Evening star., 1925-08-02

12 per cent, and the commission now
is preparing to issue these bonds. The
assessments are payable annually over
a period of so years, and they operate
as a first lien on the property af-
fected which, the attorneys, contend,
amounts to taking property without
due process of law.
1t is further contended by attor-
neys representing taxpayers that the
law Of 1918 required that the benefit
charges shall be uniform for each
class of property for any one year
and no benefit charge, once levied,
shall be increased. However, an
amendment to the law last year
dropped that feature of the act which
provided that no benefit charge, once
levied, shall be increased. The com
mission now is attempting to increase
the benefit charge. say the attorneys,
in order to meet its obligations. The
commission, according to the attor-
neys, contends that the levy made
some years ago was an Assessment"
and not benefit"
Extravaganza Charged.
They charge that extravaganza of
the commission is forcing the addi.
tional levy and are seeking to force
out that the commission has author.
ity to do certain of it's projects up to
the amount of S. 900 with day la Dor
and that otherwise it must have it
done by contract after advertising for
bids.
Under this scheme, it Is asserted,
the commission, to get around the
law, puts in a section of q project to
keep within the limit. then jumps to
another point on the project and
treats each as a separate project, and
then returns to fill in the gaps.
The attorneys say that while they
will attack the constitutionality of the
law, If they do not get relief before
the Public Service Commission, but
they disclaim any idea Of embarrass-
ing the commission or having the
whole project declared unconstitution-
al to the extent that it will be neces-
sary to stop everything. All they
want, they claim, is a chance to see
the books to ascertain that it is being
done economically.
The commission, on the other hand.
through its chairman, T Howard
Duckett, a local attorney, admits GER
tain Of the allegations of the con-
testantS, but points out that this
community has grown by such leaps
and bounds in the last few years,
that it was impossible to foresee the
great growth. Projects which, 1t was
thought, would be sufficient for years.
have been found to be inadequate in
a short time, requiring changing the
size of the mains. At the first, 1t was
not deemed desirable to put in large
mains and saddle the whole COM
munity with it. but with the rapid
growth this has been found necessary
with the consequent increase in the
cost.
Cites Specific Case.
In the case of Mr.. Wilson. Mr..
Duckett said that he has % acres in
the heart of Woodside, Md. a grow
ing community, and the commission
would not be justified in declaring
this agricultural acreage Agricul-
tural acreage does not pay tax.
Subdivisions pay the highest tax.
and then thers Is a lower tax, based
on front feet on the streets and high,
ways, paid by small acreage" There
is no hard and fast rule for classifying
these, and. of course, it was pointed
out, the contention that some of the
taxpayers are paying the tax while
others are not, is true.
The constitutionality of the act has
been. upheld by the Maryland courts.
Mr.. Duckett said, in a friendly suit
brought in 1919 for the express our-
pose of testing its legality. This was
the suit of Dahler versus the Wash
ington Suburban Sanitary Commits
sion. There has Neen a tremendous
growth in this territory, he said, and
the issuance of bonds was necessary to
meet the demands of the people for
water and sewer facilities. To have
put in the projects five years ago
would have been an unjust burden on
the whole community. he said, but ii
was realized last winter that 1t was
not safe to postpone planned construc-
ton any further, If the community
was to have the necessary water and
sewer facilities.
Mr.. Duckett said that the commits.
sion does use day labor where 1t Is
practicable and legal to do so, even
to the extent of breaking up a large
project into smaller projects. 1t has
been actually found that the cost by
day labor is considerably cheaper be.
cause of the Valuable machinery
which the commission owns and can
use in the work. A review of com.
parative costs will show this. AS a
result of the commission doing it's
own work, the community, he asserts,
has been saved many thousands of
dollars. The cost of labor on projects
has been cut from $l.94 in 1923 to
SLIP in 1925 per foot of pipe laid.
Says Report Is Public.
Regarding the contention of the
that the commission does
not comply with the law to the ex-
tent of advertising the state of it's
books, Mr.. Duckett said that there
has been published as required by law
a synopsis of the statements, with the
notation that the full report is on
file in the offices of the commission
and may be examined by any one.
Yet, he said, no one has asked to see
this report. nor have the attorneys
in the cases consulted with the COM
The agitation against the commits
sion's charges, Mr.. Duckett continued,
should be considered not from the
standpoint of the cost per front foot,
whether it is an increase or decrease,
but whether the total charges are
commensurate with the service fur
nfshed 1t will be found, he said that