Evening star., 1943-01-23
By DON s. WARREN.

Chagrined and frustrated In their
efforts to obtain Lanham Act funds
for war-necessitated health facili-
ties and services. the Commissioners
will appeal to Congress for a solu-
ton to the problem, Commissioner
Guy Mason declared today.
He predicted this step as a sequel
to his sharp .attack late yesterday
on the United States Public Health
Service which was motivated by
long delays in final. decisive action
on the Districts wartime health
program, but more specifically set off
by reported refusal of the USPHS to
certify projects for current expanded
service on the grounds the District
might obtain the funds from other
sources.
1t was the most blistering attack
on a Federal agency to be made in
recent years by District Commits
sioner. Mr.. Mason accused the
USPHS of working the shell game"
on the District, leaving the District
to gamble as to what shell might
conceal the pea--in this case the
needed funds.
Denial By Health Service.
At the Public Health Service it
was denied today that this agency
has held up any funds due the Dis
trict government under the Lanham
Act.
A spokesman said the Budget
Bureau had ruled that an item of
s256,774 which the District requested
for miscellaneous public health serv-
ices-the immediate cause of Com
missioner Masons statement-Would
have to come out of Public Health
Service funds, If 1t were approved,
and could not be allocated from
Lanham Act appropriations.
The spokesman said the Public
Health Service had been studying
the application and expected to take
it up with the Budget Bureau in a
few days. While no formal ruling
has been written, he explained, the
bureau has held, in principle, that
such funds for medical services"
were not provided for in the Lanham
Act, but came properly under ex-
penditures of the Public Health
Service
Other Cities Seek Funds.
There are similar applications
from war-work centers in various
sections of the country, it was
pointed out. All the requested allot-
ments, or most of them, may have
to be trimmed to enable available
funds to go around, it was said
1t was insisted that the Public
Health Service had acted promptly
in recommending District projects
which clearly came under the Lam
ham Act.
The Federal Works Agency is US
ing Lanham Act funds not only to
| construct medical, health and well
fare facilities made necessary by
the war. but also TO employ such
personnel as school teachers, day
nursery staffs, and other types OF
workers in communities engaged in
war services. The point at issue in
the District item apparently was
that 1t was construed to be entirely
medical in character and concerned
with public health and thus outside
the objectives of the Lanham Act
and its amendments.
Slaps at Bureaucracy.
Dismayed and finally out of pa
tience over the delays and the long
series of conferences, and concerned
over what might happen If an cpl
demic struck Washington swollen
population, Mr.. Mason concluded his
dictated remarks with, Il make this
statement advisedly and with much
chagrin-I understand now what
bureaucracy means"
He declared that since 194l the
Commissioners had applied for
more than slo,000,000 in projects
under the Lanham Act arrange
ment and that programs amount
ing to about $6,0o0,000 had been
approved. For this he expressed
appreciation and qualification. But
he added that to date the District
actually had been enabled to place
under contract projects amounting
to something less than 100000.
On this point he said: THE ef-
forts of the Commissioners to OBJ
tain the balance OF the Il, 900 900 ap-