Accordingly, the committee recommended, and still adheres thereto, that immediate steps be taken with a view to securing legislation authorizing a new retail market located north of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., and as near to the population and geographic centers of the District of Columbia as practicable, with due regard for ground costs, uses of near-by property, transit facilities, traffic, and automobile parking.

That the choice of sites be vested in a commission, which would include one of the District Commissioners, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Parks.

That the market structure be designed for use solely as a retail market for foodstuffs, without any armory therein, and with adequate space adjoining two sides of the structure for umbrella sheds to accommodate about 150 farmers selling at retail.

That the functions of the present Center Market be continued without interruption at the present site or at a temporary site, pending completion of a new structure.

As herein before stated, those recommendations were approved by the federation on January 4, 1930, by the .delegates present, only two dissenting. Now, it is known that efforts are being made by a number of persons to organize a company

Mr. HAVENNER. This is not a part of the report.

Mr. HEGE. This is additional to the report presented, but is in the light of subsequent developments. I refer to the data that I will now read:

It is known that efforts are being made by a number of persons to organize a company for the purpose of financing a privately owned plant to perform the functions of the present Center Market. And it is true that private capital, as the result of an arrangement made on January 15, 1930, between the Union Market Terminal Corporation and the Maryland-Virginia farmers has lifted from the shoulders of the District taxpayers the responsibility of providing, for some time to come, a wholesale market for farm produce as contemplated by Public Law No. 927, approved March 2, 1929. But it is believed that the bill now under consideration should be enacted into law, lest private capital fail to launch a Center Market replacement project or fail to operate such a project in the interest of the general public.

So far as our inquiries are concerned no plan for a private market to replace Center Market has yet reached a point of promising fulfillment.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the record here some figures with respect to the operations of the present Center Market for the years 1922 to 1929. These figures were furnished me, upon request, by Acting Secretary of Agriculture Dunlap, whose letter with which they are transmitted I will turn over.

Mr. EDWIN S. HEGE,

Washington, D. C.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D. C., January 23, 1930.

DEAR MR. HEGE: The department is in receipt of your letter dated January 14, addressed to the superintendent of Center Market, in which you request certain information relative to the operation of Center Market by this department.

There is being sent you herewith a statement showing the receipts and expenditures by fiscal years for the period April 1, 1922, to June 30, 1929. This information is furnished in answer to your inquiries Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. For the fiscal years 1923 to 1927, inclusive, expenditures for repairs and improvements, amounted to between $20,000 and $25,000 annually. For the fiscal years 1928

and 1929 expenditures for improvements were approximately $7,000 and $2,000, respectively. In view of the necessity for the early abandonment of Center Market as a part of the public-building program, expenditures for improvements in the last three years have been kept to the minimum. In any consideration of the difference between receipts and expenditures at Center Market, it should be kept in mind that the Government has not been required to pay taxes on the land, buildings, and equipment. Likewise it has not been necessary to make provision for water rent, insurance, or interest on investment.

There is also being sent you herewith a statement showing the gross sales by calendar years, as reported by tenants occupying spaces inside of the market. The gross sales included an estimate of the sales made by farmers occupying spaces on the south side of Center Market Building. Sales have not been segregated according to wholesale and retail. Most of the sales however may be classed as retail.

I will be glad to suggest at this time, if I may, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, that Mr. Walleigh, an employee of the Department of Agriculture which operates the present Center Market, is here; that much of my information in this report that I have just read was obtained from him, and I believe it would be helpful to the committee to get an unbiased viewpoint on this matter if they were to hear from Mr. Walleigh.

The CHAIRMAN. Is Doctor Woods of the Department of Agriculture here?

Mr. HAVENNER. Senator, I just wanted to make clear that that last paragraph in the paper read by Mr. Hege was not a part of the federation's action.

Doctor WOODS. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Walleigh has all of the data and all of the records and is authorized to represent the Department of Agriculture.

The CHAIRMAN. There is no settlement that you care to make, then? Doctor Woods. He has everything that I could say, and more, too. The CHAIRMAN. All right, we will hear Mr. Walleigh.

STATEMENT OF C. H. WALLEIGH, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE CENTER MARKET

Mr. WALLEIGH. I just don't know what to say in addition to what Mr. Hege said.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Walleigh, I think the committee would like to know what is the character of the business at Center Market and how successfully it is being operated, and whether in your judgment there is in this city a need for a central market for the general public.

Mr. WALLEIGH. Well, the business at Center Market has been so successful that there have been no vacancies up to within the last few weeks. There is one vacancy now.

The CHAIRMAN. About what are the average net earnings per year?

Mr. WALLEIGH. At Center Market?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; at Center Market.

Mr. WALLEIGH. It averages about $90,000 for the eight years. The CHAIRMAN. I mean to the Government.

Mr. WALLEIGH. To the Government. That is net.

Senator ROBSION. This report shows in the first year, 1922, the excess of receipts over expenditures is $4,500, and then it mounts very rapidly, and the next year it is $81,000; in 1928 it was $113,000; in 1929 it was $117,190.26.

Mr. WALLEIGH. Senator Robsion, the first year's figures represent only three months' operations. We found conditions such that we had to expend money nearly as fast as the revenues would produce it. Subsequently, though, we have gotten so that by arranging our annual program it produces more of a net revenue.

Senator KEAN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the witness to describe the market and tell us what the conditions are, what the stalls bring per stall, what expense it is cleaning up after the farmersjust a description of how you work the Center Market.

Mr. WALLEIGH. We operate the Center Market practically on the same basis as the corporation owners did before we had it. We have a group of people to take care of the administrative work, sanitation, cleaning the court yards and pavements, and, of course, the supervisory overhead.

Senator KEAN. What do you charge to the farmer?

Mr. WALLEIGH. The farmer is charged 15 cents a day for a truck. The old law in 1897 authorized 15 cents a day for a double horsedrawn vehicle, and 10 cents a day for a signle horse-drawn vehicle, but since the advent of the motor truck the loads are more than what

a double horse-drawn vehicle is, so they all pay 15 cents except those who perhaps come in on such a basis of some one with a basket full of eggs, who pays 10 cents, and the revenue from that last year amounted to $5,500. We have a man to take those collections every day in the week, and we have a couple of people go along in the evening to clean up what the farmers do not clean up, but we have trained the farmers to clean up their own rubbish.

Senator KEAN. That is what I wanted to know. place for 15 cents a day. What is that, 12 by

They rent this

Mr. WALLEIGH. That is a space about 3 by 6 or 3 by 7. Senator KEAN. And at the end of the day they are supposed to clean it up, are they?

Mr. WALLEIGH. They take their rubbish away. If there are any broken boxes or torn lettuce leaves or bean hulls they are to take them around to our incinerator. If they don't, the next time they come around they hear of it in forceful terms. At Christmas time we take a dollar from each man to assure that the Christmas greens and Christmas trees will be taken away, and when they are taken away that dollar is given back.

The CHAIRMAN. What can you say as to the public interest in the market and the need of maintaining a market of that kind?

Mr. WALLEIGH. The public still seems to maintain a decided interest. And talking about the traffic question, apparently the public are trying to settle that question for themselves, because Friday now is the second best day of the week. They are apparently trying to bring their marketing habits to a point where they can relieve some of the traffic congestion that is usual to Saturday and bring it over to Friday, and buy for Saturday and Sunday on Friday.

This Saturday market crowd runs probably 15,000 to 20,000 people. That has been more or less a rather accurate computation from the sales made by individual dealers. I counted the people in about 60 per cent of the market on Washington's birthday about 11 o'clock in the morning and there were over 900 in that part of the market, inside the building, up to that point, and there was about 40 per cent of the market left to cover yet. So I assume there were from 1,000 to 1,100 people in there at that time of day.

The CHAIRMAN. That is about all you can take care of, is it not? Mr. WALLEIGH. We can take care of probably 1,500 people at a time. It is a very large space. It covers about 61,000 square feet of ground.

The CHAIRMAN. If a new market were built do you think it would be necessary to build it on a larger scale than the present market?

Mr. WALLEIGH. I think a market about the size that we have now is ample; perhaps not even as large; just something that would be a centrally located emporium that the housewife comes to at the same time that she probably shops at the department stores or goes down town to a moving picture or theater or otherwise. It seems to be that is their habit. I am not passing any opinion on what they should do, but what they do do.

A gentleman asked a while ago how they are rented. The present prices for stands range from $3 a square foot for the actual space occupied to $1.75 a square foot for the space actually occupied for the fruit and vegetable or more bulky products. Those lower rentals undoubtedly are too low for the present-day conditions. Inside of

the market we have the same condition that prevails outside. Each dealer is supposed to dispose of his own garbage and rubbish, take it to the incinerator, and clean up about his stand. And he has to have his stand clean, because our two inspectors see to that. And we have four sweepers that sweep the aisles and otherwise clean up and remove what may be here and there in the aisles.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions to be asked?

Senator ROBSION. Yes; I would like to ask Mr. Walleigh a question. Mr. Walleigh, you and Doctor Woods have immediate supervision and charge of this Center Market for the Department of Agriculture, have you not?

Mr. WALLEIGH. Yes, sir. I come under him.

Senator ROBSION. Well, you heard this statement read here about the recommendation from the Federation of Citizens' Associations by Mr. Hege. Have you and Doctor Woods discussed that action of the Citizens' Association?

Mr. WALLEIGH. We did not discuss their recommendation. They came to us and asked how we were doing, what we were doing, and what the volume was.

Senator ROBSION. You have read it, have you not, you and Doctor Woods?

Mr. WALLEIGH. I did not read it before it was read here; no, sir. Senator ROBSION. Well, you concur in the conclusions reached there in a general way?

Mr. WALLEIGH. In a general way. I feel that there is sufficient demand at the present time for a centrally located market.

Senator ROBSION. And do you think it will accomplish the things that are set out in that report in a general way?

Mr. WALLEIGH. I do.

Senator ROBSION. Now, I notice here that you state, and this report would indicate it, that there might be a net earning, receipts excessive of expenditures averaging about $90,000 a year.

Mr. WALLEIGH. We have that.

Senator ROBSION. Now, that is based upon an investment of how much by the Government?

Mr. WALLEIGH. One million, five hundred and twenty-two thousand and some odd dollars. I haven't got it right before me.

Senator ROBSION. So that is a fair earning as an investment on the part of the Government?

Mr. WALLEIGH. On that capitalization or on that investment it is, but if you were to take the ground value in, which was about another million and a half, it would be only about a 3 per cent return. Senator KEAN. This would be 6 per cent.

Mr. WALLEIGH. This would be 6 per cent, but we had the ground beforehand.

Senator ROBSION. The Government's investment is about $2,700,000?

Mr. WALLEIGH. The Government's investment is $1,322,000. They bought the land for about $100.

Senator ROBSION. Anyhow, the Government owns the land?

Mr. WALLEIGH. Yes, sir.

Senator ROBSION. And if you counted the land it would be about two and a half millions.

Mr. WALLEIGH. Yes.