Evening star., 1902-02-15

| vermont, MISSISSIPPI, NOrtn bdhotd, Soulii
| Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming, which cast
| fourteen votes in the Senate and eighteen
| In the House The Washingtonian pays into
the fund from which are drawn the salaries
of the South Dakotans senators and rep
resentatves nearly six times as much as
the South Dakotan; toward the salary or
the Kansas congressman five times as much
as the Kansan; for the Texan congressman,
five times much as the Texan: for the
| Vermont congressman, over ten times as
| much as the Vermonter for the congress
| man from South Carolina or Arkansas,
| twelve times much the Arkansan or
South Carolinian, and for the Mississippi
| congressman 100 times as much as the Mis-
| sissippian.
National Beneflciaries.
| Neither in the past nor present, neither
| In respect to money nor land, has the Dis
| trict of Columbia been a notable national
| beneficiary, even as compared with the
! states Of the west, in which mistaken
impression to this effect largely prevails
| The owners Of the soil Of Washington
were here before the government came, be-
/! fore the nation and government were even
| created. They gave Of their own property
| to the government that the nation might
| practically own and exclusively control q
national city. They donated to the nation
all but small fraction Of the area of
| Washington.
The greater part of the soil Of most Of
| the western states was, on the other hand.
at first the territory Of the nation, acquired
| By purchase conquest or treaty, including
| treaties with the Indians. and passed by
! gift to the individual settlers under the
homestead and timber culture laws and by
| nominal sale, but actual gift under the pre-
emptiOn laws. The nation wisely donated
land to the people who would live upon it
| and cultivate 1t. Later, when these COM
| munities of settlers became states. the ma
! tioE gave back to them the proceeds OF the
| sales under the pre-emption law In the
! shane of grants of for educational
purposes and added thereto vast land
grants direct, including over 1O0OOO0O
| of acres for schools and colleges.
! Thus in the case OF Washington, pr1-
! vate individuals were the donors and the
nation was the beneficiary; in the case OF
mCst of the western states the nation was
| the donor and the individuals and commu-
mites the beneficiaries.'
Another serious contention which Mr..
| Noyes makes is that while the nation up to
| 1875 eXacted an excessive and oppressive
contribution from the local taxpayers to-
ward the upbuilding of the capital, and
| since that date has required all that could
| be equitably demanded, 1t has failed to
| carry out fully it's own obligations toward
| the capital having shamefully neglected
! these obligations for three-fourths OF
century and not offering now to reimburse
| payments made on it's account during the
| season of neglect.
| Upon this division of the subject he says:
Intent Of the Government.
THE general government, by the fact OF
planning a magnificent capital. covering
| large area and characterized by broad
streets, avenues and reservations to an ex-
tent unsuitable for self-supporting COM
mercial city, and by founding this capital
in a place comparatively uninhabited, as
we'll as by the terms of the bargain with the
! owners of the soil, and by the declarations
Of it's representatives at the founding Of
the city and afterward, showed an inten-
ton to build up a national city at the ma
/ tionS expense on a grand scale, irreSpec-
! tive of the future population or the DIS
| trict. In connection with the gift to 1t OF
/ seventy per cent of the soil in Washington,
/ In order to sell lots carved from this gift,
the nation promised that Washington
| should be the permanent seat OF govern
| ment, and pretended that this permanent
! capital would be improved at national ex-
! pense without regard to the scanty popu-
| lation that would be at first attracted to
| it. Having secured this magnificent dona-
| tion and pOcketed the proceeds from the
sale of lots, the nation utterly failed to
| meet it's promises. 1t frequently threatened
| to remove the capital. which meant, of
course, the death OF washington: II prac- @
| tically abandoned the work of street i'm
provement and capital making TO the scanty
resident population.
Government Shifts Burden.
| For more than thirty years. during
| which period 100000 had been realized
| from the sale Of lots pledged for the bene-
| fit OF improvements, its expenditures upon
| streets and avenues, which were Its eX-
| elusive property, were less than 500 per
| year and it's annual appropriations since
| that time until recent period in the city
| history have been widely varying in amount
| and at the best inadequate. In 1873 the
| government, which had in the beginning
| implicitly undertaken to meet all the ex-
nf nit making then
| that burden in the main upon private cltl-
| zens, decided that justice required 1t 10
| pay one-half OF the Districts expenses.
! The nation has now returned half way
| to the original and appropriate idea of the
/ federal city. This guardian. who for three
| fourths OF a century was unfalthful to his
trust, now, without making the slightest
/ restitution for the wrongs of the past,
| shares the expenses of the ward whom he
/ eauitaby bound himself in the beginning
/ to support, and some men call 1T charity!
! The people Of the District are not subject
! to this or any other reproach upon their
4 public spirit, so far as their relations to
the nation are concerned. They have
rsked life and shed blood in every national
war They furnished the first volunteers
and supplied more troops in excess of their
| quota In the civil struggle than any state
| except one. In the recent war with Spain
they gave similar evidence Of prompt and
| patriotic energy, their fine regiment of vol
unteers far exceeding their quota in num-
| bers and equaling in discipline and SOL
| dierly efficiency the best furnished by any
| state of the Union. They have paid their
proportion Of every national tax, direct and
| Indirect. They have contributed in proper
| ton to population far more than any other
| American community for national pur-
poses. They gave to the nation the great
| er part of the soil Of Washington, an ac-
| QUESTION pronounced by Jefferson really
| noble
Citizens Did the Work.
"They thus supplied a fund from which
most Of the original public buildings were
| erected. Those that since then have been
constructed at national expense offset
| by attractive homes aggregating millions
Of dollars in value with which they have
adorned the city and swelled its taxable
property. Nearly all the work of street
| Improvement and capital making which
| for three-fourths Of a century was done
| was done by them From 1870 to 1878, ac-
cording to the report Of a Secretary Of the
Treasury, they expended $14 600 600 more
than the United States in this the nations
task, in addition to $25,OOO,O0O spent on To-
cal government. schools and for other
municipal purposes. Under this burden
they worked themselves into virtual bank
ruptcy In 1885, and SO in recreating the city
after 1870 the main expense of the achieve