Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-11
BY BEN McKELWAY.

In their report last week to Con-
gress the District Commissioners. ac-
counting for cash i'm hand at the close
of the fiscal year 1927, included $2,292,-
631.7S as remaining from the surplus
revenues from District taxes reCOg-
n!Zed by Congress in 1925 as amount
ing to 81, 43S 1912, an amount subse-
ouently increased to $5,257 .528.7S
after an additional claim to $S19.373.-
SO. put forward by District Auditor
Donovan, was upheld by the Comp
troller General. But the report is some
what misleading. for while the cash
remains. most of it has been author
lied for expenditure in the current
fiscal year. AS matter OF fact, the
Districts surplus has dwindled to
S1.O2S.75. 1t is probable that the ap-
preparation bill for the next fiscal year
will include this 81 900. 1t will prob
ably be used to buy some bricks for
a school building or to put some mark
ers in a park. In the meantime an
other District surplus is accumulat-
ing.
After Congress had investigated in
1928 and determined the fact that
the Districts surplus of uneXpended
revenues was fact and not myth
zeal Juggling of books and accounts,
the hope of Washington was that Con-
gress would appropriate the surplus
after the manner of it's accumulation,
and arguments in that direction were
confined largely to a very simple ex-
PLANTATION of how the surplus had ac-
clmulated 1t was recalled. for IN
stance, that after 1878 and the deci-
sion bv Congress to embark upon
program of building up the Capital,
there were many lean years for the
District in which local revenue could
not match the amount to be spent by
the Federal Government. The Fed
eral Government, therefore, made up
the difference, and in the fat years
that followed always took it back from
the District-with interest. In other
words. when a surplus of expenditures
accumulated to the credit of Uncle
Sam, he always spent this surplus by
matching it dollar for dollar with Dis
trict revenues This was not only
logical, but according to law. But in
1916, 1917, 1918. 1919 and 1920, when
the Federal Government was hard at
work spending money on ammunition,
ships and soldiers, it did not find it
practical to match it's dollars for Dis
trict dollars, so that money from the
District began to accumulate. This
made up the surplus.
X X
But while the House unanimously
recognized the existence of this sur
plus, the proposal that it be spent in
the manner of it's accumulation. or
even under the 60-40 ratio, was consid.
cred grotesque by some members of
the House, who implied that the Dis
trict was Unsuitable in it's demands
and they had to stop somewhere. So
the surplus has been spent, in accord.
ance with legislation recognizing it, by
inserting parts of it in regular appro-
priation bills for the District for the
purchase of sites for school buildings.
school buildings and parks. About
half the surplus went into the first
deficiency bill in March. 1925, for
school buildings and sites. Six hun
dred thousand dollars went into the
second deficiency bill for 1926 for pur-
chase of the Rock Creek-Potomac
parkway; $1,725.0 was appropriated
in the District bill for 1927 for build
ings and sites for school buildings and
another $300.0 900 for school buildings
is contained in the appropriations for
the current fiscal year. The balance
now on hand, as stated above, is
$1.02S.75. So much for the surplus of
1925.
\ X
In recognizing the fiscal relation
ship between the District and Fed
eral Government in 1922. Congress de-
cided to put the District on a CASH
paying. pay-as-you-go basis and de-
creed that this be done for the cur
rent fiscal year which began last
July. And in looking over the record
since 1900 Congress found that for II
months out of every year the Federal
Government had been regularly adj
vancing money to the District to