Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-23
A Square Deal for the District.

The District bill goes from the House in
a form which calls for the serious consid-
Grafton of the Senate appropriations COM
mittee and the full Senate. 1t Is small
budget and an inequitable one. 1t does
not fully meet the current needs OF the
municipal government and it continues the
unfair principle of requiring the District 10
pay virtually on a cash basis for all the
great permanent works now under way.
1t should be reframed on principle OF
good business administration, so that the
District may have the advantage of It's
full tax revenue without being required
TO repay the federal advances at an ex-
brilliant rate of principal reduction.
The House appropriations committee re-
fused to incorporate in the bill the para
graph proposed by Commissioner Macfar-
land when he was examined at length on
the estimates That paragraph provided
that all the advances heretofore made by
the United States to the District and still
unpaid should be Jumped as single In
debtedness at the beginning of the next
fiscal year and refunded, principal and in
terest. by payments by the District cover
Ing fifteen years. There is no doubt what
ever of the ability of the District thus to
repay the amounts loaned by the United
States In that period and meanwhile to
contribute its share of the cost of keeping
the District up to proper scale of current
maintenance.
In no other way can the District be
financed as a municipality with results
commensurate to its status as the seat OF
government. 1t can never quite catch up
on its current needs. From year to year
there will be Accommodations of postponed
Ii - ,l1rt on-o..
financed as extraordinary Improvements or
wholesale changes and making great in
roads In the revenues. And meanwhile
large works such as the high-pressure fire
service, costing the better part of million,
are classed negligible items. to be set
aside until the District has cleared itself.
That day never quite comes. 1t can not
come until the capital Is placed where 1t
should be. on a par with other municipali-
ties as regards its provisions for equip
ment: that is to say. on the basis of long
term payments for permanent works.
If the Senate will recast this bill upon
the lines laid down in Commissioner Mac
farland's proposed amendment the budget
will be in a fair way to satisfactory enact
ment for the first time in some years. Such
action would not. of course. insure
agreement by the House, but 1t would at
least offer the opportunity for a fight by
the Districts friends In conference for the
right sort of appropriation BILL The two
houses would then be brought to an issue
on the point of maintaining the federal
District in the spirit of the organic act and
on the basis of American municipal admin
istration 1t would be difficult for the
House to justify its opposition to such
measure. No argument of so-called econ
omy would apply. There is no economy In
postponing necessary improvements There
is no justice in forcing an already heavily
tax-laden community to pay as 1t goes for
public works which are elsewhere financed
through a term of years extending beyond
the period of construction.