Evening star., 1915-10-20
AT Least One-Haf Of All Expenses Of Nations City
Should Be Borne by Government, It Is Set Forth
in Formal Arguments.

not erect buildings thereon exceeding
eighty feet in height.
Peoples Ownership Illustrated.
Another striking illustration of the
fact that Congress deals with the Dis
trict of Columbia IS a place belonging
to all the people is the provision of law
now embodied in section 329 Of the
District code, authorizing executors
and administrators appointed by the
courts of any of the states or terri
tories to prosecute and recover any
claim in the District without taking
out ancillary letters here
II was In referring to this law that
Mf. Justice Cox. in delivering the opin-
ION of the Supreme Court of the Dis
trlct or Columbia in the above-men-
toned case of Roach agt. Van Ris-
wick, said:
1T is matter of history that the legis-
iation OF Congress respecting the inter-
nal affairs of the District has in vari-
Gus instances had direct reference to
the interests of the people of the
states Thus, nonresident executors
and administrators from the states, by
act OF 1872, were allowed to sue and re-
cover claims in the counts of the Dis
d
OF private history that the arrest for
debt here of a visitor from a state
was the occasion of the abolition by
congress of Imprisonment for debt.
Utner Illustrations might be given
showing that in practice, as we'll as
theory. the legislation of Congress, for
this District, is the exercise Of one of
the powers conferred on it as the ma
tfonal legislature"
The Constitution provides that the
ha int
shall extend to controversies between
cltlzens OF different states" This was
thought necessary in order to provide
an impartial tribunal to determine cases
In which one of the parties only was a
resident of the state in which the suit
was brought-since local prejudice
would be likely to favor the resident
party.
Denied Appeal to o. S. Courts.
In the case of Hepburn agt. Ellzey,
I'd Cranch, AS, the Supreme Court held
that an act of Congress which gave
effect to this constitutional provision
had no application to suit in a state
court where one of the parties was a
citizen of that state and the other was
a citizen of the District of Columbia.
rms Lnis decision was approved and fol-
lowed IN Barney agt. Baltimore, 6 Wal
lace. 2S7, and in Hooe agt. Jameson,
166 U. s., 39S. Hence the residents Of
the District are not only excluded from
the halls of Congress, but they are de-
MED the privilege of appealing to the
courts of the United States in all those
numerous cases in which those courts
have jurisdiction because of the diverse
citizenship of the parties.
1t is sometimes said that. while there
may be good reasons for expecting the
United States to contribute literally to
the expenses of the city of Washing
ton, the same may not be said of the
whole District of Columbia. We have
seen above that it was the District, not
the city, that became the permanent
abiding place of the federal govern
ment. The city as laid out by L'Enfant,
Ellicott and Dermott, under. the direc-
tion of President Washington. had no
legal existence as body corporate till
long after the District had been ceded
by Maryland and Virginia and had been
accepted by the President. 1t was not
till May 3, 1892, that the city of Wash
ington was incorporated e Stat, 1857.
But whatever may be properly said
of the distinction in the early days of
the republic between the District and
the city, that distinction has long since
been absolutely obliterated, both in fact
and in law. That this is true in fact is
obvious to any one who goes over the
District. He will find buildings in every
direction overrunning the original linn
its of the city and extending in many
directions to and beyond the District
line. Boundary street years ago became
Florida avenue, because the name
Boundary was a misleading misnomer.
Recognition by Congress.
And what the work of the builders
has thus brought about as matter of
fact Congress has as effectually recog-
nized and enforced by positive law.
The act of February 81, 1871, which
created the so-called territorial form of
government, while it continued in force
the names of Washington, Georgetown
and the county of Washington, prac-
tically extended the boundaries of the
city of Washington. over the entire
District. since 1t abolished all the then
existing local offices of Washington,
Georgetown and of the county outside
of those cities and created as their
successor single municipal corpora
tion, embracing all the territory that
had been ceded to the United States by
the state of Maryland. and transferred
to the new corporation all the property
of those it abolished. But this result
legislation.
BY an act approved August 81. 1888,
entitled "An act to regulate the sub
dyison Of land Ian Stta Within the District Of
provided that no subdivision of land
anywhere in the District of Columbia
should be admitted to record in the Of
fee of the surveyor of the District
without an order to that effect indorsed
thereon by the Commissioners of the
District, and that no such future SUBJ
division without the limits of the cities
of Washington and Georgetown should
be recorded in the surveyors Office of
the District unless made in conformity
with the general plan of the city Of
Highways for Whole District.
An act of Congress approved March
2, 1898 CIT Stat, 5S2), entitled AN
act to provide a permanent system of
highways in that part of the District
of Columbia lying outside Of Cities"
required the Commissioners Of the Dis
trict ito prepare a plan for the extern
sion of permanent system of high
ways over all that portion of said Dis
the cities of Washington and George
town."
The act further authorized the Com
in preparing such a plan
ito lay out at the intersections of the
principal avenues and streets thereof
circles or other reservations. corre-
sponding in number and dimensions
with those now existing at such inter-
sections in the city of Washington"
When finished and duly certified by the
Commissioners the map was to be de-
livered to a commission, consisting of
the Secretary of War. the Secretary of
the Interior and the chief of engineers,
who were authorized to make such