The Washington herald., 1916-01-07

mgton: that with the payment of
such taxes as may be equitably and
properly assessed against privately
owned taxable property, the financial
responsibility of the resident of the
District should be concluded: that the
present assessment valuation OF pri-
vately- owned real estate in Washing
ton Is fair and reasonable; that tho
sum of money collected as such
taxes be paid into the Treasury of
the United States. there to be incor-
porated into a trust fund for the ben
eft Of the District of Columbia and
that the revenues thus collected be
expended in the government of the
District OF Columbia and for no other
purpose; that the United States pay
from its moneys all the balance OF
whatever sum Is deemed necessary
to appropriate for the proper muni-
cipal expenses of the District of Co.
lumbia after consideration OF the re-
ports and estimates of the Commits
siOners of the District of Columbia
and the needs of said District; and as
a conclusion. which should be of the
greatest weight, we urge upon Con-
Sress that its appropriations for the
expenses of the District of Columbia
should always be In such sums as will
not only continue the city of Wash
ington and the District of Columbia
in every respect the splendid and
beautiful central residence OF this
great nation. but also cause 1t to be-
come and be forever maintained as
model for all cities OF the world.
Urges Liberal Treatment.
Our unanimous conclusion is
that the rate of taxation In the
IOiStriTt shnp1d ha
tain: that the Congress should
pursue a definite policy of regular
and liberal appropriations having
in view not only the permanent
moral and physical advancement
of the city, but also its preemi-
nent beauty and grandeur cas- the
municipal expression of the ma
tion's home and it's peoples pride"
In each house the report was re-
ferred to the District Committee to
be made the basis for proposed legis-
lation.
Following are important extracts
from the report:
"a great contribution in patriotism
and true citizenship was made by
those citizens of Washington who
when the city was extending it's limits
through natural growth, protested
against the varied and indiscriminate
plating of land by private owners
and caused to be prepared a plan ex-
tending to newly developed territory
within the District of Columbia the
same plan as that made for the orig
inal city, which plan was adopted
so that now and for all future time
the beautiful plans of the city oi
Washington are extended to the out
ermost limits of the entire District
I'VE believe that the fact that the ma
tional appropriation has averaged hal
of these expenses is not the result oi
chance, but of design, and that the so
called 'half-and-halt law which wa!
conceived as an economic necessity t
lift the burden of debt from the op
pressed District and its tax-paying citi
zens. was justified by the exigencies o
the time and the conditions Of that day.
No Longer Applicable.
1T came into being because the con
sensus of the best thought of that da!
was that Justice demanded that the Fed
eral government should definitely com,
to the aid of the District and its citizen!
in the payment of this vast debt incurred
for public works. This, we think, is tn,
real reason for the passage of the half
and-half' law.
But we think that the conditions o
today and of the few years last past ar,
so different from the conditions of 1S7
that this arbitrary rule--a rule of ther
seeming necessity-need no longer be ap
piled to District appropriations.
-
More and more every year Is land be-
ing acnnired held or rip
purposes, withdrawn from par
ticipation In assessment and taxation.
THE increasing needs of the govern
ment in this. its central home. demand
and will continue to demand more land
more buildings, more reservations.
AL of this means that the District OF
Columbia and the national government
should not be longer on any partnership
basis of contribution, but that the Ma.
tional City, the nations home, should be
a District where the national authority
Is not only supreme. but a District where
the just pride of a great people should
insist upon its maintenance in a manner
most fitting to the dignity of the citizens
whose manifestation Of central govern
ment it is.
Would BE Inequitable.
Nothing is clearer to us than 1t never
was the intent that this District should
bear all the very extraordinary burdens
of expense incident to its plan and oc
cupancy as a National City and any such
plan would be most inequitabl,
and unjust now.
1.-The rights of the people of the Dis
trict are to be considered, and We woult
therefore, recommend that the people o
Washington pay a tax comparable In as
sessment, rate, and amount to that ia,
paid by the residents of other cities SINH
lar in population and location to the cit,
of Washington.
This We believe is eminently fair an,
there should be no greater exaction II
taxation from the people of the Distric
Of Columbia.
In seeking to apportion benefits result
ing to the general government and to tn,
citizens and residents of the District o
Columbia it is manifest that no line o.
rule of distinction can be found.
THE expenditures of the District O
Columbia are for police and fire protec
ton, education, sanitation and health
charities, correction and reform, the car,
of the insane and the poor. and In eacl
and every one of these specific items o.
expense both the general government ant
the District Of Colurnhia ara han af3tsd