to minor repairs on account of its inadequacy. We could not do the amount of resurfacing we would have liked to do. Mr. SISSON. If we give you too much in the repair fund, the great temptation then will be perhaps to use money for repairs rather than to put the burden on the property owner when he really ought to improve his own property. Col. KUTZ. No; and that brings to my mind the thought that possibly it might give better information to the committee if we divided this sum into two parts, one for resurfacing and another for repairs, so that the committee or the Congress could for themselves determine what amount should be expended for each purpose. Mr. SISSON. I think that is a very wise suggestion, Mr. Commissioner. Mr. DAVIS. I think so, too. Mr. SISSON. In view of the fact that the property owner pays for one and the other comes out of the Treasury, and this committee is absolutely in the dark as to how much of that fund is being used for one purpose and how much for the other. Col. KUTZ. Yes. Mr. DAVIS. I wish you would arrange it so that we can put that in this bill. Col. Kurz. Yes, sir; dividing the sum total of $1,000,000 into two parts, one of which is available for resurfacing under the assessment system, half the cost being paid by the property owner and the other being paid by the Government. Mr. SISSON. That is what I had in mind exactly. Estimate for repairs to streets, 1922_. Total Amount estimated to be required for resurfacing asphalt roadways__ Total $700,000 300,000 1,000,000 350 000 650,000 1, 000, 000 STATUS OF APPROPRIATION. Mr. DAVIS. The present appropriation for repairs to streets, avenues, and alleys is $575,000; has that all been expended or contracted? Col. KUTZ. We have expended the repair fund for streets and suburban roads at a greater rate than is justified, if we were going to spread it uniformly over the year, but we have felt there was a considerable advantage in having the streets and roads in good condition before the freeze, so that we have spent more than half of the fund in the first half of the year. Mr. SISSON. I think it is highly proper to spend it while the weather is good. Col. KUTZ. Yet we have not deliberately done anything to cause a deficiency. If we have a normal winter, we will be able in the spring to restore the roads and go through without a deficiency. If we should have an abnormal winter, we may have to come back and ask for additional funds. Mr. SISSON. That is, before the funds from this bill become available? Col. KUTZ. Yes, sir. AUTHORITY TO CHANGE CURB LINES. Mr. DAVIS. You have the same section in the bill this year concerning changes in the curb line of Pennsylvania Avenue. Col. KUTZ. That is a limitation on the power of the commissioners. CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF SIDEWALKS AND CURBS AROUND PUBLIC RESERVATIONS. Mr. DAVIS. For construction and repair of sidewalks and curbs around public reservations and municipal and United States buildings you ask for $30,000, which is an increase of $10,000. Is there any special reason why you want this increase? Col. KUTZ. We are limited by this appropriation in the laying or relaying of sidewalks around public buildings and reservations, which includes Federal buildings as well as municipal buildings. There are a great many of the parks that are surrounded by unsatisfactory brick walls or in some cases flag walks. One unsatisfactory sidewalk is the one in front of the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue. We relaid the sidewalk on the Fifteenth Street side of the Treasury a number of years ago, but the other one is now paved with relatively soft stone that is wearing into holes in spots, is unsightly, and to some extent unsafe. We would like very much to replace that walk. We would also like very much to replace the sidewalk around Dupont Circle and around Farragut Square, and there are many new reservations being developed which call for sidewalks. At present prices the $20,000 will not do a great amount of work in a year, and yet this work tends very much to improve the appearance of the city. REPAIRS TO SUBURBAN ROADS-PURCHASE OR EXCHANGE OF MOTOR VEHICLES. Mr. DAVIS. In the item, "Repairs to suburban roads," you ask for the following new legislation: "Including the purchase of three light motor vehicles with truck bodies in exchange for one motor cycle, and including maintenance." Why do you want these three light motor vehicles? Col. KUTZ. The three light motor vehicles with truck bodies are for the use of two foremen and one overseer, to be used in the distribution of road material, etc. The first of these foremen is now supplied with a motor cycle which is practically worn out, and the second is furnished with a horse and buggy, and suffers by reason of this slow transportation, while the overseer is without transportation save riding in street cars. Mr. DAVIS. What do you figure will be the cost of these motor vehicles? Col. KUTZ. We will buy Ford vehicles, with possibly some slight adjustment of the bodies, so as to permit the taking of small supplies and tools. We call it a slip-on body, and that may increase the cost a little above the ordinary price of a Ford roadster. Mr. DAVIS. You could not state now the sum you want to put in there? Col. KUTZ. I do not think they will cost over $700 apiece. COST OF ASPHALT PER YARD. Mr. SISSON. What about the cost of street material this year as compared with the cost of such material last year? Col. KUTZ. It is higher. The current contract for asphalt roads is 33 per cent higher than it was last year. Per The average cost of an asphalt road is now a few cents less than $4 a square yard, as compared with last year, when it was a few cents less than $3. Mr. SISSON. Have you much hope of the cost of these materials getting down? Col. KUTZ. I believe the cost will be down by the next working season, but to what extent is uncertain. Mr. DAVIS. Is there any competition in bidding for these contracts? Col. KUTZ. We had two bidders for the asphalt paving this year, but quite considerable competition in connection with the concrete roadways. The prices were surprisingly high and I was loath to recommend the expenditure of the fund until we got lower bids. I made inquiries in other cities, Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago, and found that the prices asked were quite comparable with those paid elsewhere. Mr. DAVIS. Are those chiefly local bidders? Col. KUTZ. Yes; those are chiefly local bidders. We have some competition from Baltimore people, and occasionally as far as New York and Chicago, but the great majority of them are local bidders. Mr. DAVIS. They are, so far as the smaller contracts are concerned, I presume? Col. Kurz. Yes. The present asphalt work is divided into two contracts, one with Corson & Gruman, who come from Baltimore, and the other with the Cranford Co., a local concern, the contract being equally divided. The present contractor for concrete roads is a local man whose predecessor was a Baltimore man. I think there is quite keen competition on everything except asphalt paving, and there the competition is not as great as we would like to have it, but we do all we can to encourage outside bidders. Mr. SISSON. Of course, the fall in price of any commodity would depend largely upon the demand made upon the market. Of course, if all the cities are progressing with their paving and buying that sort of material, there will be no fall in the price of that sort of material; that is, if the governments-municipal, State, and nationalshall continue to expend money for the same amount of work or a greater amount of work than they have heretofore done, the likelihood of no fall in prices is the result. The way to get the price to drop is for the cities not to spend any more than they have to spend in improvements, because individuals have to do that in view of the fact that a majority of the people have only a certain limited fund upon which they can draw. WAGES OF LABORERS AND MECHANICS. How about your labor? Is your labor as high as ever? Col. KUTZ. Yes; labor has not dropped at all. We declined to increase the prices. Mr. SISSON. You are having less trouble with labor in the last few weeks than heretofore? Col. Kurz. Yes; there are more applicants for positions than ever before. Mr. SISSON. It has been estimated that about 500,000 men have been turned out of work in the last 30 days. How many have been turned out since that last statement made by the Department of Labor is a mere guess, but I would not be surprised if something like a million men will be found to have been turned out of work within 30 days from the date when the last report was made. That ought to bring the price of wages down, provided the Government would be in a position and would do practically as individuals do-that is, buy labor as cheap as they can get it. What is your policy about that, or have you an agreement with this union about the scale of wages? Col. KUTZ. No, sir; we have no agreement. The wages of the laborers and mechanics are fixed by the commissioners from time to time, and in fixing the wage scale we fix a minimum and a maximum, and then we authorize our department heads to pay any rate between those two limits, and in that way they pay more to the efficient employees than they do to the inefficient ones. That is a principle which we find very valuable, especially in the collection of ashes and trash. Mr. SISSON. If that is wisely done, it is a stimulation to the laborer to do his best work. Col. KUTZ. Yes. The difference in the rate of pay is about 50 cents a day. Those who perform their work without complaint and to the satisfaction of their supervisors get a higher rate of pay, and those who are slack and dilatory and work a few days and then drop off a few days are paid at a lower rate. But the choice now is so great that we drop the unsatisfactory ones. I think our personnel is improving in quality every year. The efficiency was very much less last year. Mr. SiSSON. I was very much interested in a statement made by Col. Loving shortly after they had a controversy in connection with the matter of wages, and perhaps had a little strike here. They more than doubled the wages of these men on the streets-the "white wings" who clean the streets. I asked Col. Loving this question, "How much less labor do they perform now per day than they did when you paid them less than half of what you are now paying them?" He looked at me and smiled and asked me if that was an et sequitur. He wanted to know if I had made an investigation into the subject, and I said no. He said, "This happens to be one case where we can tell whether they are doing more or less work, because we have a certain number of square yards of streets to clean and we have so many men to do that work." He made a calculation and found that they were doing less than 60 per cent of what they had been doing when they received less than half the wages they received before that. I hope that condition is improving. Col. KUTZ. It is; but I do not believe it has been entirely remedied yet. We met that situation in part by reducing the number of individual street sweepers. Before the war we had about 300, and we reduced that number 100, substituting machine street sweeping for hand sweeping. It does not result in giving quite as satisfactory a street, so far as cleanliness is concerned, because we do not do the work as often as we did with the individual sweeper; but the cost is less. Mr. SISSON. What do you think of increasing the number of machines as to economy? Suppose you double the number of machines you have and cut off half of the number of individual sweepers, or perhaps more than that? Col. KUTZ. I believe the machine sweeping, except for certain parts of the city, where the horse droppings and the paper and litter ought to be gathered up more or less continuously to keep the street in proper shape, is the better method. I do not think, however, that we could afford to dispense entirely with the white wings, but I do not believe that it will take as large a number as we had before the war. Mr. SISSON. Do you not think it would be better to confine the work of the white wings almost exclusively to the business part of the city? Čol. KUTZ. Yes, sir. Mr. SISSON. And let the street-sweeping work in the residential districts be done largely by machines? Col. KUTZ. Yes, sir. BRIDGES, CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR. PURCHASE OF ONE SPECIAL MOTOR VEHICLE, ETC. Mr. DAVIS. The next item is for the construction and repairs of bridges. You have some new language in that item, "Of bridges, including the purchase of one special motor vehicle at a cost not to exceed $2,000, and including the maintenance of motor vehicles." Have you anything to say to us on that item, Mr. Commissioner? Col. KUTZ. The amount asked for under that heading is increased somewhat-from $27,500 to $30,000-and we are asking for the purchase of a motor vehicle which will be a combined inspection wagon and light repair wagon. It will replace a horse-drawn vehicle that is decidedly uneconomical, considering the long trips that have to be made in connection with the repair and inspection of the bridges. Mr. DAVIS. We have been replacing horse-drawn vehicles for a great many years. Has the number of your horse-drawn vehicles diminished any? Col. KUTZ. Yes, sir; we get rid of our horse-drawn inspection wagons as rapidly as you permit us to. Mr. DAVIS. What do you do with them? Do you put them on other work? Col. KUTZ. No, sir; we get rid of them. Mr. DAVIS. Sell them? Col. KUTZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DAVIS. When you take a horse and buggy away from an inspector you do not put that horse and buggy on any other work? Col. KUTZ. No, sir. Mr. DAVIS. I notice that in this item you have some other new language, "Hereafter appropriations made under this head shall be |