Mr. COHEN. I think this Committee can find out. I am representing myself as an individual citizen. I lost three pieces of property up there. I would just like to add a comment. All of those tenants on those three pieces of property were there for 27 to 30 years. The shoe store on the corner was there 28 years. May I add, too, sir, that they have some 450 or 500 stores in the United States, and they do not get that big cheating and robbing people. It just is not done. Mr. WINN. These stores do not intend to go back? Mr. COHEN. Well, sir, I am in a position where this property is in the Shaw Urban Renewal Area, so that this may be something beyond my control. If you would ask me a direct question: Will you rebuild those properties? The answer would be: "Definitely, no." Mr. WINN. Some of your friends who own properties or who have been leasing properties, do you think that they will go back, no matter whether the District cleans up the mess or not? Mr. COHEN. Sir, the important problem-to answer you directlyis that most of that whole block, or anything in that area, in that Shaw area, I seriously question whether, even if they so desired, it would be economically feasible. Mr. WINN. Do you have any contacts outside of what might be the Shaw area? Mr. COHEN. Do I have any real estate? Mr. WINN. Yes. Mr. COHEN. Yes, I do. Mr. WINN. Do you have any personal contacts with friends of yours or people that lease those properties, whether they are going to go back into their damaged areas? Mr. COHEN. No, I have not. Mr. WINN. Thank you. Mr. WHITENER. The property which you own, which you are discussing here, has been destroyed, and is located on 7th Street? Mr. COHEN. Yes. Mr. WHITENER. Three separate parcels? Mr. COHEN. Three separate parcels. Mr. WHITENER. How long have you lived in Washington? Mr. COHEN. 65 years. Mr. WHITENER. Do you have any independent recollection of the so-called "Bonus March" here in Washington? Mr. COHEN. I do, sir. Mr. WHITENER. Do you remember what happened at that time? Mr. COHEN. I do, sir. Mr. WHITENER. As I understand from reading about it, the veterans of World War I came here to petition the Congress to pass legislation to enable them to cash their bonus certificates; is that right? Mr. COHEN. Yes, and as you will remember, sir, they were put off public property, Federal property. Mr. WHITENER. And not very gently. Mr. COHEN. That is right. Mr. WHITENER. Do you know how many of those were killed? Mr. COHEN. I am sorry, I do not know. Mr. WHITENER. This is not related to this inquiry, but I have asked about it-it is related to the other bill (H.R. 16941) that we have before us about requiring permits for a group to come in to parade and to demonstrate and to carry on. Mr. COHEN. I do not know about it. Mr. WHITENER. Thank you. Our next witness is Mrs. Ernest Howard, representing the Federation of Citizens Associations, the North Washington Council, and the Columbia Heights Citizens Association. We have before us, as you know, these two pieces of legislation. We will be glad to hear you on the legislation. STATEMENT OF MRS. ERNEST HOWARD, REPRESENTING FEDERATION OF CITIZENS ASSOCIATIONS, NORTH WASHINGTON COUNCIL, AND COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITIZENS ASSOCIATION Mrs. HOWARD. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, the Federation of Citizens Associations has endorsed H.R. 16941 which requires applicants for permits to parade in the District of Columbia to post bond to cover costs of such Parade. Resolutions of our Federation are presented for the record. Mr. WHITENER. We will make them a part of the record. (The resolutions referred to follow :) FEDERATION OF CITIZENS' ASSOCIATIONS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-APRIL 25, 1968 RESOLVED: By the Federation of Citizens' Associations in meeting assembled April 25, 1968 that it support and recommend passage of H.R. 16941 This bill would provide that a permit for a parade, which parade it is determined may cause property damage or disorder which would constitute a breach of the peace, be issued only if a bond is posted in such amount as would cover the estimated cost of equipment and personnel needed to maintain order, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That copies of this resolution be sent the Chairman of the House and Senate District Committees, the Mayor-Commissioner, the Chief of Metropolitan Police and the President of the United States. Mrs. ERNEST W. HOWARD, Chairman, Police and Fire Committee. FEDERATION OF CITIZENS ASSOCIATIONS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RESOLUTION In view of the fact, that a complete break-down of law and order was witnessed by the citizens who live in the District of Columbia during the recent riots where irresponsible people broke windows, stole and destroyed merchandise, destroyed property which included business and homes of individuals by fires. The total loss and cost of this irresponsible holocaust has not been estimated but roughly it may run as high as $19 million Dollars, and WHEREAS, it was found that the police force was INADEQUATE to maintain law and order, and WHEREAS, no promise has been made by the President or public officials that the army or guard would be sent in, and WHEREAS, the cost of marches and demonstrations have added extra burden of expense to the taxpayers in the D.C., and WHEREAS, marches in the past have created disorders and objectionable conduct by the demonstrators, and WHEREAS, the leaders of the coming marches make no guarantee that they can and will control conduct of people involved, and WHEREAS, we are already losing millions of dollars in tourist trade and convention participation because of the breakdown of law and order and the riots, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the NORTH WASHINGTON COUNCIL at its regular meeting held Wednesday, April 10th, DEMANDS, that no permit be issued for any marches or demonstrations for this year, and no permits be issued for the encampment of people in tents or other living accommodations on the Mall, Rock Creek Park or any other public space. We have had enough Disorder. Copies to: THE PRESIDENT ATTORNEY GENERAL CHIEF OF POLICE LAYTON SAFETY DIRECTOR MURPHY LILLIAN P. HOWARD, Chairman, Police and Fire Committee. COMMISSIONER-MAYOR WASHINGTON HOUSE DISTRICT COMMITTEE SENATE DISTRICT COMMITTEE H.R. 16948 Mrs. HOWARD. As President of the Columbia Heights Citizens Association and as President of the Northwest Washington Council of Citizens Associations, we want to go on record endorsing H.R. 16948 which provides for the payment of D.C. Government for clearing away the debris of damaged and destroyed buildings caused by the riots and other civil disorders. As you have pointed out, Mr. Chairman, we realize the D.C. Government could not make this a habit, and since we have heard over the radio and television many times since the riot that if the owners of businesses build again the buildings would be burned down again, I should think we would have to have something in the bill to provide that the D.C. government would pay just once for such lawlessness-perhaps by then it would have learned its lesson of how costly to delay the enforcement of existing laws. The damages that were done, we feel need not have been done. Any one of our leaders should have anticipated this riot. The average citizen on the streets knew that such damage would happen. Our Government should have been prepared for it. We feel very deeply about this. Had our government, Federal and local, been interested in all the people this would not have happened. Either they were ignorant of the events of the past few years and should not have been in their positions, or they knew what was going to happen and cared less; and it could have been both, they failed miserably. Mr. WHITENER. Then your Association approves both of the bills! Mrs. HOWARD. We approve both of the bills; we also believe that we should not have to live by fear of destruction of life and property. We believe in shooting if necessary, shoot first and ask questions later. That is what we believe. We believe we have the finest police department in the nation, barring none. We know that our policemen were not allowed to proceed with enforcement of existing laws. We know that our policemen and the troops were told to "disperse with restraint," thus giving encouragement to the thieves and arsonists. Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Winn. Mr. WINN. You made a statement several-and we appreciate the time that you have spent here at these hearings-that the authorities should have been prepared. We have heard that quite often. But what do you mean by that? We do not have enough policemen in the area all of the time. We certainly cannot have the national guard and the armed forces standing around all the time. How better could it have been done? Mrs. HOWARD. This is a Federal City, Mr. Winn. This is a Federal City, I repeat, and since the Federal leaders are making the laws, they should have anticipated it the minute that King was murdered that they could expect trouble. Anybody who lives in this city should have expected trouble and should have been ready with all the means available, and we certainly have the ways and means. Mr. WINN. I do not disagree with you there, but on the other hand, there have been a lot of members of this Congress who have been expecting trouble from the Poor People's March and so far we have had absolutely no trouble. We just cannot go at it in that way. Mrs. HOWARD. If you wait long enough, you'll have trouble. Mr. WINN. I do not say that we are or that we are not going to have trouble. I just say that a lot of people believe that we are going to have trouble and possibly we will, but so far there has been none. Mrs. HOWARD. I know it is on the radio-you have not been listening to the radio this morning, either; have you? Mr. WINN. No, I have not. I was working. Mrs. HOWARD. As to the permits, I understand that the average organization cannot get a permit in this city to parade. Mr. WINN. We have been informed this week that 85 permits have been issued. This was amazing to us. We were amazed that that many permits had been issued. We also heard the other side, I am sure that they were right, too, that some permits were turned down and not issued. Mrs. HOWARD. Mr. Winn, you have to look very deeply at this whole problem. You see this is not purely a local problem; this is an organized conspiracy. This is really a world organization that we are up against now, but our leaders refuse to see the forest for the trees. Mr. WINN. But your three organizations, they approve of both of these bills? Mrs. HOWARD. The Federation of Citizens Associations approves H.R. 16948; the North Washington Council and the Columbia Heights Citizens Association approve both H.R. 16941 and H.R. 16948. Mr. WINN. Thank you very much. Mr. WHITENER. Thank you very much, Mrs. Howard. The Federation of Citizens Associations has a statement for the record? Mrs. HOWARD. Yes, sir. Mr. WHITENER. If they will file it by Monday, we will have it printed in the record. Mrs. HOWARD. Thank you. Mr. WHITENER. This concludes the list of our witnesses. Unless there are some others that we do not have on the list, we Mr. PARKS. I should like to speak. Mr. WHITENER. Give your name for the record. STATEMENT OF SAMUEL J. PARKS, 1914 7TH STREET, NORTHWEST Mr. PARKS. I should like to speak to some of the questions that have been raised. There were several questions raised by Mr. Winn and yourself, concerning which I think I could give for information as to what happened individually to me. Mr. WHITENER. Would you give your address and your business for the record? Mr. PARKS. My home address or my business address was at 1914 7th Street, Northwest. That is in the block that was destroyed which some of the other witnesses referred to. To go back about six or eight months ago, two officers came into my place and told me that they were from the riot squad and they were checking all of the establishments that had guns, that is, that sold guns, hand guns. And they wanted to know how many hand guns we had, how many rifles, how many shotguns did we have. Mr. WINN. What business are you in? Mr. PARKS. We are jewelers and pawnbrokers. So, I took them down to our basement compartment where the guns are kept, and there were approximately 40 guns, and they made a record of each and everyone of them. I said, "What is the trouble about?" They said, they wanted to know the number because they might have some trouble, so that they could take these guns out and keep them from falling into the hands of the Black Muslims, and the like. So, Friday morning, April 5th, we opened up. That place was built like a fortress. The entire front was enclosed with iron bars that pulled down-impossible to break-and the rest of the building was built equally as strong and protected. We had all sorts of burglar alarms there. ORGANIZED LAWLESSNESS Friday morning, the looters came through-and it was organized, because the first group of them came through and broke the windows. They did not try to get anything. They broke the windows. They were followed by another group. This group, about 25 or 30 or more, they would come right in through the entrance-"Let us take the joint. Well, at 7 o'clock my brother was downstairs and I was upstairs. He took a gun from back of the counter and shot over their heads, so that they flew. We closed the place up. So, we tried to secure the place even better than it was before. We left there at three o'clock. Nobody ever came along to pick up the guns. The guns were there. We left there, not thinking anything would happen to our place the way it was built. A colored man that worked for us-incidentally, he was receiving better than $150 a week, and he was a very efficient person-he came back there later, I think the next day, and he checked the front of the store. Everything was intact. He walked around in the back, in the |