Evening star., 1923-02-01
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.

Uncle Sam particularly in 1918 and
1919 resurrected alleged ancient debts
OF the District. incurred between 1874
and 187s. and compelled payment or
reimbursement to the United States
or all or one-half Of these alleged
debts, without interest. aggregatins
between one and two millions Of dol
lars. 1884,
Misconstruing the law of 1922, in.
terest on these bogus debts Of the
last century Is now demanded from,
the taxpayers OF today.
The equities and counterclaims OF
the District which are to be consid-
cred by Congress in passing upon
these resurrected debts may be sum
married as follows:
Ne Resurrection Of Buried Debts.
Any claim OF the United States
against the District for advances be-
tween 1874 and 1873 would, in view
or the undertaking Of the United
states In 1874 to contribute proper
tionately In payment OF District of
Columbia expenses and the fixing OF
that proportion in 1878 at one-half
be only for the surplus over 'one-half
or the amount thus advanced by the
United States.
irrespective of the conditions un-
der which 1t was created, such q
claim. II II survived the bankruptcy
settlement of 1874. survived a, an or
dinary debt of the District, to be met
nf trtf.
,, ana paid as such under the half-and
half provision of the organic act. II
through neglect of the nations
agents such claim was not collecte ed
In full prior to 1879 II could only be
coiiected after that date on the half
and half principle as an expense un-
Ter the organic act Since 1878 the
'ation mas been under obligations to
ray one e-half of the Interest and sink
ing fund on all the Districts debts,
collects at all In 1888 or In 1929
IT can eQuitably collect from the Dis
trict only one-half Of this debt, or II
must contribute one-half to the pay
meht OF the debt, which amounts to
bankruptcy ESQ to speak). which
treated District credits and debts as
roughly bala nciRE outside Of the spe-
cine provisions of the organic act
concerning the funded debt. md
i wiped the slate clean Of pnst debts
and credits. Such Of these debts
as have been separated from the gem
eral accounts thus closed and collected
thirty-nve OF forty years later from
Distrfct taxpayers, sheuld in equity
be repaid in fall.
Gross Inequities in SCHOOL Exactions
Let us analyze in detail the prin-
ciples underlying as a sample some
/ one OF these reimbursements The re-
payment by the taxpayers of l918-19,
or the payment on interest by the
taxpayers of 1929 of an advance
dor public school purposes In the las,
century, especially offends every consid-
| Grafton of equity. tSee report Of Board
OF Trade committee on municipal
finance, 1912. pages IL to 1D.
Let US consider the reimbursement,
by the appropriations act Of 1919 OF
der the act Of April IS, 1874. which ap-
propriates $s7.746.S0 for school ex-
penses Of the District from Septem-
Der J. 1873. to March 1. 1874. and di-
| and collect the tax for reimbursement
| Of the amount.
| The District government, thus d.
fected to make reimbursement, wa.
| on April Is. 1874. the Districts ter
| ritorisl government, which was abol-
\
This Indebtedness came to the receiv-
ers the District Commissioners rep
| resenting the United States under the
! temporary form of govsrnment) like
! any other District debt. 1t could
have been paid on the half-and- hall
| basis or merged in the general set
tiement and adjustment of 1878
along with school advances and other
municipal advances in the period be-
tween 1874 and 1873. or paid in full
4 -
the Districts fiscal concerns being
under its absolute control.
1t has been and Is contended tha,
'he report does not show that this
alleged school debt was either paid
or forgiven and il was and is claim
cd that it could be resurrected In
perfect preservation and could be
equitably exacted in full from the
taxpayers of 1888, and interest
! upon 1T from the taxpayers of today.
Today's reconsideration and re-ex
animation of this and the other re-im
bursements on their merits differs
from that previously made by Con-
gress lin 1919 and earlier) In that the
| new element of equity Is introduced
into our calculations. since by the
terms of the law our present problem
is to ascertain who is morally in
debted one to the other.
The refunding Of school items OF
advance is especially obnoxious to
equity for this reason:
Obnoxious to Equity.
The receivers of the bankrupt Dis
trict. the 60 called District Commits
sioners under the temporary COM
mission government between 1874 and
1878, urged Congress vehemently to
appropriate literally for current
maintenance Of the District schools
and also to put provision for their
future maintenance on the half-and-
half basis. They pointed out that
| the United States since 1874 had con-
tributed in cash and loans for sup
port of schools only $253.5SS.51. while
in the six years preceding 1877 the
District had spent on schools over
two million dollars. In 1877. they
said:
we trust Congress will give its
careful consideration to this impor-
tant subject and establish a liberal
system Of annual appropriations In
of schools. The ehIi<.tioa to do %
is stren thened by the fact that since
1894 Congress has contributed, by
loan and otherwise, In money, onl,
$3.50 ,5SS.51 to the support or the pub
lie schools I'm the District Of Colum-
ending June 30, 1877, there was en-
pended on account Of the public
schools In the District an average
| of 1897 .aS1.70, or an aggregate OF
$2,3S8.9lO.23. -..
I'm view of these facts the request
| of the trustees for the payment by the
United States of one-half the annual
expenses of the schools is not unrea-
sonable.
Seheels In Last Century.
The Commissioners in their report
to Congress for 1878 (pages IL and
13) state:
1--WE invite the careful attention oi
| the President and Of Congress to the
condition Of the public schools Of this
| District. as exhibited In the report.
of the board of trustees and of the
health officer. While the number o1
pupils is augmenting yearly at thu
| 70 nf mar cant fhara L. no nerma