Evening star., 1923-01-18


chargeable with any Indebtedness still
due on account of said expenses, includ-
ing advances made by the United States
TO pay the interest on the 3.65 bonds.
Ii, in fact, the acts in question impose
on you the duty or grant to You the
power to reimburse the Treasury of the
United States out of District revenues,
you would then no doubt have authority
10 apply said balance, or SO much there
OF as might be necessary, after proper
proportional credit to the District to re-
lmburse the United States for advances
made under the terms of the said acts.
am given to understand, however
that because of lapse of time, and in
Suhlclent or incomplete records of the
HScal operations of the District, Ii is
| not now possible to segregate the old
| revenues and expenses from the new;
and 1t is therefore impossible TO ascer-
raia,e, tam the amount of any. balance of old
| revenues which may exist, or to ascer-
| tain with certainty that there is any
such balance
Necessities of ID. C.
And in the same decision the fol-
lowing very pertinent observation is
| made by the controller:
| And then there is very reasonable
ground for assuming that when Con-
| Gress passed the act of 1873. the or
ganlc act, it intended to wipe the
! STATE clean SO far as the antecedent
period of uncertainty was concerned
ana take d fresh start. Legislation
during the period between the acts
OF 1874 and 1875 had not been after
any determined or systematic plan.
! Ihc necessities Of tho District had
peeh met az circumstances for the
tlme being seemed to require. The
nearest approach to a plan seems to
be found in an apparent intention to
Irequire the application of District
revenues TO District needs and to
furnish from the federal Treasury
n
lqulred. The organic act took no aC-
count or and made no provision for
! the payment of any Indebtedness
growing out of the transactions Of
tho preceding four. years between the
government and the District and
that condition was permitted 70 CON
tlnue for thirty-fiVc years. But while
theso conditions may in a measure
tend to support n contention that the
debt, If existent, had been released
| do not find in them justification for
so holding"
Jt is very clear from what is said
that the United States has no valid
claim to any part OF tho uncollected
taxes on July I, 1878.
INTEREST on ADVANCE
pages 10 to 12.)
NO comment IS made on this chap
ter AT this time as the matters pre-
| scented are conSummated transs,c-
tions. The question of the allowances
OF interest on balances to the credit
OF the general fund of the District is
referred to. but IL is understood the
entire subject of interest IS one to
be taken up by the committee.
PURCHASE OF CONSTRUCTION
MATERIAL"
pages IL and 13.)
Nothing contained under this cap
tlon bears directly upon the real pllr-
pose of the investigation. The entire
chapter is, merely a criticism of the
present bookkeeping and administra-
ton in the office Of the purchasing
officer i'll tho handling and Issuance
OF construction materials.
TRASH REDUCTION PLANT"
page 49,
This chapter deals with the failure
TO transfer on or before June 30 1922
certain moneys derived from the oper-
alton of the trash reduction plant
from the miscellaneous trust funds
account to the revenues Of the United
states and the District. Such moneys
were transferred on August Fl. 1q9o
The moneys whether in one account
or the other arc always in the Treas
ur% and the adjustments merely in
NolVe transfers between different
funds and the necessary ookkeeping
entries. This matter is only pertinent
to the inveStig cation to the extent that
had the transfer of moneys been made
on or before June 80 1922, the Dis
! tricts general fund balance would
have been increased by slightly over
$4,000.
DISPOSITION or CERTAIN RE.
CEIPTS."
page 40
'In this chapter the accountants
| direct attention to receipts from GER
tain licenses, privileges, etc, collect
ed and deposited in the Treasury
wholly to the credit of the revenues
OF the District, and show that for the
such receipts amounted to S6,30O,-
O0S.57. The accountants say:
''If these collections for the years
1872 to 1922. and those prior, had
been apporttoned as were certain
other receipts from District
eral fund at June 80, 1922, would
have been considerably less.
This is most important subject,
primarily because OF the great
amount of money involved, on the
basis of such collections since July
l, 1873, and, further, because of the
very plain intimation by the account
ants that all such moneys should have
been divided between the United
States and the District, instead Of the
District taking ALL To prove the
right of the District to moneys OF
this kind 1T is necessary to consider
certain legislation and controlling
decisions.
"The organic act required the Com
mtssioners to submit to the Secretary
of the Treasury, on or before October
10 of each year, estimates of the
amount necessary to defray the ex-
penseS OF the government of the Dis
trict for the next fiscal year. The
act declares that:
ITO the extent to which Congress
shall approve OF said estimates, Con-
gresS shall appropriate the amount OF
SO per centum thereof. and the re-
naming so per centum of such ap-
proved estimates shall be levied and
assessed upon the taxable property
and privileges in said District other
than the property OF the United
States and the District of Columbia u
Miscellaneous Revenues.
Under the terms of the organic act
; the District. commencing with July !
1913, claimed and beneficially received
credit for the entire amount Of all
| miscellaneous revenues, and this was
the rule of action, concurred in by the
accounting officers of the Treasury
and established by definite and con-
trolling decision, until the passage OF
the District appropriation act for the
fiscal year 1889 (approved July IS.
1889, when Congress, for the first
time by specific legislation, COM
menced to deprive the District of the
entire credit to certain of such reve-
! nues. BY Legislative provisions adopt
ed from time to time throughout the
years from 1888 until the present
Congress gradually provided for the
! distribution between the United
, states and the District of all but sew
enteen of sixty-one items of miscel-
laneous revenue.
) "Forty-seven of these items, on and
prior to June 80, 1922, were credited
in proportions of $3.50 or 60-40 be-
tween the District and the United
!, states The remaining seventeen,