Evening star., 1945-06-24
HouseExpected
ActTomorrow
On 7 D. +. Bills
Boundary Measure
May Produce Some
Fireworks on Floor

the way from a basic pay boost TO
flremen and police to rabies contro
and stop-gap measure to preven
custer July l of thousands of in
habitants of Washington's allie,
dwellings, will be acted on tomor
row by the House.
Passage of at least some of tn,
proposed legislation seems likely
though the schedule included som,
controversial items that might pro
duce fireworks" on the House floor.
One of these is the Randolph bill
to settle the century-old District
Virginia boundary dispute. which
may be called up for action by
Chairman Randolph of the House
pistrict Committee in view of the
reported compromise understanding
reached by interested members.
The question of Virginia's liquor.
control system, which bans the salt
of hard drinks for consumption or
the premises at the Washington
National Airport as we'll as else.
where in Virginia, is a point in
volved.
Would Cede Airport.
The Randolph bill would fix the
District-Virginia boundary at the
present highrWater mark on the
Virginia shore of the Potomac, gen.
orally speaking. but also would cede
the airport to Virginia, and as the
bill now stands the Government
which owns the airport. would be
given "concurrent" jurisdiction with
Virginia over the port.
However, opposing factions in the
House have agreed to add to the bill
section which would have the
effect of declaring the airport a
Federal reservation" giving the
United States exclusive" jurisdic-
ton except that Virginia would be
given limited authority to tax nom
Federal commercial activities at the
port.
AS the situation shaped up last
night, Representative Smith, Demo-
crat, of Virginia indicated he would
not fight against the addition of
this section of the bill provided the
measure was further amended to
make definite that Virginias liquor
laws would apply at the airport de-
spite the suggested exclusive" Fed
eral jurisdiction over the port.
Representative Stefan, Republic
an, of Nebraska, who more than
once has blocked House approval of
the airport bill, because it did not
declare the airport to be a part of
the National Capital, said he would
agree to passage of the bill only if
it contained the proviso treating the
port as a Federal reservation under
the exclusive" jurisdiction of the
Government. with only limited tax
ing rights reserved to Virginia.
Rabies Measure Up.
Other bills scheduled for House
action tomorrow include the follow
ing:
l. The rabies control measure
recommended by the Commissioners
on the advice of Health Officer
George c. Rhuland. This would en-
able the city heads to order vac
cination of all dogs in the District
against rabies infection, whenever
they found a sufficient threat of an
epidemic.
AS amended in the House District
Committee, the bill calls for an in
crease in the annual dog tag fee
from So to SO, and provides that
vaccination costs shall be borne by
the District unless the dog owner
elects to have the incubation done
by veteranian of his own choice.
In support of this plan. the Dis
trict Committee reported to the
House: The control of dogs in the
District, in view of the large dog
population and the threat of rabies,
is matter of grave concern to the
Commissioners. 1t is estimated
there are more than $4,000 dogs in
the District. In 1914 three deaths
from hydrophobia were recorded in
the District"
Pay Boost Included.
2. The bill to give a basic pay
boost to members of the District
fire department. and the Metro
politan, White House and Park po-
lice forces. This calls for an in
crease of 20 per cent on present
basic pay for the first $1,000 of
salary, 10 per cent on the next S3,-
400 and 5 per cent on any pay above
$4600 In addition there would be
an extra per cent in lieu of rate
for overtime.
Speedy action is urged for this
measure because the temporary
wartime $500 bonus for police and
firemen will expire July l unless
substitute or continuing legislation
is enacted.
3. The controversial bill by Rep
resentative Hebert, Democrat, of
Louisiana, to give members of the
Metropolitan Police Department
control over felony cases arising in
Federally owned park areas of the
National Capital. A major feature
of this bill, while making the Park
Police subject to Metropolitan Police
authority in such cases, also pre-
scribes that hereafter the total cost
of the Park Police shall be paid by
the Federal instead of the District
government. The bill is opposed by
Secretary of the Interior Ickes.
Slum Measure on Schedule.
4. The Randolph bill to postpone
for one year from July l the dead
line on occupancy of alley dwellings
in the District. This stop-gap meas
ure is necessary because Congress
has not yet enacted legislation for a
new slum-clearance program and
because there still is lacking any
substitute housing for the thousands
of persons now occupying dwellings
fronting on alleys, which will be-
come illegal July l unless this bill
is adopted.
5. The proposed ban on use or dis
play of the special congressional au-
tomobile tags 80 days after the eX-
piration of the Congress for which
they are issued. This has been
passed by the House and the Sen
ate, but the latter amended the bill
to strike out what was considered
superfluous language. One argu-
ment for the measure is the report
th:t some outdated tags have fallen
into gamblers hands.