Evening star., 1924-05-02
SENATE OPPOSITION
TO CRAMTON PLAN
F0RD.C.,FORECAS|
Amendment Substituting
Lump Sum for 6O.4O Ratio
Held Unwise by Leaders.
HOUSE MAY REVERSE
VOTE OF 28 MEMBERS
Moore Proposal of Joint Commit
tee to Study Issue Favored by
Commissioners.

While the House was preparing to re
sumo its consideration Of the DistriC-
appropriation bill today indication
came from the Senate that should thl
House pass the measure with the Cram,
ton amendment, which does away with
the 60-40 plan and substitutes fiat suI@
of $8.000,000 as the federal govern.
ment's contribution to the upkeep of thu
Capital, the Senate will vigorously re,
sist such change in existing law.
The House in committee of the wholl
yesterday afternoon adopted the amend
ment by a vote Of twenty-eight to five
The bill would increase the local tax
rate by more than 80 per cent.
Senator Phipps of Colorado. chair
man of the Senate appropriations
subcommittee. which will have charge
of the bill, is known to be strongly
opposed to upsetting the present
fiscal relations between the federal
government and the District Other
members of the Senate are also
known to be opposed to abandon
ment of the 60-40 plan. The hope
today that the House itself wouls
reject the amendment
Against Amendment Method,
The action of the House, should II
accept the Cramton amendment.
would be to enact general legislation
on an appropriation bill, it was de
clared today. If there is to be any
change in the fiscal relations between
the federal government and the Dis
trict, 1t was stated, it should be
accomplished through a legislative
tion bill.
When the 6o-4o plan was adopted
IL was made the permanent law. In
this connection il was pointed out
that the law provides for the crea-
ton of a fund which will enable
the District to be at all times on
cash paying basis. The adoption OF
the Cramton amendment would
throw out OF gear the operation OF
this plan.
Opposed sy ID. C. Heads.
The District Commissioners are
opposed to the effort to change the
fiscal relations existing through
hasty enactment of a rider on an ap-
preparation bill, it was said at the
District building today They have
already made known their position
in letter to Representative r.
Walton Moore of Virginia, in which
they indorsed his proposal, as en-
bodied in separate measure intro
duced in the House yesterday, for the
appointment of joint committee OF
the Senate and House to consider care
fully the question of how much the
federal government should contrib
ute toward the upkeep of the Ma
tional Capital
Although Commissioner Rudolph
chairman of the board. is in favor or
Representative CTamton's theory of
lump sum contribution from the fed
eral government in lieu of the exist
ing 60-40 ratio, he stated today he is
not in favor of the plan if it onl.
calls for SS,000,o0o.
Changes Rudolph Favors.
Mr.. Rudolph said he believes the
lump sum should be s1o,000.000. and
that Congress should at the same
time take District estimates out OF
the hands of the budget bureau and
allow the Commissioners to spend on
municipal improvements each year as
much above the $10,000,000 as they
deem necessary to meet the needs of
the city.
Maj. J. Franklin Bell Engineer
Commissioner, is not convinced that
the lump sum plan should be substi-
tuted for the present law, under
which the United States pays 40 per
cent of the cost of running the fed
eral capital
My mind is still open on the mer-
it's of the proposition" said Maj. Bell,
II, IL fa4 al HnN alb -k,- u
be made hurriedly by placing a rider
on the appropriation bill. l think the
proper course to pursue is to adopt
Representative Moore's suggestion
and appoint a joint committee of Con-
gresS to study the matter carefully.
Mature Judgment Desired.
81 am always reluctant to change
an existing arrangement until it is
clearly shown that the new one is
better. 1t would be most regrettablc
if the question is disposed of as "a
rider on the appropriation bill"
Commissioner Oyster said he favored
the 6040 ratio, but IL it had to go
would not be content with a lump sum
appropriation of less than $40, 600, ,000
Daniel j. Donovan, auditor and
budget officer OF the District, is op-
posed to an ss,000,000 lump sum, but
Is ulSpOSSu " tdNOT the pldD IL
brought up to $10,000,000 He says
this could be accomplished by max
ing the lump sum $9,000,0o0 and Civ
ing the District full credit for ap-
proximately $1,000,000 of miscella-
neous revenues collected.
Tax Rate Raise Seen.
Calculations made at the District
building show that the adoption of
the SS,00o,000 lump-sum plan would
increase the District tax rate after
July by more than 80 per cent.
The present rate is s1.20 per 500
of assessed value. Under the Cram
ton plan the rate would go up to ap-
proximatiy s1.65.
Work on the appropriation bill pro-
gTessed slowly yesterday, owing to
frequent points of order by Repre-
sentative Blanton to cut off all legis-
lation not authorized by law. He al
lowed to remain in the bill, however,
an increase in pay from 80 to 4S
cents an hour to cleaners in the Dis
trict building.
Engineers Salary Hit.
One of his points of order reduced
the pay of the Engineer Commissioner
from $500, as carried In the bill, to
about $1,000, as carried in the Army
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