Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-14
Chided
OnOldStoneHouse
8chorus No
To Statements
AT Hearing

Eighteen witnesses favoring the
preservation of Georgetown's Old
Stone House chorused mo" to
statements with which they dis
agreed at a House hearing today
and were gently chided by the
chairman.
The Is did not get to testify
today. They will be heard to-
morrow. Two witnesses heard
today were in support of the bill
introduced by Representative
Rogers, Democrat of Texas, to
prevent spending any more
money on the restoration of the
pre- Revolutionary structure and
to provide for selling the prop
erty.
Mr.. Rogers himself testified as
the first witness before the In
terror Public Lands Subcommit-
tee. William G. Carter of the
Parkway Motor Co., which for
merly used the property in a
used car business, was the other
witness in support. of Mr.. Rogers
bill.
Chorus of mos"
Mr.. Rogers recalled that it was
once proposed to restore the old
house because it had been occu-
pied by Suffers Tavern. There
was a chorus of NOS" from the
supporters of the restoration,
who had also interpoSed earlier
when statements were made
with which they disagreed. Mrs.
Oracle Pfost, Democrat of Idaho,
chairman of the subcommittee,
gently called for order and asked
for no demonstrations.
/ Mr.. Rogers bill would prevent
the spending of $62, 400 provided
for the Old Stone House in the
Interior Departments appropri-
alton bill. In the sale he pro-
posed, the Government might
recover the 100000 it paid for
the property at 3051 M. street
NV.
The Texas Congressman made
it clear he considers this just
another raid on the public treas
, ury. He said that because
Georgetown is part of the Dis
trict of Columbia. no license is
created "for Georgetown to have
! its projects financed by the PEG.
pie of the United States"
e Would Amend Bill
!. He said he would gladly amend
the bill giving priority as a pur-
' chaser to any organization in
tending preservation of the
: building.
: He also said it could be re-
! stored more cheaply if some Of
: these nonprofit organizations
would spend their time taking up
collections instead of hanging
around the public treasury"
This statement was made dur
ing testimony by Conrad Wirth,
director of the National Park
Service. The Park Service had
recommended that the Govern
rent purchase the property and
is now working on its restoration.
Mr.. Wirth said that when the
work is completed the Govern
! ment would have restored the
only pre-Revolutionary house
in Washington which was built
in 1854 The garden would also
be restored and the building
would become a museum to
which a small entrance fee
would be charged to defray the
annual expenses.
Quizzed on Right of Way
He was questioned closely by
Mr.. Rogers whether the former
owners Of the property retain
a right of way over it to reach
an area in the rear. Mr.. Wirth
maintained this was not SO.
Mr.. Carter, who has opposed
the project before, said that the
only original part of the build
ing which would remain after
restoration is completed would
be the stone walls. He said
; there are hundreds of similar
!pre-Revolutionary houses in
Pennsylvania and that this
should be purely a Georgetown,
: not national project.
Mr.. Rogers said that after he
introduced his bill his character
was attacked and it was sug-
gested that he had some con-
, nection with Mr.. Carter and his
, company. He asked Mr.. Carter
to clarity this point.
Apologizing for the way it
, sounded, Mr.. Carter said, II
never knew you existed until two
> months ago, when / was asked
to furnish information about
this property" He said his OBJ
lection to the project was that
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