Evening star., 1926-04-26

Testimony that there is no law In
this jurisdiction limiting the amount
of fees and commissions to be re-
ceived by committees for incompetent
war veterans; that the court In one
third Of such cases that come before
it fixes the amount of commissions
and that in the remainder the audi
tor is ordered to investigate, recon-
mend and report to the court on
what the allowances should be. was
given to the House veterans com
mittee today by Herbert l.. Davis.
auditor of the District Supreme
Court.
This testimony aroused deep in
terest among the committee members.
who questioned the witness at great
length on the exact procedure or de-
termining fees and commissions.
Mr.. Davis. at the outset of his tes-
tinony, drew a line of distinction be
tween guardian and committee. set
ting forth that the former deals with
minors and the latter with lunacE
wards. He cited law permitting
maximum commission of 10 per cent
on estates Of minors. but gave 1t as
his opinion that this law, section 1885
of the District Code. could not apply
to lunacy cases.
However, the witness testified. both
the court and himself had kept that
maximum of 10 per cent in mind when
determining compensation to commit
tees for mentally incompetent wards.
Insists There Is No Limit.
lis it your opinion that commissions
granted by the court to committees of
lunacv wards which are in excess OF
10 per cent are prohibited by law"
asked Chairman Johnson, Republican.
South Dakota.
I'm my opinion. there is no law linn
iting the commissions to 10 per cent"
the witness replied.
NO law prohibiting an excess of 10
per cent?" asked Representative Ran
kin. Democrat. Mississippi. who sew
eral DAYS ago had been told by Maj.
Davis G. Arnold. national guardian
ship officer Of the Veterans Bureau,
that the statutes regulated the COM
missions.
There is no such law that would
prohibit commissions beyond that fig
ure," said the witness.
Mr.. Davis then read section l135
of the District code setting forth that
commissions of personal estates and
annual incomes of minors shall not
be granted to guardians in excess of
10 per cent
"That applies TO guardians of
minors" asked Mr.. Ean.in.
Yes
No Law for Committee.
Then there is no law for commit
tees of i.lcompetents:" asked Char
man Johnson.
Not in our jurisdiction" said Mr..
Davis. He added that the fact there
was no law to regulate the amount
of commissions from lunacy estates,
never had been presented to court.
ut is only by the investigation of
Congress that these facts have been
brought out" he said
The witness described the difficulty
his office has with relatives of men
tally incompetent war veterans. 1T
Is very deplorable to see the atti-
tude Of committees coming in with
individual claims to which they are
not entitled" he said. There have
been numerous attempts on the part
of relatives to mulct the estates OF
boys about to be discharged from
hospitals. We have fought that bit
terly.'
You have one case where a father
and mother attempted to get the whole
estate of a boy as he was about to be
discharged from st. Elizabeths Hos.
pitalo" asked Chairman Johnson.
Yes" replied the witness. That's
the MaZarisk case. AS far as / recall.
without looking up the record, the
mother and father each presented
claims Of $500 against it. saying that
they had supported him from the
time he was years old. Mr.. Fen
ming was the guardian and he took
steps with me to stop this. A great
deal of our trouble comes from rela-