The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-02-12
trace MONEY
SPENT IN rent
At ARMORIES
Senate ProberS Act to Find
What Become of Cash
Taken In.
SPENT FOR 'oVERHEA0'
KerShner Declares There
Never Has Been Any
Surplus Fund.

what became OF the money
taken in for rental of the Indian
apolis and other armories, under
state armory board control, for
private. enterprises" is The latest
matter being probed by the sub
committee of the senate COMMITTEES
investigating the entire armory
Building program.
According to Adjutant General
William H. Kershner all this money
goes for overhead" This, he says.
includes heating, lighting. janitor
service and the like.
The Indianapolis armory nets
thousands of dollars a year in rents
for boxing showes, dances, conve1-
tions, lectures and other amuse-
ments. There has never been any
surplus from the overhead, how
ever, the Acknowledgement told The
indianapolis Times.
Surplus to Trustees
Should sucha thing ever be pos
sible the surplus would go to tlle
trustees" holding companies, to
help retire the tax-exempt bonds
by which the OStrom Reality and
Construction Company we're paid,
he said. The company is COM
panion firm of the Peoples State
Bank, the institution handling the
bonds after they were taken in
payment by the Ostrom company.
In small towns, where private en-
terprises fail to meet the overhead"
for large arlnories, the difference is
met by the state, Kershner stated.
He declared that nearly all of the
new buildings, that is those built
during the jackson administration
under the CLOSED corporation
plan, pay out the overhead expense.
Never Checked by State
At any rate the money never Is
checked by the state board of ac-
counts, according to Lawrence F..
Orr, chief examiner The funds
checked by the board are the reg
ular appropriations made by the
legislature to the adjutant general.
In 1926-27 the department returned
but 81 1878 and in 1928 $1,499. f8.
according to the reports in Orr's
Office.
Other matters being taken up by
the subcommitteemen include ar
mory construction, materials, SUBJ
contracts and the tax exempt bond
sales.
A preliminary report is expected
to be made in the senate Wednes-
day morning, Senator Carl M. Gray,
petersburg, announced today. He
said that he and Senator French
Clements, Evansville, other men,
bers of the subcommittee, would
confer with engineers on certain
armory projects today
Lindley in Conf erence
In the interim, Senator Alonzo II.
Lindley, Kingman, chairman of the
senate investigating committee. has
held conference with President
Felix M. McWhirter of The PEOPLES
State bank.
1t was arranged by McWhirter.
who came to see Lindley in person
when he received a letter from the
senate committee chairman Monday.
asking for data in regard to the
handling of armory financing by
bond sales. Lindley announced to-
day. that McWhirter expressed
willingness to deliver any infcrma-
ton in the banks possession. He
said that he will not ask for any,
thing specific until the subcomrnit-
tee report is made.
Board Asks for S35O,OO0
One member of the armory board,
under whose direction the present
building program is carried on, has
predicted that the present legisla-
ture will call halt on the business
and the best that can be hoped for
is a continuance of the $3.50 600 ap-
preparation for rentals by each leg
islative session during the next If
teen years. This will take care OF
the armories already built under
this plan he. said. The armory board
is requesting $350,000.
The plan is to organize private
holding companies and have the
state pay off over a long period.
after the manner of paying for
home on the nothing down and the
rest like rent plan.