Evening star., 1915-10-20

shown by the result of Investigations
made by authority of the houses Of
Congress.
In 1895 Congress had under consider
alton the several memorials of the cor
porate authorities of Washington and
Georgetown and of the Inhabitants of
Washington. asking the aid of Con-
gress to relieve them of the financial
troubles in which they found them
selves involved
February .. 1885. Senator Southard.
on behalf of the Senate District COM
mittee. made a long report to the Sem
ate. giving the results of an investiga-
ton as to the facts set up by the me-
morialists (Senate Doc No. 81. 23d
Congress, I'd SESSION.. Every word of
that report is important in this con-
nection. In the report itself 1t is stated
that there had been several meetings
of the committees of the two houses to
consult upon the memorials and that
those committees were understood to
concur in presenting the accompanying
bill.
Extracts From Report.
The following are extracts from the
report:
The well known pecuniary embar-
easements of the city. and the repeated
appeals which have been heretofore
made to the justice and the liberality
of Congress. have induced a diligent
and careful examination into the facts
and principles which are applicable to
the case.
Those embarrassments are of the
most painful description. The city is
involved in pecuniary obligations, from
which 1t Is utterly impossible that it
can be relieved by any means within
its own control, or by any exertions
which it may make, unaided by con-
gressional legislation. Its actual debts
now amount to the enormous sum of
S1.SO6, ,442.59; and 1t has not means
from which it can apply at this time a
single dollar for it's discharge. So per-
fectly exhausted have its resources be-
come that it will very probably in a
short time be driven to the surrender
OF its charter by neglecting to elect its
corporate officers. and thus be left upon
the hands of Congress to dispose of,
govern. and sustain as may best suit
their own views of what is proper for
the capital of the Union. 4
state of things so little creditable to
the nation. and so abhorrent to the
FEELINGS of the committee, that they
will not hesitate to recommend such
measures within the constitutional au.
thority of Congress. as. in their judg-
ment. are called for by the occa-
The first cause of embarrassment to
which the attention of the committee
was directed was the expense incurred
IN the opening and repair of the streets
The plan of the city is one OF unusual
magnitude and extent The avenues and
streets are very wide, and for the num-
Der OF the inhabitants much greater in
distance than those of any other city on
this continent, and necessarily require
a proportionate expenditure to make
and keep them in repair.
Action Is Criticised.
The expenditure upon the streets
under these circumstances has unques-
tionably been one of the principal
causes of the embarrassment of the
city. and the committee believe that IL
is one which ought not to have been
thrown on the inha hitants to the extept
which it has been. They found this
opinion upon the early history of the
city. the object of the nation In its
establishment. and the contracts made
by the government for the land which
it possesses within it's limits
The plan of the city was formed by
the public authorities; the dimensions
of the streets determined by them,
without interference by the inha bitants
or regard to their particular interest
or convenience. 1t is a plan calculated
for the magnificent capital of a great
nation, but oppressive, from its very
dimensions and arrangements, to the
inha bitants. If its execution to any
extent is to he thrown
upon them. No people who anticipated
the execution and subsequent support
of 1T out of their own funds would ever
have dreamed of forming such plan.
1t would have been the most consum.
mate folly. At that period neither the
government nor the proprietors con-
tempiated that the whole or even a
large proportion of the burden should
be thrown upon the inha bitants of the
city. This assertion is amply sus-
tanned by two considerations. In the
first place, the contract between the
government and the owners of the land
gave to the former large extent of
public lots. sufficient for ali the edifices
and improvements which its conven-
ience could require. and, in addition
thereto, one-half of all the building
lots within the limits of the city, thus
er of all the private property, and
equally interested for the benefit of this
private property in all the improve
ments which might be made In the
next place. the government assumed,
and from that day to the present has
claimed and exercised. entire and alb
solute control over all the streets of
the city, so that the inha abitants or the
either to enlarge or to diminish them
nor to open or close them: but the
luthority in these respects has been ex-
ercised at all times by Congress- 1t
las even closed one of the streets and
sold the ground which formed a part
Of it.
Says q. S. Should Pay Part.
"The committee are of opinion that
The government was bound by every
of equal right and justice to
pay a proportion of the expense in
cured upon this subject. equal to the
amount of the property which it held,
md which was to be increased in
value and benefited by it; and this
would have been greatly more than
,ne-half -
The early. action of the government
md it's agents is believed to have been
n conformity with this principle, but
he government has not heretofore
oorne anything like its relative pro-
portion. Its expenditures for this OBJ
ect have been comparatively small.
nd devoted almost entirely to the ave-
lues and streets, which were indis-
necessary for the convenience
# Congress and the public Off
.ers
.'While they do not think that the
ity was bound to expend the money
If the inhabitants upon the streets
which the nation claimed and regu-
ire of justice would have required.
md does now require, that the gov
rnment, having in its private build
ng lots and public reservations at
east an equal interest in the improve
nent of the streets. should pay at least
ne-half of the expense of those
treets, and that one-half of the money
expended by the city for this purpose
ught now to be refunded to 1t, being