Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-12
A STUBBORN FIGHT
19IIs
History Of thse Conference on the
District Bill.
A0W TEE TUNNEL ITEM Was LOST
No Compromise Was the Motto
Of the House.
HOPE FOR NEXT YEAR

It was announced in the House Wednes-
| day that the District appropriation bill
which became law yesterday carried the
largest amount Of money appropriated for
| such measure for several years. Accord
| ing to table submitted by Chairman Cam
non Of the House committee on appropria-
| lions in his speech reviewing the session,
| delivered Wednesday, the estimates for the
| District submitted at the beginning of the
| ession aggregated $7,706. 1922 January
| 30 the appropriations committee reported
tie bill to the House carrying a total of
! $5.417.9GO.39. April the House passed the
| till having increased the appropriation
just $1,000. May the Senate committee
on aIpropria tions reported the bill to the
Senate carrying $6,963, 5aS.S6 May - the
bill passed the Senate carrying $7,2S5, 139 AZ.
Thus there was q difference in the bill as
| 1t passed the House and as it passed the
Senate of $1,St6. 1903 the bill then going
| into conference to adjust this difference.
In the conference, as stated by Mr.. Circuit.
| the Ser ate yielded 81. $50 056.94, and the
House yielded s4S6, 122.U0. leaving the ag-
| gregate of appropriations for the fiscal
year of 1S96-N, $5.N5. CS2.4S. as against
| total in the current appropriation bill of
s. 745, 443.2 a net increase in favor Of next
year of 1886;
The Last to be Approved.
| The District bill this year enjoys the
somewhat question able distinction of hav
| ing been the last of the regular budgets to
| receive the presidential approval. This
was undoubtedly caused by the unfortu-
rate course Of the bill during its early
stages 1t was one of the first to be
ported to the House. and the people of the
| District were corgratulating themselves
upon the fact for 1T is the rule that the
early bills fare better than do the later
ores. when the emergencies caused by the
closing of the session often result in COM
promises and trades that are not wholly
| satisfactory to the beneficiaries under the
| hills.
AS is doubtless well remembered, the
District bill reached the House when that
BODY was In a radical attitude toward
| all sectaran questions. and the charitable
| schedule of the measure WAS made the
object of attack by certain Representa-
| tives. with the result that after being
| amended in the most extreme manner 1t
| was actually defeated the final vote
| and recommitted with the instructions
| to the committee on appropriations to
| readjust the charitable schedule to meet
| the very evident wishes Of a large ma
jority of the House opposed to direct and
| specific appropriations for charities and
| reformatory Institutions connected in any
| way with churches or religious bodies
A Long Delay.
long time, being considerably more than
| two months before 1t was finally passed.
| after it had been reported the first time.
| 1t then went to the Senate, where, is
| the rule with such matters, an effort was
| made to more closely conform the bill to
the estimates OF the District Commission
| ers, In order to make the appropriation
/ meet the necessities of the local govern
| ment far as possible. As indicated by
| Chairman Cannon's figures, this was par
| TALLY accomplished. and this liberal move
! ment was continued in the Senate itself,
so that the conferees on the BILL Senator's
Teller. Allison and Cookrell and Repre-
sentatves sssrout: Pitney and Dockery.
| reccnciling Tie difference of nearly $1,000
600 In the totals Of the bill as passed by
| the House and by the Senate.
| The bill lost some of its most important
features in conference. One of these
| was the provision for the completion of
the aqueduct tunnel. That item was
| stricken out in conference after enc of
| the most stubborn and prolonged fights
| ever waged in a conference committee.
| The story of that conference will doubt
| less never be fully told but The Star is
| able today to give outline of the gen.
eral manner in which 1t was conducted
| as throwing light upon the extreme diff
| 1cultes that confronted the Senate con-
| ferees. whose liberal intentions toward
| the District were practically thwarted by
the refusal of The House conferees to
| yield.
The Act of 1873.
This conference above all others empha-
| sized the fact that the members of the
| House have fallen into the habit OF re-
| garding the District under the operations
| of the organic act of 1878 being an ar
nual applicant fcr aims from the national
! treasury. The fifty per cent clause is oc-
| casionally antagonized by members Of the
| House. but. fortunately. there is a nor
| NAL majority always to hand to defeat any
| movement toward repeal of that pro-
| vision of law. On the Senate side it is
different. There the act Of 1875 is looked
| upon as an equitable arrangement neces-
| sary and economical 1t was really found
| ed upon report made in 1874 by Mr.. AL
| lison, chairman Of the committee on ap-
propriations, then serving his second year
| in the Senate. and to this day Mr.. Allison
| looks upon it as entitled to the most pro-
| found regard, and he resists any effort to
| ignore 1t or to give 1t practical repeal in
| any instance.
| 1t is thought that perhaps one of the
| causes leading to the difference in the at
titudes CT the members Of the House and Of
| the Senate toward the District is the great
| er frequency OF the changes in the House
| among those who have direct dealings with
| the local appropriations, thus giving rise
| to constant shifting Of individual opin-
ions. whereas in the Senate the greater
| fixity of personnel tends to the other direc-
| ton.
| An Attitude of AntagOnfxm.
| Whatever the cause may be the fact is
| that the House conferees this year went
| to the Senate on the assumption that the
Dill had been extravagantly padded, and
| that many Of the items added by the up
per house were wholly unnecessary. The
conference opened with the declaration
| that under no circumstances would the
House agree to the amendment of the Sen
! ate. numbered 1O5, providing for the COM
| pletion Of the aqueduct tunnel and ap-
| prcpriating $780, 1893 out of the surplus
| general revenues Of the District, in addi-
| ton to an equal amount being the balance
| remaining unexpended from former ap-
| preparation act This ultimatum was adj
| hered to at every stage of the conference.
| The House cohferees gave as their reason
| fer objecting to the amendment that they
| had not officially Investigated the project.
| This was metz with statement that the
| amendment was based upon report made
| by the Secretary Of War and the chief of
| engineers, accompanied by the findings of
| an expert board of engineers especially Or
| dered by Congress. at the last session to
| make a survey. This document had been
| presented to both houses, but had not been
taken up by the House of Representatives.
| although 1t was filed early in the session.
| The Senate conferees urged that the Sem
ate had carefully investigated the project
| through the District and appropriations
committees, and that the appropriation
| contained in the amendment represented
| an absolute neceSsity and involved no