The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-19

restitution, the report expresses the opinion that in most of these cases the persons who profited will restore vol untarilv rhe alleged unearned~ portion,
 SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
 Other recommendations made by tne subcommittee provide that archltects who. it is charged, were paid exces9ls Y, T ly. for "overhead' expenses pc Sstiteu upon to give the committee an exact statement of the amount of their over head expenditures. These employees ol
 the corporation, the committee pe- ueves. were not parties to inten- tional violation of the law, ana II they are actuated by the patriotic principles attributed to them they will refund the sums paid them in excess of the exact cost of the overhead"
 The amount the committee considers recoverable from this course is placed
 civil suit to recover ss0,oOO spent for .sextras. and $16,000 charged to sub letting of labor by a contracting firm also was recommended by the com mittee in the event of a failure to re- turn the money voluntarily. The lex tras' were charged as incident to the construction of the dormitories in Washington for women war workers, in connection with which it was al- legged original estimates were radically altered. indicating a willingness to "substitute the contractors demands for the estimating divisions judg- ment"
 Regularity of loan for half mill lion dollars made to the Springfield Consolidated Water company of PhiI- adelphia, also was questioned in the committees report. together with 10th CT loans to railroads, street railways and utility companies" TREASURY LOANS
 The latter concerns were not identi- fled. Scrutinization of the loans by the treasury department was recom- mended with demand for additional security where inadequate collateral had been provided.
 Charges of inefficiency and bad management were more prominent in it's report than references to over payments, while attention is called to the denials of the officials of the cor, poration that they intended to let contracts for more than tNc appropria- tion act provided, the rcmtA't dcc1~ -'ca the officials had planned. az 1:G as to the records secured by the com mittee, the expenditure of $145,175,- 605, although the amount of the ap- propriation was s100000,0
 Practically all buildings erected by the corporation were of a permanent charac- ter, the committee reported, notwitn- standing the provision that they be of a temporary character. The failure of the corporation to produce completed house until the first of the present year was pointed to by the committee as indicative of the cumbrous nature of the organiza- tion. As an example of the inefficiency of the corporation, the committee cited the custom of using triangular commis- sion, comprising the architect, the engi- neer and the town planner.
 Although the average price for house had been fixed at s5,673, the committee de- clared it found houses in Bridgeport, Conn, costing s7s63 each.
 Further improper expenditures were de- clared to be the use by architects of one city in work in cities at the other side of the country, the committee pointing out that travel and other expenses were paid for b ythe government.
 "A failure to promptly cease building op- erations on the signing of the armistfce proved either desire to complete their totwa beautiful experiments, or to be helpful, at government expense, to the communities involved" said the report. '"The Crane tract at Bridgeport was halr of 1 per cent completed on November 6, 19tS vet it was completed by the housing corporation at a cost of Sf ,S71. .S39. Ninety- two of these houses were still vacant IF September. .919 Philadelphia's S project was only 6 per cent completed on the date of the signing Of the arnistice, but was finished by tn housoing corporation at cost Of S, ,406 GOO. These two transactions cost the government not less than s1,45o, 000n