The Washington herald., 1915-10-26

and that any report which looks to q
settlement of the controversy over the
half-and-half plan. must consider the
basic feature of the plan-the principle
Of maintaining a fixed proportion Of
contribution by the government.
| Mr.. mcfarland pointed out the difficult
position in which the District representa-
tives found themselves when attacking
| the plan for indeterminate contributions
by Congress. from the fact that certain
of the good friends of the District as
well as its bitterest enemies propose this
plan, though from widely different mo-
tives.
Senator Works, declaring that he de-
sired to make II easier for the Federal
government TO contribute more literally
| to the progress of the District than un-
der the half-and-half plan, performed
reductio ad absurdum in respect to the
latter by suggesting. in effect, that per-
| haps the unwillingness Of Congress to
| load down the taxpayers Of the District
prevented II from setting q faster pace
in appropriations from the Federal
Treasury than might be the case II the
taxpayers of the District were not obi
gated to match dollar for dollar Federal
expenditures in behalf of the District.
Aside from the fact, pointed out by Mr..
Macfarland, that there is no limitation
on the amount Congress may spend In
the District, except that it must appro-
PIRATE for not less than the amount OF
! District revenues 1t spends, the history
OF Congressional appropriations for the
District between the years 1900 and lsIS,
when no such limitation was imposed
offers a record which the Congressional
committee will find it impossible to go
back Of In that time. as Mr.. Macfar-
land emphasized yesterday, the District
went into bankruptcy three times. de-
spite the complete absence Of Limitation
upon Congressional generosity.
with the half-and-haf plan of
fixed proportion Of contributions abol-
fshed," declared Mr.. Mcfarland yes
terday, and with the taxing power
vested entirely in Congress, national
LEGISLATORS would be able to tax the
District as heavily as they see Mt
Opponents of the half-and-half plan
desire to raise the rate of taxation by
one method or another until there
shall be no occasion for any Federal
contribution. We would have no vote
as to the taxation on property or the
amount to be appropriated from the
treasury. Moreover. IL Is proposed
now that appropriations from the
treasury and the revenues shall alike
be covered by national appropria-
ton bill. Consider what would be
the mental attitude of Senators and
Representatives not familiar with
conditions in the District when such
large expenditures, apparently en-
tirely from the Federal treasury, were
proposed-how misleading the propo-
sition would be. And as statesmen
YOU know that so-called watchdogs
of the treasury-very properly-would
keep down appropriations, as they do
even now.
Other Contributions.
1T seems that this proposal is made
on the one hand by many who undoubt-
edly are devoted to the National Capital
and on the other hand by those who
wish to destroy the half-and-haf plan
in order to place the entire burden on
the District In view Of what we know
of the desires of the otter group and
the methods of appropriating in Congress,
it would mean possibly an increase IN
taxation to the point Of conascation.
or at least a reduction of all Federal
contributions to a point where the pro-
gress and development Of the National
Capital would be seriously checked.
TT is not possible to get perfect plan,