Evening star., 1925-01-13
HOUSE TEST ON ID. C.. SURPLUS
SHOWS MAJORITY FOR PAYMENT
Final Vote on Bill Making S4,438,I54 AuaiIabIe
Blocked by Opponents of Claim
ShO,Un in Debate.

! the District and by law had been
collected. Many Of the laws passed
by this Congress settling these mat
ters stated that they were in full.
Made Thorough Inquiry.
1T did not have a detailed audit
of all tho books from 1874 down, but
it had the advantage of all these
reports. Then 1t brought before this
committee all the people it could find
who, had some knowledge of these
matters. 1t brought Mr.. Spaulding
before the committee, it brought Mr..
Thomas Hodgson, who had been in
| the Treasury Department for 80 years
and had written the items for the
District over 80 years, and il ques-
toned them in detail where any par
| ticular point could be brought up.
| 1t considered every item suggested by
these people, including the gentleman
| from Kentucky (Mr. Johnson), who
discussed various phases of the items.
I'VE followed the law as the law
was on the statute books and did not
try to make the law say something
it did not say.
There is no law on the Statute
| book which says that the District of
| Columbia should pay $3.50 on the
Congressional Library, on some
bridges or the Lincoln Memorial. The
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr John
| son), who represents the ideas of the
| gentleman from Texas, said to our
! committee that
g" 1t is my unqualified opinion that
the cost of the Congressional Library
and everything in it and 3 per cent
| interest must be offset against any
| claim OF surplus
Calls Claims Absurd.
1T is only through such absurd
| charges that you can build up any
| such eXtravagant claims charged
against the District of Columbia This
| surplus has nothing to do with any
policy whether YOU are a friend of
the District or whether you are not !;
it is question of bookkeeping and
| justice. The surplus should be ac-
| knowledged
THE committee weighed very care
! fully all these questions of policy,
| laws and incidents, and 1t took up
| everything that Mr.. Spaulding sug-
| gested should be taken up, and every
thing that Mr.. Hodgson suggested
and weighed them in connection with
the law. Then we arrived at what
| we thought ought to be the state of
| the accounts under the law. We came
to the period after 1911, when the
| District In these years they accumu-
| lated surplus to the amount of sew
| eral million dollars.
THE District collected several mil
| lions of dollars more from its tax
payers than the Congress appropri-
| ated. This was figured down TO
$4,000. 600. Then we made some
charges that we found ought to come
| out-a part of the bonus to the Dis
| itPr1lg
and after striking the balance we
| found that there was a surplus of
S4.43S,154 due the District. Aside
from all other questions at issue,
there is no question but that an audit,
without charging the cost of the Con-
gressional Library and the Lincoln
| Memorial and other buildings and
improvements, but considering the
strict law, that this surplus is due to
the District of Columbia"
Issue of Plain Justice.
Representative Gilbert argued that
| the surplus should be paid to carry
| out the bargains that Congress itself
made, as a matter of plain and sim
pie justice. He spoke as follows:
What is the sole question we are
here to decide as a committee? 1t is
Shall we stick by trades we have
made in the past, even though they
| were unwise? When you have de-
| cided that question, then you have
nothing before you except a mere
matter of accounting. 1t was shown
that the $3.50 plan, although per-
haps fair at it's beginning, became
unfair to the country, but while
! that $3.50 plan was in existence,
should not we live up to it? Then
it was changed to 60-4o plan,
which, in my opinion, was still un-
favorable to the country, but while
the 60-40 plan was in existence,
| must we not live up to it?
When you decide those two ques-
! tions then you simply have no ques-
tion of fact before you further than
the mere matter of figures. You
have no question of sentiment before
you. You have no question before
you of policy, but just a question of
cold facts and figures. The trouble
that the country is in, in this matter
from our standpoint, is that every
| commission, committee or accounting
that we appoint ourselves to report
to us these figures decides against
| US. That, is the trouble we are in.
Result of Long Inquiry.
Let US take Mr.. Johnson's idea
| that if a fair accounting were made
back through all these years, it would
| be found that the District was in
| debted to the country in a vast sum.
| say S50,000,000 Is he considering
| that as matter of law or as a mat
| ter of equity and policy?
II shall read to you what he saws
| If we were considering it as an
| equitable proposition. from its origin
perhaps that is true. l have the high
est regard not only for the ability
| of Mr.. Johnson but for his opinion
| and his industry. He tells you what
| he bases that on, and if you agree
| with him in that policy, then it is
| true. What is that policy? This is
| his language:
:" In excess of $50, 900, 900 spent in
beautifying and upbuilding the Dis
' trtct of, Columbia
I "As read from the hearings he
! holds that it would have been better
| or 1T would have been wise to charge
| the District with certain parks and
| buildings, including the Congression-
al Library. AS to that ] do not care
| to enter into a discussion.
Congress has decided those ques-
| tions in the past and has adopted
! policy, and whether wise or unwise
| it seems to me that our duty now is
! simply to find under those policies
what amount is due.
THAT commission was our com
mission. The committee that in
vestigated those facts was our COM
-mittee. We appointed a committee
]