is the middle of the current year. Of course, the expenditure will have to be made before we get the tags.

Mr. CANNON. Have you contracted for those tags?

Mr. BROWNLOW. No.

Mr. CANNON. Then you have made no contract or expenditure that is not appropriated for?

Mr. BROWNLOW. No, sir.

Mr. CANNON. This is to be in the future?

Mr. BROWNLOW. That is to be entirely in the future.

Mr. CANNON. And for the current year?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes, sir.

POSTAGE.

The CHAIRMAN. "For postage for strictly official mail matter, $1,000."

Mr. BROWNLOW. Since this estimate was submitted in May the amount has been exactly determined, and it is $254.30. But we paid for that from the emergency fund, the $8,000 emergency fund, because it was absolutely necessary to get out the mail matter and we had to have the postage.

CONTINGENT EXPENSES, CORONER'S OFFICE.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "For purchase and maintenance, hire or livery, of means of transportation for the Coroner's office and the morgue, jurors' fees," etc., $715?

Mr. BROWNLOW. The amount appropriated was $4,400, and the appropriation has been entirely exhausted; $715 is estimated will be required to meet the charges for autopsies and reporting the findings of coroner's juries at inquests.

The CHAIRMAN. Those fees are fixed by law?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And this is the amount it is estimated will be required?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. On page 17, in the item for contingent and miscellaneous expenses, you strike out the words "in the District of Columbia." Why is that done, because we usually carry these deficiencies in the language of the original appropriation?

Mr. BROWNLOW. That was just an inadventence, sir; there was no reason for dropping out those words; we did not intend that.

GENERAL ADVERTISING.

The CHAIRMAN. "For general advertising, authorized and required by law, $2,000."

Mr. BROWNLOW. The advertisements that were required by law cost more than the appropriation that was available. All of the bills are not in yet, so it is not possible to change this estimate of $2,000 to the exact amount of the deficiency, but it is within the $2.000. These are certain advertisements required to be made by

law, and this year they exceeded the appropriation made for the purpose.

Mr. CANNON. Were you authorized to make this deficiency?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes, sir; we are not authorized to proceed without the advertisements; there are certain advertisements that we are required to insert by law.

Mr. CANNON. You had no appropriation for it?

Mr. BROWNLOW. No; we had an appropriation for advertising, and then the law requires us to insert certain classes of advertisements from time to time; it is mandatory, and we are required to do it whether the money is appropriated or not.

CAR TICKETS-TRANSPORTATION OF TUBERCULAR CHILDREN.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "The limitation upon the amount that may be expended for car tickets during the fiscal year 1918 is increased to $6,000."

Mr. BROWNLOW. That represents the limitation upon the amount that may be expended for car tickets during the present year, and we ask to have the limitation increased to $6,000. The limitation heretofore asked for and granted was $5,000, but in another part of the appropriation bill $1,000 was appropriated for the transportation of children to tubercular schools. Now, under this limitation we can not use any of that $1,000 for the purchase of car tickets.

The CHAIRMAN. What we ought to do, then, is to amend that provision. That is the general provision affecting all appropriations?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes; all appropriations; this limitation affects all appropriations, and if you increase the limitation from $5,000 to $6,000, then the appropriation that we have of $1,000 for the transportation of tubercular children to these schools can be expended in the most economical manner-that is, to purchase car tickets; otherwise we would have to pay cash-5 cents, the straight fare-instead of buying six tickets for a quarter.

The CHAIRMAN. You say this is for the transportation of tubercular children?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Where?

Mr. BROWNLOW. To the new schools that are established for tubercular children.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you send those children on the street cars?
Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Is it not dangerous?

Mr. BROWNLOW. I do not suppose there is any more danger than there is in having anybody suffering from tuberculosis riding on the .street cars.

The CHAIRMAN. You take the precaution to establish certain schools for these children, yet you transport them on the street cars? Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes; but in the schools they are in rooms for a considerable number of hours and in close contact with the other children. Of course, there is no regulation here that excludes tubercular people or people suffering from such communicable diseases. from the common carriers.

IMPROVEMENTS AND REPAIRS.

PLANS FOR CALVERT STREET BRIDGE ACROSS ROCK CREEK..

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "The appropriation for preparation of plans for construction of a bridge to take the place of the existing Calvert Street Bridge crossing Rock Creek, fiscal year 1917, is hereby continued available until the end of the fiscal year, 1918." Gen. KNIGHT. With reference to that, Mr. Chairman, a contract has been entered into for the preparation of plans for that bridge; there are other plans incidental to the work in connection with those plans, and the plans have been delayed somewhat. They have recently been considered by the Fine Arts Commission, and to prevent the possibility of this work being carried beyond the fiscal year and that balance of $1,000 lapsing, it is asked that the appropriation be continued to the end of the fiscal year.

The CHAIRMAN. The balance is about $1,000?

Gen. KNIGHT, Yes. I am speaking as of last year, when this estimate was submitted, in May, and the request is that it should be continued available this year, it lapsing June 30 of last year. are no additional funds asked for.

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There

VIADUCT AND BRIDGE ON BENNING ROAD.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "For an additional amount for the objects set forth in the appropriation, contained in the District of Columbia appropriation act for the fiscal year 1915, for constructing a suitable viaduct and bridge to carry Benning Road over the tracks of the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad Co., fiscal year 1918, $50,000."

Gen. KNIGHT. That is a case of bids exceeding the estimate. There was one set of bids submitted which exceeded the estimate, and then there was a readvertising. In the meantime the cost of materials and labor went up, and the second set of bids was higher than the first. So that the original appropriation of $110,000, which was made in the appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1915, has been exceeded by this set of bids. A comparison of prices of materials shows that cement, which cost 94 cents a barrel, has more than doubled: steel plates, which were $1.10 per hundred pounds, in 1915, are nearly six times that amount now; steel shapes are a little over four times as much as they were; and steel bars are between three and four times their cost in 1915. That explains the excess of the bids over the estimates.

The CHAIRMAN. Are we paying one-half of this expense?

Mr. BROWNLOW. $110,000 was appropriated for the fiscal year. 1915, but it was not expended then because we could not

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). I am asking you what proportion of the expense we are paying?

Mr. BROWNLOW. One-half.

The CHAIRMAN. It might be better to wait until prices come down. Mr. BROWNLOW. Mr. Fitzgerald. my own opinion about that is, and it was shared by Col. Kutz, that I have some doubt about the reasonableness of appropriating this total of $185,000 for a bridge which was originally estimated to cost $110,000, because it has

already been increased $35,000, and we have asked for another $50.000, but on account of the fact that that crossing is the most dangerous grade crossing still existing in the District of Columbia, it was my opinion that we ought to submit a deficiency estimate to the committee, with a statement of the danger, and leave it to your judgment.

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Gen. KNIGHT. By personal inspection I fully agree with the idea of the danger of that crossing to the community.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you familiar with it?

Gen. KNIGHT. I have been there. I was there yesterday and looked over it.

Mr. SHERLEY. Has any work been done on this at all?
Gen. KNIGHT. None at all, sir,

Mr. SHERLEY. Have you taken any steps to inquire into the cost? You seem to have some doubt in your own mind as to whether it ought to cost this much?

Gen. KNIGHT. There have been plans made, estimates of cost and bids have been asked for twice, and once there was this additional appropriation made, in addition to the original appropriation, the bids having been rejected as in excess of the appropriation. Now, an additional amount is asked and it is supposed, or it is hoped, that the addition asked for will enable the contract to be carried out.

Mr. SHERLEY. I understand that, but that is just the whole point of the matter. It was suggested by Mr. Brownlow that he and Col. Kutz had doubts as to whether a bridge that had been estimated to cost so much should be built at the cost now figured on.

Mr. BROWNLOW. No; I think you misunderstood me. I said I have some doubt as to the wisdom of the expenditure when the cost had increased, and we have no doubt about the fact that the cost has increased. You see, the additional $35,000 was not available until the passage of the deficiency act of April 16, 1917. Bids have been solicited since that time, so that this is the ascertained estimate of what we could get the bridge built for at this time. However, I say that a legislative question, a question of policy, is involved as to whether or not we should build the viaduct at a time when materials and labor are so very high, and if it were not for the danger at this grade crossing I would suggest that the whole matter go over, but because it is a very dangerous grade crossing we decided to send in an estimate for a deficiency.

Mr. SHERLEY. Have you made an estimate of what it should cost or are you basing what it should cost upon what the bids are that have been submitted?

Gen. KNIGHT. I understand that it is based on actual bids for the cost of the work.

Mr. SHERLEY. I understand, but what I am trying to find out is whether you have ever made an estimate to see whether those bids represent anything like what it ought to cost?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Mr. McComb did go over the bids and did make an estimate, and he found that the bids were reasonable.

Mr. SHERLEY. Do you ever do any of this work yourselves?

Mr. BROWNLOW. We are not permitted to do it if it costs more than $1,000.

Mr. SHERLEY. Could you do it for less than this sum?

Gen. KNIGHT. I think it is almost impracticable, Mr. Sherley, at present to make an estimate based upon the cost of labor and materials at any future time. You have bids submitted by persons who are actually doing construction work, which contain their ideas of the cost. To meet that we need this amount in addition to the appropriation, and those men, I think, are better prepared to consider the possible changes in the market than we are, or anybody else, because it is their business to do it.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. McComb went over these bids and considered them reasonable?

Mr. GARGES. Mr. McComb did, the engineer of bridges.

PLAYGROUNDS, ADDITIONAL SWIMMING POOLS.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is: "For the construction of two swimming pools, shower baths, appurtenances, and equipment on sites to be selected by the commissioners, the appropriation contained in the District of Columbia appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917 is continued available until the end of the fiscal year 1918, with the additional sum of $5,000.”

Gen. KNIGHT. That is the case of the bids received not coming within the limit of the appropriation, and there is no reasonable way of modifying the size of the pools in order to diminish the cost or to bring the cost within the appropriation.

The CHAIRMAN. Where are these pools to be located?

Mr. BROWNLOW. The law said that they were to be selected by the commissioners, and the sites were actually selected, one for colored people at the Cordoza School, in southwest Washington, and one for white people in the Piney Branch Valley, not far from the Sixteenth Street Bridge, and not far from the northern terminus of the Mount Pleasant street car line. Those were the best available places we could find owned by the District of Columbia, so that there will be no expenditures for sites. But $5,000 for each school is not enough to build the pools.

The CHAIRMAN. What will be the capacity of these pools?

Gen. KNIGHT. As I understand from Gen. Kutz, about 30 by 75, the ordinary size, and very near the size of the municipal pool. Mr. GILLETT. Are these artificial pools?

Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHERLEY. Supplied by city water?

Gen. KNIGHT. I imagine they would have to be.

Mr. SHERLEY. What does it cost for water?

In

Mr. BROWNLOW. I do not know about that. We usually use water that has already been used. For instance, at the Municipal Bathing Beach we use the waste water from the White House fountains. every possible way we try to use water that otherwise would be wasted. I am not sure about that feature with respect to these two particular pools, but the cest would not be very great if the pools are filled, say, twice a day.

The CHAIRMAN. And this $5,000 is required

Gen. KNIGHT. To complete the construction of the two pools.
The CHAIRMAN. What were the bids, do you recall, General.

Gen. KNIGHT. They range from $13,000 to $17,000. Taking the lowest bid of $13,000, that leaves only about $1,300 for the supervision of the work and the incidental expenses.