The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-07-15

w ASHINGtpNI July 4O'-LOpeCldI W
THE SALT LAKE HERALD In the six
ty-two millions Of people supposed to
be within the borders of this land it is
safe to saE that an overwhelming ma
jority knows nothing of the relations. or
rather the lack of relationship which
exists be waen the citizen and the gov
erning power in
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
How much the people residing here
have done for themselves and for the
government is, for the most part,
buried history, but [ will, endeavor to
bring little of it to the surface. Here
there is no suffrage and successive ad-
minist-ations have declared that gov
ment of the people, for the people ard
by the people is failure so far as the
national capital is concerned. The
citizens donated to the United States
fve-sevenths of all the lands in the city
Of Washington. For streets and ave-
nues 81 per cent. of the entire area, CT
1904 acres. For reservations, 541 acres.
One-half of all the city lots. ,5O8 acres
The lots being given to help
erect the public buildings (for
which Congress made no appropriation
when it located the capital. July 16,
179O and to open and improve the
str cts. Up 20 1885 the citizens Q3 900
white and : 900 colored, the latter
nearly all slaves had expended for
street improvement principally aroun
the public buildings, $430,000 while the
United States paid ont for that same
purpose but 500 00n. From 1870 to
1878 The United Sta es had expended
(aside from public buildlngs) less than
Sc 100000 while the citizens had spent
$50 100000 besides SIS 900, 900 on schools
and for local government. From 1879
to 1887, the citizens have invested in
new buildings the sum of $50, 1000, 600.
To aid in carrying on the war of 1912,
the citizens paid direct tax OF $4,000
and raised voluntary fund of S. coo
and gave it to the President to defend
the Capital. They fitted up building
for the use of Congress when the CAP
itol was burned and then rendered to
Congress a loan Of $5O0,0OO for the
erection of new public buildings, which
was accepted. The Districts ass S.
ment of direct tax during the late war
was $50 ,0G0, and no portion of it was
ever refunded. Volunteers from Wash
ing ton to the war of 1912 and the Mexi-
can war were very numerous, and in
The rebellion the District furnished to
the Union army its full quota and 1917
per cent. over, only one State contrib
uting, according to its population, more
men than this. The first volunteers
that rallied to the flag in 1861 W re resi-
dents of the District. The internal
revenue tax paid by the District
amounts to $6,454, 907.O3. During the
past year it was twice as much as any
of the Territories except Dakota, and
more than either Alabama. Arkansas,
Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, South Car
DINA or Vermont.
How has the District been treated as
compared with the States? The United
States has given 10 the States $2S 900 900
in money; 100000 acres of public
lands for schools, and l55 900 900 acres
for railroads: besides all the swamp
and overhowed lands. The District
never received a dollar or an acre of |
land. Half the property III the District |
belon IS to the United States and it is |
not taxable, yet prior to 1878 the GOV |
never contributed a cent |
toward local government or schools. |
For seventy years the citizens governed |
themselves and all that time the city |
debt only amounted to So los ,067.S In |
less than six years under the present |
form of government the officers have |
succeeded in making the indebtedness |
S25, 100000. The interest and sinking |
fund now require an annual payment |
of about 81 100000 or nearly one-third |
of the entire revenue. and this ex-
penditure is annually met by Con-
gressional appropriation just large |
enough to cover The debt created by |
these officers.
The citizens have absolutely no voice |
in their own government, not even |
being allowed to elect school trustees. |
The only government consists of three |
commissioners, two of them appointed |
by the President and confirmed by the |
Senate, while the third is military off,
Ger detailed for the purpose by the Pres
ident. These commissioners enact all |
the municipal laws, police regulations,
ETC., and change them as they please |
without consulting anyone outside of |
the triumvirate. They appoint a I local |
officers, school lr lstees, ETC., and make |
up the estimates for the expenditure OF
the entire District revenues as and
where the please. The cry is once more
beginning to go up. of Home rule for
the District OF Colum bia.'
ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE YEARS OLD
Does anyone who hears thata human
being has just died at such an advanced
age realize that it means that the long
lived individual must have ben
born in the same year which |
gave birth to these United States as +
nation2 Many people place but little
credence in the stories of old age told |
BY some of the colored residents of this |
city, and insist that these modern Me |
thuselahs are possessed of imagina |
tons that are older, by several years
than their physical frames. One Sun
day afternt on there was borne from a
IL G-1 l. O..