The Washington herald., 1914-12-13

portunity should be afforded all inter-
ested property owners to be heard. either
! personally or through their duly au-
thorizeds misrepresentation The information
thus obtained would enable US to tx
4 the propoftionate shares Of the expense
OF the District government that should
be paid, respectively, from the Federal
i Treasury and by the other property own
ers and citizens Of the District.
In arriving at our conclusion Eevery
phase Of the subject, including the value
Of all the real and personal property OF
/ the national government located in the
District; the value OF all other real and
personal property in the District, and
! of all other property owned by residents
Of the District, Of nature properly sub
! ject to taxation therein; what property
should be exempt from taxationi and
what items OF expense, II any, Of main
| tanning the District government should
not be shared at all by the national gov
ernment. The proportionate shares be-
1 ing agreed upon and the total expendi-
/ lures ascertained, ii is a simple matter
] of arithmetic to figure the amount to
/ be appropriated from the National Treas
ury, which amount being deducted from
the total expenditure, the remainder Is
the net budget to be raised by taxation.
| in every city in the United States, and
whether property be assessed for taxa
/ ton purposes at so or 100 per cent Of its
! true value would be OF no interest to
! Congress, and for that matter of little
/ concern to the taxpayers Of the District.
provided, of course, there be no favorit-
| ism or discrimination.
Old Excuse Offered.
There has been no argument sub
mitted in support Of the proposed
amendment other than the oft-reiterat-
ed assertion that the national govern
ment is paying more than 1t properly
should. No facts are presented from
which a finding can be made as to
what proportion of the expenses of the
District government should be paid
from the National Treasury. Advocates
of this amendment admit that they
have made no attempt to ascertain
such facts. They have not even given
us the benefit of their best guess on
the subject.
Permit me to illustrate what they
do propose. Assume that / am the
owner OF a farm in a fertile valley ad-
jacent to a stream which would an
nually overflow it's banks and cause
serious damage, and to prevent which
temporary dykes had been constructed
and annually rebuilt or repaired. As
sumo also that I am fortunate enough
to have for a neighbor my friend the
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Prouty),
owning land in the rear. having sub
stantially the same elevation and sub
ject to similar damage from overflow.
but with no frontage on the stream.
Assume that for a number of years we
have shared equally the expense of
protecting our lands from overflow in
the manner above indicated. Now he
comes to me and says that he has care
fully examined into the subject and
has figured II all out and has arrived
at the conclusion that he has been pay
ing more than his fair share of such
expenses and wants readJustment.
answer him: Very well, in what pro-
portions should we share such expense,
show me the figures and tell me what
facts you have taken into, consideration
in making your estimate He replies:
'I have not figured il out that way 1
have ascertained as nearly as l could
the cost per front foot Of maintaining
similar dykes for the protection of other
farms in our valley whose boundaries eX-
tend from the stream to the foothills
and the expense of which have been
horne wholly by the men who own the
lands fronting on the stream. 1 have
even ascertained, as near as / could from
men in your employ, what 1t costs you
annually per front foot to construct and
maintain the dykes on another farm
which you yourself own fronting on this
stream. My proposition Is that you pay
over to me a sum equal to the average
cost per annum per stream-fOot 'front.'
age, and since I wish to be fair. yes. gen.
erous will fix the sum which ! pro-
pose that you pay at really less than 1
estimate the average cost TO be OF main
tanning the dykes to protect those other
farms which I have mentioned. / will
use this money which you pay over to
me in meeting all the necessary ex-
pense, the amount Of which 1 shall use
my own judgment in determining Of
aintaining our dykes, and il, after Il
have used all the money which you
have paid over 1 find il is not sufficient,
shall pay the deficit out of my own
pocket. II it develops that the amount
which you have paid is more than suf-
fcient to meet all the expenses, shall !
be generous and return you the sur
plus.
No Fear of Injustice.
"I have heard it repeatedly stated in
discussion on this floor that real estate
owners within the District pay very much
lower taxes in proportion to the actual
value OF their holdings than are paid by
property owners in almost every other
city of any Importance in the Union.
Based on my experience, 1 say that this
statement is inaccurate. 1 pay taxes on
a number OF parcels Of real estate dis
tributed through four bOroughs of the
city of New York and in the city OF
Yonkers, as well as on a modest house !
I cwn within the District, and the gen.
eral average paid on my New York and |
Thov Hnno$n