National Republican., 1874-05-13

A. Those ara thesonly two instances in whicl
1 application was made.
the United States payment for any improve
ments that had been made by the old corpora
tion, which Improvements had been paid fol-
entirely BY the owners Of adjacent property
For instance, the sewer on Fourteenth street
or the paving Of Pennsylvania avenue, which
i am informed, was taxed against the adjacent
property -holdersl A. The, paving of Peupsyl
yania avenue was not taxed against the prop
erty -holders-that IS, the part directly in front
1 Of their premises was, but the Intersections
were not. The intersections were paved by The
/ corporation. EGLDA EIfT
q. In your application to Congress, npor
which you obtained your appropriation, Swa:
that one Of the cisims cwhi4 you presented
The amount paid by the property y-hoIders3
Q. Yes, sir. A. No, SIR.
Q. That was not Included A. No, sir;
think not. .rrss--
q. Iwant to arrive at the principle. Take
the sewer on Fourteenth street. That was
paid for wholly. by the adjacent property-hold-
ersf A. A portion OF IL was. A portion was
paid out of the board funds. -.y
Q. Were you reimbursed for that improve
mentl A. At what pointl
\ OIL am sirply arriving at the principle.
Was any portion Of that paid for by the Gen
/ eral Government-that is, cny work done by
the old corporstioni A. None that am aware
of on Fourteenth street,
Q. In cases whera You did receive q reim-
bursement for work done by the old corpora
tion, what disposition did you make of tha.
money! A. RelmbursemenSs made TO the old
corporationl ~.
| @. Yes. A. There have only been two In
stances OF that kind. One, an appropriation OF
S1Ss 900, which went into the hands OF the
sinking fund commissioners and was pplied 10
the redemption of the debt; and the other, 9
million dollars on account OF The avenue, pass-
ed the Sd OF last March, which was applied to
the continua tion OF the improvements by the
board of fJpublic works. The law making the
appropriation provided hoWit should be drawn
and used. / i 1 j. ".E
Mr.. Hamilton. think we have that all in
| the record. n.r -
Mr.. Christy. Yes, the principle is lust be-
yond this that am inquiriDg after, Nr. HamIl-
ton, as you viii see from the question propose
to ask.
II @. (To the witness will ask you whether,
in any of these instances in which you were re-
imbursed BY the General Government for i'm
provemeBts paid for entirely by citizens, you
used any of that money to reimburse those
citizensi A. do not know of any such in
stances.
| Q. And, of course, you took It for granted
that 1t was not dopel A. should think no.:
It went into the general fund used for the i'm
provements. 3. ...-..
Q. Is it the determination of the District gov
ernment TO continue the same system of I'm
provementi A. Well, that is . matter which
rests very largely with this committee and the
Congress of the United States.
O. Suppose that you had obtained, however,
the pending appropriation applied for, and col
lected these taxes, would you prosecute this
system of Improvement upon the same plan
| and in the same method-for instance, in re-
gard to awarding contracts instead of letting
to the lowest bidder, after public advertise
menti A. Do you want my personal answer
| to that question:
Q. want the determination of the District
| government. A. The District government has
no determination upon q matter that is in the
future. They cannot have any determination
on aquestion of that kind.
Q. You have not discussed, however, the
proposition of suspending the present system
and inaugurating new system. A. Who has
not discussed itf
Q. The District government. The BoardOf
Public Works, and those who are sz-ofieio
members of that board. A. Personally, have
discussed the plan of governing this District
| for the last fifteen years. As an officer have
not discussed IL officially.
Q. That has rot been, then, matter of de-
liberation by the District government or the
Board Of Public Works, whether you will
change that systeml A. Not that am aware
| of.
Q. And particularly call your attention to
the manner OF letting contracts for the making
Of improvements. A. If l had the same work
to go through with again to-day would pur-
sue the same policy-exactly the same policy
that VIC have pursued. think we have striven
TO do the best that could be done under the cir
cumstances, with fire IN front ind rear.
Q. In your letter to the Council-l am not
speaking of the letter from the Board OF Pub
Nc Workshop estimated the cost of a plan of
improvements that you indicated to the Legis-
lative Assembly; you fixed the amount of that
likewise, and upon examining your testimony
before the last committee of investigation, I
find that You had repeated substantially that
the cost OF that Improvement would not be in
excess OF the original amount estimated
Please explain the cause of the departures
which resulted IN such vastly increased cost
OF improvement A. do not quite get your
idea.
Q. You remember, of course, your letter to
the Council in which you fixed the amounts A =.
! do not, sir.
Oh WIN call your attention to that, then.
In your letter Of june 20, 1871, which was
signed BY the members of the Board of Public
Works, you estimated the entire cost of the
completion of this plan of general improvement
~ SOyS~SyJ0Ot ices " Ce0L., WHICH WOQlQ
make 81 ga 500; leaving s6,57s ,S97 as tho en-
tire cost of the completion Of this plan of im-
provements. Now, on page 7S5 Of your testi-
nlony before the last committee of investiga-
ton, find that you used this language:
When the Legislature was called together we
District, making il as explicit as we could in the
brief time allowed for its preparation. That plan
involved an expenditure OF some ss, 900 900, and
different sections Of the city, and also cont en-,
plated the paving OF the streets. Amer the sp-
@ provai o. the plan We proceeded to carry it into
eject 10 the best OF our ability.
Now, there Is no suggestion there that the
cost would be beyond the amount of this orlgi-
nal estimated A. recollect the Language OF
that, sir.
The committee here took a recess until
o'clock p. m. ......
AFTERNOON SESSION.
On the committee reassembl ling, tie exarli-
nation of Gov. Shepherd was resumed by Mr..
Christy. -... Il
Q. fwIll add this to the question asked
you before recess: "That we think it now
evident that the expense has been largely in
excess of the amount estimated, and fixed in
the original plaus submitted to the Legislative
Assembly, and l desire an explanation of
that-upon what principle you claim the right
to exceed i'll A. do not know that compre-
hend you fully, Colonel. Is this the point YOU
wish to reach, whether the plan which was
originally submitted to the Legislature has not
been fully carried out In detai1
Q. Not that alone, but that only partially
carrying it out, you have largely exceeded, as
We understand it, the estimated A. "Only par
TALLY carried 1t out" hardly think that that
is proper Interpretation oft.
Q. Whether portion, at least, of the work
included In that original plan does not still re-
main uncompletedi A. Yes, sir; but good deal
more than what was included has been done.
The nature Of the work, as have stated before
to the committee, was changed to very great
extent, from the fact that the plan adopted by
the board, after matuIe deliberation, In the
narro#ihg Of the roadways, enabled them to
put down much better pavement, and make
much better improvement than they could have
done under the authority conveyed 10 this law.
The "a, 600, 600 loan act of the Legislative !
Assembly authorized the board 10 exercise !
their discretion In these improvements, In using
the expression, "may change as far as may be |
practicable and consistent with the public IN
terest;" and In accordance with that clause the |
board have desiated from the original estimates
submitted. !
o. They, then, consider themselves as clothed
with the authority TO increase the cost Of the
improvements to the extent to which they have
donef A. We consider ourselves clothed with
the authority 10 make such changes as might
be best adapted for the bea6tlfyin1 the city,
, A tha rrvfr n a,,k ~ ~. -.