Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-09

made but for the holding up of this bill.
have been neglected and we are ADVISED
that work will soon have to stop alto
gether. SchOolhouses and improvements
on schoOhouses contemplated and pro-
vided for in tits bill have been delayed
until now it will be impossible to COM
plete them in time for the opening or the
new school year. Ard l am authorized
by the Engineer Commissioner of the
District to say that the estimated actual
loss to the District will he at least
100000
Under the leadership of a very few
of the Playground Association
there has been conducted the most per-
sistent and ineXcusable course Of lobbying
within the range of my knowledge.
Methods have been rcsorted to that
ought to be condemned and the parties
engaging in them rebuked by all good
citizens.
Alleged Tactics Employed.
Not only were the members of the
committee importuned and piled with
letters and kilograms and petitions
until forbearance ceased to be a virtue.
but the membership of the House has
been divided up into small groups.
hold here in my hand the so-called
black list containing names Of men,
bers who voted in favor of the House
provision and these seen one by one.
For weeks automobiles have been at
the doors of the Capitol and the House
office building. and members have been
urged to leave their places in the House
and their work in the Office building and
take ride through the city, ostensibly
to visit some playground. but in reality
that the lobbyist might the better ply
his work. Some of these people have
gloated over their ability to have the bill
held up while they were getting in their
work, their leader, the secretary and the
executive officer of the association. de-
claring it was nuts and cheese to the
layed. though every days delay was
costing the city So 900 in actual loss.
kilograms. letters and circulars
have been sent broadcast by the same
secretary to people in the states that
they might try and influence members
here. One of these circulars 1 hold in
my hand. surrounded. as you see. by a
deep black border and the contents so
worded that the reader is led to be-
lieve that the children Of the District
are to be wholly deprived of the play
ground privileges unless the bill with
the Senate amendments was passed,
when the secretary must have known
that since the Speakers ruling the
whole sum Of $4,000 was to be appro-
priated and that the only point in dis
pute was whether it was to be paid
wholly from the District treasury. or
from the dual source. This black-bor-
dered sheet was sent me by good
friend from my state with an appeal
gathering from this and the accom-
panying letter from the secretary that
nothing was to be done il this bill was
defeated.
ION what is deemed trustworthy au-
thOrity the threat has been made that
the battle would be carried into the dis
tricts Of the conferees and an attempt
made TO defeat them, and in two OF the
states some Of the papers are already
publishing articles in condemnation or
tions made from this city. This action
on the part not of the Playground AS
ISOLATION as a whole, for this anonymous
publication called Facts which is
strange mixture of facts and misleading
statements, was put forth by only eight,
the secretary tells me. out of possible
twenty-eight members who make up the
Playground Association
Certain Influences" Arraigned.
This course has been pursued while in
this bill is carried almost million and
a half Of dollars paid by the people of the
whole country for the education Of the
children in this city. 1t carries $424OOO
more for the care Of the poor and the
sick Of Washington to be paid from the
national treasury: it carries $4,000 more
to be paid from the same source for the
of the geological Park, the
most popular and frequented amusement
resort in the city. In round numbers this
bill carries two millions of dollars to be
paid by the people Of the whole country
for the education of the children. for
charity and for the amusement Of the
people OF Washington city
I'm addition to this. the bill carries
the federal treasury during the next fis-
cal year to meet the ordinary current
needs of the city. Despite this large sum,
aggregating over five millions of dollars.
contributed by the nation, this bill,
through certain influences, has been held
up for weeks and months in order to get
an additional So, 500 paid from the national
treasury for supervision and maintenance
of Fairgrounds: this, too. while the bill
carries $7.4OO in items not in dispute for
the betterment of Fairgrounds now own
ed by the District.
Action Quoted as Precedents.
The conferees have sought in good
faith to carry out the will of the House
as emphatically expressed by the votes
of members on two different occasions,
which was that this comparatively insig-
nificant sum should be paid wholly from
disputed precedents in support of the
House contention. For example: Some
years ago, when the Grand Army of the
Republic was to he entertained here, a
bill was passed appropriating $4,000 to
be paid on the half-and-half basis, on
condition that the citizens raised $4,000
additional
1.-The House OF Representatives contend
ed then. as now. that the whole sum should
be paid by the District, and 1t was done.
Another precedent exactly on all tours
with the action proposed In this bill was
when the Congress authorized the equip
ing of a bathing beach within the city
limits and on a government reservation
on condition that the whole appropriation
was to be paid by the District.
This, gentlemen of the House. is our
case and it is for you to adhere 10 or
reverse your former action
House Refuses to Recede.
After some further debate Mr. Parsons
moved that the House recede from its
disagreement to the Senate amendment
SO that the two houses might get to-
gether and agree that the $4,000 should
be paid One-half out of the federal
Treasury and One-half out of the rev.
enues OF the District
On a record call vote the Persons mo-
ton was lost. On motion made by Mr.
Gardner the House further insisted on its
disagreement. This leaves the whole
Fairgrounds proposition still up i'm the
air.
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