Evening star., 1926-11-10


Arlington Memorial Bridge act. and to
square up the Mall and to remove
eyesores and novels and dens from the
Capitol vista, Is even now pending
| before the public buildings and
grounds committees of House and
Senate.
Other large and very valuable pieces
! OF real estate that the Federal Gov
| ernment contemplates taking over in
| the near future are: Whole squares
| between Maryland avenue and II
| street south and between p street
| and Canal street, at the foot Of Cap
itol Hill and adjoining the Capitol
| Grounds, as new site for the Ma
! tional Botanic Garden: all the corners
| surrounding the CAPITOL grounds; more
| than 400 acres in the Mount Hamilton
| and Hickey Hill area at a cost Of
| 100000. for a National Arboretum:
| about 1000 acres relatively near the
! arboretum as new experimental
| farm for the Department of Agricul-
ture; the entire square west OF Lafa
| yette Park opposite the State, War
| and Navy Building for a new State
| Department Building.
1t will he readily seen from the mere
| mention of such specific projects.
which do not by any means comprise
| ali Tic ISetllN plans Oh congress ana
| the Federal officials, that some Of tho
| most desirable areas IN the Capital
| are about to pass into Federal owner
| ship and be removed from taxation.
| This is very important consideration
| because there is no city in all the
| world where so much OF the prop-
! erty is removed from taxation With
a total of $4,000 acres, we find by the
| records of the assessors office that
@Tl
$500 acres valued at $500. 900 900; the
/ District Government. 625 acres, valued
1 at $50, 900 900, and legations char1t3.
bic institutions, churches and schools.
| 300 acres, valued at $50 900 900 This
| leaves 10000 acres exclusive of streets
| on which taxes can he levied. This
| land is valued at $402, ,S4S. .046 and i'm
provements valued at $497.901. .7s6--
| or total OF approximately $g00,750-
! 600. In other words, there Is about
| billion and a half of real estate here.
| of which taxable individuals own less
| than billion and the other half hill
| fon-one-third of the total--is cN
empt.
| SO we see that not only on the land
| held by the Federal Government but
| also on other valuable properties. sJch
as embassies and legations, here be.
cause this Is the Nations Capital, the
| taxable area IS reduced and the local
taxpayers must bear burden beyond
what would he required In any CITY
| other than the Capital
Along this same line Of thought
IN no other city In the country are
boulevard streets 100 feet wide main.
| tanned. the entire cost of which, some
! $3,O00,000 to $500, 900 q year, Is paid
| by local taxes while every other State
| In the Union shares In q $3.50. .OO0. 900
pot of Federal aid in road building.
Consider also that Congress forces the
! District taxpayers to buy large park
! areas which from strictly municipal
viewpoint are not the most desirable
locations for community recreational
| facilities II, as congressman sometimes
| argue. we were only doing what other
| large cities are doing in providing
| such facilities for the people. Here
in Washington the most extensive
park system in the world is being de-
velOped-in a city 10 miles square and
with only half million inhabitants
| In considering equities in connection
with our fiscal policy. and how Con
Gress unjustly and arbitrarily imposes
burdens, the Gibson subcommittee
| should note such illustrations as
| this: Congress passed law author
| iZing appropriations for acquisition Of
| park lands in the District and In ad-
| jacent Maryland and Virginia under
a continuing program at the rate of
l cent per annum per person for all
the population of the United States
| This would mean approximately
LOO 900 a year, as our latest census
returns show upward of 10000, 900
persons. But thus far the approprla-
| tions have been made at the rate of
100000 a year, and added to the reg.
ular District appropriation bill SO
that the entire sum comes out of the
| District taxpayers. Under the intent
of the substantive law only $4,000
should come from the District tax.
payers. which is ! cent for each OF
the 100000 population.
AS the District of Columbia devcI
ops, both as a local community and
as the Nations Capital. under the ex-
elusive control of the Nation as repre-
sented by Congress, there is Corre-
spending increase In the responsibility
of the United States Government u
ward the Capitalize see that it is de
Veloped not only us progressive mu-
nicipality. but as the home city of the
greatest government in the worlds his
tory. This should be the primary and
dominant consideration of Congress
and the Federal Government regard
ing the National Capital
When the Budget Bureau was or
ganized with our present Vice Presi-
dent as the first budget director, the
first thought was that the District
budget was extravagant when COM
pared with that of other cities. And
then this homely comparison was
made to emphasize how Washington
IS different" and must keep up an
appearance that other cities need not
Take two men receiving the same
salaries-0ne is d blacksmith and the
other a bank clerk. The former b.
the very nature of his work can wear
old and dirty clothing which costs
practically nothing, while the bank
clerk must be we'll dressed. out Of
this grew the Budget Bureau saying
that We must dress the local com
lmunity OF Washington with National
CAPITAL clothes"
The interest and obligation OF the
Federal Government should conse
quently be constantly increasing, he
cause we are building here not only
q local community but the Capital Of
the greatest Nation. Therefore all
arbitrary lump sum appropriation
from tho Federal Treasury is not
equitable. but the fiscal relations
should be on a proportion, or ratio or
percentage basis.
X
} Tho local taxpayers without voice
In making our laws as emphasized In
the first article in this series arc left
to carry the burden of Capital sup
port for the Nation. And mark you,
this tax burden falls heaviest on the
employees Of the Government. who
own a majority of the small homes
here, because we have only one large