Evening star., 1947-06-27
Horan Unit Near
End Of Work on
DC. Supply Bill
Marking Up Is Due
To Be Completed
By Late Today

1, The District Subcommittee OF the
House Appropriations Committee
expects to complete marking up the
1948 city supply bill late this after
noon.
Chairman Horan of the subcom-
mittee said at the conclusion of
this mornings session that the big
task had been almost finished and
the final work will be done this
afternoon.
No final figure on the total budget
was disclosed, although previous in
formal predictions were that 1t
might be close to $4,000, 900.
No Date Given for Report.
Much detail work remains to be
done, however, in writing the bill,
the report and printing. There
could be no prediction at noon to-
day, a spokesman for the committee
said, as to when the measure will
be formally reported to the House.
A new estimate of the costs OF
tuberculosis in the District also was
before the House subcommittee to-
day.
DR.. James ]. Feffer, an advocate
of the projected mass X-ray survey
of District people in a tuberculosis
case-finding project, advised the
subcommittee the costs of caring for
discovered cases would be high. But,
he contended, the ultimate cost of
failure to find and care for them
would be nearly twice as high.
At a recent open session of the
Horan subcommittee, he cham
pioned the cause of the proposed
outlay of about $4,000 as the Dis
trict's snare Of the cost of the
mass X-ray program. At that time
Chairman Horan said he did not
see how he could approve the out
lay when it would mean huge costs
later 'for which Congress has pro-
vided no adequate revenue PLAN"
21,600,O 900 Estimate.
DR.. Feffer'S estimates, supplied at
the request of the Horan subcom-
mitttee, placed the probable ulti-
mate cost of the results of the sur
vey, including care of discovered
cases and loss of wages, at about
$21, 100000.
Without the survey, and therefore
without the discovery now Of un-
known tuberculosis cases here, he
estimated the ultimate cost to the
community at 41,374,oo0.
He estimated that with some |
$4,000 persons given X-ray tests,
it would be likely that between 1000
and 5000 new casees would be found.
His report continued:
'If mass X-ray survey is con-
Quoted in Washington, not only will
the health of the community be
protected and imp owed, but sub
stantial savings to the community
will be afforded by finding and
treating cases of tuberculosis. I'm
mediate medical supervision of cases
found by the survey will stop the
of the disease tt" more
advanced stages and will curb the
spread to previously healthy per-
sons.
Economic Loss Cited.
Based on minimum estimates of
the cases to be found by survey will
be approximately $8,516000 With
out survey, these original cases will
present the future problem of
greater spread of disease and ad-
vancement to stages of the disease
that require longer and costlier care.
The cost of care with no survey
could be estimated at about $10,-
735 900.
"A case of tuberculosis is costly
to the community not only because
Of expensive medical care but also
because of the loss of wages during
long treatment and rehabilitation
pereiods and the tremendous eco
nomic loss to the community through !
the deaths of people in their most
productive years"
Chairman Horan indicated he is
seeking cuts in requests for the !
sewer division, the Police Depart
ment and other agencies of the {
District as means of freeing larger /
amounts for school construction 4;
projects to end part-time pupil in l
struction.
The needs are so great" he told
reporters, that l will predict the {
District will have a sales tax within {
a year" Both the House and Senate {
have excluded the sales tax from j
the new District tax program now {
awaiting final congressional action. I