National Republican., 1883-07-19

along with its street improvements, but in
| the EASTERN section, whenever q citizen desires
TO build although the building regulations
| made by the commissioners requires him n
connect his house with sewer, still they
| have pcrsistcntly refused to prUvidJ
sewers TO connect with, and rcquiro in
dividuals to build them at their own expense,
/ their excuse being that there Is no apprOpria-
tiOn simply because they had neglected tu Ill
| cudo them in their estimates and when, as
| in the present season, money Is used FOR that
purpose, nearly all of it Is expended in the
| western srCtion MS shown by the recent al-
/ Nertlsumnnt for bids"
Many individual cases arc cited in which
| the injustice perpctrated ON property owners
/ is set forth.
Concerning the water service, the com
| nittCt say
| As all know, tho residents oil the high
| grounds cast of he capitol have suffered mOrg
thau all others for want Of water. SO serious
has been the trouble from that source that
many persons have lcft the hill In cgnsc-
| duenco, as stated by Sunator Beck III the Sen.
| ate ~.
Notwithstanding, instead of Diakipg any
| effort to relieve them, your predecessors cS-
| pended u large snlii.-rcported at over $4,000
to build a standpipe for the special benefit
of % section OF the northwest and which en-
tails an annual expense of about $4,000.
When building it they asserted that 10 was to
supply Capitol hill. .tY'
At the urgent request Of tho citizoiis of the
Hill, congress gave them the $4,000 asked
for that purpose, aud ndded thereto these
words: And the money so advanced shall
be expended to improve the water supply OH
Capitol hill"
Notwithstanding this positive direction by
congress, that money was never used for any
such purpose. Instead of connecting the
stnndpipe with the hill, they reduced our
inch pipe, and running It from Massachusetts
avenue down Fourth and Four-and-a.half
streets to the low grounds southwest of the
botanical garden. That was paid out of the for
water fund. Not content with that, they
spent S04T2S of that appropriation to assist
in the purchase of q steam pump, &C., for the
use of private citizen, to pump water out Of
our mains (although not so stated, and thus
further lessen the general supply oil the Hill.
The balance Of the $4,000 they neglected TO
use, and ii went back into the treasury.
1t is charged that unjust discrimination
has also been made in the number of lamp
posts; also that the permit fund has been
grossly misused, nearly all of it going to the
northwest.
Inequality Of taxation is also charged, and
and as the committee says: "Thus, while
this favored section (thc nOrthwest) pays
taxes at but littlu over one fourth its actual
value, our property pays taxes fourth more
| Than its value, thus making us pay nearly
four times as much, in proportion TO the
value of our property, as they dol And when
you add to this the fact that nearly all the
taxes we pay are expended in that section,
and that, too largely for the benefit of real
estate rings and nonresident speculators. it
would seem that injustice could hardly go
further"
After illustrating the ilegality of the pol
icy that has been pursued toward East Wash
| n utn ha nj ttpa
plant with the following broadside aimed at
| the commissioners
In order moro fully to carry out this policy
of discrimination in favor of the western
section, the commissioners even went so far
as to cxpend money there in plain, open vio-
lation of the law, by improving streets not in
cluded in their estimates, and for which no
appropriation had been made. At the same
time, for years, they refused to eXpend the
money that had bcon appropriated in accord
ance with their own estimates on streets that
would have benefited tho eastern section,
To relieve them of this illegal action, they
secured the insertion in the appropriation
bill for 1883 of disguised provision, which
relieves them of the responsibility of their
action in that respect to the amount of $780,
600; and an application is now being cner-
| gctically pressed before the comptroller, by
one of the ex-commissioners, for relief from
the responsibility of an additional $4,000
mlsapplleu Dy uhcm III tne same way, anu
which the attorney general has just decided
cannot be done.
Whether this discrimination has been due
to the taot, as alleged by some of the senators,
that the district officers have all been ap-
pointed from the favored section, you can
judge rs well as we; but if you will compare
the following list of officers and their locali
ties with the map showing where the great
bulk Of the improvements have been made,
you will find most striking coincidence
side in that section should, and we trust will,
render you all the more careful to see that
full justice be done that section, which has
not, and never has had any representative on
your board.
H. L. PAINE, 204 A street southeast.
JOHN FARNswoRTTI, so b street northeast.
w. c. DODGE, 1l6 B street northeast
sc. CLARKE, sol Stanton Place northeast