Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-22
SENATE COMMITTEE
PROBE OF SCHOOLS
HELD UNNECESSARY
Capper Confident GotWaIS Is
Taking Precautions Against
New ColIapSeS.
BUILDING INSPECTOR
TO REVIEW ALL PLANS
District Engineers Report Made
After Central Labor
Union Appeal.

Declaring he is confident that Mai.
John G. Gotwals. engineer commits
sioner, will take all necessary precau-
tions for the safety Of public schools
| in the District and will investigate
| thoroughly the recent collapse at two
| school buildings during construction,
! Senator Arthur Capper chairman of
! the Senate District Committee, believes
! there is no necessity for a separate in
| quiry by his committee.
| From his home in Topeka, Kans..
| Senator Capper made public a report
he received from Mai. Gotwals in reply
4 to his own recent letter requesting in
! formation regarding ttle collapse of
materials at the Stuart Junior High
School and the auditorium of the
| Roosevelt High School. Senator Capper's
| request was prompted by an appeal from
the Central Labor Union in Washington
that the District Committee make a
thorough investigation Of the contro-
versy over school construction methods.
Capper Satisfied.
"I think Mai. Gotwals position on
the matter is satisfactory" Senator
Capper said, in referring to the
| engineer commissioners report IT be-
| lieve he is doing everything he can to
obtain the facts and I have confidence
that he will take whatever action or
precautions Is necessary At any rate,
we will let the matter stand for a while
SO far as the District Committee is
concerned"
Since Senator Capper had written
him, Maj. Gotwals replied under date
of May 16, a second accident had oc-
CURED at the Stuart School, involving
injuries to three persons. He assured
! Senator Capper that he would do every
thing in his power to prevent further
accidents, without taking responsibility
for the safety of the methods used,
which must be responsibility of the
contractor"
The coroner's jury yesterday held two
officials OF the w. P. Rose Construction
Co. for the death of a colored laborer
as result Of this most recent accident
at the Stuart School.
Precautions Being Taken.
Maj. Gotwals reported further steps
| taken to pass upon the practicability of
erecting steel like that which collapsed
at the Roosevelt School, without ha-
zard, and with the further duty Of pas
sing upon the "absolute soundneSs" Of
the type of construction used when the
! building was erected.
In connection with this collapse"
he wrote. the inSinuation was made
that we are not following the District
code i'll school building construction
This seems challenge that could only
b. met by requiring all school building
plans to go through the Building In
spector's Office. with the same rigid
method of inspection"
The first inspection Of this kind. he
added, was to be the Roosevelt School.
Mai GOtwaIs' Letter.
Mai. Gotwals letter in full, reads
as follows:
Il have your letter Of May IL, in
quiring as to the construction accidents
at the Stuart Junior High School and
! the auditorium Of the Roosevelt High
School. The report on these accidents
/ IS as follows:
I'm the case Of the Stuart Junior
! High School, concrete slab was being
! poured for floor of this school, the
construction was being placed by the
conventional method of chuting the
/ concrete into the floor forms. The con-
| crete was permitted to come up faster
! IN the chute than the men available on
the slab could spread 1t out. For this
reason, almost wholly, the forms for the
slab gave way, dropping the concrete
onto the floor below. In examining the
forms. they were found to be of in
! Sufhcient strength for thoroughly first
class work. The major cause, however,
| was the lack Of spreading concrete as
IL arrived. The concrete was entirely
removed, the forms rebuilt and the floor
/ slab repoured. This caused a loss OF
| $500 or $400 to the contractor.
| In addition 70 this accident, an
| accident occurred yesterday on this
J same school, brought about by the
| giving away OF scaffold on which a
| coping stone was being moved This
| accident resulted in the injury of three
men. The first of these two accidents
| do believe Is minor construction
accident. Our inspectors should be
| alert to prevent them II at all possible
| The second one, involving injury to
| persons, is OF a type that does occur,
| and 1 will do everything in my power
| to prevent it without taking full
responsibility for the safety Of the
! methods used, which must be respon-
| sibility of the contractor.
"SteeI Loosely Boiled"
'In the case OF the Roosevelt High
| School, steel was being erected for the
auditorium. The steel, in this case was
net skeleton steel but simply steel
| members later to be embedded in the
masonry, and the erection Of which al
ways requires careful guying and brac-
| ing until the masonry is erected. This
steel was loosely bolted together, and
at the close OF the days work on April
%, a storm arose. causing the men to
leave the steel erected that day. prob
ably with their thought Of leaving 1t
temporarily. The storm developed into
rather a severe blow, with wind velocity
in excess Of 40 miles per hour reported.
During TINS storm, portion of the
steel erected collapsed.
L believe that the major cause OF
this collapse was the storm, con-
tributing one was the lack of sufficient
guying and bracing OF the steel. This
led to the following action on my part
First the placing on this lob of a
very much higher grade inspector than
our usual one, using a man thoroughly
experienced IN very heavy building
construction, and, second, an insistence
that the contractor and subcontractor
for the steel take every precaution in
carefully arranging their program of
construction and in using bracino 10
avoid every possibility of loss of life
or material. In addition a board was
appointed TO pass upon the practi-
csbility OF erecting steel Of the nature
Of that which collapsed, without haz-
ard, and with the further duty of pass
ing upon the absolute soundness of
the type of construction used when the
building is completed. The report of
| this board has not yet been received
but all of the above precautions are
into effect.
'Code Disregard Charged"
I'm connection with this collapse. the
insinuation was made that we are not
following the District code in school
building construction. This seemed a
challenge that ! could only meet BY