Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-04
Contradiction of Statements
Made in Congress.
IN CITIES COMPARED
Board of Trade Directors Defend the
Local Assessments.
DENY THAT THEY ARE TOO LOW
Pending Legislation Regarding
Labor Hours in Stores Discussed.
Rockefeller Foundation Endorsed.

Absolute contradiction of the statements
| made by some members of Congress that
| the citizens of the District are not suf1i-
| GENTLY taxed was made at a meeting of
| the board of directors of the Board of
| Trade yesterday afternoon. The men,
| hcrs of the board declared that the prop
| erty owners are. if anything, overta xed,
and that their taxes are higher than
; those of the residents of many other
cities of the same size.
George w. Harris urged the board to
take prompt action to remove from the
minds of members of Congress this err
roneous impression.
Il know from personal experience, -
said Mr.. Harris. that the taxes in this
city are higher than they arc i'm other
places I own property in Pittsburgh,
Pa, and property here, of about equal
value. and 4 pay more taxes on the prop
! crty here than do on that in Pittsburgh.
Yet members of Congress are threatening
to increase our taxes in Washington.
Viewed as a Menace.
William F. Guide said he, thought the
attitude of many members of Congress
toward the District was a menace: that
they proposed to do away with the half
and-half principle by which the United
States pays half the expenses of the Ma
tional Capital and the citizens of the Dis
trct pay the other half. and that be-
fore long the citizens would find them
selves called upon to pay the entire eX-
pense of the capital.
Are we to sit down under the imputa-
ton that we are all crooks, doing the
+ dpma nIpl Mr.
GUIDE.
Mr.. GUIDE said already it had been init
mated strongly that the next President
was coming to Washington with the idea
that things i'm the District were all
wrong. and Mr.. GUIDE said this impress
sion should be corrected.
Theodore w. Noyes and other members
of the board pointed out that for num-
Der of years the Board Of Trade has
been fighting in the interests of main
tanning the half-and-half principle in
District appropriations. and that figures
have been compiled by the board and
placed before Congress showing that the
taxes here are as high and higher than
to put the matter in the hands of the
committee on municipal finance, which
will again appear before congressional
committees to support the contentious of
the citizens.
Asks Boards Cooperation.
Harry King appeared before the board.
representing the Retail Merchants Asso-
citation, to urge that the Board of Trade
oppose the passage of the bill now before
Congress, which will limit the hours of
service of women employed in Washing
ton stores. offices and factories to eight
hours day. He pointed out that cOndi-
lions here did not warrant such law.
and to enact it would be a great hard
ship to the retail merchants. who do the
ma jority of the business of the capital
There are a. number of good features
in this BILL said Mr.. King, but also
many which are distinctly bad. There
are in Washington $1,000 government en-
poyes who are not able to do their
shopping until after 4:30 o'clock in the
afternoon. If We have an eight-hOur
la for the woman clerks in the store, We
will not be able to serve this army of
shoppers in the afternoon. and we Will be
cut out Of our Saturday night trade.
which amounts to about > to I per cent
of the entire trade of the year
The girls are well treated in the stores
in this city. They work about ten hours
day. This bill provides that the ag-
gregate number of hours which a woman
shall work here shall be forty-eight q
| week The retailers are willing that the
bill should pass If the number is made
ffty-fOur hours for the week and some
other notifications are made. This will
trade and TO keep open in the after
Moons.
May Decrease Wages.
Mr. King suggested that If the shorter
hours were demanded the wages of the
women would probably be decreased and
added that the women would prefer to
work the longer hours for more money.
This bill Is the work of the National
Consumers League" said Mr.. King. The
league wants model law enacted for
the District. Its representatives come
here from other parts of the country, not
knowing conditions here. but with their
minds made up as to what they will de-
mand. l have asked them why they have
not included trained nurses, domestic
servants and newspaper women in the
provisions of this bill. They are harder
worked than the girls in stores. But the
supporters of the bill made no reply to
my question.
If they insist upon this bill being en-
acted into law" continued Mr. King I'VE
intend to insist that an amendment be
, made to include servants. trained nurses
and newspaper women"
When Mr.. King concluded, Mr.. GUIDE,
w. j. Eynon and other members of the
board suggested that committee be
sent to appear before the Senate commit
tee at today's hearing to oppose the
measure. 1t developed. however, that
the board of directors is not at liberty
to commit the Board of Trade on ques-
tons of public policy without first
getting tine approval of the entire body.
committee was appointed to attend
the hearing of the eight-hour bill. though
not to speak for the Board of Trade.
Favors Rockefeller Foundation.
The board went on record as favoring
the bill for the incorporation in the
District of the Rockefeller one-hun-
dred millio on dollar foundation. 1t was
also decided to ask the United States
Chamber of Commerce to support a
measure for having the states max e
permanent exhibits in the National
Capital, and to obtain from Congress
land for the various state buildings.
a plan proposed for a permanent tar
iff commission was referred to the eX-
ecutive committee, with directions to
report back to the board
DR. Frank +. Gibson. chairman of the
shad bake committee, reported that the
excursion given at River View last
May had proved the most successful
in the history of the board; that 476
tickets had been sold, and that the
board had come out ahead, financially.
1t decided to send letter to
First Vice President Adds Browne re-
GREETING his illness and congratulating
him upon his improved condition of
IAa