Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-29

gument at times into his statement. His
contentious as to the cost of living are
to be put into book form, he announced.
and would prove that the cost of liv-
ing in Washington rests on the rent
proposition entirely.
Individual Assessments Cited.
individual instances of assessments
which he claimed were made too low
| in the 1910 survey. They will possibly
be recalled, as they We're all of them
exhibited at length in the George hear
ing:
| Take the magnificent house of Larz
F., Anderson on Massachusetts, avenue, he
| said. Il was told by Massachusetts
| congressman, Mr.. Thayer, that Mr. An
/ derSon said the place had cost him
million dollars. but the assessment was
| so much less than that as to be rldlcu1
| lous l know of man who owns nan
| a million dollars worth of paintings, ana
the assessment is only $4,000. KNOW
of another man with half million oo,-
| lars in old masters and the assessor only
discovered them two or three years aso.
Perry Belmont owns a spien"id holi'e
on New Hampshire avenue ana ne sc
cured a material reduction in his assess
ment by sending his architect to the
| assessor \ reduction was made on d
mere oral statement IT.
..,rhe case of Clifford Pinchot Is MS
toric Mir. Pinchot became interesteu III
the George hearings and had ms prop
erty here appraised by Story " eoo, c
who figured the house and lano at ffV,"
more than the assessment. VT ~, iiG
protested to the assessor tiiaI ne ",
not want to escape the proper 49,,
which would have been $500 more "a
he was never able to get his taxes lalsS ..
The assessor brought into the az ~
that land on 18th street Wnlcll 10 ~
neighborhood of the Pinchot "
had decreased in value. The real est AZ
men who appraised it said they hah We
lieyed Mr.. Pinchot wanted to sell, ana
that thew had appraised 1t at a inquire
which they believed they could get t9s
II hut the assessor would not admit ms
error that was in the 1910 assessment )
II has been raised since. l believe
rs it not true" asked Thomas IT,.
Law who was sitting near at hand, onat
the Pinchot property mas oeer ~ iof '''o
all this time with no purchasers.
II do not know. but 1 do not peho~o
So" responded Mr.. Browne.
Neither do l know, but 1 have unoer-
stood that to be the case.
Mr. Browne mentioned properly OIL JONI
r Mclean at Friendship which he SAID
was worth $4,000 an acre; also propelts
of the late Beriah wilkins, Whlch MI.
Browne said had never been properly as
sessed until purchased by senator ou
Pont.
Testified as to Property Value.
Col, Worthington asked:
was there any proof at the george
inquiry that the Mclean properly 10
worth $4,000 an acre?'
ut depends on what you "oulo coh-
slider proof"
az mean. did any one testify as to Its
value?"
"I did" Mr. Browne replied
"And might as well say right mere
.h,+ 7 have received the highest price
In the District for testifylne as 10
realty values In this city, where am
known to some as the enemy OF the
balf-and-half and a DR.. JekyH ana
Mr.. Hyde-although I do not "lsh 10
appear too popular with myself
would like to be known as an expert IN
real estate values. ~
He declared again that the George
report, plus the insurance lnVestlga-
ton, had done more to get proper
assessment here than anything else.
Also, he said, in a reply to Representa-
tive Gard. who asked why the Dis
trict of Columbia did not need the
half-and- half plan now, that the CITY
has had an enormous growth in wealth.:
that with federal contributions 1t mad
received all the necessary sewers, wa
ter plants, streets. schools. etc. ana Is
now a going concern.
IF the government calls on the DIS
trict for police service, ought II not TO
paw for that service" asked Repre-
sentative Cooper.
NO" replied Mr.. Browne, who went
on to say that the government ought
to have it's own police department. lie
said that as a matter of fact except IN
the case of the White House and the
parks government property here IS
policed by employees of the federal gov
eminent.
Senator Chiffon asked if it would not
he a bad thing to have a divided police
authority in the city. Senator Works,
said that after all the police OF the
District were the police of the federal
government anyway, following out ms
contention made earlier in the hearing
that the District was merely nctiol
ANYWAY and that the federal govern
1nent was the supreme power here.
Increases Land Values.
Mr. Browne continued his single tax
argument, urging that land values
were created here by two things alone.
the activities of the federal government
and the activities of the owners of pri
vate lands. He argued that the annual
contribution by the government to the
expenses of the District was a subsidy
that increased land values. He said
that the only way to bring about order
in the relation between the federal
government and the District was to
divorce thes land values from improve
ments and impose q proper tax on the
land values.
ues each year amounts to S12.o00,000,
according to former Commissioner Ru-