Washington Realtors

Crisp-haired, sharp-featured Congressman Frederick Nicholas Zihlman of Cumberland, Md., onetime glassblower, is called the "Mayor of Washington" because he is chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia. This committee, by its power to control local affairs through legislation, dominates the capital's real estate development. Last week Congressman Zihlman was indicted for using the mails to defraud in a crooked real estate financing scheme. Indicted with the "Mayor" was red-faced Daniel Richard Crissinger, intimate friend and neighbor of President Warren Gamaliel Harding. Both lived in Marion, Ohio, where Mr. Crissinger was president of a small bank. Though a Democrat, he was appointed Comptroller of Currency by President Harding in 1921 and advanced to Governor of the Federal Reserve Board two years later. In 1927 he resigned, as he explained, ''to make some real money."

He is the fifth Harding crony to be indicted (the others were Harry Micajah Daugherty, Albert Bacon Fall, Charles R. Forbes, Thomas Woodnutt Miller). Both Zihlman and Crissinger were directors of the F. H. Smith Co. which has been under heavy Congressional fire for months for its realty transactions. With them were indicted six of the company's officers. The general charge: Through subsidiaries, F. H. Smith Co. would buy title to heavily mortgaged properties, such as the Hamilton Hotel in Washington, on which it would place secondary mortgages. Against these it would issue bonds, which served as collateral for other bonds sold to the public by fraudulent representations. The company was suspiciously noted for its bonds' high interest. In this concern Crissinger and Zihlman were regarded chiefly as "window-dressing."

Returning to the Capitol after posting a $10,000 bond on the criminal charge, Congressman Zihlman was reappointed chairman of his committee, loudly expressed confidence in his vindication.

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