Evening star., 1916-08-17

porting commercial city. and by found
ing this capital in n place cOmpara-
| lively uninhabited, as well as by the
terms of the bargain with the owners
Of the soil, and by the declarations Of
| Its Representatives Mt the founding of
| the city and afteryard, showed an in
tention to build up n national city. at
| the nations expense. on grand scale.
the District. The capital was to be
| primarily d center of federal action.
! and the occupation Of the ground by
| settlers was merely incidental to this
great purpose.
1t was to be a meeting place for the
use, convenience and entertainment Of
the people OF the entire Union. and the
expense Of its support and adornment
| resources Of what permanent popula-
tien II might acquire.
The original owners of Washington
donated five-sevenths of the citys SOIL
and yielded the right of self-govern-
ment to the nation on the understand
ing and implied agreement that the ma
tion was to build up here magnln-
cent capital at its own expense. reim-
bursting itself from the proceeds OF the
sale of donated lots. s A pretentious city
was planned and lots were sold by the
government on the strength OF this un-
derstanding. For three -fourths or a
century the nation violated or neglected
the obligations which 1t had thus IN
CURED. In 1878 the government, which
had in the beginning impliedly under
taken to meet all the expenses OF capI-
tai making and then shifted that bur-
den. in the main, upon private citizens,
decided that justice required it to pay
one-half of the Districts expenses
From these facts two equities In
favor of Washington's people and
against the nation arise: % For the
payment of much moro than one-half
of the local community's capital max
ing expenditures from 1890, based on
the nations undertaking to meet these
expenses itself at the founding OF the
city; (2) for the repayment to WASH
inRton Of whatever its people had paid
more than the United States, applying
to the past the half-and- half principle
of the organic act.
Study of the equitable foundations
upon which proportionate contribution
toward capital maintenance by the ma
tion is based brings the conviction that
no fixing of that proportion can be Just
which ignores national neglects OF obl-
cations in the past in determining the
equitable measure of proportionate con-
tribution for the future.
While the nation up to 1873 exacted
an excessive and oppressive contrfbu-
ton from the local taxpayers toward
the upbuilding of the capital, and since
that date has required all that could
be equitably demanded. 1t has failed to
ward the capital, having neglected
these obligations for three-fourths of a
century and not offering now to reim-
burse payments made on its account
during the season Of neglect.
Since justice requires that the gov
ernment should pay certain proper
ton of District expenses now, both JUS
tice and consistency demand that 1t
should pay the same proportion of the
expenses Of the years of it's Indifference
and neglect
Obligation Follows Power.
The second obligation, that which is
coupled with and measured by the de-
gree to which the nation controls its
can,tal is extraordinarily great in
Washington's case.
Obligation is coupled with power /.
e.. financial obligation is coupled with
politicaI power. If the nation controls,
il pays; and to the extent that it con-
trolls. i. pays
Washington is the only capital in
the world in which. if certain proposed
,olic,es prevail, the nation would do all
of tile controlling and none of the pay
ire Paris wants France to pay with
ont controlling; some men would have
tha United States control without pay.
ing.
Australia, as supreme national control
the case of Washington; but if so,
this condition will result from the
| fact that the nation will secure and
retain fee-simple title to all the land
| in the federal district and will simply
lease to individual residents. 1t will
| logically couple national government
| ownership with national government
| control in an interesting socialistic
experiment. In Washington. if cer-
| tain theories prevail. the nation will
retain exclusive and complete control
| of the capital. equal to that of Can
| berra, without extinguishing by pur-
chase all individual title to property
and without even recognizing and
meeting the obligations which arise
from partial ownership and full con-
troll
| The organic act took away territorial
| representation In Congress and terri
! torial self-government and self-taxa-
| ton from the District and pledged the
| nation to meet one-half Of the ap-
proved expenses Of capital maintenance