Evening star., 1940-11-27
Pearson Named
Tax Collector
For. District
lumpkins Succeeds
ChiefCIerk of
Engineer Agency.
BY DON S. WARREN.


Guy w. Pearson, chief clerk of the
District Engineer Department, q
veteran Of about Is years service
with the municipal government, to-
day was appointed collector of
taxes by the Commissioners. He
will succeed Chatham M. Towers,
who is to be retired at the end of
this month.
At the same time the city heads
promoted Porter M. Lumpkins, cost
accountant and chief clerk of the
Highway Department, to succeed
Mr.. Pearson as chief clerk of the
Engineer Department.
The appointment OF Mr.. Pearson
came as something of a surprise
since the Commissioners had in
dicated they were considering selec-
tion of Mr.. Lumpkins as collector,
and the change was said to have
been based on the fact that Mr..
Pearson has had longer expert
ence in District service and, there
fore, deemed more eligible for the
step up.
Mr.. Pearson, who now receives
$4,000 a year, will receive as collec-
now receives $4,000 a year and in his
new post will be paid $4,000 a year.
Must Strengthen Weak Points.
The Commissioners, it is under
stood, will depend on Mr. Pearson to
strengthen weak points in the col
lection system which. were outlined
in the report of the special board OF
inquiry which probed the $2,O25
shortage discovered recently in the
accounts of collectors office agent
at the Department of Vehicles and
Traffic in the Ford Building. The
board found that cashiers there had
been overworked, had not been given
adequate supervision and that that
Office had functioned in an "unbusi-
ness-like" fashion.
The Commissioners, acting yester-'
day on the boards report, ordered
two full-time cashiers stationed at
the Department of Vehicles and
Traffic as agents of the collector of
taxes.
Mr.. Pearson, a native of Spring.
vile, Ala, is A. married and lives
at 4025 Nineteenth street NE. He
entered District service in 1916 as a
r-draftsman in the District
Sewer Department at pay of $1.50
q day. During the World War he
enlisted in the Army Engineer Corps
as a private, won commission as
a second lieutenant in the field ar
tillery and wound up his war service
in the Army Air Corps.
Returning to District service, he
was made chief craftsman in the
sewer department and later admin
istrative assistant to the head OF
the department in 1881. He has
been chief clerk of the Engineer De-
partment since 1885.
Lumpkins' Record.
Mr.. Lumpkins, who is married and
has one son, lives at 3747 w street
NV. He is 38 years old and has
been in District service IL years. He
was made cost accountant of the
highway department in 1928 and
chief clerk of that department in
1880, combining that job with his
cost accounting work.
While approving some findings
and suggestions by the board of in
quiry, which was headed by Deputy
Assessor Byers M. Bachman, the city
heads rejected proposal that
Traffic Director William A. Van
Duzer be placed in supervision over
the collection of traffic revenues.
The Commissioners directed also
that as soon as practicable, such
additional part time cashiers as the
volume of business demands be pro-
vided for the agency, and ordered
that its receipts be deposited daily
with the collector.
Found Receipts Piling Up.
The board of inquiry had found
that, primarily due to insufficient
staff and unbusiness-like methods,
receipts had been allowed to pile up
for more than week, the total pay
ments in hand sometimes reaching
as much as $4,000.
Merk c. Dunn, assistant cashier
at the agency, who was suspended
october IA, when the Commissioners
learned of the shortage, was ordered
restored to duty, but Acting Auditor
Arthur L. Pilkerton advised the city
heads they were not empowered to
grant him pay for the period of his
suspension. While the probe report
held that Mr.. Dunn had no respon-
sibility for the shortage, the Com
missioners said he had showed poor
Judgment in not reporting the short
age promptly to the collector" The
investigation group had noted he
had knowledge of the shortage sew
eral weeks before he was suspended.
Miss Julia L. Vass, the cashier,
drank poison after she was sus-
pended, and later died. She was
exonerated of any suspicion of hav-
ing taken the money. She was
held primarily responsible for hav-
ing failed to deposit her collections
with the tax collector.
Payment of any salary or retire
ment funds to Mr.. Towers is being
held up pending action by the Dis
trict to collect the amount of the
shortage. Miss Vass was bonded
to Mr.. Towers for 81 500, and he has
a very much larger bond running
to the District Government.