The Washington times., 1913-12-23
D. c. PUSHES FIGHT
!. ON TAX PRINCIPLE
Business Men Want Country to
Know History Of Relations
With Federal Government.
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information about the District, and Il
this can be construed into an attempt
to defeat members of Congress, thu
committee is not inclined TO accept th'
blame for such construction.
This was clearly pointed out b,
William II. Singleton. chairman of tn,
Joint committee of the Chamber o
Commerce. Board Of Trade. and Retail
Merchants Association. in writtel
statement as follows: :
Ny attention was called to today's
issue of The Times, in which there
was statement that there might be
some attempt on the part of those In
the District opposed to the abolish
ment Of the half and-half principle to
prevent the reelection of members
Of Congress who were in favor of
Such abolishment. This statement
in the paper was in immediate juX-
Imposition to a statement that the
joint committee of the Board of
Trade. the Retail Merchants Asso-
citation, and the Chamber Of Com
merce, Of which l am chairman, was
to have meeting next Monday to
take some action.
Fearing that the position of these
two statements might lead some one
to think that this committee, or its
members, were interested in such
attempt against reelection, please
state most emphatically that the
committee neither in its written dec
laration or in the statements of any
of its members said anything Of any
such import.
The entire desire and object OF the
committee is in a calm and dispas-
sionate manner to bring the matter
to the attention of the President and
the Congress in the hope that our
action in the matter may receive
such attention as there will be no
disturbance of the half-and-half
principle of the act Of 1873.
Country To Get Facts.
Quite apart from the present acut
situation. other plans for getting tn
facts about the District before til
country have been and are still beIni
carried on by two of the organization
represented in the joint committee
These plans were conceived and pu
into process Of execution prior to intro
duction of the Crisp bill or other mea
sures deemed unfair to the District.
One of these plans Is the issuance b
the park commission committee Of tn
Board of Trade of an abridgement o
the Mcmillan, or Burnham. Park Com
mission report upon the development
of Washington. This report is bein
sent to the leading business organiza
tions of the United States. and the
are being asked to give it as wide pub
licity as possible. s,.s
Another plan In process of eXecutio
is the dissemination throughout tn
country of an illustrated booklet de
scriptive of the history and develop
meht Of the city. This Is being don
by the Chamber of Commerce.
The books going out from the Cham
ber of Commerce and the Souther
Commercial Congress ssate in thei
prefaces that the purpose of the publ
cation Is to inform the American vote
about his Capital City.
The Committee of One Hundred on tn
Future Development OF Washington to
day issued notices of the publication 4
book form of an address on The Ma
tfon's Capital" by James Bryce, forme
British ambassador to the United State.
The book Is profusely illustrated an
printed on high-grade paper. The com
mittee' states In It's letter that the boo
will help mold public opinion favorabl
to Washington"
These are the means being empioye
by the organizations representing tn
people os the District to influence Cor
gress. 1t is pointed out that the peopl
of Washington have no Representative
in Congress, no vote, and that thei
only method Of preserving their right
and guarding themselves against legis
lation based upon misinforniation is I
get the facts before Congress and tn
people who have the vote.