Evening star., 1915-05-27

for mast violations Of the law and In
| aexibIy maintain 1t and faithfuii!
| obey 1t i'm the future.
| Representative johnson In a speech
/ last year first suggested that the act
of 1878 had been violated IN some pre-
| viously unrecognized particulars ana
| that these violations furnished a fea
| son why the law should suner deatn py
| reneal. The answer to that contention
| this year is the same as IL was ias'
! year. when The Star said:
.Mr. Johnson proposing that Congress
shall now destroy the nal1 -ana.naal
! proyision of the act OF 1873. asserts. as
| if in justification of this destruction
| that this is not the first time that Con-
| sress has violated that law; ana ne
| scolds this community for not recos-
nizing that the change from annual TO
| triennial assessments in 1888 vitaily
| injured the organic act. and that the
| fixing in 1902 of a minimum two-thirds
| basis of realty assessment valuation
and the exclusion Of Intangible per
| sonalty from taxable personality
smashed the organic act into tiny
| fragments.
| washington is ready to admit that
Congress has frequently since 1878 dis.
| obeyed and violated the haif.and -halt
| provision. Indeed. the city has com
planned of such infractions. But the
| community Is as obtuse now as 1t was
| in 1883 and 1902. and fails now. as II
did then. to discover any violation OF
1
! Inual to triennia1 assessments. or IN d
direction to assessors who had been. m
fact assessing at a third and a half OF
F., full value that they must Thereafter
assess at not less than two-thirds of
i full value: or in placing Washington
| in the list of communities in which
| taxable personal property is not held
to include intangible personally. None
of these provisions altered the $l.5o
tax rate. fixed by the organic act: and
l o1o M
| but increased, the assessments of both
real and personal property
| But il Mr.. johnson, as the champion
| and defender of the organic act. were
were insidious and covert infractions 8
| by Congress of the act of 1878. would
not the moral to be deduced be that
| Congress should quit violating the or
/ ganic act: And not that Congress
should in consideration OF past sins
sin more and worse and smash the ylo-
| lated law altogether"
! 4. To give the half-and-half law a
| stab and then to make the partial
killing n pretext for killing 1t alto
| Sether seems to be a popular sport In
certain congressional circles.
! For example, we were told last year.
| and it is now repeated. that the act of
| 1878 has broken down in operation and
| might as well be put to death: that a
doubling of the local tax-revenue under
the half-and-half arrangement has
come to produce more money than the
| District needs, or, at any rate, more
| than Congress will spend on the capi-
/ tai; and that since Congress has shown
its disregard of the act of 1873 by re-
| fusing or falling to appropriate in ac-
| cordance with its terms, the law itsel
should be changed to conform to the
| unlawful practice of Congress.
| 1t was pointed out that duplication of
| the local revenue will soon be produc-
| ing fifteen or sixteen million dollars
| annually. and that Congress has re-
Gently been appropriating only some
| thing over twelve millions; and that
in the face of these conditions either
| the half-and-half plan must be abol-
ished or local taxes must be decreased
| and the latter alternative is declared
| to be out of the question. But the
| twelve million Appropriation does not
| represent or pretend to represent the
| real needs Of the District, nor do the
| estimates of the Commissioners amy
| longer pretend to represent these needs.
The act OF March 3. 1909, which limits
| revenue of the District, in effect pro-
hibits congressional consideration of
| the full needs of the District, and the
| congressional method of handling these
| restricted estimates not as budget
| but as excessive and extravagant rec
concentrations, to be cut in regular rou-
tine from one to three millions. rem
ders impossible congressional compli-
ance with the act of 1873.
%. This act OF 1909 sh Ould be repealed
The COmmissiOnerS estimates should
| fully set forth the actual needs Of the
| Capital, both in respect to current
maintenance and to permanent i'm
prOvements. Then Congress-, Mt the in
stance of the appropriations committees