Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-15
The examination Of Mr.. Weller BY tn,

The examination Of Mr.. Weller By the
House District committee yesterday confirms
the expressed view of TIE SrAl, that the
method Of purchasing building sites. adopted
by the Commissioners, In, to say the least. in
judicious, and that the District taxpayers suf-
fer In pocket thereby to an extent not vet as
certained 1t appears from this evidence that
Mr.. Weller applied to Mr.. wheatley for the
privilege of selling the District public build
ing site; that the property afterwards pur-
chased from the firm Of which Mr.. Weller Is .
member for the police station site was
at that time offered for sale to all the
world on the firms bulletins and Autographed
plans at s71< cents per foot, one-third cash.
balance on time; that Mr.. John F. Cox. con-
nection by marriage Of Mr.. wheatley and
recognized by the Commissioners az their agent
to buy. made the purchase for the District;
that he made deposit for and bought in the
name Of Daniel s. Pickren, whose name alone
appears anywhere in the transaction; that the
District paid g. 400 for the property; that the
owners received s2 O69s7. being the price of
their property at s71E cents per foot, less ga
selling commission; that Weller & Repetti re-
ceived one-hah of the selling commission; that
Mr.. John F. Coz received the other half and
the remainder Of the difference, amounting in
al to s323A; that Mr.. Weller, in subse-
quent interview with Mr.. wheatley in ref
erence to the purchase of the site, learned
that Mr.. Cox had boughtfor the Dis
trict and informed that Commissioner
that the District was not saving by its method
Of purchase and that the fixed price Of the lots
to the owners or anybody was 371S cents per
foot, and that less would have been taken had
o cash offer been made in the first place. Here
was case in which the District could have
bought the desired property directly for
2,l3S 81, according TO the bulletined and ad-
vertised price, with q probable reduction on
the price for o cash purchase il it had been
asked It bought instead through an agent,
who made the purchase in the name Of another
agent and e1acted no reduction for a cash
purchase, and it paid out on account
Of the property s2,4O0 This difference of
$266.63 represents an amount which the Dis
trict paid unnecessarily to somebody. II was
not paid by the owners of the property for they
had received and retained their full price for
the lots, more than would have been ex-
pected in a cash sale, reducedonly by the COM
mission paid to their selling agents and shared
by the latter with Mr.. Cox. 1t was paid by the
District taxpayers from the appropriation for
a station site, was received by Mr.. Cox and Mr.
Wheatley says that he does not know what
afterward became of it.
The payment of any amount BY the Districtto
an agent in such transactions is admitted by the
Commissioners to be illegal. There have been
a great many purchases Of public building sites
under the middleman method. and in some Of
them the District AGENTS. profit and the Dis
trict's loss has been much greater than in the
police station site. 1t is Of some interest to
District taxpayers to know exactly how much
the District has thus paid above the price at
which the owners were willing to sell directly
to the District, and which they received, and
to discover who pocketed this difference and
whether the payments were not illegal and the
recipients cannot be compelled to refund to
the District.