Evening star., 1924-01-09
ACTION ON GAS-TAx
BILL is POSTPONED;
CITIZENS TESTIFY

Continued from First Page
| told the committee that Maryland
| already has received $4,0OO.O0O in
! federal aid for road building ano
one-haIf million last year, ana ina I
Virginia has received S9.000.000 and
| a million and a quarter last year.
AssaiIs Maryland Bureau.
Representative Ralph Gilbert of
Kentucky told Representative Aswell
that his universal reciprocity bill
| appeals to him, except that it seems
! TO place the automobile interests
back of the nations highway. Rep
resentative Aswell replied, on the
| suggestion of Representative Ham
mer that he was willing to have his
bill include any licensed vehicle, IN
! stead of specifically menuohihs au,
| tomobi!es. Representative Aswell
| declared that the bill under consid-
! Grafton will benefit no one but gas
! oline retail dealers through giving
! them an excuse to increase prices.
| The people of washington are
| entitled to reciprocity and don't have
| to hire the state of Maryland to give
| it to them" said Representative AS
| well. He described his own expert
| ences in seeking Maryland tag
| describing the license office here as
! dirty, dingy. rotten, disgracefui
jcint" and said that he stood in line
! four days from three to three and
! one-half hours a day before he got
| his tag and that the attendants
! were discourteous and insulting. 1T
| is a disgrace to Congress and the
American people to allow Maryland
| to come in here and conduct such a
place and insult the citizens of
Washington.
THE time has come for Congress
| to compel Maryland to recognize
licenses of the District without hav-
ing to buy over the state" Repre-
| sentative Aswell said.
He argued that if the committee
thought and Congress thought that au-
tomobile owners were not paying a
sufficient tax, the people would be will
ing to pay more, but the bill as it
stands proposes to tax tourists who
come here from all parts of the country.
AsweII to Fight BIN.
! He said that he is opposed to the gas
tax and will fight the bill at every step
of the way" and that he believes that
| not "one-third of the members of Con-
gress will vote for this monstrosity."
Representative Aswell stated en-
phatically that he is opposed to buying
from Maryland the right to get out of
the Capital city. He would have 1t the
greatest city in the world, but does not
believe that this can be done by truck
ling to every small community between
the Capital and the rest of the country"
In reply to a question from Rep
resentative Underhiu of Massachusetts,
whether he believed in states rights,
Representative Aswell said: This is
question of the Capital city of the
| United States and not of states right.
You are handling the property and
rights of 105,000,000 people"
Both Representative Aswell and Rep
resentative Stalker of New York, a
committee member. told of difficulty
experienced in getting automobiles out
of Washington through Maryland.
George H. Gushing, who said he rep
resents unorganized motorists of
Washington, argued that the bill' in
cludes three problems: % recipro-
city, CD regulation and CD raising
revenue. He urged that these three
ly, as one is the relations between. the
states, another police power and the
third the taxing power.
ZihIman Exhibits Petition.
Representative Zihlman laid before
the committee a petition sighed by
$50 automobile owners, mostly of
small cars, and for the most part liv-
ing in the southeast section, includ-
ing many employees of the Washing
ton navy yard in favor of a gasoline
tax.
when the suggestion was made
that people in the District were en-
deavoring to evade taxation, MIR.
Cushing raised a laugh by replying:
,,:ifs nH3 one Ioad around .nn this table can say
citizen has escaped very far the bur
den of taxation"
Representative Underhill of Mass
volved is whether the committee pro
poses to impose on the people of
Washington a 2-cent per gallon gas
E. C. Graham, representing the
Chamber Of Commerce and the Mer-
chants and Manufacturers Associa-
ton, assured the committee that the
people of Washington are willing to
to support the city and the advan-
tages afforded. He said that those he
represents know no better way to
pay for the upkeep of roads than
through gasoline tax, which is a
measured tax for use of the roads.
and considered 2 cents an equitable
tax. Mr.. Graham said that the busi-
ness interests he represents do not
favor the bill as it originally was
laid before the committee to relieve
sonal property tax.
Argues FavOrinE Exemptions.
He argued in favor of exemptions
| on automobiles up to $1,000.
What we want to do Is to get
| away from the nuisance OF having to
| bother with getting Maryland tags"
he said, and suggested that the COM
mittee fix up the question OF rec
iprocity with Virginia at the same
! time.
Mr.. Graham said he favored Sc
curing universal reciprocity through
out the United States as the best
| solution of the problem by denying
! federal aid to states which refuse to
recognize license tags from other
| states.
| Representative Gilbert, a member
| of the committee, argued against the
justice of exempting taxes on auto
mobiles even up to $1,000 and COM