Evening star., 1915-11-11

| - VIII call attention to the fact, said
Mr. 6rowne. that Of these TWENTY-FIVE
cal character"
You can hardly say the errors are
Gc!er1cal." returned Representative
COOPER; they seem to be errors by you
| Browne replied '.They occurred in
transitting records"
| Not with the accent in the clerical"
| may have been Misrepresentation.
| CAL
Curious they were all one way" COM
| mented Mr.. Worthington.
They are not That's absurd" was
] Mr. Brownies rejoinder.
| Mem bers of the committee and the at
| torneys present then had colloquy as
| 10 whether the George hearings should
De admitted to this present hearing as
| II 1t were testimony taken before the
members of the joint select committee,
winch matter is to be determined later.
Says he Altered Figures.
Mr.. Browne was then asked by Mr..
Worthington:
In the hearings of the George com.
m1ttee there is table showing the num-
Der of houses in the District, given by Mr..
Richards, the District assessor, and I
see the number is S1,256. Did yau alter
those figures given by Mr.. Richards?"
II did. Under instructions from the
chairman of the committee Mr. Rich
Mr.. George figures obtained from the
| inspector of buildings. He said they
ought to go in"
What were the figures Mr.. Richards
gave?"
Something like 100000"
al a d.
1ngs inspectors office?"
Morris Hacker, I think, gave me the
figures"
Did you let Mr.. Richards know you
oath?" asked Mr.. Worthington.
Il did not"
DO you see any impropriety in chang
ing the figures of a sworn witness?"
None whatever; neither did the chair
man Of the committee
Explains Change in Testimony.
Representative Cooper said:
Mr.. Browne, do I understand that
the testimony of witness. given under
oath was changed by you on request of
of the witness?'
explain all that" He then stated that
Representative George was seeking to
learn how Washington compared to
other cities in the number of parcels of
real estate to number of owners. Mr..
Browne read from the testimony given
by Mr.. Richards before the George COM
mittee. and said that Mr.. Richards had
given his impression 20 Mr.. George and
had promised to get up a table, which
he afterward submitted to the commit
tee.
Mr.. Browne said that he noticed a
discrepancy between the figures given
by Mr.. Richards and those of a report
OF the building inspector. which he
na' mad and that he called the attention of
Mr. George. and with the instructions
or Mr.. George, he had changed the
Richards figures.
The change had nothing to do with
the value of the testimony of Mr.. Rich
ards" said Mr.. Browne. ut was made
only for the sake Of accuracy"
Inc trouble about that" said Sena-
tor Works, lis that you make these
charged figures appear to be those Of
Mr.. Richards given under oath. That
Is the important thing"
why didn't you consult Mr. Richards
about this changer" asked Mr.. Cooper.
That brings up the question as to
Whether l should be questioned by this
committee commit za,su about the action taken by
Browne. Il was directed to make that
change by the chairman of that com
mlttee. l think If you want that oues-
ton answered you should go to the
District committee of the House."
DO you yourself know any reason
why Mr.. Richards was not consulted
in this matter?" asked Senator Works
Il don't recall any now" was the re-
ply.
Mr. Hoover on Stand.
William D. Hoover. president of the
National Savings and Trust Company,
was called to the stand by the citizens
committee and was questioned by A. S.
Worthington of the committee He tes-
titled that he had been a lifelong resi-
dent of the District and that he had
been president of the trust company
since 1909 and connected with the com
pany since 1902. He said that his com
pany handled many pieces of property
here as trustee.
What are the average net receipts
from improved property in the District,
Mr. Hoover" asked Mr.. Worthington.
Mr.. Hoover replied that there were
nine parcels Of property in the business
section handled by his company, and
that he had figured that the average
net return was 3.15 per cent, though
figured in another way. it was less than
2 per cent
Figured on the assessment on these
properties. the percentage is about 3.007
per cent; figured on the basis of assess
j
1904 per cent" sud Mr.. Hoover
Senator Works asked about the last
assessment Of property in Washington
whether it was too high or too low
Mr.. Hoover replied that considering
the depreciation in real estate values
in the last year or two, the assessment
was high.
Under questions from Mr.. worthing-
ton, Mr.. Hoover told the committee that
Of the nine properties handled by his
company in the business section, some
We're assessed too high, and some were
assessed below the price put upon them
by his company
To question of Commissioner
Brownlow, as to the totals. Mr. Hoover
replied that the assessment values were
below the total value placed on the
properties by his company.
Depression in Values.
What has been the reason for depres-
sion in real estate values in Washington
recently?" asked Mr.. Worthington.
Mr.. Hoover replied that the depres-
sion in business properties was prob
ably due to the general business de-
preston throughout the country and felt
by Washington. In other sections he
said, the depression was probably due
to the fact that Washington is overbuilt
in its outlying parts He said that. so
far as he knew. the discussion over the
kalf-and-half plan and the report 1t was
to be done away with had nothing to do
with the depression.
The depression had been the greatest,
he thought, in old residences, then in
lastly in the business section. He ad-
mitted that many business DropertjAs