Evening star., 1915-11-11

RSDAY, NOVEMBER II
nial, but Senator Works clamped the lid
on any moro personalities at that point.
Mr.. Browne, however. informed the COM
mittee that it took Mr.. Richards many
months to supply the George committee
with the desired information.
Senator Works Statement.
At this point Senator Works made the
| remarks indicating that he is not satisfied
with evidence on assessment subjects and
| wants to hear more. He said:
There Is one thing we regard as i'm
| portant, which has not been covered by
you-that Is the question of whether
the present assessment applied to the
| tax rate fixed by law imposes a reason
able or unreasonable burden on the peo-
pie OF Washington. 1 want to know
that and SO does the committee. 1 ask
ed Mr.. Hoover, who seems to be well
| informed. and he said he thought the
| assessment was fair on the average
Doubtless there are some properties
that are underassessed and others that
are oVeraSsessed. 1t seems to me your
committee ought to feel it incumbent
upon itself to tell us whether the rate
imposed is reasonable or unrea sonable
That has not been shown, and it is the
very question involved in the issue
submitted to this committee for deter
mlnatlon. namely, the burden which
the District and the federal govern
ment shall respectively bear here.
You have left that question up in
| the air.
Should Extend Inquiry.
"It is true that you have taken some
specific cases as to values of land, but
we know. as practical men, that as
:, oh
sometimes low, and we ought to go
into this entire matter. We do not
want to guess at it. I wish your COM
mittee would bear that feature in
| mind This joint select committee has
invited few prominent business men.
who should know about these things,
to some here and testify, but they
have so far failed to show up. 1t
seems to me these business men ought
to give us their views as to the reason
ableness of the tax burden born by
the District"
Mr.. Worthington's Response.
Mr.. Worthington replied that the citi-
zens' committee believed it hao gone
thoroughly into the subject; that a
compilation of sales for five years back
had been presented to be compared
with the assessment; that Thomas
Bradley had given the results of his
exhaustive Investigations. tending to
show that the net income on real es-
tate here after taxes are deducted un-
der the present. ASSESSMENT is from per
cent to per cent only.
And yet Mr.. Hoover. a business man
here, says the assessm4nt is not too
high" said Senator Works.
He was speaking Of one neighbor-
hood only Mr.. WortNngton replied.
AS an upshot of colloquy then fol-
lowing as to who should come forward
and discuss the assessment, William NICK.
Clayton, one of those on list of possi-
Bile witnesses furnished to the committee
by the Commissioners. addressed the
committee. He spoke mainly in favor of
a delegate in Congress. However. he
made the charge that the assessment
was "jacked up" to meet the demands of
people on the hill' who believed that
the half-and-half ought to be done away
with.
Mr.. Bradley Concludes Statement.
When the committee reassembled yes
terday afternoon Thomas Bradley went
on the stand for a few minutes to tell
of the auction sale of property on 18th
street northwest between C and D streets
which was assessed at a basis of $12,666.
The property at auction sale brought
$4,000. and this in spite of the fact that
it had been advertised for two weeks.
Herbert ]. Browne asked Mr.. Brad
ley if he had personally examined the
title company records in the cases
brought by him to refute the George
report, and Mr.. Bradley replied that he
was prepared to answer personally for
the more important cases, and that
responsible official Of the company Is
the authority for others.
Harold Doyle Resumes.
Harold Doyle resumed as q witness,
and Senator Works asked him what
had produced the business depression:
The democratic administration. for
one thing" answered Mr.. Doyle. while
a laugh went around the committee
room. -4 . -
II did not mean to bring politics into
this, but. still, you have made the proper
answer"
The half-and-half agitation is an
But that may be settled soon," SEN
ator Works continued. rs there any
The war and its effect on certain
stocks. I have had prospective buyers
tell me that they would buy when they
got rid of certain stocks"
cra.e part1 it fact fact that that all the demo-
here is to give Washington an honest
Ratney. Has that had depressing eff
feet on business?"
That's not the only thing. Take the
plaza condemnation case"
"All that was being remedied there
was the attempt by grasping corpora
tions to get more than they should
That was given as a reason, but it
wasn't accurate answered Mr.. Doyle,
"and the tie-up of lot of money that
might be in circulation has resulted"
n. J. Browne Produces Exhibit.
H. ]. Browne then produced one of the
exhibits of the George hearings. name
ly, pamphlet prepared by New
York advertising firm. and issued in
connection with the selling campaign
for the Massa sachusetts Avenue Heights
tract. The booklet contains extracts
from an out-of-town newspaper giving
an estimate of real estate values in the
District of Columbia, which mount up
into the billions. Mr.. Browne sought to
connect Mr.. Doyle with the booklet by
having him tell the committee that the
advertisement was issued by Thomas J.
Fisher & Co, with which concern Mr.
Doyle is associated.
Having established that fact. Mr.
Browne picked out lot in the Massa-
chusetts Avenue Heights section and
drew the information that the assess
ment was 20 cents a foot, while the
selling price was $1.40 a foot:
That lot does not show as having