Evening star., 1923-06-25
Hard at Work on New JOB
in Few Hours After
Reaching City.
BESS0N TO REMAIN
Al POST FOR WEEK
New Member of Board Comes Here
With Enyiable Service
Record.

expressing desire to give his best
EFFORTS to improve the National Cant
tal' Maj. j. Franklin Bell took office
To-Day as Engineer Commissioner of
the District.
MAJ. Bell lost no time in getting
down to work. Within a few hours
after he reached the city from Pitts
ourgh he was at his desk.
Il am not a total stranper 20
washington he told newspaper
men. 4 am looking forward with
Keen interest to my service here"
gave considerable thought to the
problems of city planning while IN
Flttsburgh. particularly with reIa-
tion 10 the development of the water
front"
Faith I'm Publicity.
MAJ BEL asked to be excused from,
discussing in detail the problems tho.
await him until he becomes familiar
with them. He let it be known thar
ne Is a believer in acquaintfnp the
public fully with all municipal proi-
ects In order that cooperation and
united effort may be obtained
surrounded by officials and am
pIo!es whose work he will supervise
from now on. Maj. Bell took the oath
OF once In the board room at 40
q . CLOCK this afternoon. Daniel E.
ers administered the oath after
which Morgan H. Beach. clerk of the
Dlstrict supreme Court. swore Bell
IN as member of the Public Ctil-
tiles Commission.
Sure of Election.
1t is practically sertain that Mat
Bell will be elected Chairman of tba
Public Utilities Commission. which
task has always been assigned IN
the Engineer Commissioner. 1t is also
understood that he be given the chair
mAnship of the Zoning Commission.
The new Commissioner is forty
seven years OF age. He speaks with
aiertness and decisiveness
Nhen some one suggested to him
this morning that he was entering
once on the eve OF the preparation OF
the biggest task of the year at the
District buildi1g-he smilingly indi-
Gated that he is not afraid Of work.
MAJ. Bell corrected the impression
Wnich mas prevailed here that he is
nephew OF Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell,
former chief of staff of the Army. He
Bell.
First OffciaI Act.
His first official act was the an
proval of a contract for the installa-
tion OF heating system in the
municipal lodging house by the NJ.
b. Casey Company.
He comes to Washington with an
enViable record in the service since
his graduation from West Point in
1902. One of his first assignments
was at the Washington barracks,
where his daughter was born.
His wife and daughter are now in
Paris and will not come to Washing
ton until fall.
He said that while he has had some
experience in dealing with water
power companies in other places, the
supervision of public service corpora
tions is comparatively new to him.
Colonel In France.
Maj. Bell served as a colonel in
France, and was the last American
engineer officer to leave the other
side.
Maj F. S. Besson, acting engineer
commissioner, will remain at the
District building for about a week to
assist Commissioner Bell.
Maj. Besson then will leave for a
vacation with his family. after which
he will go to the engineer school at
Fort Leavenworth. The major has
performed the duties of Engineer
Commissioner since Col. Keller re-
signed a month ago to accept a
position with a private water power
development company