Evening star., 1915-10-20

sumo any responsibility with regard to
any abandoned highway within the
area covered by the map. and should
not accept or assume any responsibility
In regard to any highway that any
owner of land in such area should
thereafter attempt to lay out or es-
tablish, unless the land owner should
first have submitted to the Commits
way and the Commissioners should
have found 1t to be in conformity with
the map and approved 1t and caused 1t
to be recorded in the Office of the sur
veyor.
Will Of Nation Manifested.
In accordance with the last mention
ed provision a map was prepared and
approved. in four sections. the last of
which was filed in the Office of the
surveyor of the District on the 10th
day Of May. 1900. It extends many of
the principal avenues of the original
city to the District line, provides for
other new great avenues. and in all
other respects manifests the will of
the nation that the grand plan
of the city which Washington found
ed shall embrace the entire District of
Columbia.
This act of 1893, as thus carried into
effect. was a necessary and splendid
proceeding for the proper develop
1t the original city would have been
"cribbed. cabined and confined" by
surrounding belt of subdivisions with
narrow. streets fitting in neither with
nor with one another. Numerous such
subdivisions had previously been
planned and recorded in the surveyors
office In accordance with the laws then
existing. Many of them had been COW
cred with private dwellings. Over and
across these subdivisions and over and
across all the lands and buildings in
that part of the District outside of
ton the maps filed in the surveyors Of
flee under the act of 1893 cast a shadow
which, as to most of the land. remains
to this day. Ancient streets and other
doned. and the authorities of the Dis
trict were expressly forbidden to keep
them in repair. Buildings already erect
ed on the line of the projected high
ways were rendered unstable at any
price approximating their real value
Small holdings were SO cut up by the
proposed streets and avenues that what
was left could not be profitably utilized
for any purpose The act provided for
no immediate condemnation of any of
the lands the title to which was SO
affected. but looked only to partial con-
demnation from year to year in the
future. And the act further provided
that when such condemnation should
take place each proprietor should re-
cover from his neighbors one-half of
the amount awarded to him for his
land. and that the taxpayers of the
whole District should pay the other
half-the United States contributing
nothing. When the turn of his neigh
bors to have their land condemned
would come he was required to help
contribute one-haf of their damages;
so that in the end he would receive
only one-half his loss.
All Done for Nations Glory.
And all this was done by the nation
for the nations glory, and at time
when, because of the constitution of
the District-the act of June IL, 1873
the taxpayers residing therein were in
duced to remain quiet because by that
constitution they were told that the
Congress that was calling upon them to
submit to such sacrifices for the benefit
OF the whole Union would see for all
time that one-half of the expenses of
maintaining the magnificent city the
Congress was creating would be paid
by the nation.
An act Of Congress approved Febru-
ary II, 1895 (2S Stats. $500, provided
that the part of the District then con-
stituting the city of Georgetown should
no longer be known by that name, but
should thereafter constitute a part of
the city of Washington. the federal
capital" The act directed the Commis-
sioners of the District to cause the
nomenclature of the streets and ave-
nues of Georgetown to conform to those
of Washington so far as practicable,
and to have the squares in Georgetown
renumbered-the object being to have
but one set of numbers running through
all the squares in both places.
Since the organic act of June IL, 1878,
was passed Congress has from time to
time increased the holdings of land of
the United States in the District of
Columbia by condemning land for pub
lie purposes. Rock Creek Park, the
Congressional Library site. the office
buildings of the Senate and the House.
the Capitol plaza, the site
for the proposed State and Navy de-
partments and the Department of Jus
tice, the site of the Naval Observatory
and the site of the building occupied by
the bureau of standards are familiar il
lustrations of this fact
Taxable Property Taken Away.
These acquisitions have resulted in
taking away from the people of the
District of Columbia many millions of
dollars worth of taxable property,
increasing the burdens of taxa
tion upon the owners of land which
still remains in private hands. This
process must necessarily continue. and
as the years go on the government will
own a larger and still larger propor-
tion Of land within the city limits
that is. within the boundaries of the
District. Those boundaries Congress
cannot extend. In other cities, as their
suburbs grow and become practically
a part of the original city, its lines are
extended so as to take in the suburbs;
but because the boundaries of the Dis
trict cannot be extended thousands of
persons who are engaged in their va
rious avocations in Washington live in |
suburbs which are part of the states
of Virginia and Maryland. and thereby |
add to the taxable wealth of those |
states. |
When this nation of a hundred mil |
lions shall have increased in population |
10 thousand millions or more, it may |
well be that it will require the greater |
part, If not all. of the District of Co |
lumbia for public purposes. In the |
meantime it is certain that the neceS- |
sites or the convenience of the general |
government will require the taking of |
more and more of the land in the Dis |
trict which is now subject to taxation; i
SO that If it was just and reasonable |
In 1873 that the United States should |
pay half the expenses of the District of |
Columbia that proportion can never |
Justly be diminished, but must newt !
ably be increased.
Financial Obligations.
We come now to the consideration of
what Congress has actually done in
the past in meeting the financial obli-
cations imposed upon it by the unique
relation which the federal government |
hea "a To this District.