The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-11-16

the Congressional Record and read a few
| of the clarion attacks against the Dis
trict by members OF Congress who. guild
/ ed by the figures of the George report,
! have for years been exhortinG Congress
| to do away with the half-and-half plan
and make the District bear the entire
I burden of taxation.
| The false figures of assessment values
! contained in the George report never
having been authoritatively contradicted
I prior to the present investigation, Mr..
Noyes argued; also that the lS votes
| once mustered against the organic act in
the House would still. lured by the false
| figures in the George report. be favor
| able to so increasing the tax rate as to
! saddle the expense of the District en-
tirely upon local taxpayers. This, he
pointed out could best and most certain
" be prevented bv the action of the COM
mittee in voting TO retain the half-and-
half plan. against which no assault Of
facts had been made.
Browne Talks Single Tax.
Mr.. Browne, who followed Mr.. Noyes.
devoted very little time to detailed de-
Tense of the George report, beyond sew
eral well-selected phrases by way Of pre-
diction. Mr.. Browne talked for less than
an hour. and spent a good deal of the
time in discussions of political economy
and the single tax theory.
Mr.. Noyes opened his address by point
ing out how the half-and-half plan has
been attacked from a number Of differ
ent angles and from Numerically OPP
posed positions. so that. as he put 1t.
IF shells were being used in the attacks.
the various attacking parties would de-
stroy each other"
zone set OF opponents OF the half-and-
half plan" he said, would place the
whole burden of District government
upon local taxpayers. while the other
would abolish the plan so the nation
can so ahead unhampered in its ex
penditures. One group charges that taxes
upon local residents have been too light;
another group charges that they have
been too heavy.
Zone speaker declares the half-and-
half plan is 'perniciously alive another
says II is now dead. and n third told
you It never had existed, and Is only
legislative fiction.
lone assailant of the plan says It has
benefited and pampered the people or
Washington too much. and others at
tack II because, they say, II has in
jured development, caused the high cost
OF living, and resulted in shabby struc-
lures along Pennsylvania avenue. Some
men seem to regard 1t as the cause of
all our woes from dlphtheria to spots
on the SUM-"
Mr.. Browne says the plan has not
benefited anybody but the land owners
and cursed the rest OF the District citi-
zens," continued Mr.. Noyes Many may
agree with Mr.. Browne on some of his
theories about the single tax, but man,
will disagree with him when he couples
them with a real meaning of the half
and-half act. Those who disagree will
contend that 1t will be no relief to the
local taxpayers to pay the whole in
stead Of half the burden Of District
maintenance. Neither will they think it
necessary in order to make a few tax
payers pay more money to double the
entire tax burden Of the District"
rs not the half-and-half plan a wise
compromise between the extremes of
radically opposed systems?" he asked.
Reviews George Report.
After reviewing the errors In the
George report. which assesses real estate
here at S74i. COO. 900. instead OF the proper
assessment of sis5, 10000. Mr.. Moves
pointed out how the charge Of tax-dodg-
ing and under-assessment had been built
up and dilated on as the basis for the
false premise that with a fair method of
here. SO much money would be
raised from local taxation that govern
ment contribution would be unnecessary.
These figures have been accepted a.