Evening star., 1932-04-24
PROPOSAL TO DELAY.
PARK PURCHASES.
FOUGHT At MEETING.
District Bill Amendment Hurt
full, Garden Club Com
mittee Holds.
COL. GRANT GIVES FACTS
IN REPLY TO INQUIRY
Serious Results Forecast If Amend
ment Passes-Payment of High
Prices Is Denied.

The amendment to the District of
Columbia appropriation bill prohibiting
further land purchases for the present
bv the National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission will work great dam
age to the plans for the park and play
ground system of the Capital without
efTecting any substantial economy. it
was revealed at a meeting of the
Committee of the National Capital
of the Garden Club of America at the
home OF its chairman. Mrs. Frank B.
Noyes Friday afternoon.
During the session of the Committee
Of the National Capital, Mrs. NoyeS re-
tired as chairman and recommended as
her successor Mrs. Samuel Sloan, for
n er president of the Garden Club of
America. The committee authorized
expenditure of $500 for plans for a
rock garden in a quarry in Rock Greek
Park, and received several reports show
ing progress on the Memorial Grove of
trees about the District of Columbia
War Memorial, the status of the
aboretum bill, recommendations on
small parks of the city and installation
Of new stone markers at gateWays to
the National Capital.
Objections to Amendment.
The amendment to the appropriation
bill. it was explained to the committee,
is designed to stop the use of money in
hand already appropriated for develop
ment of the George Washington Me-
mortal Parkway and for comprehen-
sive park, parkway and playground
system of the National Capital.
The complications which would
ensue and the effect the amendment
would have were explained to Mrs.
Noyes by Col. Grant in a memorandum
which said, in part, that:
Counting as obligations the amount
which has been promised the Maryland
Park and Planning Commission and is
covered by a general written agree
ment, which, however, does not indicate
exact amounts, and also considering as
an obligation the Federal funds that
will be needed to meet the appropria
ton made by the Virginia Legislature
at its last meeting, this commission has
an unobligated balance of 1882, 740.42
No deduction has been made from this
balance for the payment of salaries.
Manifestly it would not be possible to
dismiss the small force that has been
working on the negotiations.
"a considerable amount of property
is under negotiation, and where the
commission has, with assurance of ap-
propriations already made, offered a
definite amount Or indicated it was
willing to pay a certain price, there
is certainly an implied agreement with
the owner which ought to be carried
through.
Would Tie-up Investment.
"The amendment in its present form
prohibits any further operations on the
Capper- -Cramton bill without new leg
isletion. so that all work heretofore
done since 1924 in trying to build up
a suitable and proper park and recrea-
tion system for the National Capital
will be stopped without permitting
even the rounding out OF projects
already partly purchased. Conse-
quently. a considerable part of the
investment viii be left in such con-
dition that it cannot be advantageously
utilized. since in most projects there
have been one or two lots or small par
GELS which have not been purchased be-
cause they were held at an excessive
price"
The amendment apparently passed
the House under a miSapprehenSion OF
facts, it was stated.
The commission, Col. Grant ex-
planned, has been very careful not to
pay high prices for any property pur-
chased"
The commission never was connect
ed with purchase of property for the
Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, 1t
was said, nor the construction of the
read. which was in the hands of the
Bureau Of Public Roads of the De-
partment Of Agriculture.
Explains Bridge Project.
The commission has not purchased
any land on the Maryland side of the
river for road paralleling the Mount
Vernon Memorial Highway, Col. Grant
explained, although it is anticipated
that such road may become desir-
able and necessary as far as Fort
Washington. However, this road, where
fcreseen and shown on the maps, is ex-
plicitly excluded from the George
Washington Memorial Parkway. The
commission would be permitted to pur-
chase land on the Maryland bank of
the river as part of the memorial park
way If and when contributions are re-
ceived for cne-half of the cost of the
land
The commission has not recommend
ed nor does it have any authority to
build "a costly memorial bridge at
Mount Vernon" it was said In look
ing forward to the future the possibil-
ity of bridge in the vicinity of Fort
Washington has been indicated on the
maps, but this is no part of the park
project The parkway is, under the
present legislation, distinctly a matter