolned in the courts, and for the pur
pose of obviating the effect of this Injunction,
was not this $780, 900 appropriation madei A.
Yes, sir.
Q. And It was to enable YOU to carry out
your contracts which you had contemplated or
initiated under the four-million loanl A. We
had not made any contracts or initiated any at
that time. 1t was not until a month aiter-
ward that we let any st all. .
Q. Your contracts were made before the in
junction was dissolvedl A. The injunction was
dissolved about the LIST of October. The cou-
tracts were made about the 18th of Sept.m-
ber-some of them-and work begun under
them.
Q. And the authority under which you let
those contracts Of the 18th of September was
het authority conferred by this $500, 900 ap-
proprisienl A. Yes, sir; It was dedicated to
the carrying out Of any improvements that
might be necessary. 1t was passed with that
view.
O. The contracts amounted to $500, 900
themselves A. No, sir; the contracts at that
time only amounted, as you will see by turn
ing to the record, to $264 IA. q. That was
the amount OF the contracts let on the 18th Of
September, under the act OF the Legislature,
| approved August II, 1871.
By Mr.. Stanton: Q. In the testimony of John
Collins, on page l013, / find 1t stated 81 was
awarded q contract for paving N street and
also Thirteenth Street, portion of Thirteenth
some interest" Were you aware, at the time
of awarding the contract, that Mr.. Murtagh
had obtained any INTEREST," A. was not Mr..
Murtagh had building that he was putting
up at the corner of Thirteenth street and
Pennsylvania avenue, and wanted to get
Thirteenth street paved, and asked me to give
the work to Alr. Collins. was anxious to get
the paving done speedily, and gave it to Col
Inns.
Q. Mr.. Collins had been a resident here for
q great many years, and a contractor! A. Yes.
sir; and q very efficient contractor, as have
before stated. He was one OF the most efficient
ones that we have ever had.
@. Inquiries were put to you concerning
sales of real estate In which q confederation
put in whole in one case, and In part in
another-consisted Of certificates of the board
Was it for any purpose of speculating in secu-
rites of that kind that they were accepted by
your A. None whatever. 1t was a very dis
a advantageous proposition for me to entertain
But the question was put directly to me,
whether would take District securities for
certain property which I held, and said
would, after thinking the matter over for q
few minutes, at the price fixed upon the prop
erty long an:erior to the date at which it took
place.
By Mr. Bass: O. confess, Governor, do
not fully understand this matter Of sppropria-
tions, and yet, perhaps, it is owing to my
dullness.
The Witness. No, do not think that is the
case.
Q. This provision of the organic act, ifI
understand IL, contemplates that the Board Of
Public Works shall not incur any debt against
the District until an appropriation shall
have been made. Now, your auditors eertif-
Gates indicate that you have done over SIS, ,0OO,-
900 worth Of worki A. Yes, sir.
Q. Which, Of course, is a debt against the
District. I cannot find where there has been
any such amounts of appropriations rs Sl6,-
000,0O upon which the Board of Public
Works was authorized to issue certificates of
Indebtedness against the District A. On page
42S of this Investigation there is In detail all
the appropriations made. Judge Wilson raised
ths question about some OF these appropria-
tions. OF course, ! am not q lawyer, and am
not able to discuss that matter; but that Is
what we acted on.
Q. The last item, the s5,2l7 900, Is an as
sessmenti A. Yes, sir; that is, the organic act;
made part of the appropriation as under
stand 1t. The law says that we shall assess
one third Of the cost upon property bordering,
and that, it strikes me, is an appropriation. It
Is treated so by the Legislative Assembly and
by Congress in the organic act. We have al
ways 50 treated It, and made our reports to
Congress bdsed on that, and It has never been
questioned.
@. That one third of the cost should be as
sessedl Then you expected to derive your
moDey-two thirds of the money, from other
sources, from appropriations either made by
Congress or the Legislative Assembly, and the
one third from the property -holdersl A. Yes,
sir.
Q. And you regard that third as an appro-
priation for this particular purpose, to make
these improvements? A. It cannot be regarded
In any other light. That is the way It strikes
me.
Mr.. Bass. It may be that is so. Iwanted to
get your view of it.
A. They all aggregate SIC, 1881 ,42s,79. The
auditors certificates, however, exceed that
sum two or three millions of dollars.