Evening star., 1922-05-05

portant permanent employees. who are
eonspicuously underpaid. a--s--sr
Present plan Grew Cp.
"rhe Commissioners understand that
the conferees on the District OF Column
bia appropriation bill have under con-
sideration a plan for raising a large
working capital for District purposes
and thereby ending the present practice
Of borrowing from the federal Treasury
during the major portion of the fiscal
year. This working capital is to be acr
cumulated, so it is reported, over a pc
riod of five years by corresponding
increase in the rate of taxation. While
the Commissioners offer no 0bjeQ43on To
raising a suitable fund for working CAPT
tai, they desire to point out that the
District to 1iquidate its obligations dur
ing approximately ten months Of the
year by borrowings from the federal
Treasury, is one that was not suggested
by the residents Of the District Of Co
lumbia. but that grew up under laws
to the Commissioners to be both mad
visable and inequitable within the short
period of Ave years to- call upon the
taxpayers of the District Of Columbia to
provide by taxation a fund that In other
cities has been accumulated by process
of slow accretion. as these cities have
grown in size and in their public re-
quirements.
Debt Free Next Year.
"A course fairer toward the tax
payers of the District of Columbia
| would. in our opinion. be to raise the
amount needed to defray District OBJ
legations currently out of District
funds by means of an issue Of bonds
which shall in turn be liquidated over
a comparatively long period of years.
1t should be emphasized that Wash
ington will be debt free by next year
and that it Is probably the only large
city that is in this fortunate situation,
In~,the beginning. for example. not
over per cent OF the bonds should
be retired annually and thereafter
the amount retired should increase
slowly year by year so as to extin-
guisf the entire issue in, say about
fifty years. Under such. provision
future taxpayers would contribute
fund of working capital, while, in the
meantime. the present generation Of
taxpayers. will have done more than
it's share by the contribution not only
Of its assigned portion Of the sinking
fund. but also by providing funds for
the payment Of interest on the bonds.
AS the principal amount Of the. bond
issue grows less, annual interest pay
! ments will correspondingly decline,
, while, on the other hand, annual con-
tributions to the sinking, fund. being
on a sliding scale upward, will pro-
portionate1y increase. A fair arrange
| ment can, Of course, readily be
rrorkad p
Urss AlterHste method.
1--WE forbear to go. into the details
Of this plan, but We desire to en-
phasize the fact that we believe it to
be preferable, to that which we un-
-derstand is now ms Contemplation,
ana we earnestly urge that this
alternative method oferaislng work
ing capital for the District Of Co.
1umbia be therefore given careful
consideration. In any event, the
amount OF the bond issue should be
determined only. after a decision has
been had. as to the, surplus of funds
belonging to the District Of Colum-
bia now fmbohndsd IN the United
States Treasury. Such surplus OBJ
y,sus,y = ts gr99psffty f ysSh;s r ths pSS
should be available as part. of the
working capital deemed to be neces-
sary. To reduce the amount of the
bond issue necessary to provide
working, capital, we further recon-
mend that existing legislation BE
amended SO as to make mandatory
the payment Of SO per gent of the
annual tax assessment. die in Nc
yember, the remainder to be paid, as
now, in May Of each year." :.
WITT RE GIVEN sTUDY.