The Washington times., 1913-01-25

whereas the parties OF tne HTSt
part are willing that the. said pieces
and parcels of ground shall be made
and shall become public park upon
the terms and conditions hereinafter
stated; and 90. .--1. -..-
Whereas the party of the second
part desires, without compensation,
and in consideration of the public
interests to be thereby promoted and
subserved, to aid so far as he can
properly do so in having said pieces
and parcels of ground made a public
park on the terms and conditions
hereinafter stated;
This agreement witnesseth that the
parties of the first part, each for
himself or herself, and in respect of
their several and respective interests,
each for himself and not one for the
other, In consideration of the sum of
S1~iawful money of the United States
to each of them in hand. paid by
Charles c. Glover before the signing
and sealing OF this agreement. the
receipt whereof is hereby acknowl-
edged, and in consideration of the
other payments, and the performance
of the conditions, hereinafter speci-
fed, do hereby covenant, promise.
and agree to and with the said
Charles c. Glover to sell to the
United States or to the District of
lie park. for and In consideration and
at the rate of $4,000 per acre and
fraction of an acre, all those pieces
and parcels of ground in the District
Of Columbia described as follows:
Price Asked Was S47o,ooo.
The! total amount Of the land was
1914 acres. A slight difference in the
acreage price of one of the smaller
tracts brought the total price Of the
whole up not to exceed $40. 200. No other
price was ever named to Congress or
expected under the options. There was,
of course, no warrant for any state
ment that $4,000 or s550.0O0 or $4S5,00
was ever asked.
The bill for the acquisition Of this
park property as presented to Con-
gress added 5000 to the $4,000 at the
instance of the District Commissioners
in order to cover official expenses In the
matter, so that the amount named for
appropriation In every bill on this sub
ject was s4,3 900, or SO much thereof
as might be necessary.
Declares Bill Answers Sims.
No one could honestly believe that
under these options anything whatever
could be done with this land except
to secure it in its entirety to the Gov.
ernment as a public park. The mere
quotation from the text of the contract,
which was accessible at all times to
Congress, answers sufficiently the Sian
der of Mr.. Sims insinuadon. The text
of the bill for the ACQUISITION OF tms
park property. as / caused 1t to be In.
troduced in 1906 and again in 1908. and
as IL was approved in the strongest way
by the Commissioners Of the District
Of Columbia and by the committees or
the Senate and the House, Is the answer
amount Of appropriation required.
No sane man could believe. no hon.
est man would say. that could by any
possibility make one penny OF personal
profit out of the transaction covered
by these options, or that the United
States was ever asked TO pay TOT the
land more than Its actual cost under
these options, with the addition OF the
s. 600 for the official expenses, or In all
not exceeding $4,000.
Panic Caused Extension.
These options were procured by me
only by great and prolonged effort and
through many difficulties. A renewal
of them was secured by me in contracts
made the 18th OF January. 1908, with
the same trustees only because the
panic Of 1907 had prevented the trustees
from marketing the property on more
advantageous terms after they had
told me repeatedly that no extension
could be secured, and had SO reported
to the Commissioners and to the COM
mittees Of Congress in perfect good
faith. 1t was, Of course, throughout
a labor of love with me, faithfully car
ried on until it was finally defeated by
the misleading remarks OF Mr.. sims and
Mr.. Andrus. of New York, on the after
noon of the Sd of March, 1909. never
read those misleading statements until,
as / said In my former statement, just
a short time before I appeared before
the committee in December last
Let me now request an examination
of the latest speech of Representative
Sims beginning on page 1875 OF the Con-
gressional Record, under the date of
January Is. 1918, In order that / may
point out In detail its misstatements.
in view of the gross injustice they do
me.
Mr. Sims first quoted from the printed
record Of the insurance committee the
portion of the statement made by me
on the 3oth day Of December last. In
which. after quoting what had been
said by Mr.. Sims and Mr. Andrus in
the debate of March 3, 1909. L said:
Mr.. Glover Cites His Statements.
Mr.. Chairman, the statement that
/ offered that property to the Con-
gress of the United states at 10000;
that / was pric,1ed by conscience,
and reduced the sum to $3.50 600: that
II "dS tiiipOulcu uS
authority at si75,0c0. or. as Mr. Sims
says, 'it IL now before this House
at $43o, 600, !" Is an absolute and un-
qualified falsehood. / never offered
the property save at the one single
price Of $780, 600 plus the s., 900 added
by the Commissioners of the Dis
trict Of Columbia.
AS that charge stands, I can well
understand why Major Judson has had
to defend my character before some
81 he Ts
me, instead of being a public =
spirited citizen. a man with an op-
ton on a piece of property at S42O, ,O0g,
endeavoring to palm II off on the
Government of the United States at
$4,000
do not believe, Mr.. Chairman,
that these gentlemen intended to make
an untrue statement, but the bin
was before them. Here IS the iden-
tical bill, and the last clause of that
bill says that the price of that land
was $4,000
A Statement by Sims.
Mr.. Sims then proceeds to make the
statements which / have just approx
ed, that a member who misleads the
House. causing 1t to vote otherwise
than 1t would, by false statements,
ought to be expelled. and that denun-
citation Of individuals by members on
the floor who cannot be called to ac-
count for IL Is not
a manifestation of great moral or