Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-26
TIE WORK DELAYED
DECISION OF HOUSE COMMITTEES
ON STREET EXTENSIONS.
Burden Of Cost Placed on District
Contention of Commissioners and
Financial Statement.

The decision of the House District COM
| mittce, as announced in The Star the other
day, to the effect that the District of Co
| lumbia shall pay the whole cost of all
street extensions and openings will oper-
i ate, 1t is stated, to further defer improve
| Inents in the District of the character in
dictated. For more than two. years past
since the extension of 18th street was au-
thorized-it is learned, no large or small
extensions of streets have been made in
the District, the action of Congress in re-
quirIng the District to bear the whole ex-
Tense of extending 10th street acting as an
effective bar to further improvements in
the way of extending or opening new thor
oughfares
In speaking of the matter to a reporter
for The Star today Commissioner Macfar-
land stated that the Commissioners will
stand firm in their position with regard to
the disposition of the expense incurred in
the opening and extending of streets and
that they will protest to the end against
the proposition that the District be re-
CURED to bear the entire burden of ex-
pense in these permanent improvements
Contention of the Commissioners.
Previous to the passage of the bill au-
thorizing the extension of 10th street, the
Commissioners commended before the con-
gressional committees that the cost of that
improvement ought properly to be borne
| entirely by the United States, the street
is to be a national boulevard, and is con-
Sidered matter to be cared for
tirely by the general government. Instead
of requiring the general government to pay
the cost of the extension, however, Con-
gress placed the whole burden of the ex-
pense incurred in the extension of that
street upon the District of Columbia.
In their reports on all street-extension or
strset-opening bills during the past year the
Commissioners have either recommended
that the improvement be made on the half
and-half basis with reference to the Dis
trct and to the United States. or else that
the improvement be deferred until some
future time. Only in cases of extensions
involving but small cost have the Commits
, sioners even recommended this year any
bills for that purpose. They have suggest
ed that this class of improvement should
be deferred until some more satisfactory
arrangement of the Districts finances has
been made
Financial Showing.
In financial statement of the District
of Columbia. prepared by the District
auditor and just recently printed as a
public document at the request of Senator
NewlandS, are found some interesting fig
ures relative to the burden imposed upon
the District in the matter of street extern
sions, the whole cost of which has been
borne by the District. The amount paid
on account OF extension of streets and ave-
nues, including payments of awards Tor
damages, expenses of condemnation, adj
vertising and preparation of plans, is stated
at So, 1873, 309.21. The assessments for bene-
fits on account of street and avenue extern
sions is stated at 5000, 7O4.44. and of this
amount $134. $50 was annulled by order of
the court in the matter of the extension of
18th street, leaving the total assessments
for benefits on account of street extensions,
Sage "A
Eliminating the amounts assessed against
abutting property benefits. the amount
the District has been obliged to pay on
account of street extensions is roughly es-
timated at about 100000. On the half
and half basis of settlement for these i'm
provements, as can be readily seen, the
District would have been obliged to pay
hut $500, 600, which would have left $780,
coo in the District revenues over against
which the United States would have been
required to place equal sum. These
two amounts would have given the District
over a million and half dollars for I'M
provements and current expenses, improve
rnents in the municipal service, or such
other improvements might be deemed
necessary and advisable.
With that amount on hand. the high
PRESSURE water service could have been
established tw:.c over there would have
been plenty Of money for the erection OF
a municipal hospital tuberculosis depart
,nent many improvements in the District
service could have been made and various
ether projects requiring the expenditure
of greater OF less amounts could have been
undertaken.