The Washington times., 1915-10-27
MAY PROBE ALL D. c.
REAL ESTATE VALUES
Controversy Over George Taxa.
ton Report Causes Broad.
ening Of Inquiry.
CONTINUED from First Page.)

che District. In 1876, he said. a second
committee had declared for fixed ap-
portionment of District expenses be-
tween the city and the Government ana
finally. in 1873, committee had reit-
Grated this principle for the third time.
The half-and-half plan thus was
not sudden expedient." he said 1T
was the result of seventy years expert
ence. Able men in both houses of Con-
Hress have sanctioned It
The complications sou have out-
lined" said Senator Works, are. to
my mind. the strongest evidence that
the district of Columbia should be
abolished. If there had been no Dis
trict, acting as an intermediate agent.
there would have been no legislator
necessary. and there would have been
no complication The Government
could have levied the proper amount
OF taxes and ordered the District people
to pay what they believed proper.
District Only An Agent.
The people OF Washingt ton do not
quite appreciate that the District gov
ernment Is only an agent of the red
eral Government. They get in the habn
of lodRing to it as the head of city
affairs
Now. II the people of Washington are
bearing as heavy Il tax burden as those
in other cities. can apprec ate the
force of their contention that the Gov
crnment should help bear them. But
that has nothing to do with the conten-
ton that an intermediate agency, now
called the District of Columbia. should
intervene to Complicate the situation.
repeat that. TO my way of think ng. the
District of Columbia is largely a polite
fiction anyway"
For thc first time during the hearing,
SO far. Mr.. WOrthington showed con-
siderable heat. and he replied with a
defense of the instinct for self-govern-
ment In the District people, and with a
eplogy of the r civic spirit as expressed
In many civic bodies and citizens as
so9iationS.
Remember that the American in
sti'->t for self-government Is very
stroYg. even in the District of Column
bia. he said We have here what
solutism in government, so far as taxes
are concerned, of any people on the
civilized globe. We are taxed with
out representation. True. we have pro-
lection of the law, In respect to trials
by jury. and personal rights. but It
once was contended in the Supreme
Court that District residents did not
even have constitutional rights. The
court ruled that We had.
People For Half-and. Half.
we have mere many civic organiza-
tlons. l believe the principal ones to
be. though others might disagree with
me, the Board Of Trade and the Cham
ber Of Commerce. These are made up
of a class of men whose opinions YOU
would respect. | am sure. We have.
in various sections. many citizens asso-
cations. These are organized through
a central federation. There also Is a
bar assoc alton. and 1t is from that body
that ! come. All these associations are
banded together in the effort to pre-
sent these facts about the District =
relation to the Federal Government.
,rdiv,h@.t haze no r},,sm doubt there are many
Browne here referring to Herbert j.
Browne. who was to follow him), who
are opposed to the half-and-half PLAN
hut the vast majority of citizens, repre-
sented through all these channels be-
liev" In It. and believe 1t should be
maintained"
Congressman Cooper turned the dis
cusson in new direction by asking
whether after the segregation Of cor-
tain phases of city government. like
police. fire, water and sewerage depart
m"nts, that the District citizens were
no more heavily burdened by the pres
cncc of the Capital here than II 1t were
not here. II" said he did not wish his
question to he construed MS presaging
any opinion he had formed.
An Unusual Element.
Most emphatiCally no." replied Mr..
Worthington stepping to map Of
the District. he said. you can see for
yourself that one unusual element in
the makeup OF Washington Is the large
area over which it is spread.
Tax Asst ssor richards was asked
low many pieces Of real estate are
assessed by his office. He replied
about 10000.
AND NJ. Browne in his report com
mcrtcd on about thirty. four" inter
j. "ted Nj. WOrthington.
~ cited great many more"
snapped Mr.. Browne. from the side
Inc.
We do not want to waste thecom-
mittee's time" continued Mr.. Worth
ngton. but this question is vital because
during the discussion of the half-and-
half prlnCipl" i'll Congress the strongest
argument tde against it by its oppo-
n"nts was that II District property were
properly assessed there would be no
need of a Federal contribution to the
District government"
senator salisbury asked IL Il were
possible for the two sides to present
assessment briefs instead of oral tes-
timony.
Assuming that we are Jurors" said
Congressman, Cooper Il am unwilling to
decide this question on briefs | have
never seen. The charges are made
here that Congress has been misled by
misStatementS which must have heen
deliberate IL made.
AS ono of the men who voted on these
statements, supposing them to be true,
! want to hear Witnesses, especially as
thlS inquiry Is to settle "A dispute OF
more than scventN-tive years. Nothing
SO affected my vote in the House as
these allegations about land spectators
and in"quiit cs in taxation here"
District "POlite Fiction"
For nm hour after the opening OF the
hearing, \. S. Worthington continued,
with little interruption. the presentation
ot facts concerning the circumstances
about the mourning OF the immense
debts between the years 1871 and ~.
lhcn the hearing was enliypned Nv n
rapid fire OF questions and answers In
which Mr.. Worthington said the pls-
triCt citizens live under the most apso-
Tut" form of government on the face
of the civilized globe" Senator Works
characterized the District as "a pollte
fiction" and Senator Chiffon said the
"half-and-half title Is a misnomer."
senator Chiffon and Congr,ssman
Cooper prcfaced all their remarks about
the District with the proviso that they
did not wish to be understood as nav
ing made up their minds or as presaging
what their decisions were 10 be.
Following the reading of numerous
opinions from Comptrollers of tho
Treasury and from members of Con-
gross during the period in question in
his discussion of tho bonded deht-tne
period between 1871 and lS7S-Mr Worth
inEton pointed to conditions then as
similar to thOs" some persons now are
found to he advocating"