Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-13
LAWS TO PROTECT
REALTY INVESTORS
URGED BY BRIDE
Suggests Edict Forbidding
Foreclosure Sale Without
Court Decree.
WOULD REQUIRE DEED
RELEASE BY RECORDER
Recommends Miniature Scotland
Yards to Investigate for
D. C. Heads.

Corporation Counsel William w.
Bride in his annual report made pup
lie yesterday. put in a strong recon-
mendation for the passage of laws
designed TO curb the swindling of in
vestors by real estate sharpers.
Il am strongly in favor Sof the en-
actment of law which would further
protect investors in real estate securi-
ties" he wrote. I'VE have been shocked
during the past year or more by our
utter inability to cope with such cases
prior to the actual damage being done"
Mr.. Bride had two suggestions to
offer One was a law forpidding the
sale of any property on foreclosure ex-
cept in pursuance of q decree OF equity
court which would give the mortgagor
six months in which to make good be-
fore the sale would be allowed, whether
or not the mortgage deed contained a
power of sale. The. other is a criminal
statute making it an offenSe to release
deed of trust without a notation by
the recorder OF deeds in the margin Of
| the recorded deed that it has b.n
released. Where the release IS made
without securing the notation. not only
| is this act made a crime, but the re-
| lease will not impair the lien of any
note. bond or other evidence CT indebt-
| edneSS for which the deco of trust was
| security, according TO the proposed
| statute.
Debt Cancellation Required.
The trustee under the deed of trust
would be required to produce the can
celled evidences Of Indebtedness before
| the recorder of deeds would note the
deed as released In the case of deeds
| standing as security for large sums. a
provision is made for five days notice
by publication before the recorder of
deeds will be allowed to record the re-
lease.
Perhaps the most typical Of the
| recommendations of the report have to
do with revamping the Police Trial
Board procedure and setting up minia-
ture Scotland Yard in the District gov
eminent to do investigating for the
District Commissioners. Normally. the
Police Department does the inveStigat-
ing. But there come times when the
department itself is under fire, and
when it investigates itself the results
fall trifle short of perfection. In such
situation the Commissioners usually
call on the Department of Justice. but.
as Mr.. Bride says, this department
does not relish such requests 1t comes
in only on rare occasions, and then with
great reluctance, feeling. and properly
so, that our local government should
Urges Six Investigators.
To meet this serious need" Mr. Bride
suggests the hiring of not less than six
trained investigators. independent of
any department OF the local govern
Inquiries free from the bias which
might exist if their investigators were
attached to any of the departments of
the municipal government
Mr.. Bride does not specifically men
ton the Police Department as the de-
partment to be investigated by the
super six. although the recommended
/ Immediately after that for the re-
! vamping of the Trial Board What
| would happen if it ever became nee
! essarv to investigate tie super six Is
not even limited. The Trial Board
recommendations give the board power
| to use the subpoena of the District
! Supreme Court in summoning wit
neSses books and records and compell-
/ ing the witnesses to testify.
! False swearing to material fact be-
| fore the Trial Board should be made
perjudy, he suggested.
Other Measures Suggested.
Another recommendation is de-
signed TO save the Commissioners the
! labor of frequent signing of their re-
! spective names by giving power to the
| secretary of the board. under certain
restrictions. of signing deeds, con-
tracts. leases, pleadingS and other pa
| perS now requiring the signatures of
| the Commissioners. Other legislation
| recommended includes bills giving the
District the right in condemnation
cases, now enjoyed by the Federal Gov
\ eminent, to take immediate title to
property in condemnation by a dec
| laration of taking; bill to bring the
| license laws up-to-date. a new insur-
ance law, new vagrancy law and
| law removing some of the legal disad-
vantages of children born out of we'd
| lock-
The rest of the report is taken up with
| statistics and resume of the various
matters over which the District has
found itself in litigation in the vari-
Gus courts. The Traffic Court statis-
ties seem to have special interest, as
| they show substantial decline in the
number of informations filed for traf-
fic offenses. These dropped to 1922. a
decrease of 7,246. Mr.. Bride attributes
this decrease partly to the abandonment
of the rule calling for lighted parking
| lamps at night and the Inauguration of
| the no-parking rule from to $50 In
the downtown section. Almost half of
the reduction was taken up by q drq2
in the number of speed charges, which
, declined by 1897.