Evening star., 1927-10-24
BLANTON CALLS
BROWN "MEDDLER"
AssaiIs Efficiency Bureau
Head for Delay in Furnish
ing Facts He Asked.

In letter to Herbert D. Brown,
chief of the Bureau of Efficiency,
TODAY Representative Thomas l.. Blan-
ton, Democrat, of Texas, censures Mr..
Brown for procrastination in furnish
ing him with a salary roster of the
Bureau of Efficiency, reminds Mr..
Brown that he and his bureau have
had for the last II years no more
valiant defender in Congress than hlm-
self and condemns him for "meddling
without authority of law in every de-
partment of the municipal govern
ment."
Mr. Rlanton also takes issue with
the Bureau of Efficiency because 1t
held that local hotels were within their
legal rights in selling to certain taxi
cab companies exclusive parking privi-
leees in the streets adjacent to these
hotels and accuses him of having
"deliberately recommended the ruin
of the best traffic director any city
in the United States ever had"
Mr.. Brown is also taken to task for
"accepting money from the Du Pont
interests"
Request Made October II.
His letter follows. in part:
"On October II. 1927. one week
ago today. l requested you to please
send me the names, and respective
salaries drawn by them, of all officials
and employees in your bureau, and l
then advised you that such lnforma-
ton was necessary in an investigation
/ am now making for use before Con-
gress.
You advised me on October is,
1927, that YOU would furnish me this
information, but you have not yet
done so. The information l requested
is such that, especially in bureau
Of efficiency should be available on
the chiefs desk, so that 1t could be
furnished Immediately. Don't you
realize that such procrastination and
delay practiced by your Bureau of
Efficiency and by you, the chief of
the Bureau of Efficiency is setting
rather a bad example for the numer-
Gus scores of other Government
bureaus from which you are presumed
to demand efficiency?
" You know better than any one else
that during my IL years in Congress
l have heartily supported you and
your bureau, because | believed that
you were working for efficiency
and l realized that some Government
agency to require efficiency was abb
solutely necessary. l have been
criticized many times for defending
YOU and your bureau.
Meddling Is Charged.
'Since the first of this year your
bureau has been engaged in meddling
without authority of law in every de-
partment of the Municipal Govern
ment of the District of Columbia.
presuming to frame policies for all
Of its chiefs and officials.
Because it was published in all
of the Washington papers, you must
have been aware of the fact that Mr..
Gibsons resolution authorizing his
committee to function after March
4 did not pass. And since March
there has been no Gibson committee.
"And because the press here pub
iished it. you likewise must have been
aware of the fact that in it's report.
No. 1880, printed July /, 1926, the
House judiciary committee decided
that the District of Columbia is mere
ly municipal corporation" and not
o part of the Federal Government of
the United States. and that its en-
ployes are not Federal employees of
the United States.
when it was first established by