Evening star., 1924-04-27

1act that 1t accurately and adequa ately
sets forth the peculiar situation with
! respect to the District of Columbia as a
! municipal organization denied the ira
ditional and fundamental status of
voting community. This work. entitled
Your Washington and Mine" is cal
culated to enlist the interest of the peo-
pie of the country at large in the his
| tory as well as the unusual limitations
| of the National Capital 1t is the work
| OF MISS Louise Payson Latimer, who
mas Tor number of years been a mem
ber of the staff of the Public Library of
this city.
Miss Latimer traces the early history
of Washington. going int, the remote
past TO describe the situation in the days
| or indian occupation Of this area. In
/ lhe hrst part of her work, which is at
| tractveiy illustrated. she shows the
| transformation of the wilderness and the
| planting of the governments chief city
| on the banks of the Potomac. This sec
| ton brings the story of the Capital up
| 10 1850. Then comes the story of the
! Washington of the latter days. through
| the civil war and the evolution of
| great city. taking its place among the
world capitals, appropriately closing the
part with chapter of the world war
! and Washington.
Other parts deal with the public
| buildings and historic places with
! the streets, memorials and the city
| planning and the Potomac River, so
! rich in history.
Says Progress Impcded.
1t is in part VI that Miss IAatimer's
| work IS chiefly of importance to a
STUDENT OF the Capitals affairs, the
chapters in that section relating how
| the form of the local government
has changed, how the Capital is sun
ported and how the residents of the
Instruct are reduced to political seryi-
lude. Reciting the various modifica-
tons and alterations of the system of
municipal management. from the in
corporation of the city of Washington
IN lS02. through the organization of
the District as a territory with an
elected lower house, yoteless dele
gate in Congress and governor
named by the President, to the pres
ens commlssionership form of gov
1871, Miss Latimer writes:
The affairs of the District are in
vowed, a patchwork growth of i2l
years. They have been added to here
| taken from there, tied up with an
Whlch Impedes progress. An adjust
ment Of the tremendously complicated
2oint affairs of the District and the
lnIted States must some dav he made
The present haphazard. unscientific
method of legislation and lack of
needed legislation will become in
creasingly unsatisfactory as Wash
lngton grows"
Discusses Tax Plan.
In regard to the manner in which
M, ,ne Eations Capital is supported,
MISS l4atimer answers first of all the
| question which. as she saws everv
american should ask: why should
th ne Cnlted states government aid in
.ne ,Ir support Of Washington at alI?"
ihat answer, she says is not hard IN
ma. She points out that the United
states hrst took from the local land
noluers, as gift. total of 5.129
acres of land, for streets and for
PUBIC building sites. and also as
pulldlng lots. which were sold. the
proceeds going to the federal gov
eminent. Nevertheless. until 1871 tho
united States contributed practically
nothing to the development of tbe
oapItal' leaVing the task of the mu-
hlclpa support to the people. who
We're deprived of any voice in ~
t!ohal affairs and were under restric-
tlons regarding industrial develop
hehts. After the experiment of the
territorial organization was tried
MItnout success Congress turned its
attention to the duty of making an
adequate contribution to the CITY
maintenance and evolved the organic
act OF 1878. with its provision that
10 meet the approved estimates, the
United States should pay another dol
Idr-the half -and-half plan" T,hat
remained the procedure until 1919
eo ''sn m the House changed the ratio to
o0-4o, which later was forma1Iv
adopted as the fixed ratio, Miss LII
mer says:
Ihe suggestion was then. and ar
eether times, made of abandoning
iMlAeu M ratio OF contribution for the two
:; ~, qtors: ThIs lack of stability
IN the District finances and the fact
that practically every wear other
changes are advocated, has two hsd
Ieatures-one, that in making esti-
iina ta.es Ine Commlssio toner's do not
know what ratio will be in effect and
consequently what amounts NAV he
expended; the other, that much val
ua time vitality necessary for study
OF District needs is dissipated in the
discussion. This is no small mattar
since District matters at best are eas,
lily displaced in Congress by almost
any other business
Development Retarded.
Miss Latimer notes that Washing
ton has been kept from developing
as an industrial center, which makes
the rank and file of the city unable
to bear the burden of a capital. Fur
thermore, the street plan is on a
great scale. with unusual width of
thoroughfares, and with an unusual
abundance of foliage. These factors
add to the cost of maintenance. The
author quotes from an article Dy
Chief Justice Taft, in which after
showing the conditions that make for
an expensive municipality, he con-
cludeS: Hence it is that even the
half and half leaves Washington d
rather heavily taxed municipality"
Mentioning that Investigating COM
mlttees of Congress have reported
that anything less than a $3.50 basis
of appropriations is unfair to the
citizens of the District, with no
change of conditions since those re-
ports were made, Miss Latimer calls
attention to the fact that a steady
further reduction of the proportion
is taking place in two ways Each
year some item of District expendi-
ture is required to be taken out of
District taxes only, and, furthermore
Congress has provided that the Unit
ed States shall receive 40 per cent
stitutions heretofore all received by
the District as it's part of the rev.
enue required for maintenance these
items including court fines, elevator
operator permits. licenses of all sorts,
rents and motor vehicle tags She
states that it has been estimated that
the United States is actually con-
tributing only from 33 to 35 per cent
Of the cost of the District of Colum-
bia. She says:
Shows Districts Side.
Since it is well for the American
citizen to ask himself why should he
contribute so large a sum to the up
keep of the National Capital, it is de-
sirable for the Washingtonian to also
ask why he should be called upon to
support 65 per cent of a national dis
trict, not a city, but a district, and
also to contribute as an American to
his share of the 35 per cent of the
cost of maintaining the District of
Collin hia He should Slx h L.,