Evening star., 1901-12-14
Scaling the Estimafes.

The subcommittee on the District Of the
House appropriations committee has taken
an unusual course in regard TO the Tram
ing of the District bill. Calling upon the
Commissioners to reduce their estimates
to the point Of s.5Oo.OoO noted by the Sec
rotary OF the Treasury as the limit OF the
Districts resources for the coming fiscal
year the subcommittee accepts the Secre-
tary's formal recommendation as binding
urOn Congress. In point Of fact Secretary
Gage has this year reverted to q course
followed by his predecessors In the past
without materially affecting the course OF
Congress Year after year, up to Few
sessions ago. Secretaries Of the Treasury
reiterated their perfunctory suggestion that
the Districts budget be kept down to the
Level of the current year. This palpably
absurd proposition was steadfastly ignored
by Congress, which fully appreciated the i'm
possibility of fitting the growing District
youth with last years garments. In conse-
Quence of this course the successive bills
have invariably been larger than those i'm
snediately preceding.
During the past few years the Secretary
Of the Treasury has contented himself with
passing the estimates on to Congress with
out comment. leaving the committees TO
frame the bills according to their own lights
and the Districts needs and revenues This
year the situation was somewhat excep-
ticnal. Accompanying the submission OF
the largest estimates ever prepared, In
keeping with the Districts absolute re-
uuirernents was a showing of indebted
ness to the government for moneys ad-
yarced and further prospective indebted
ness for extraordinary expenditures un-
Justly placed exclusively upon the Dis
trict Secretary Gage chose to consider
this condition as prohibitive of the usual
treatment of the District-which Is not
necessarily the case. The House subcom-
rnittee has chosen, on it's part, to regard
the Secretary's recommendation as bind
irg-which 1t Is not.
In this situation there is only one thing
for the Commissioners to do, II the House
committee persists in -hus considering the
Secretary's recomme dation binding.
They must accept the suggestion Of reduc-
tion and bring down to the s7,5Oo.Oeo limit
the items for current expenses, putting
aside for separate treatment all other items,
such as those for the payment of street ex-
tensions and for the Districts share Of the
steam railroad improvements. There will
be ordinary revenue enough to care for the
current cost of the District government.
with the necessary increases. 1t will then
be incumbent upon Congress to adopt some
means Of providing for these other demands
upon the Districts resources. in part un-
justly imposed and in other part represent
ing extraordinary expenditures which
should not be met by the taxpayers of to-
day, but which benehting posterity should
be paid by the taxpayers of the future.
The choice lies between a continuation Of
the system Of direct loans through advances
by the government to the District and a
bond issue
Under no circumstances should the Com
nissioners consent to scale the total esti-
mates horizontally down to the $500, 900
level. The extraordinary charges cannot
be included in such a scaling process, being
fixed by the law. Thus the heaviest burden
of the reduction would fall upon the current
expenses, which are OF the most vital i'm
portance in maintaining the welfare Of the
District. II Secretary Gage thinks that the
District revenues will equal only 50, ,750,OoO
during the next year, let Congress, In the
words of the subcommittee of the House,
follow the strict terms Of the organic act
and apply this sum and an equal sum from
the federal treasury to the current needs
Of the capital. Then let It devise other
means of defraying the extraordinary ex-
penses, including those which it has unwiss-
1y and without warrant in law placed upon
the District
There Is no need to increase District tax
alton II Is only recently that Congress
has ceased to permit surplus of unex-
pended District taxes to form each year,
and this surplus was dissipated and a de-
felt substituted, not to meet the increas-
Ing current needs Of the District, but In
order that the taxpayers of Washington
oferf,+ ~, r-fol = ,i-f&
gGnic act be compelled to pay the entire
cost of the extension of Washington streets
on national lines. II Congress will ar
range for long-term low-interest loan to
meet what Is Justly exacted from the Dis
trict Of these extraordinary expenses and
will each year duplicate the Districts tax
revenues under existing laws to meet cur
rent needs, there will be no check upon
the capitals development and prosperity.
The man with a cellar full of fuel NAV
CDmDfaip hat he 10