Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-09-27
P. w. A. VS.. the District.

P. w. A. VS.. the District.
In his letter to the Commissioners
threatening to withdraw the sewer
allotment loan Mr. Ickes writes:
You state in your letter to the con-
troller general: 1T is expected that
the period of construction will be
about four years" I am advised that
the period of construction should not
require such length OF time.
As his parting shot. Mr.. Ickes tells
the Commissioners he wants the sewer
plant in operation by the Fall of 1885
two years hence-or a satisfactory
explanation of why it cannot be in
operation by that time.
WELL last year the P. w. A. ad-
vanced $4,000 to the Commissioners
to make a survey of the sewer project.
The money-repaid already-waS used
to hire leading experts, who came TO
Washington, looked the matter over
and prepared an extensive report.
This report was presumably used as
the basis for the grant for sewer plan
construction, with which. it might be
assumed, the P. w. A. is familiar.
The experts found it would take
four years 10 build the plant. They
recommended that the work progress,
by expenditures, as follows:
First year ................S5 $500 900
Second year ............ 81 lou, OOO
Third year .............S 5,OOO,O OO
Fourth year ............. " ,oOU UUU
Now comes Mr. Ickes demanding to
know why the plant should take so
long to build; threatening to withdraw
the loan altogether; refusing to ad-
vance the money unless the plant is
begun before the coming Winter and
finished in two years.
There has been, it is true, lot Of
delay in getting this business started.
The reason for the delay is not clear
The President signed the bill permit
ting the District to borrow the money
July IS. 1t is almost October, and the
present controversy between the Com
missioners and P. w. A. is over the
contract for the loan. The Commits
sioners naturally are anxious to avoid
paying interest on $8,000,000, and
would prefer to pay interest on the
money as it is actually advanced over
the four-year period. The preliminary
details Of such large undertaking
naturally require time. The P. w. A,
on the other hand, goes out of bust
ness next June unless extended by
Congress. Mr.. Ickes wants the money
placed and yielding returns in en-
ployment by that time. And granting
the fact that the Commissioners are
responsible and held strictly to account
for the efficient, economical expendi-
ture of public funds, the delay on local
construction work is an old story.
Misunderstanding between the P.
w. A. and the District government
have become traditional. The P. w.
A. apparently has not the slightest
conception of the peculiar status of
the municipal government, respon-
sible only to Congress and to the
President. The District government
officials have apparently been unsuc-
ceSsful in obtaining any definite I'M
Outstanding with Mr.. Ickes, and their
knowledge of his attitude toward Dis
trict undertakings seems to be con-
fined to what they read in the papers.
The Star ventures to repeat its
radical suggestion Of a few weeks
ago, namely, that the Commissioners
chip in and hire a twenty-cent taxi
cab and ride all the way to Eighteenth
and G. streets and seek fifteen min
ute interview with Mr.. Ickes. 1t
should not take longer than that to
straighten out the confusion and ar
range something in the way of put
ting men to work soon on the sewer
plant, as well as the adult tubercu-
losis hospital.
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