Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-28

I employees as homes saying that the cost
! of land was so high that every inch
/ had to be built upon. He suggested
| that before the hearing was complet-
/ ed records from the courts showing
real estate transactions in Washington
would be brought in.
, Senator Works said that he thought
! the long rows of attached houses were
an abomination. and called attention to
the fact that he had introduced a bill
| IN the Senate prohibiting the erection
| or such rows of houses.
The privately owned buildings of
Washington are a disgrace to the cap
ital for the most part" said Mr..
6rowhe Take the buildings along
PENNSYLVANIA avenue from the Capitol
! TO the Treasury Department. All are
unworthy until you reach The Star
building, which is a model of archi-
/ tectural beauty and simplicity Then
there are the Raleigh Hotel and the
New willard. and the Post Office De-
partment and the District building
| AZ must say" said Senator Works.
| that there seems to be very little civic
| pride in the matter of their buildings
among the residents of the District
we are constantly met with the argu-
I nents that realty is high and rents
! TOO low when We want to do anything
There is not much civic pride in
| cents"
You have put your finger on the
very spot, said Mr.. Browne He said
that drastic means should be adopted
! TO better the situation. He then took
up comparison of the manner in
which cities are built in Germany and
III this country, with particular refer.
ence to Washington.
Criticises Assessment Here,
Mr.. Browne spoke of the underassess-
ment of American cities generally and
said that it was largely due to the
struggle between the municipal and
county and state tax levies. He criti-
cised the manner in which the law re-
quiring that a two-thirds valuation of
property be taxed in the District, say
ing that this provision had been meant
to esta blish minimum, but had al
ways been taken to mean a maximum.
Taking UP the contention of the joint
citizens committee that Washington
should not be compared to other cities
paying county and state taxes, because
Washington had none of the benefits
derived from such taxes, he said that
it was not tenable since the residents
of Washington had the benefits OF gov
ernment here, just the residents of
the other cities.
4 never could see anything in the
contention that Washington pays taxes
as willingly as any other city he
continued. BE then went on to say that
the ultimate taxpayer is the man who
pays rent, buys goods, rides in the
street cars. etc; that the rent money
provides the fund from which the
owner pays his tax, that the street car
ticket furnishes a part of the tax on
the public utility.
IF l am patriotic enough to buy a
piece of imported cloth l support
ing the government" said Mr.. Browne.
That is a very dangerous ground"
said Senator Chiffon with smile, you
may split the committee"
You may hold it dangerous" inter-
jected A S worthington. but, of
course. it is very pertinent to this i'm
quiry-"
Taxation Without Representation.
Leaving tariff questions, Mr.. Browne
swung into taxation without represen-
tation," and made mention of colonial
contentious along that line, and said
that slogan has been used as a refuge
behind which residents of the District
hide themselves, and expressed the
opinion that it was no longer a safe
asylum. He said he believed the resi-
dents have an excellent representa- A.
and that they are extremely successful
in obtaining hearings and realizing
their wishes.
A member of the joint select COM
mittee asked Mr.. Browne question
about the number of District people
who are voters elsewhere:
The number is gradually decreas-
ing" was the answer. In the old
days government employees who had 10
think of politics to hold their jobs paid
more attention to voting" Mr.. Browne
then made a speech uphoiding some of
the features of the old spoils system,
claiming that sit brought here men
with punch There was an exchange
of good -humored repartee on the COM
mittee side of the table just then, but
Cooper took the oppor-
tunity vigorously to uphold the civil
service system, taking as a single in
stance of efficiency the fine organiza-