The Washington herald., 1908-04-08
BUDGET HIS THEME
Mr.. Gardner StirS Board of
Trade on District Bill.
TELLS OF COMMITTEE WORK
of subcommittee on APP
preparations Greatly Interests
Members in Recital OF Reasons for
Retrenchment-Sch0O and safety
of Pupils Also Considered.

Deep interest centered, at the April
meeting Of the Washington Board of
Trade last night in the red parlor of the
New Willard, in a thirty-minute address
delivered by Washington Gardner, of
Michigan, of the subcommittee on appro-
priations for the District of Columbia.
Mr.. Gardner spoke upon the work of
his committee in framing the District
bill for the next fiscal year, explaining
some of the reasons which had actuated
him and his associates in pairing down
the estimates and reducing the municipal
expenses to $9,561, 600, when the Commits
sioners had asked something like S1i,-
000000
Representative Gardner told about the
seeming anomaly Of having five men
from different parts of the country pass
upon the amount the District should
spend annually, and said that were Ii not
for one or two mitigating circumstances
he should expect TO see men like the
members Of tho Board of Trade rise and
put down such conditions as exist in this
city.
Mr.. Gardner said that OF the five mem
bers constituting his committee not one
was permanent resident or owned a
dollars worth of property in washington,
get upon these five men deyolved. year by
Year. the duty OF setting forth in law
what the District shall do with its reve-
nue. and how much and for what il should
be expended. What these five men decide
upon. he said, was reported to the COM
mittee Of seventeen. passed upon by them,
reported to- the House, and generally
passed upon By that body without signifi-
cant changes.
Representative Gardner then spoke OF
the special elements which entered into
the problem, making this seeming anon.
ally among free institutions workable and
just and correct. lie said the United
States government pays one-half of the
municipal expenditures. This half he
said. was paid by all the people OF the
United States out Of the National Treas
ury' therefore. there was in this a reason
for the fact that men. from Michigan,
Texas, and other States become. under
the law. the municipal council of the Dis
trict, as far as the appropriation of money
Is concerned.
He Explains the Details.
Representative Gardner spoke at some
length upon the detail Of the appropria-
ton bill. told hos it was framed, men
toned some of the difficulties met ana
overcome, emphasized the fact that poll
tics does not enter into the question con
sidered, and made out fair case for the
justice, fair dealing. and good faith or
the committee toward the District OF Co
lumbia.
IN explaining the reason for rctrench-
mentr Mr., Gardner said most OF the large
Improvements, such as the filtration pIant
sewage removal system. the municipal
building, the Connecticut Avenue Bridge.
Highway Bridge. ana removal of grade
crossings, had been nearly completed. in
carrying on these great improvements
during the past seven years the District
had incurred an unfunded debt of Sl4O00.-
De, one-half OF which had been paid by
the United states, and One-half Of which
was stu owing from the District 10 the
national government. His committee
thought It was time to take a breathing
spell, and pay back a part of this debt
Consequently the appropriation bin as re-
ported and passed by Committee Of the
Whole provides for the payment OF ap-
proximately A,U0003 OF these obligations
during the next fiscal year. He thought
this was wise and right, even though it
has led 20 The cutting down of the expend-
itures to a point where il seemed TO some
a step backward had been takea
Uses Schools to illustrate.
Mn f.awffrrr Of
fair illustration of what the committee
had done Ho said The Commissioners
had asked nearly 5000. 900 for new school
buildings, and that the appropriations
carried about S5SO,O00 for the purpose. He
said that in the current fiscal year the
District was authorized to spend $3.50. coo
and that when the citizens came to CON
slider that ia two years they would add
upward Of Sl,G00,000 worth Of school build
ingS to the present equipment. It could
be seen that good progress was being
made
In speaking Of the safety of the children
IN the schools. Mr. Gardner said there was
no reason for anxiety on the part of any
one. He said there was not a two-story
school building in the city that could not
be emptied in one minute and a half
by means of the fire drills constantly
pracuced in the schools
Washington Well PoIIced.
Mr.. Gardner gave some data to show
that Washington has not only more pc
lieemen. per capita, but pays more money
than any city of its size in the United
States He said that Buffalo has the
largest number Of policemen per capita.
It pays s. 40 per capita for it's policemen.
While Washington pays S3.1S
Mr.. Gardner was asked BY Allen d Al
bert his views upon the separation Of the
expenditures from the cur
rent expenses Of the city, and the pay-
ment OF the former on the installment
plan. Mr.. Gardner said its has always
seemed 10 the committee that to do this
would be an incentive to go too deeplv
into debt and create a funded indebted
ness which would hang over the District
tor untold years, precisely as the present
funded debt had been left as one of the
traditions of the Older form Of govern
ment, and was not yet paid after thirty
years, being still Sl1 1000,000. Mr.. Gardner
thought the present plan the better. and
felt that the present unfunded debt OF the
District would be paid in much less time
John Joy Edison spoke of the effect of
the present plan upon taxation of real
estate. and said that if it was to go ON
1t would amount to virtual confiseation of
some Of the property of the District.
Mr. Gardner said that this had been
one OF the greatest incentives prompting