The Washington herald., 1916-05-24
Joh nson Launches Attack.

When the section appropr!ating for sal
aries in the Office Of the superintendent Of
insurance was reached, Mr. Johnson
launched his attack upon Superintendent
Nesbit first making a point OF order
against the increase asked for the deputy
superintendent
1T would be much better for the people
of the District" declared the Kentucky
member, III the superintendent Of insur-
ance should go away and stay away.
With his connivance and approval. rates
Of insurance in the District have been in
creased from 50 to 80 per cent through
the operations Of an insurance trust
which he has supported. He has been
mere tool behind these insurance com
panies to boost the rates on the people Of
the District I believed I knew what he
would do before he was appointed and I
protested against his appointment. but to
no avail. He has been the moving spirit
behind the formation OF an insurance
trust, and has gone out Of his way to
coerce officials OF independent companies
and force them to raise their rates TO
conform to the higher schedules of the
other companies"
Mr.. Johnsons attack was not altogether
new. He has fought Mr.. Nesbit on sew
eral issues. and made a similar attack
upon him last year. In his motion to
strike out the salary carried for the su-
perintendent Mr.. Johnson was defeated.
after Mr.. Page had warned the House
that there was a more orderly procedure
for ousting the superintendent of insur-
ance than that urged by Mr.. johnson.
Suggests Court Procedure.
If this cannot be accomplished
through the Commissioners" he declared.
"and If the superintendent is guilty of
one-half the charges made by the gentle
man from Kentucky, he can be removed
through the courts"
Several increases and new positions
were approved by the committee. An
engineering assistan for the munich
pal architects office was approved at
a salary of $4,000. and increases in the
salaries of assistants to the corpora
ton counsel as follows second as
sistant. from $500 to $4,000: third
assistant. from $1,000 to $500; addi-
tional clerk at $720.
Although several additional clerks
were passed in the force of the Pub
lie Library, Mr.. johnson made points
Of order which were sustained against
increases in the salaries of the libra
rian, from $500 to $4,000; the assist
ant librarian from $500 to S1.SOO, and
the chief of the circulating department
from $1,000 to $500.
An amendment to the clause abol-
ishing the half and half plan chang
ing 1t so as to retain to the payment
Of the interest and sinking fund on the
funded debt of the District the half
and half provision, was accepted by
Representative Page and the COM
mfttee. This change, however, as was
pointed out by Minority Leader Mann,
affected the form rather than the sub
stance, as with all revenues of the
District turned into the general fund
and in view of the obligation upon
Congress to exhaust these revenues,
one way or another before calling
upon the Federal government to con-
tribute to the upkeep of the National
Capital. it makes no material difference
whether a small part of these Dis
trict revenues are expended under a
half-and-half provision or not.
General debate was taken up largely
with attacks and defense of the leg
islative rider. Representative Tink-
ham declared that it violated the in
Select Committee, and Representative
Gard. a member of the select COM
mittee. replied that It did not
After declaring that the District had
not been given a fair chance to pre-
sent its side, Representative Tink-
ham declared:
This is a piece of profound legis-
lation affecting not only the property
rights, but the human rights of the
District. If such a move were made
In Massachusetts, with any chance of
success. the cannons would be parked
in Boston common as a result"
Representative Focht supported Mr..
Tinkham, declaring that the entire
State of Pennsylvania stood behind the
protest he voiced against the hurried
and ill-considered legislation proposed.