Evening star., 1939-03-08
Griffenho9en
Continued From First Page.)

street lights would amount to only
a few minutes under the present
plan of the Commissioners.
You stood before the District
Committee two weeks ago and said
the light legislation was important u
Mr.. Kennedy shot back. Now you
say 1t is not important. It seems
to me there is no one in the District
charged with seeing whether legis-
lation is brought up to date. But
when son of member of Congress
is killed the attention of Congress is
called to the fact that the Commits
sioners have no authority to set the
time for turning the street lights on
and off. Congress adjusted that sit
uation IN two weeks And now we
are told the new legislation is not
important"
In defending the present form of
government here, the Commissioners
statement pointed out:
l. That for more than 60 years the
commission form of government has
functioned not only as we'll. but bet
ter, than the majority of other forms
Of city governments.
2. That over this long period there
has not been single instance of
major graft charged against any
high official Of the District govern
ment, or has any prominent official
been charged with neglect of duty
or other serious offense.
"Inefiiciency" Disputed.
3. That the present municipal
machine is not totally inefficient
and ineffective as the Griffenhagen
report would lead the "uninformed'
to believe.
4. That other forms of govern
ment more or less similar to that
proposed by the Griffenhagen plan
have been tried in the District and
have failed "miserably."
5. That operating costs of the mu-
nicipal government, instead of being
decreased by the proposed moderni-
zation program would increase up
wards" of $150OOO a year.
6. That the existing for moi gov
ernment of the District is basically
sound, and that while certain re
f1nements" may be desirable, total
replacement of the existing organi-
zation should not be undertaken
except after demonstration beyond
a reasonable doubt that economy
and increased efficiency would re-
suit"
Oppose School Board Change.
The Commissioners also listed a
number of major defects" they said
they found in the Grif1enhagen plan.
Chief among them are proposals to
abolish as independent agencies the
Board Of Education and the Board
of Public Library Trustees. On these
points, the Commissioners said:
1T is believed that the placing OF
the Board of Education and school
administration fully within the ad-
ministrative structure of the District
government is contrary to good, &C.
ceptable practice.
"The placing of the Board of Lii
brary Trustees and library admin
istration fully within the admins
trative structure would be contrary
to the wishes of the majority of citi-
zens of the District. This board has
been efficiently operated for many
years and is responsible for the de-
velopment of the fine library system
now available. No material advan-
tage is seen in the proposed change" I"
Seccombe Would Keep Setup.
At the outset of the hearing, Rep
resentative Seccombe, Republican,
of Ohio, member of the subcom-
mittee, joined the Commissioners in
opposing the scrapping of the pres
ent commission form of government.
At the same time, he proposed a
number of changes in the Griffen-
hagen plan.
In lieu of the administrative off,
Ger proposed in the Griffenhagen re-
port as the executive head of the
government, Representative Sec
combe suggested that the Board of
Commissioners be provided with an
executive officer or administrative
assistant. And in place OF the II
departments proposed in the Grif-
fenhagen report to absorb the exist
ing IS municipal agencies, he rec
commended the creation of only nine
new observation-disclosures, law, per-
sonnel, public health, public safety,
public welfare, public works, unem-
ployment compensation and parks
and recreation.
Representative Seccombe also rec
commended that the Board of Edu-
cation and the library system re-