Evening star., 1923-12-19

of Washington. Copeland of New
York and Edwards of New Jersey.
The first named senator in each sub
committee is chairman of the subcom-
mittee.
All chance Of the passage of the
gasoline tax bill before the first of
the year has vanished. Senator Ball
said, after consideration of the bill
had been denied in the Senate today,
that the Senate would walt until
the bill came over from the House.
He said that he understood the bill
would be passed in the House as soon
as the Christmas holiday is over.
Would Reverse Votes.
The House District committee, con-
eidering the gasoline tax measure, ad-
journed this afternoon until tomor-
row morning with an appeal from the
decision of the chairman pending.
This appeal was made by Representa-
tive Keller, republican, of Minnesota.
in an effort to have the committee re-
fer back to the section of the bill
which was amended yesterday impos-
ing a personal property tax on auto
mobiles in addition to the gasoline
tax.
With fourteen members of the COM
mittee present the sentiment was DC
cidedly in favor of the committee re-
versinE it's action taken yesterday.
Several members stated that they
wished to change their vote in re-
gard TO the personal property laA'
believing that by the acton taken tt,.
sands Of owners of cheap cars in
the District. on whom this would lay
an extra tax burden. o+i<
The effort to reverse their actiCn ti..n
was blocled by Representatlre
Blanton q Texas. raising a point OF
order because Representative oIluel5
hill of Massachusetts, VINO latneie
the amendment yesterday was
present today. 3,a.o,,s
noint of order, although Representa-
tive Zihlman of Mary iand sno~eu NY ~
the rules of the House that II Din
was before the President after pass
ing both branches of Congress, !ne
House could still reverse It's actlcll
and that the proposal loaas va" ~
apply the same principle TO the pro-
ceedings in the House District COM
mittee. Several lawyers on the com
nittee, including Representative hei-
der of Minnesota and RepresentatIvee
sKent of Pennsylvania, arg ueu de s"iii"'
the point Of order.
Question Goes Over.
It was finally agreed to let the mat
Ter rest until tomorrow when the
chairman and the contesting 1actlohs
i'm the committee could better pre-
mare themselves, and in the meantime
Representative UnderhiH shoulo pc
specially invited to attend the meet
ing tomorrow.
sideration OF the bill, paragraph py
paragraph, today, making a NUMBER
of changes in verb1age and phrase
oloEy and shortening the bill by
Of
Most of the changes were made In
an effort to reach large taxicab or
bus companies which were said TO be
bringing gasoline in large quantities
into Washington for their use in
commercial traffic. A section eliminat-
ed from the bill, it was said, would
arouse gasoline dealers to opposition
by making it possible to divulge
company would be able to find ou.
where and with whom a rival com.
pany did business.
M. o. Eldridge, executive chairman
foe Mhe sad he tPe
local division of A. A. A. members
and not the national division. ad-
dressed the committee. urging the
passage of the bill as introduced by
Chairman Reed without the amend
ment made yesterday.
Speaks for 1000.
Mr.. Eldridge said that there are
about 1000 automobile owners in the
District who are members of his as
sociation. This legislation was care
fully drawn, he said. after careful
consultation with these owners and
in conformity with the wishes of the
majority of them. 1t meets with
unanimous approval of automobile
owners in the District, Mr.. Eldridge
said.
He protested against the change
made in the bill yesterday as most
unfair He said that the question of
personal property tax on automobiles
was a very intangible matter and
that it was very difficult to get just
tax on automobiles, that there is an
effort all over the country to get
away from it, and that already four
teen states have no personal prop
erty tax.
In showing that the personal tax
will fall heavily on the owners Of
while $4,000 had been paying a SO
fee for their tags and 10000 So
fee, there are only 1000 owners of
large and expensive cars who pay
the $40 fee. Representative Keller
emphasized that everything in this
bill must be in favor of the owner
of the small car. He and Representa-
that the bill. If it carries the amend
ment imposing a personal property
tax, will give Maryland a big advan-
tage, while putting an extra tax Of a
half million dollars on the people of
the District without giving them any
advantage, and that the extra bur-
den will be borne principally by the
people least able to carry 1t.
Representative BIanton's proposal
TO substitute the ASWeIl bill for the