Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-20
Id Be Runos for Citizens of District to Bear All Burdens Alone

- - - ~ 49, -
regular annual appropriations toward
the expenses of the District govern
ment; and from a careful examination
of the estimated value of the property
owned by the United States and that
belonging to private persons ana cor
porations the committee CONSIDERS the
fair proportional part thereof whlcn the
federal government should bear is not
less than 40 per cent, and the remaining
/ 60 per cent should be realized by TAX
alton.
| 1t will be seen that this report adopts
1.-THE report of the judiciary committee
of the House made two years before, In
which that committee concluded that
the United States should pay one-haiI
of the expenses of the District. ana
then adds that in its Judgment the gov
eminent should contribute not less than
40 per cent. Why this peculiar phrase
ology was used is shown by what was
said on the subject by Mr.. Hunton MN
self when. in 1873. he was supporting
and-half plan. Mr.. Reagan moved to
amend the so per cent provision so as
/ to require the people of the District to
pay so per cent of the District expenses
and the government only 40 per cent
Speaking to this amendment. Mr. Hun
ton said:
II rise to oppose the amendment. The
question as to the division of the ex-
penses of the District of Columbia pc
tween the federal government and the
people of the District is question
which has engaged the attention of this
government for the last thirty years
and more, and the question never mas
been referred to a committee except
on one occasion, when that committee
did not report either to the Senate or
to the House of Representatives., from
which the committee was appointed,
that the true proportion of the expense
and the people of this District was one
half by each.
Uphold so Per Cent Idea.
THE first report I find on the subject
was one by Mr.. Southland. made to the
Senate in 1885, in which he took that
ground. The subject was again refer
red to committee of this House, of
which Judge Poland was the chairman.
and the committee reported to the
House that each one of the parties to
the government of this District should
pay so per cent. Then. sir, when there
was a special joint committee appoint
ed in 1876 to investigate this question,
that committee-and the only commit
tee that has reported differently from
the bill now under consideration--re-
ported 60 and 40 per cent. But since
that time this bill now under considera-
ton includes burdens upon the people
Of this District not heretofore embraced
in any bill or any report from a COM
mittee of this House or the Senate. For
instance, sir, this bill imposes upon the
District so per cent of the expense of
the bridges leading into the District, 1t
imposes so per cent of the expenses of
all the charities; it imposes, by an
amendment which is offered, so per
cent of the expense of the aqueduct and
it's appurtenances. and this committee
determined that when these additional
subjects of burden to the people of the
District of Columbia were added to the
bill 1t did not do more than keep up the
proportion of the bill reported by the
joint select committee of so per cent
and 40 per cent.
II believe l can say in the presence
of the gentleman from Vermont that
large ma jority of that joint select COM
mittee thought that so per cent on the
part of the government and so per cent
on the part of the people was about the
fair thing. Well, now, l have studied
this question with a great deal of care,
and having been member of that Joint
select committee and also a member of
the committee that framed and report
ed this bill. 1 say, after the naturest
reflection that ] could give to the SUBJ
ject, that it is but just to the people
that the government should bear equal
ly with the people the burdens Of the
government of the District of Column
bia"
Works Over Bill Two Years.
1t will be seen that when Mr.. Hunton
said that he made TIE s.ate.-en- that
large majority OF the joint select COM
mittee favored the "half-and- half plan
he remarked that he made that state
ment "in the presence of the gentleman
from Vermont" He referred to Mr. Hen
dee. another member of the same COM
mittee. 1t was Mr.. Hunton and Mr.. Hen
dee who, after working over the mat
ter for two years. finally prepared the
bill which in the end took shape as the
act of June IL, 1878.
Mr.. Hunton's statement as to how the
members of the joint committee of 1875
stood on the question of the so per cent
division is confirmed by what another
member of that committee-William
Pinkney Whyte of Maryland-said on
the subject in the Senate in 1878. when
the House bill with the SO per cent pro-
vision was before the Senate. He said:
when Congress imposed upon me,
during my absence. the duty of acting
as one of commission, under a law of
the Forty-fourth Congress. / took the
trouble to examine, from the beginning,
from the foundation of the government,
down to that time, what the relative
trict and the government of the United
States as regards property really was;
and became satisfied, not that the ra-
Ito should be according to this bill, but
that the government ought to contrib
ate So per cent of the taxes and the
people here but 40 per cent
The House of Representatives, there
fore, was laboring under a great mis-
take of fact when 1t voted at the last
session of Congress in favor OF doing
away with the so per cent provision of
the act of 1873. How much injury this
error may have resulted in to the
cause Of the District 1t is. of course,
Impossible to tell. But 1t Is now clear
~ before this joint committee that
every one of the committees of 1874.
1876 and 1878 which expressed an opin-
ion as to the proportion of the ex-
penses of this District which should be
met by the federal government con-
Guided that that proportion should be
one-half or more.
Vote on Proposition.
When Mr.. Reagan's amendment to
change the governments contribution
from so per cent to 40 per cent came to
vote. Mr.. Eden called for the yeas and
nays. and on this motion the vote was
90 in the affirmative and lit in the
negative-less than one-hfth. Mr..
Springer called for tellers, but secured
only IA votes, SO tellers were not Or
dered.
1t is indeed true that action by Con-
gress In 1878 on this matter so impor-
tant to the people of the District of CO.
lumbia may have been hastened by rep