The Washington herald., 1922-05-03
Civic Chieftains Unite
To Demand Revision
Of Fiscal Bill.
HOUSE HOLDS OFF
AMENDMENT VOTE
Business Men and Citi-
zens Swell Volume of
Protest on Increase.

appropriation bill and to refuse to
impose on them a tax burden which
they believe will seriously impair
the welfare of the District.
4 committee composed of Harry
X. Boss. president of the Real
Estate Board: Thomas Bradley,
Albert Schulteis. president OF the
Chamber of~Commerce; Gen. Anton
stephan. president of the Mer-
chants and Manufacturers Asso-
citation. and Charles A. Baker, presi-
dent of the Federation of Citizens
Associations. will wait on the Dis
trict committees Of the House and
Senate TO voice the protests Of the
citizens.
House Delays Action.
Accepting the conference report
on the District appropriation bill
without a dissenting vote yesterday.
the House failed to agree upon the
amendment to the Senate amend
ment fixing the fiscal relations be-
tween the Federal and me District
government. The question will be
taken up again today. it was an
nounCed.
The amendment offered by Chair
man Davis. of the appropriations
committee in charge of the District
appropriations bill in the House,
provided that annually. from July
1. 1922. 60 percent of the expenses
of the District. as Congress may ap-
propriate for, shall be paid out or
the revenues of the District and the
remaining 40 per cent from the
Treasury of the United States.
1t further provides a tax on the
fun value of all real estate and
tangible personal property subject
to taxation in the District as will,
when added to the revenues derived
from other sources, produce money
enough to pay the annual expenses
of the District.
Moore Questions Amendment.
The rate fixed by the amend
ment on intangible personal prop
erty is five tenths of l per cent.
per annum.
Representative r. Walton Moore.
Virginia, announced early in The
afternoon that he would make d
point of order rs soon as the am
endment was offered and asked
that it be deferred until all MEM
pSIS hdu pceH gwen an OPpOi thH-
ity to study il.
Chairman Davis insisted that he
would offer the amendment at
once. as he was anxious to know
just what the point of order would
be.
The point of o-der Representa-
tive Moore explained was directed
at the amendment End all its fea-
lures. lie contended that il was
not germane to the Senate amend
ment to which il in turn was an
amendment and that it sought TO
establish a new and separate fiscal
system for the district.
johnson Defends.
Objection was offered to the
feature including the tax on intan-
Eible personal property. the new
provision for ground rents and the
fact that If the amendment was
allowed to pass II would open the
way for other legislation that could
COMPEL the people of the district
to pay s2O,0OO,OO0.
Representative Ben Johnson,
Kentucky, of the appropriations
committee, in answering Moore in
S1Sttu lUdl lht " us
germane in every way to the SEN
ate amendment and explained that
it had not been offered before be-
cause the rules of the House
would not allow II and not until
an amendment had been offered by
the Senate was the House in a
position to offer the proposed
change.
He declared that the House was
for the purpose of creating new
legislation and that the conferees
had acted within their authority in
offering the amendment.
VIII Vote Today.
The tax feature which has Gre
the most serious objection to the
the amendment, was not materially
changed. Representative Johnson
explained. as the present law reads
that the property shall not be
assessed for less than two-thirds
of its full value but does state
that it shall not be assessed for
it's full value as is provided in
the amendment.
The decision on the point OF
order will be announced today.
Chairman Davis explained that
the amount of the bill as 1t passed
the House originally was s2O,-
397.779.S0. and as passed by the
Senate had been increased to s23,.
955.923.S0. This increase, Davis
declared. was the largest amount
that had ever been added to an
appropriation bill for the District
in his experience. The House sc
far has receded on s655, ,430, and In
addition to that many items will,
be brought back to the House
which are expected to be adopted
he explained.
In the matter of streets, Chair.
man Davis explained that all ths
items had been accepted and ir
addition s119,900 had been added
to what was thought proper 70,
paving.
Board of Trade Protests.
The following petition addressed
to the Senate and House was
adopted by the board of governors
of the Board of Trade:
The conference report proposes
contrary to established procedure, tc
increase assessment and other taxa.
zion provisions without giving the
| residents of the District an oppor
conttnsed on Page Too.