Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-05
Mr.. HINES STATEMENT,
He Defines His Position In the Commits.
siouersbip Controversy.

oAVuSHsnAP SoatEttefsys
THE LRoAL STATUS OF THE ENGINEER coMsrs-
sroSER-rHE VERSION OF THE CASE GIVEN BIT
MR. HISE-ARMY OFFICERS As ASSISTANTS TO
CIVILIANS
The board Of Commissioners held q special
meeting this morning Col Robert was not
present at the meeting, being detained ct
Rockville.
81 desire to know" said Mr.. Hine, address
ing Mr.. Douglass. IF you have received as
president Of the board the two letters of Col
Robert referred to in Thursday nights STARR"
''The first saw or knew Of them" said Mr.
Douglass, twas in TIE STAR"
81 have seen those letters" said Mr.. Hine,
''but il understand correctly they have not as
yet been officially received by the board.
THAT is So" continued Mr.. Douglass.
Then desire to present the following"
said Mr.. Hine, handing the letter to Mr..
Douglass:
Nh. HINES LETTER.
The letter said: 1.-The statement not yet pre-.
sented to the board, but furnished to the news
papers two days ago, is q curious misapprehen-
sion Of what did say, or at least intended to
say, at the last meeting of the board IN refer
ence to the duties imposed by law on the En-
gineer Commissioner.
ITO understand the reason why I spoke of
them at all. instead of relying exclusively upon
the orders of the board of Commissioners, Il 10
necessary to state briefly what did occur in the
board room immediately before / suggested to
him that there was a legislative declaration of
his special functions. My excuse for placing
on the flies that part Of tho conversation
which led to and caused the discussion of the
legal status OF the Engineer Commissioner is
the fact that what purports to be part of that
conversation has been published
THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ENGINEER COMMITS
- sIoNER AND WHAT LED TO ITS DISCUSSION.
"When the board convened on the LIST insta
after passing an order fixing the time for its
meetings and the rate of pay for its employees,
the president OF the board read the draft of
bill to be submitted to Congress providing that
the two officers detailed from the engineer corps
shall be detailed to assist the Commissioners,
instead of as now detailed to assist the En-
gineer Commissioner. After short discus
sion Of the necessity for the change the En-
gneer Commissioner remarked that he recog-
nized the great inconvenience of the present
system but he would not be prepared to act
on it until he had consulted at least three per-
sons, two of whom would be his assistants; that
he was very doubtful if they
would consent to serve under civilians.
On the suggestion of the president Of the
board that they would obey orders he said
Yes, sir, but officers of the engineer corps are
not detailed without consulting them; that 1
was never detailed without being consulted.
except to my present duty He said, further,
that it could not be expected that even lieu
tenant would consent to serve under 4 civilian,
and repeated that he was quite certain
that his assistants would not do SO. Thereupon
the president of the board called his attention
to the fact that formerly the officer detailed
from the engineer corps was subject to the
general supervision and control of the board of
Commissioners. After a short discussion called
the attention of the Engineer Commissioner
to the fact that the first act of Congress. which
detailed an officer from the corps Of engineers
to District work declared that he should have
charge of the work of repair and improvement
OF oil streets and avenues alleys, sewers. roads
and bridges OF the District OF Columbia,
subject to the general direction Of
tho District Commissioner; that The act
of 1873, which provided that one of
the Commissioners should be an offer
detailed from the engineer corps. is silent as to
any specific duties TO be performed by either
Commissioner, but describes said officer as the
transferred the water department to the
engineer Office, subject to the gen.
eral control of the Commissioners
1t is quite NANTES, that it is the spirit of the
law and was the intention of the law makers
that he should give his attention to those du-
ties for which his education and professional
work specially qualified him.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE ENGINEER COMMISSIONER.
/ have never claimed that the Engineer Com
missioner is not the equal in power Of either
one of the other Commissioners. On the con-
trary have uniformly asserted that the three
Commissioners bad coordinate powers and
jurisdiction and that the majority must neces-
sarily rule, and for the orderly and efficient
management Of public business the one Of
the minority must obey even if the mandate
is issued by civilians. The experience of the
citizen Commissioners during the last few
months has been fruitful Of anxiety and uncer-
tainty. but has demonstrated the absolute ne
cessty for one Commissioner to devote his en-
tire time to the engineer department, with one
or two hours daily Cor perhaps three times a
week. for general consultations. SO be-
lieving I shall attempt as long as l
am Commissioner to attend to my own
business as it has been assigned to me by the
board, and will not permit any interference
with it except under conditions prescribed by
the board. The fact that the Engineer Com
missioner according to the newspspers) asked
to be relieved of the charge of railroads is very
strong evidence that the board of commits
sioners has assigned to him quite enough work
without burdening himself with that which has
been assigned to either of.the other Commits
sioners."
TO BE SHOWN COL. ROBERT.
Commissioner Douglass made the following
Endorsement upon the letter and sent it to the
secretary: The secretary will file this and
show it to Col Robert when he returns"