Evening star., 1936-08-26
FISCAL PROBERS'
PAY KEPT SECRET
D. c. Officials Puzzled on
Amount 900 Avail.
able for Investigation.
BY JAMES E. CHINN.

Salaries to be paid the committee
of tax experts appointed by President
Roosevelt to work out a fair and
equitable basis of fiscal relations be-
tween the Federal and District Gov
ernments became involved today in
| an atmosphere of mystery.
J. L. Jacobs, Chicago efficiency en-
gineer, who is directing the compre-
hensive fiscal relations study, and the
three members of his advisory COM
mittee undoubtedly are to be paid for
their highly technical labors, but the
amount Of compensation cannot be
learned.
The 1887 District appropriation act,
which directed the President to ap-
point a special committee to study
the fiscal relations problem and report
its conclusions to Congress in Janu-
ary, also carried an appropriation Of
s50, 900 to pay the expense of the Job.
But District officials. who must direct
the expenditure of all funds provided
in the act, are still in the dark as to
the details of how the $50,0o0 is to
be spent.
Donovan Also Puzzled.
Melvin c. HaZen, president of the
Board of Commissioners, frankly ad-
mitted he didn't know whether the
fiscal relations committee members
are to be paid or not, or how the
$50, 1000 is to be used. He directed all
inquiries to Maj. Daniel j. Donovan,
auditor and budget officer. But Maj.
Donovan was equally as puzzled.
Maj. Donovan, however, did explain
that the $4,000 is to be expended un-
der the direction of the President
and indicated it Is none Of his busi-
ness how much Jacobs and the mem
bers of his advisory committee are to
be paid for finding a permanent solu-
ton to the fiscal relations question.
Jacobs Complies Data.
The fiscal relations study Is to take
nearly five months, and the burden
of the work Is to fall on Jacobs, who
already is assembling mass of sta
tistical data which will lay the
foundation for the exhaustive survey.
His advisory committee, according to
present plans. will meet with him
periodically to 60 over the informa-
ton.
The advisory committee members
may have agreed to serve without
compensation, but it is certain that
out of the S50,000 will come the
funds to pay their expenses to and
from their homes to the city in which
the conferences are to be held. The
committee has not yet met with
Jacobs.
The $4,000 incidentally will not
come out of the general revenues Of
the District but, in accordance with
the direction of Congress, will be
taken out of the $5,000,000 appro-
priated as the Federal Governments
share toward the expenses of the
municipal government during the cur
rent fiscal year.
The advisory committee named by
the President to assist Jacobs is COM
posed to George McAneny, president
of the Guaranty & Trust Co. of New
York City; James w. Martin, chair
man Of the Kentucky State Tax Com
mission, and Clarence A. Dykstra,
city manager of Cincinnati.
For several weeks. long in advance
Of the announcement 70 his appoint
ment, Jacobs has been collecting in
formation to be used in connection
with the survey. He has declined to
discuss the details or intimate the
probable procedure to be followed,
but it was learned that serious con-
sideration Is to be given to the liza.
bility Of the Federal Government
toward the cost and operation and
maintenance of the District-one of
the major elements which was in
volved in the fiscal relations study
made by the now defunct United
States Bureau of Efficiency in 1928.