The Washington herald., 1912-12-20
PRESIDENT URGES
UTILITIES BOARD
FOR DISTRICT


Continued from Page One.
kind, which have always been abandoned
as unsatisfactory.
| THE truth is this is a city governed
by popular body, tO-wlt, the Congress
OF the United States, selected from the
people of the United States, who was
own Washington.
The people who come here to live
do so with the knowledge Of the origin
of the city and the restriction, and there
fore voluntarily give up the privilege Of
living in a municipality governed by pop
ular vote. Washington Is SO uniqIe IN
its own and in its use for housing and
!ocalizing the sovereignty of the nation
| that the people who live here must re-
gard its peculiar character and must be
content TO subject themselves to the con-
| troll of a body selected by all the people
Of the nation
| Il agree that there are certain inCon-
! viniences growing out of the government
| of a city by a national legislature like
Congress and it would perhaps be possl-
! BILE to lessen these by the delegation by
| Congress to the District Commissioners
| of greater legislative power for the enact
ment of local laws than they now possess,
especially those OF a police character.
|
The President also makes the proposal
that the Arlington estate. Fort Myer. and
the Palisades of the Potomac. on the
! land which was retroceded to Virginia,
should be purchased. Il am sure from
| information which | have that at COM
paratively small expense this land can be
acquired by purchase and the jurisdiction
Of the State of Virginia over this land
I T., bA ought
| done
! In commenting on the plans for the
| Identification of Washington. President
| Taft makes a yelled reference to the par
simony Of the National Congress in deal
ing with the Nations Capital
! Every loyal American has personal
| pride in the beauty of Washington and in
! its development and growth. There Is
no one with a proper appreciation of our
! Capital City who would favor a mig
! gardIy policy in respect to expenditures
! from the National Treasury to add to
| the attraCtivCness of this city. which be
| longs to every citizen Of the entire Coun-
/ try. and which no citizen visits without
Il sense Of pride Of ownership.
/ We have had restored by Com
! mission OF Fine Arts. a the instance
! Of a committee of the Senate. tn" orig
| inal plan OF the French engineer I'm
! FAINT for the city Of Washington. and
| we know with certainty the course which
| the improvement Of Washington should
/ take. Why should there he delay an
making this improvement in so far a.
! it involves the extension OF tn" park
ing system and the construction Of
! greatly needed public buildings?
Appropriations Arc Needed.
! appropriate buildings for the State
, Department. the Department Of Justice
md tn. Department Of Commerc" and
| Labor have been projected. plans have
been approved. and nothing is wanting
/ hut the appropriations for the beginning
and completion Of the structures. a hall
OF archives is also badly needed. but
| nothing has been done toward its CON
/ struCtion. although the land for il has
! long been bought and paid for. Plans
! have bee -,ade for the union Of POtO-
! mac Park with the valley Of Rock Creek
and Rock Creek Park. and the necessity
| for the connection between the Soldiers
! Home and Rock Creek Park calls for no
| comment.
81 again ask why there should be de-
lay in carrying out these plans? We
| have the money in the Treasury, the
plans are national in their scope. and
! the Improvement should he treated as
national project. The plan will find a
! hearty approval throughout the Coun-
| try"
Commenting on the school sytem in the
! District. President Taft says:
| "Whil" t. school system OF Washing
/ ton peTh- IS might be bettered in the
/ econom- of its management and the
distribu ion OF its buildings. its useful
ness has nevertheless greatly increased
I IN recent years and it now offers eX-
I Cellent facilities for primary and sec
| ondary education"
. One Of the principal Of what the Prcs-
, idcnt is pleased to call needed reforms
! in the letter submitting his message
/ the third of the series. to Congress. is
! legislation granting seats in Congress to
( department heads.
Duty to Attend Sessions.
J Il recommend the adoption OF IeEis-
/ lation which shall make 1t the duty Of
. heads of departments-thp members Of
( the Presidents Cabinet-at convenient
! times to attend the sessions Of the
! House and the Senate. which shall pro-
Vid" seats for them in each HOUSE and
| give them the opportunity to take part
| in all discussions and to answer Gues-
tions Of which they have had due no
! tiCe.
The rigid holding apart 81 the OK
ecutive and legislative branches Of this
government has not worked for the great
advantage of either. There has been
much lost motion in the machinery. due
! to the lack of corporation and inter
! change Of views face to face between
! the representa- Of the executive and
| the members Of the two legislative
| branches Of tn" government"
! The Pr, sid"nt points out that the OK
ecutive and legislative functions Of gov
/ ernmCnt must be Co-Ordinated II will
spur each member of tho Cabinet to
closer attention to the details Of his de-
partment to he forced to sumbit to
searching questions at the hands of
members of Congress. the Executive de-
clares, and would UNNECESSARILY increase
! the efficiency of the government
! That the proposal is not a new ques-
ton. the President asserts. is shown by
a report made by committee OF the
| Thrty-eiehth Congress. which recon-
mended the adoption Of the plan. Prcsi-
dent Taft reprints sections OF the report
! in his message.
Extend system. He says.
| President Taft recommends the extern
sion of the postal savings hank system
| He quotes statistics showing that the
system has been extended so that It now
| includes 1904 fOurh-class post-offices. In
all, there are l2,S12 repositories. The
number of depositors is 10000, and the
amount OF deposits approximately $685.
/ oO0,O0O The gross income for the present
| fiscal year is estimated at $4,000 The