Evening star., 1923-04-01

Commissioner, as at present. having
jurisdiction over a number Of de-
partments, Commissioner would
have jurisdiction over only one de-
| partment, or at most over smaI
number of departments
They point out that when the gov.
ernment of Manila was being organ
lied the government of the DistriCf
Of Columbia was followed to a Ger
| tain extent as model, but there pro
vision was made for some sort OF
council Of the people, having a sort
of advisory power. This gave an op-
portunity for the population 70 al
least express their desires, even II moi
having legislative powers TO enacl
| laws that would have force.
Increasing the number Of Conln7is
sioners from three, as at present. TO
five or seven is being considered.
This would not be more expensive, as
some contend, because where nov
you have three Commissioners, each
department under these Commission
ers must have an administrative
head, where with five or seven Com
missioners each would be directly in
charge of one of several departments.
Then they would have regular meet
inRs as a board TO decide upon gen
eral regulations. 1t IS argued that
this would give simpler organization
and that responsibility would be made
direct.
No Revolutionary Proposals.
= - .t,o,,oi,1 of rIic+urhjnp -aa
commission form OF government herr.
administration advisers say, and arr
advising that the Commissioners should
be appointed rather than elected.
In the same way that the states III
providing for the government or thelr
cities put certain limitations upon the
powers of the cities, especially IN Re-
gard to debt limits and rates of taxa
tion, so here, these students Of govern
nent reform argue. Congress would put
certain limitations on the Commission
ers similar to those now in force. Con
gress would probably say that they must
not appropriate money in excess OF re-
ceipts-in other words, that they must
not run into debt-where now limit IS
placed upon their power to estimate.
Congress doubtless would compel tha
District to adopt a. pay as you 60
policy through legal restrictions
Congress might even say that til"
| local government OF the National Capt
tai should not incur bonded indebtedness
without the approval Of Congress.
With limitations of that sort Con
gress and the administration are ad-
| vised that 1t would be perfectly safe for
Congress to surrender all direct control
over the municipal budget.
Not Burden on Treasury.
In protesting to the budget bureau
against arbitrary limitations on the
! District estimates for the next fisca,
year the District Commissioners made
certain pertinent statements which en-
| phasize the desirability and propriety
of keeping the local budget distinct from
the federal budget The Commissioners
called attention that "a great city like
Washington is a living and growing
| thing and that its activities cannot be
! conducted upon the basis of a constant
or diminishing scale Of expenditures As
streets are opened, as houses are built,
as the population increases and ez
pands there arises the need for in
| creased expenditures
| In showing how the budget for the
National Capital IS entirely different ii
character from the federal budget, ii.
Commissioners pointed out: THE Dis
J trict Of Columbia IS unlike the fedora
| departments and bureaus, which, with
scarcely an exception, are money-spend-
ing agencies supported exclusively. by
the federal Treasury, whereas the Dis
trict of Columbia produces through local
| taxation and from other sources OF
revenue more than so per cent of its
annual expenditures. Furthermore,
many of these expenditures are at least
in part, reimbursed. and to that extent
| should in strict fairness not. be charged
as part of the total"