Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-04-24
MUST ORGANIC ACT
COMMIT SUICIDE?
1t Has Long BaffIed the Muir
derous Assaults of Its
Bitter Enemies.
WILL ITS FRIENDS SLAYIT
IN A FIT OF BLIND FOLLY?
At No Time Since 1878 Has the
Capital More Desperately Needed
This Shield Against Disaster.
Editorial Correspondence of Tie Star.
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.

The death and burial of the "half-
and-hnIf plan." long resisted by Wash :
ington as an irretrievable disaster de-
sired only by it's enemies. nre now smii-
ingly proposed as blessing by certain
of its friends. Mr.. Blackburn declares
that his mental offspring has Outlfved
it's usefulness to Washington and Is
ready to die. MIR. Shannon is ready to
serve as one of its gravediggers. And
there are others.
The principle of definite proportion
ate contribution by the nation toward
capital upbuildins which In embodied
in the "organic acte has been viewed
by this community as the vital factor
in WashingtOn's development and pros
perity; and it's loyal maintenance as an
absolute essential of the capitals pres
ent and future welfare.
Heretofore, those who have assaulted
this principle in successive Congresses
(typihed by men like johnson, Crisp
and PrOuty in the last HOuse) have de-
clared openly thnt they fought to rem
trfbutiOns In order to enlarge. perhaps
to double. the Districts burden and to
decrease, perhaps to eliminate, the ma
tiOnal contribution.
MIR. Blackburn, MIR. Shannon and
others now stand shoulder to shoulder
with Mr.. johnson, MIR. Crisp and Mr..
PrOuty in labOrinE to, destroy the pres
ent definite fiscal relation of nation and
capital and In substituting indefinite
ness and capriciOus, fuctuatfng uncer-
tainty in it's place. But our local group
would render chaotic the fiscal rela-
tiOn in the belief that out of chaos n
blessing to the capital will spring, in
stead of the curse anticipated by those
to Washington.
OF course, two sets of dfametrically
opposite results cannot both follow
the same enactment. 1t cannot exalt
and enlarge the sense of national oh
toward the capital and mt the
same time reduce 1t to zero. 1t cannot
both increase and decrease the ma
tfOn's contribution toward the capital.
1t cannot simultaneously blow hot and
cold. II cannot both bless and curse
the capital.
One group or the other Of these
fOrecasters Is deceived
into false prophecy. Can there be any
dOubt ns to which are the ban-
bOOzied: COngressmen who will make
the appropriations and fix local taxa
tton have the power, which they will
to verify their own fOrecasts.
The unrepresented, impOtent Washing
fOninns have no such power.
Evils of Indefinite Contributions.
Two practical questions in respect to
financing the capital have been of vital
Importance from the beginning; ~
Shall the national and local cOntrtbu-
tiOns be definite indefinite, related
or independent. q, who shall deter
mine the relation or the amount Of
these contributions, respectivelys
The history Of the capital has demon
strated distinctly that these cOntrfbu-
tioDs should be definite and relnted,
and that if indefinite and unrelated to
Insure Justice each contributor should
have a voice in determining the amount
Df his contribution.
Since the day of the creation of the
capital the nations obligation toward
the nations city has been the same
primary. exclusive and dominating Not
the obligation itself, but the degree in
which it has been recognized and met
has been the Shamefully fuctuating
factor in the equation.
From 1900 to 1S74-S the national and
local capital contributions were in
definite and unrelated. Each contrib
uted what 1t pleased toward capital
The nation measured it's
own obligation in terms of dollars as
next to nothing. The local community
raised and diSbursed it's own taxes at
it's pleasure. 1t measured its capital
obligation considerably beyond the
limits of its meager taxable resources
and twice became practically bank
rupt in performing almost unaidcd the
nations task of capital building.
In 1878 the nation confessed its
violation or gross neglect of it's CAPT
tai obligation. 1t gave practical ex-
preston to its revived sense of this
obligation in its undertaking to pay
one-half the accumulated funded In
debtedness of the District and one-half f
of future expenses. 1t took from the
District the power of self-taxation and
assumed completely the right to fix the
local contribution well as its own
In thus exercising taxation without
representation over the District the
nation safeguarded the local com
munity by the pledge that to every
dollar collected in taxes from the local
from the national Treasury, and that
the aggregate revenue should be ex-
pended for capital upbuildins This
provision protected the District from
causing the alien taxgatherer to ap-
propriate from his own treasury for
the Districts benefit every time he ap-
from the Districts tax
revenue Every dollar he took under
the tax-power from the local com
munity increased correspondence his
own capital contribution
Will O. the Wisp Plan.
1t is now proposed to release the
United States from It's promise to con-
tribute definite amount annually in
meeting its obligation of capital up
and to leave that amount un-
certain and fuctuating. on the same
ba sis as before 1873. But it is not pro-
posed to return to the District its
power which existed before 1873 of
fixing through self-taXation the amount
of it's own capital contribution The
nation is to retain the power taken
in 1875 to tax the District as it pleaseS
but Is freed from the limitation i'm
posed upon excessive local taxation by
the obligation under the organic act
Of correspondingly taxing itself.
If, however, the nation is not to
share in municipal tax-paying the ma
tion cannot in equity fix the amount
of local taxation. II the local COM
munity is to raise substantially all Of
the local revenue it must on American
principles tax itself, determining for
itself how much shall be raised. and
by what methods of taxation. and for
what purposes the tax-money shall be
expended. Under these conditions there
can be no Just or reasonable" local
taxation imposed by an alien body in
which the taxed are not represented,
and whose selfish interest is obviously
to increase local taxation In order to
decrease the national contribution in
payment Of which every legislator in
participates.
Under the half-and-half plan alien
tax-imposers are held in check by q
system which causes every increase in
local taxes to increase correspondin1-