Evening star., 1921-09-21
The Evening Star Newspaper Compan
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MARYLAND and Virginia.
Repeal the Borland Law.

Repeal the Borland Law.
The Borland amendment, putting
one-half the cost of street improve
ment on abutting owners and increas.
provement of the national streets of
the nations city from one-half to
three-quarters of the total cost. in
wolves two distinct inequities and
should be repealed. 1t is inequitable,
first. to the abutting owner. and, Sec
ond, to the local community in it's re-
lati6ff to the nation as contributor to-
ward capital upbuilding. The abutting
owner on a street not finally improved
when the Borland law was enacted had
been paying taxes perhaps for many
years, and had thus been contributing
his share of improving the streets of
others on the half -and-hah basis; but
now that his own street is to be i'm
proved he finds the governments par
ticipation and that Of his fellow tax
payers living on improved streets cut
down by so per cent and his own bur-
den correspondingly increased. Dwell
ers on unimproved streets in the origi-
nal city, as we'll as dwellers on new
suburban streets, thus suffer an in
furious discrimination.
Gross inequity is inflicted also in
cutting down the national contribution
toward street improvement from so
per cent to 25 per cent.
The Borland law. in its relation to
/. street improvement. aggravates the
distinctly unfair treatment of the Dis
trict in the matter of, street extensions
beyond the original city limits. Years
ago, in violation of all equities, Con-
: gress cut out the United States from
participation in the cost Of carrying
the streets of the capital beyond the
original plan. When this was proposed
the District contended that if the orig
inal plan was to be extended substan-
TALLY over the suburbs the government
should participate as in the restricted
city bounded by Florida avenue, but if
the government did not thus partici-
pate, and if the streets were to be ex-
tended wholly at local expense, they
should be developed along lines pleas
ing to those required to pay for the
cost, and not on the broad, expensive,
national lines of the original plan. The
unjust position was finally taken, how
ever, that the street extension should
be on the broad scale Of the Capital
city established by the United States
for its own use and designed as a
great seat of government of unique
plan and comprehensive scale, but that
the United States should be exempt
from participating in the cost of exten-
sions. But by gentleman's agreement
the Improvement Of the suburban
streets was left on the basis of equal
payments by the United States. The
Borland law violated equity and this
sentleman's agreement by causing the
government to withdraw still further
from it's first bargain with the owners
of the land from which the capital was
carved, and by compelling the local
community, as taxpayers and abutting
owners, to bear not only the whole
cost of suburban street extension, but
three-auarters of the cost Of suburban
street Improvement.
washington's street extension plans.
as sanctioned by Congress, propose
substantially the reproduction in the
county of the street plan of the orig
III city. The avenues seeking exten-
. propose to suffer no material con-
traction, and If all are carried through
the belt Of suburban subdivisions and
connected with the street plan provid-
ed by the amended highway act the
scheme of streets of the new Washing
ton, while occupying somewhat
smaller percentage of area in thor
oughfares, will be on the same broad
scale as that of the original city.
But the plan of Washington, as con-
ceived by the forefathers, was on ma
tional, not a local, scale, the broad
streets, avenues and alleys occupying
more than sone-half the entire area.
The scheme would have been absurd
for a self-supporting, self-developlng
MARYLAND village of that day. Its ex-
tension more than a century later to
adjacent territory is equally absurd, as
we'll as grossly unjust and unbearably
oppressiye, unless the nation stands in
the same relation to the enlarged as TO
the original city.