The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-01-09
HIS FOES FLAY
EXPENDITURE
ON HOME
Restoration Of State
Home Incomplete;
More Funds Needed
By CARROLL PEEKE

NO4OA41dI uWCAAAL1S 4dLAASA dAuh -
stodgy mid-Victorian structure
may cause the impeachment Of
Gov. Harry Nice, the Republican
who defeated Albert C. Ritchie.
Threats Of it are heard today.
For q hostile legislature which
meets next month is determined
to probe the expenditure Of the
more than $4,000 spent to date
on the Governors Mansion, with
the building still far from finished.
One member of the house Of dele
gates has declared he will intro
duce a bill calling for impeach.
ment Of the Governor.
Needs More Money
Governor Nice must appear
before the legislature and ask
for more money to complete the
job and to furnish the dwelling
an amount variouSly estimated
at from $4,000 to $25, 1000. And
that will be the signal for q
bitter attack by a strong group
in each house, who charge too
much money has been wasted
on the project.
Citing the thousands of per.
sons on relief in the State and
the difficulty in supplying them
with the essentials of life, he
Democratic leaders will use the
mansion project as the spear
head Of q drive against the gov.
ernor.
The legislature will appropriate
the money. but not, it is believed,
until q searching investigation
has been made. Meanwhile, with
the money already appropriated
expended, work on the mansion
has come to a halt, with only q
few carpenters finishing up odd
jobs.
Not Pure Colonial
While the cost Of the project
constitutes the chief objection to
the project, other protests have
been made that the reconstructed
building isn't pure Colonial in its
architecture.
Then, too, the architects failed
to remove the big bay windows,
which are strictly Victorian, and
the rear of the mansion has been
only slightly altered, producing a
composite result which has been
criticised by the Company for the
Restoration of Colonial Annapolis.
Clyde N. Friz, Of Baltimore, is
the architect and the Rice Con.
struction Company, Of Baltimore,
the contractor
Inside when completed - the
mansion will be a delightful home
with its IL bedrooms, its II baths,
a great state drawing room,
state dining room, as well as a
family dining room and sitting
room.
For feminine inhabitants of the
mansion there are several closets
lined with cedar. The entire floor
will be air conditioned in summer,
as will three of the bedrooms on
the second floor.
Sums Expended
In the spring of 1885, shortly
after taking office, Governor Nice
asked the legislature to appropri-
ate $4,000 for alteration and re-
pairs to the mansion. In addi-
ton to this sum, there was ap.
proximately $4,000 available from.
the $4,000 appropriated bienni-
ally for maintenance and upkeep
of the mansion.
Plans were drawn and contracts
let on a cost plus 10 per cent"
basis and the work started with
the $500 available. AS this SUM
was not sufficient, the governor
called q meeting of the State
board Of public works, which con-
sistS Of himself, the State comp
troller and the State treasurer,
and appropriated $4,000 more.
From various other sources the
total amount was brought to
$4,000.
Friends Of the administration
point out that much of the money
has been expended on labor, re-
lieving unemployment, and that to
do this men were used rather than
machinery. But the cynical point
out that while this may be true,
it also increases the profits of the
contractors, since the more the
project costs, their profit mounts
in proportion.
"Bladen's Folly"
This Is not the first time that
the problem of a governors man.
sion has stirred Maryland.
Back in 1745 Gov. Thomas
Bladen had the council appropri.
ate money to erect "a suitable
dwelling" for the governor. He
then imported a Scotch architect
named Duff, and the building was
started.
But Governor Bladen's idea of
suitable dwelling" was too am
bilious. The funds were exhausted
before the building was COM
pleted, and for 40 years it stood,
vacant and unfinished, known as
"Bladen's Folly"
After the Revolutionary War,
the building was presented to st:
Johns College, and is still in use,
known as Mcdowell Hall.
Treasury Condition
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