Evening star., 1922-02-01

porting Intel, and the catastrophe
would have been averted"
Believes Congress Must Act.
with the facts. Of the personal in
4 spection in hand. together with the
information conveyed by the experts.
I senator CaDper is determined that
! the congressional committee shall go
! thoroughly into the entire question,
I with view to determining respon-
! SibllIty, and to plan Legislation which
/ VIII preclude any possibility of such
disaster recurring in the future
! He said that the members of the
IolStrlct committee. and particularly
! those who accompanied him during
! the inspection today, feel now that
! the Senate and the Congress must
! take some official cogniZance of the
cata Strophe.
! He is willing to have the congress
Sloral investigation await the result
OF the several other Investigations
about to be instituted here. but he is
! going to insist that the probe be
prompt and thorough. At the same
/ time. he and other senators are going
/ TO keep close watch on the other in
| vestigations. to ascertain whether or
! not they bring out all of the facts and
| reach conclusions warranted by the
f, evidence in the case. There is no
! thought of vengeance in the mind of
Senator Capper. but he wants the facts
/
! end that a thing of the kind can never
, be repeated here and charged to
| causes now believed TO be respon-
/ Sible for the catastrophe of Saturday
/ night.
| Convinced lie In Right.
! Senator Capper said that he made
| the statements only as a result of
conclusions formed following the in
i spection and conference with en-
! gineers now on the scene What he
! said, he asserted. he would stand
: back Of and he was convinced that
! he was right. both from his knowl-
! edge of building and from the con-
versation with the engineers.
| Senator Jones of Washington said
! that he preferred not to make a state
/, ment as a result of his inspection.
| but he would reserve opinion until
/; he had discussed the matter with
| the other members of the District
| committee at its meeting this after
noon. Senators Weller and Goodins
| could not be reached
Decline Comment on Charges.
Both Col. Charles Keller. engineer
commissioner, and John i. Healy,
building inspector. declined to make
any comment today upon Senator
Capper's charges. Col. Keller said
! that he would not care to venture
an opinion as to the real cause of
the disaster until he made more
/
was of the same opinion. Col. Keller
| said. however. that if the -plans We're
! strictly in accordance with the re-
quirements of the building depart
ment of the District. or. in other
words. answered all of the require
! mentS of modern engineering. there
! is not a question of a doubt but what
there must have been some defect in
| a part of the material. or there may
have probably been some imperfect
,1,,s, Il
tfiat this may be determined after
he has completed his examination.
No Actual Test Made.
The building department of the Dis
trict, after approving the structural
plans for buildings to be used as pub
lie houses, as well as others, does not
test the completed structure, it was
explained. This is universally the
system throughout this country in
view of the fact that all structural
work has reached such a point of ad-
| vanced engineering and standardiza-
tion in the matter of equipment and
material that tests are not considered
necessary nor practical, it was stated.
Procedure for Approval.
The procedure in obtaining an ap-
'proval or the building inspectors go.
X" is after the following fashion,:
The architect or builder or both sub
init to the buil04nR<uepartment COM
plete plans and specifications for the
proposed building. These structural
tplans are first checked by the engi-
neer of the office and if any deficiency
in the design is detected the architect
or designing engineer is notified to
make the necessary change. When
the final approval is obtained and the
construction work is started the in
spectors of the building office make
periodical reports of the progress of
the work. Should any defect be noted
at these inspections, that defect must
be corrected. The structure is in
spected Also regarding its exits and
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