Evening star., 1915-02-20
VITAL ISSUES
Of LOCAL CONCERN
For the Impartial Judgment of
an Unbiased Congressional
Commission.
BROWNIES WILD GUESS
AT D. C. REALTY VALUES
City Now Valued by Assessor High
er Than Detroit-Grossly Over
valued by Browne at Twice as
Much as Baltimore.
NO. I.
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.


Editorial Correspondence Of The Star.
The repeal of the half-a1d-half
law, without previous investiga-
ton by an unbiased commission,
is urged on the ground that the
pertinent and controlling facts are
of record and have already re-
ceived full consideration by Con-
gress, and that a commission is
therefore unnecessary.
The essential facts are not OF
record. Statements made in good
faith in the recent Senate discus
sion, echoing similar statements
in the House, show conclusively
that grossly misleading allega-
tions are accepted in Congress as
gospel truth to the vital injury of
the capital community.
I. The allegation (without
any assessment by the commit
tee itself of the so-called George
report that in 1912 realty values
for assessment in the District
were $744,ooo,ooo, or $4I4,ooo,ooo
more than the actual assessment
of that year, is found on the
slightest examination to be gross
ly and preposterously false; and
the inferences of underassess-
ment and undertaxation derived
from it are untrue, unjust and in
furious in the extreme to the peo-
pie of the capital.
The method of measuring
the comparative tax burdens of
cities, adopted by the enemies of
Washington in the House and
treated as sound by some sena-
tors, which accepts as accurate the
census-reported relations of as
sessed to true value, and on this
assumption declares that the
Washingtonian's tax burden is
about one-half that of the resident
of the average American city, is
based on a false premise and leads
to a false conclusion. 1t is dis
credited as unreliable by the CEN
sus authorities, and is reduced
to logical absurdity when the at
tempt is made to apply it practi-
oally.
Yet these two untruths are put
forward as truths, without vigor-
Gus challenge in House or Senate,
and furnish today the strongest
propulsive force to the movement
for the repeal of the half-and-half
law.
An unbiased commission, from
membership in which the congress
sional proponents of these chal-
Ienged statements should in fair
ness be barred, could render valu-
able service, both to the nation
and to the capital, by carefully
considering the evidence on these
issues and rendering an impartial
decision. For at the root of the
Johnson amendment and the
other assaults, direct and indirect,
upon the half-and-half law is the
assertion that Washington has
taxable values which if fairly as
sessed would provide without ma
tional participation the revenue
necessary for capital maintenance
and development.
False Charge Of Underassessment.
The George taxation report Of 1917
alleges that .'real property in the Dis
trict Of Columbia Is assessed $4I4,OOO,.
900 below Its true value, the true value
being S744,OOO.OOO. while the assessmen,
is only $s3O,OO0,OOO.
| 1t Is to be remembered that the
George committee did not pretend t.
| undertake to make an assessment fol
| itself. and that no local expert was al
lowed to give testimony before it tha
| covered any section thoroughly.
Tho statement, above quoted, is based
! solely upon the testimony and argumen,
before the subcommittee of Witness H. j
Browne Mr. Brownies evidence is not di.
rect expert appraisement of the value OF
Washington realty. but Is the deduc
ton of an ex-journalist from wha
persons questioned by him have sale
lconcerning local values and from wha
he has read and studied in the news
papers. or official reports, or recort
books of business men of Washington
on that subject. Generalizing from
the statements. sworn and unsworn O.
individuals in respect to particular
cases in selected spots in the differen
sections of the city. Mr.. Browne de
veloped an infallible formula for as
certaining true values in all parts o
Washington. For the large suburba,
areas he multiplied the actual assess
ment in every case by five; for tn,
business and fine residence areas o
the northwest he multiplied the actua
assessment in every case by three ant
one-third: for middle-class house site
he multiplied in every case by two
/ lConftnued ON Efghth Papel