Evening star., 1926-03-10

Of the commission, that the assistants
to the corporation counsel shall rem
| der whatever assistance the corpora.
tion counsel may prescribe, and that
special assistants may be employed, In
the discretion Of the commission, the
committee feels that the work of the
commission could be performed with
more facility and with greater thor
oughness II 1t were provided with an
attorney to be engaged exclusively on
public utility matters. Accordingly, II
is proposing that provision be made
for an attorney directly under the
commission and is recommending a
provision requiring that this attorney
and the corporation counsel and his
assistants shall be required to devote
their whole time to their official duties.
Public Library.
For the Public Library. including
branches thereof, the budget esti.
mates amount to $259,S60 The com.
mittee is proposing appropriations to-
taiing 1871 800, or an increase of $11.-
440 In excess of the budget, Of which
$].440 is for additional employees over
and above the nine additional pro.
posed in the budget. The committee
is convinced that the library is hand
icapped in the performance Of its mis-.
sion through the inadequacy Of its
STAFF. At least FIVE Of the new EN-.
fployes will be assigned to the chill
dren's section OF the Mount Pleasant
branch. The committee also is pro-
posing to increase the budget esti.
mate Of $500 to $4,000. or $500 more
than the current appropriation, for
Sunday and holiday service; to allow
IS 900 more than the budget proposes
for new books. and to increase the
budget allowance for binding from
$1,000 to $12.600, with the view to
decreasing the accumulation Of un-
bound books and getting them back
Into circulation. A new appropriation
OF $4,000 is proposed, in accordance
with the budget estimate. for repairs
and improvements to the main library
and the Takoma Park branch and
for furniture. furnishings and equip
ment for general library use. In ad-
dition to the appropriations made
available to the library, 1t has an in
come from fines and other sources.
available for general library uses. The
total available from the source during
the fiscal year 1925 was $12,7ss.5o.
Office of the Director of Traffic.
THE appropriations provided on ac.
count of this new Office for the pres.
ent fiscal Year. directly and indirectly,
amount to S101.955. With this sum
there has been or will be applied $42.-
900 to the installation OF automatically
controlled traffic signal lights on Six.
teenth street northwest from street
to Florida avenue and from Euclid
street to Newton street, and on Massl.
chusetts avenue northwest from
Ninth street to Eighteenth street. call
ing for total Of 12O lights. The bud.
get estimate for 1927 calls for an ap-
preparation Of $l0o,0 OF which it is
proposed to apply $4,000 to the install
lation of 46 more OF such lights. ex-
tending from Twentieth to Twenty
second street on Massachusetts ave
nue. northwest. and south on Twenty
second street from Massachusetts ave-
nue. to Pennsylvania avenue. The
cost OF operation OF the total of 166
lights has been estimated as $1,000.
Fifty thousand dollars Of the budget
estimate is for salaries alone, of which
$16.320 has been estimated as neces-
sary for the employment Of a tenn
porary force to handle the work OF
renewing automobile operators per-
mits. The remainder Of the money
will be employed in the purchase or
making of signs, painting lines and
signals. etc.
ne committee Is pfOpoSIIk tUc
budget estimate, and in order that
installation of traffic signal lights
it is proposing in addition, that the
fees derived from the renewal Of op-
orators permits shall be applied eX.
clusively to the purchase, installation
and maintenance Of traffic lights. This
would not interfere with the Districts
regular revenue from new permits or
from replacing lost permits and should
yield in the neighborhood OF $125.000
for continuing this we'll recognized
efficient method Of controlling traffic.
assuming that the renewal rate pre-.
scribed in existing law Is not disturb.
ed. The traffic director has prepared
plans for the installation Of 1000 ad.
ditionai signals for installation on the
streets. They will cost $3S1,S00 to
purchase and install and $4,000 per
wear to operate and maintain. Their
installation would release from trafffc
duty 81 policemen and would release
for regular duty Al policemen engaged
at certain intersections during the
morning and evening rush hours. The
rate of progress with respect to these
installations is controlled in large
measure by the appropriations made
available for new lighting equipment
Street and Road Improvement and
Repair.
For surfacing new and old streets
the budget estimates call for total
Of 5000 The committee IL pro
posing $3.50, 500, a decrease OF 49, 400.
This grows out of the substitutions
proposed by the committee. after
personal inspection Of the streets. for
some Of the budget items. the read
1ustment resulting in the decrease
Indicated. Frankly, the committee
believes that a much larger amount
could we'll be applied to new street
-surfactng and resurfacing items.
Many of the items it has eliminated
possess merit and the property owners
are entitled to the Improvement, but
the committee was guided by the
thought that with the limited funds
available they should be applied where
they would serve the general public
rather than a particular locality. 1t
should not be overlooked that there
has been made available within the
month $642,7O0 for this class OF work,
which the authorities desired to get
under way before they would have
been able to had the funds been car.
ried in this bill. Treating this SUM
as a 1927 appropriation. the amount
proposed in this bill exceeds the cur
rent appropriation well above $780,
600. The impression might prevail
that the gas-tax fund should be able
to finance larger undertakings, but
the fact Is that the appropriations
made and proposed in this bill charge
able to that fund, while not in excess
Of income in hand and receivable,
have assumed such proportions that
larger drafts might make it necessary
for contractors to wait for their
money.
'Of the items inserted by the com.
mittee, one is to complete the un.
paved portion Of Thirteenth street