Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-22
School Estimates and Appropriations.

School Estimates and Appropriations.
The act of Congress approved June H.
1878. generally known as the organic
act" providing permanent form OF
government for the District of Column
bia.' thus states the duties of the Com
nissioners in the matter of estimating
the annual expenses of the District:
serbe said Commissioners shall submit
~ the Secretary of the Treasury for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1879. and
annually thereafter, for his examination
and approval. statement showlns In
detail the work proposed to be under
taken by them during the fiscal year next
ensuing and the estimated cost thereon:
Also the cost of constructing. repair
ing and maintaining all bridges author
lied by law across the Potomac river
within the District of Columbia. and also
all other streams iii said District;
THE cost of maintaining all public In
situations Of charity, reformator1es ana
prisons belonging 10 or controlled wholly
or i'm part by the District of Columbia.
and which are now ny law supported
wholly or in part by the United states
or District Of Columbia;
And also the expenses of the Wash
tneton adueduct and its appurtenanceS;
and also an itemiZed statement and
estimate of the amount necessary 10 de-
fray the expenses of the government OF
the District of Columbia for the next
fiscal year
Under this provision the Commissioners
have ever since submitted to Congress.
through the Secretary of the Treasury,
their estimates of the cost of running
the District government for the next
fiscal year. including the police force, the
fire department. the health department,
the public schools and all other branches
of the municipal organization. There has
never been a question Of the proprlety
OF including in these estimates the pros
pective cost of the public educational
system. In fact, the schools were BY
the act of 1878 definitely coupled with
the police and fire departments, in the
second paragraph of the third section.
giving. in the following language, spe-
cifc authority to the Commissioners to
disburse the Districts revenues for the
municipal purposes:
And the Commissioners of the District
Of Columbia shall have power, subject to
the limitations and provisions herein con-
tanned. to apply the taxes or other reve-
nues of said District to the payment OF
current expenses thereof, TO the support
of the public schools, the fire department
and the police etc
Thus it was clearly contemplated by
the trainers of the organic act that the
schools should be regarded as part of the
District governments equipment, and de-
pendent for support upon the money
placed at the disposal of the Commits
sioners by appropriation, and should be
included in the estimates There is no
mistaking the conclusion that in 1878
Congress intended to regard the schools
definitely as subject to the halfand-half
provision carried by the following clause
of section 3:
ITO the extent to which Congress shall
approve of said estimates, Congress snail
appropriate the amount of ID per centum
thereof; and the remaining 30 per centum
Of such approved estimates shall be lev
led and assessed upon the taxable prop
erty and privileges in said District other
than the property of the United states
and of the District of Columbia
The plain meaning of this language is
that Congress undertook by this act to
base the permanent form of govern
ment for the District of Columbia upon
a guarantee that the United States should
pay half of all the expenses of the Dis
trict. leaving the District to provide the
remainder by taxation. 1t is a common
form Of speech TO state that the United
States pays half the Districts expenses.
Quite as true would it be 10 say that the
District pays half the cost of its own
government. Between these two modes
OF statement lies difference noticeable
in terms of occasional attractions of the
pledge given in 1878. always to the dis
advantage of the District and never, by
any chance, to the disadvantage of the
United States.
IT. by an appropriation act the statute
Of 1873 can be amended. without specific
legislation, so as TO place the school sys-
tenn exclusively TO the charge of the
Districts tax revenues, 1t is possible
without ever changing a word of the
organic act, to draw another and another
Of the branches of the municipal admin
istration away from the half-and-half
basis until there remains nothing of the
original agreement but the provision
which vests the power TO appoint the
local administrators in the President
II Congress were now by separate act
Of legislation to amend the act of 1878
by excluding the schools from the scope
of the estimates TO be submitted by the
Commissioners. through the Secretary of
the Treasury to Congress, and from the
half-and-half arrangement. there could
he no question of the legal righteousness
OF such a segregation. The question
would even then. however. remain wheth-
er Congress could equitably dictate the
methods of appropriating the District
revenues. raised exclusively from taxa
ton without any local voice in the mat
ter whatever.
Amendment of the organic act by indi-
rection. by means OF appropriation bills
today menaces the District more acutely
than ever before. Protestations of re-
gard for the act accompanied by provisos
in the money bills requiring the District
to pay all the costs of this or that
branch OF the municipal government are
not TO be accepted sincere indications
of a fair spirit toward the District in
Congress.