Evening star., 1925-01-13

Ia W, ~ ODhCiJh cA-
| to investigate and report to us the
| situation as it existed. That COM
pittee consisted of three Senator'S
| and three Representatives, and
whether they acted wisely or un-
| wisely / am not here to say; but it
was our committee and they reported
against us as to what they believe
are the facts, and il we appoint an
other commission have we any as
surance that the commissions find
ing is going to be any different; and
if it is, are we going to put ourselves
in the attitude of accepting only
those reports of those committees
which are favorable to us?
'The gentleman from Texas (Mr
Blanton) makes great argument
about the fact that they did not go
back as far as the Congress directed
them to go. Gentlemen should bear
in mind that this committee itself is
not going TO make any Investigation
| II We, appoint one. The committee
that was appointed did not make the
investigation personally. because they
are not public accountants, but they
employed public accountants to make
report of what the accounts showed
at this time. They themselves did
not do it. What did they do as to
accounts previous to 1911? They
found that certain bookkeepers, cer-
tain public accountants, had made in
Vestigations up to that time.
Made Three-Year search.
1T is true, as pointed out by the
gentleman from Texas, that Mr.. John
son, while he was chairman of the
committee. had one investigation
pna he 10 nf
father and son-spent nearly three
years in that investigation of those
accounts up to 1911. Whether they
included all that should have been
included / do not know, but they
included everything that your commit
tee thought should be included; and
if you appoint another committee.
how do we know that their findings
will be any more satisfactory to US
than the findings of the committee
you have already appointed and that
have found against us?
Let US now square accounts, pay
the District what our own committee
and the auditors say we owe them,
and then be governed in the future
by the facts as they appear, and
make a better trade from now on.
but do not repudiate the amount our
committee says we owe simply be-
tduSS we ildut Il Ddu
Representative Underhill argued
that common sense, question of JUS
tice and sticking by bargain ought
to settle the controversy. He con-
tinued:
Must Use Common Sense.
But the only way we can arrive at
these great questions, those of us who
have not legally trained mind, those
of us who are not accountants, those
of us who come from a distance and
know little or nothing about local
conditions. is by the exercise of com
mon sense, the best judgment we can
give. We called before our committee
experts on these various questions,
experts on the legal side of the ques-
ton, experts on the financial side of
the question, experts on practically
every question raised. Sometimes they
voluntarily appear, and sometimes we
pay for their services.
Now, what other road can we trav-
ell, what other line can we follow than
to weigh the evidence we have pre-
sented to the committee and then
come to an intelligent decision? As
now constituted there are 10 lawyers
on our committee. Each one OF them
has a reputation probably surpassed
by none in their own immediate dis
tricts. OF the 10 lawyers on our COM
mittee all but one are in agreement
on this question. OF all the actuaries
or accountants who were before the
committee every one of them is in
agreement. Congress is inclined to
neglect the District, while, on the
other hand, the District is prone to
expect too much from Congress. 1t
should neither be abused nor pampered.
When it needs bread we should not
give stone nor are pap and plums
good for it's healthy growth.
District Acted I'm Good Faith.
80 / have tried to look at this and
other questions from the standpoint
To hold fast to that which is good
rather than to insist upon the strict
letter of the law.
There are some phases of the bill
that do not please me particularly
but l recognize that the people of the
District of Columbia acted in good
faith. that they had confidence in
Congress and the United States Gov
ernment to give them fair deal. Per-
haps the District of Columbia made
a better bargain than the Congress
of the United States. Notwithstand-
ing, they made a bargain, a trade.
That / gather from the testimony pre-
sented to our committee. 1t seems to
me that we ought to stick to that
bargain, stand by our trade, no mat
ter IL II does cost the sum of four and
Z half million dollars. This money
does not come out of our constituency
at home
Representative Wright, who was a
Democratic member of the surplus in
vestigation committee, said:
Had Expert Counsel.
From an accounting and bookkeep-
ing standpoint, and giving due con-
sideration and weight to the organic
law of 1873, as well as other laws
passed by Congress from time to time
and the rulings of the controller of
the Treasury, we believe this report
to all practical purposes reflects the
fiscal relations between the United
States and the District of Columbia
and shows the surplus to the credit of
the District in the Treasury of the
United States.
I'VE investigated the status of the
accounts between 1874 and 1911. Not
in detail we did not have a thor
ough audit made of them, but we
sought all of the information we
could get about these accounts prior
to 1911. We had before us Thomas
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