Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-20

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works which had resulted in levyine
| enormous sums by way Of special as
sessments on lands in the city Of Wash
| ington held in private ownership and In
| making the debt of the District. fund
| ed and unfunded, about $21,0OO,00O.
And the committee said:
but one way in which the board could
have expected to pay this large debt;
that is by receiving aid from Congress.
as 1t must have occurred to them that
the resources of the District could not
be taxed sufficiently to pay them"
1t must be borne in mind in this con-
nection that the board of public works
was the agent of the United States. It's
great work in improving the capital,
which was warmly approved in many
respects by the committee, was the
work of the federal government. In
Its creation and in the selection of Its
members the District had no part.
And whatever may be said Of the
methods pursued by the board, the I'M
questioned fact shown in detail in the
report of the committee. is that a ire
mendous debt had been created which
it was impossible for the people of the
District to meet.
AS already shown, when, in 1872, a
thousand representative citizens of the
District urged Congress to put an end
to the boards activities, the House in
of which Mr.. Starkweather was chair
man and declining to interfere prac-
tically approved what the board was
then doing and what it was proposing
to do in the immediate future.
District Employees Unpaid.
So Impoverished had the District be-
come at this time that it was stated by
the joint committee in its report that:
"a portion of the employees [of the
District have not received any pay
since June. 1873. and none of them have
been paid since November 1, 1873. as
far as the committee could ascertain.
The only resources of the District to
meet these liabilities are the unpaid
taxes. 1t Is safe to assume that there
will be deficit on the LIST of July of at
least s1.000,000. for the current year.
This does not include a debt of S410.-
funding bonds, which must be paid I'M
less the bonds can be sold"
So. Mr.. jeremiah NJ. Wilson in sub
hitting the same report and the ac-
con1panying bill to the House of Repre-
sentatives on the 18th of June. 1874,
said:
The District is in a sense utterly
bankrupt. 1 regret to say it, but they
have no means wherewith to carry on
the government any longer. The treas
ury Is utterly exhausted. They have
no money with which to meet current
expenses, much less to pay their debts"
Il state these things for the
purpose of showing that for the pro-
charges on account of this District
there Is an absolute necessity for fixing
some pro rata amount, some fixed pro-
portional share: which shall be paid by
Congress for the support of this Dis
trict: and hence we have embodied that
recommendation In section of this
bill"
Opinion Of Mr.. Garfield.
And Mr.. Garfield on the same occasion
added:
There is certainly a most imperative
necessity that we should know at an
early period exactly what part of the
expenses of the District the govern
ment of the United States ought to
bear"
When the bill reached the Senate, Mr..
Thurman, who was himself a member
Of the joint select committee which re-
ported it, In urging its passage, said:
Il do not say that this bill is per-
feet, but ! do say that your committee,
after four months of such toll as per-
haos was never performed by any COM
mittee Of Congress, have unanimously
recommended the passage of this bill"
The paragraph of the bill to which
Mr.. Wilson referred was as follows:
That joint select committee shall
be appointed consisting Of two sena-
tors. to be appointed by the presiding
ofticer of the Senate, and two members
of the House. to be appointed by the
Speaker of the House OF Representa-
tives. whose duty it shall be to prepare
suitable frame of government for the
District of Columbia, and appropriate
0t0t f1tn
Congress for carrying the same into
effect. and report the same to the two
houses, respectively, on the first day of
the next session thereof; and they shall
also prepare and submit to Congress a
statement of the proper proportion of
the expenses of said government, or any
branch thereof. including interest on
the funded debt, which should be borne
by said District and the United States.
respectively, together with the reasons
upon which their conclusions may be
based"
Inquiry Ordered in 1874.
The House of Representatives on the
2Sth day of January. 1874, instructed its
committee on the judiciary ito inquire
and report to this House the legal reia-
tions between the federal government
and the local government of the Dis
trict of Columbia, and the extent and
character of the mutual obligations
with regard to municipal expenses, and
further to inquire and report whether
some accurately defined basis OF expen-
diture cannot be prescribed and main
tanned by law"
On the LIST Of June, 1874, Mr.. Poland,
from the committee on the Judiciary
submitted the report called for by the
above resolution Oh. r. Report No 627
Forty-third Congress, first SESSION., in
which 1t was said In part:
This brings us to the consideration
OF the question as to the extent and
building the federal city. 1t is perfect
ly manifest from moments examina-
ton Of this plan that city was laid
off here for the use Of the United States
upon scale hitherto unknown in this
or any other country: upon plan to
carry out which would inevitably lead
to an expenditure entirely beyond the
requirements of a city for business pur-
poses. 1t was a plan having reference
peculiarly to the wants of the govern
ment and not to those Of its inhabi-
Der. length and width, are upon a scale
that was appropriate for National
Capital. but was entirely inappropriate
to the demands OF sparse population
not engaged in manufacturing or COM
merce, and when manufactures and
commerce were not encouraged to
come. Not only are the streets un-
usually wide and numerous. but
throughout the city are large reserva-
tons. SO that 1t may be estimated that
the whole area thus set apart embraces
city. the streets and avenues alone of
which fhere are rnileg VARYING. In