Evening star., 1928-03-13
BOARD TO REVIEW
60-40 PLAN URGED
Citizens Make Plea for Com
mission Before House
Subcommittee.
Continued from First page1

next hearing. which will be held SUBJ
iect To the call OF the chairman.
Mr. Bowman also emphasized that the
fiscal relation problem in his opinion
should be studied from the national
viewpoint that this is the Nations Cap
ital and the determination should be on
what do the people OF this country
want to do to support and upbnild the
most beautiful capital in the world?"
Mr.. Cottrell read to the Slbcommit-
tee letter from Luther Gulick director
of the Bureau of Municipal Research.
New York City. in which he said: Il
have yet to see anv adequate study of
the economic situation in the District.
of the nature of the governmental serv-
ice rendered. of the assessed values and
Of the tax rates by means of which an
intelligent group of men could arrive at
an unbiased solution Of your problems
Economic Survey Seen.
ANY one conyersant with municipal
government would feel from the start
that 1t is not fair to compare Washing
ton directly with our industrial cities
and on such a crude basis to Justify
either one policy or another of distrib.
uting the burden. The Capital requires
a consideration of manv other matters
There should be undertaken in Wash
inton a governmental and economic sur
vey to develop the basic factors on
which a national program may be
erected"
Mr.. Cottrell also inserted in the
record a copy Of report on survey
he has just made In Toledo, Detroit,
Cleveland. Pittsburgh. Newark and New
York. He stated that Leighton Carter
of the Cleveland bureau. Mai. Phillip
Matthews of the Pittsburgh bureau, J.
0. CARRIER OF the Publicity and Eff
cheney Commission in Toledo. all agree
with DR.. Gulick and are unanimous In
saying that it Is ridiculous to compare
Washington with cities of similar size
in amounts raised by taxation, because
of differences In the economic situation
Mr.. Cottrell forcefully called atten-
ton to the fact that many cities receive
subventionS from counties and States
comparable to the 50 000, 900 lump sum
allowed for District expenses from the
Federal Treasury. He also submitted
study OF tax problems In other States
TO show the relative Importance of in
duStries TO help carry the burden of
taxation. since the District has no in-
dustries from which 10 derive tax
return.
Statement by States.
He submitted a statement by States
for 1922, showing the per cent of es-
timated true value of real property and
Improvement represented by assessed
valuations. In South Carolina, the per-
centage was as low as 2O,3; in Iowa,
1877: In West Virginia, 40. In Pennsyl-
vania. S7.8: In Massachusetts, IT'S,
while the District figure Is 908
Chairman Zihiman pointed out that
the study OF fiscal relationship has at
tracted attention Spasmodically for so
years and he cited that Congress In
1874 guaranteed the development Of the
Capital. guaranteed the bonded indebt-
edness and guaranteed a contribution
of so per cent by the Federal Govern
nlent and that four years later. this
was written into organic law.
He advised members OF the subcom-
mittee that In 1915. Joint committee
of the House and Senate spent a mouth
In hearings on this subject and that
TWO members Of the House at the pres
ent time served on that committee
Representative Cooper, Republican
Wisconsin. and Representative Rainey
Democrat. Illinois
After fully investigating Mr.. Zihlman
said, that commiite unanimously rec
ommenced that the fixed ratio be con-
tinued. In 1921, he said. the perina-
ient law was changed by specific pro-
vision in the appropriation bill making
the hxed ratio g0-40 per cent. Then
three yeara later as legislative rider
on the appropriation bill the appropri-