Evening star., 1915-02-27
FIGHT ON IN HOUSE
OVER ORGANIC ACT
Continued from First Page.)

just proportion and no more-what
that proportion should be Is to be de-
termined."
Underwood Defends Amendment.
Representative Underwood took the
floor to defend his amendment to Gre
ate a commission to investigate the re-
lations between the United States and
the District of Columbia after Speaker
Clark had ruled his motion in order
He outlined the situation. saying the
United States should not burden the
District of Columbia with payment OF
all the expenses.
Representative Underwood drew fire
from Representative Ben johnson by
saying that Representative johnson
conceded that Underwood was right.
HE fails to understand me-. said
alleged tax dodgers. Mr.. Underwood
said they were rare and that the small
home owner is the man who supports
the Districts share.
I'VE are keeping up city that Is the
pride of the nation" he said. II am
proud of 1t and my constituents are
proud of it,
Burden Too Heavy for People.
He spoke of the burden of keeping
up the vast property Of the United
States here. and said 1t would be an
impossibi1ity for people here to support
the governments proper burden.
Mr.. Underwood said. by inference.
that the time had come to settle the
hot dispute over the half-and-ha1f plan.
There is certain amount of prop
erty owned by the United States and a
certain amount by the citizens. You
should not tax people merely to tax
them, but you should distribute the
burden fairly and there should be
line of demarcation between the bur
den of the people,
He said not dollar should be levied
beyond the needs-and that the logical
way to arrive at the proper basis is to
appoint committee to investigate the
matter.
johnson Urges His Plan.
Representative Johnson then took the
floor to defend his proposition. He said
the Underwood commission would give q
new lease of life to the half-and-half
plan during the investigation.
And the Lord only knows when that
investigation would end.". he said.
He suggested it would be better to
follow his plan even while the Under
wood commission would be investigat-
ing. Representative Johnson said this
method is followed by railroads. which
keep up wrongs against the people
while appeals are being made to COM
missions. etc.
Representative johnson made q bitter
attack on the commission idea. He as
sailed the original commission which
drew the organic act. and declared Rep
resentative Underwood had brought In
the idea of Gallinger to the House"
Representative Underwood remir
Mr.. Johnson that the Speaker and Vice
President would appoint the commits
sion and that it is not Gall1nger
commission"
Continuing, Mr.. johnson said:
might as Well Tax the Sun"
THE gentleman from Alabama says
1t is a burden on the District of CO.
lumbia to have the seat of government
here. What factory would pour out
such a pay roll as the government has
here? You might as we'll tax the sun
that gives light to the District of Coz
lumbia as tax the government which
created the District Of Columbia. One
Is as reasonable as the other"
Mr. johnson spoke Of local lobby
here that had outlined its plan to com.
pei the House to yield to the Senate
He presented. in support .f this,
large number of carefully kept clip
pings, and asked, when did Senator
Gallinger and Representative Under.
wood raise th.-r voices In protest
against the situation? Not until pro-
posal was made to raise taxes here"
He suggested in his speech that the
"lobby' had affected Messrs. Under
wood and Gallinger.
"The gentleman from Alabama has
has never before asked for a commits
sion to enlighten him.
Has Tilt With MI. Campbell.
Representative Campbell Of Kansas
started to defend the District Of Co.
lumbia- Mr.. johnson asked him several
questions as to whether he, or his
brother, John Campbell, owned any
property here, and II not, when 1t was
sold and who got the money. Repre-
sentative Campbell said:
"I spurn the question and the attitude
Of the gentleman"
johnson amendment. He said there
was no attempt being made to over
burden the District property owner.
There is not a word here that raises
he said, "but it does break down the
bulwarks Of the tax dodger."
Representative Crisp Of Georgia op.
posed the Underwood motion.
Says District Is Favored.
He went back over much of the old
argument on the organic act; spoke
Of the fact that Intangible property 10
not taxed and supported the allega-
ton that the District of Columbia is a
grossly favored community that should
be penalized for being the seat of the
government.
In the course Of his argument Mr.
Crist read long list Of foreign gov
ernments which do not operate their
national capitals on the half-and-half
plan and which pay no taxes on prop
.1 "Do - any ny of these governments con-
stitute in themselves the sole law
making power for the municipalities in
which their capitals are located ?''
asked Representative Cooper Of Wis
consin.
Il do not know" said Representative
Crisp.
"Is not that an important point?'' con-
tinued Representative Cooper.
Representative Prouty of Iowa took
the floor. using his old tax arguments
to support Representative Johnson.
Mr.. Prouty deprecated what he called
the trucking" of the House to the
Senate whenever a question Of econ
omy comes up. He contended that the
House is responsible for the raising
and expenditure of the public moneys
Representative Fitzgerald OF New
York termed the Underwood motion
fair and reasonable; he said he would
like to see an investigation; predict