Evening star., 1930-06-18
DISTRICT BILL DIES
IN DISAGREEMENT
Senate Adopts Conference
Report on Bingham's
Submission.
Continued From First Page.)

and the other body grants such a con.
ference, as was the situation in con.
nection with the District of Columbis
bill, when the House asked for a con.
| ference and the Senate agreed to it, thu
| first report from the confereeS is made
, to the house agreeing to the request
which in this case was the Senate.
THE Senate conferees, having signeC
the report, sent 1t by messenger to tht
Oonferees. and the Senate conferees
| were anxious to make their report or
Monday, but were told that there woult
be members of the House out Of tht
city and were asked to delay the re-
| port until they had returned. Upon the
| return and the securing of thek sigma
lures, the papers were not sent bach
| to the Senate conferees, but we're i'm.
| mediately presented to the House
while I understand that this actor
Is not without precedent, it seemed Il
| the Senate conferees that it was moi
| exactly a courteous method of actor
In view OF the circumstances, which
have just related"
After referring to the statement oi
Representative Simmons that he hac
good reason to believe the bill woulc
pass at this session, and the remark
attributed to Minority Leader Garner
| in the newspapers to the affect that the
Senate was bluff1ng, Senator Bingham
continued
II mention these facts merely because
I believe they explain the attitude OF
the House in passing by an overwhelm-
ing vote the resolution which has just
been read at the desk" Gle referred
to the resolution in which the House
voted to insist upon its disagreement. }
In view Of the statement made by
Mr.. Simmons that he personally knew
that the bill would be passed: that II
| was in no danger, and the statement
OF Mr.. Garner that the Senate was
blufing and the thing to do was to
call the bluff and pass the bill as usual,
Senator Bingham declared, "the House
then proceeded by an overwhelming
vote to insist on its amendments"
Senator Bingham then turned his at
| tention to the statement In the House
! debate that the Senate had not pro-
| duced any new facts to support their
! claim for an increase in the $4,000, ,000
lump sum.
Says Senate Gave Facts.
THAT is not correct statement OF
the situation" Senator Bingham went
on. THE Senate conferees have re-
peatedly given their reasons, the first OF
which is that Washington Is the Ma
tion'S Capital and that bridges and
buildings and other improvements here
IN the nature OF parks and so forth
must be carried on on a monumental
scale for that reason and because 1t is
only fair that the Nation itself should
bear its proportionate share Of the cost
The Senate conferees also called the
attention of the House confereeS to the
fact that when the $4,000 900 lump sum
was approved the total carried by the
District appropriation bill was only
about $30,000,000 and that If 5000, ,00C
was an appropriate contribution for
the Federal Government to make when
the total bill was $30,000,0 900, it was
not an appropriate amount to pay when
the total of the bill was $43, 900 900
ana that the amount should be raised
| for that reason.
Other discussions took place, but ]
/ need not refer to them. I merely want
to point out one thing, that in the de-
| bate on the floor of the House refer
| ence was made repeatedly to the desire
of Mr.. Moore of Virginia that his bill
or something like 1t for a commission
to study this controversial question be
passed and that such a commission
consist OF members of the House, men,
bers Of the Senate and private citizens
to be appointed by the President or by
the District Commissioners, and should
report to Congress what was a fair
proportion between the Federal Gov.
ernment and the District.
Says Attitude Unfortunate.
This suggestion was virtually laush-
ed of the floor on the theory that such
commission would undoubtedly favor
the Senate's theory and not the theory
OF the House. It was stated that the
only commission that was needed were
the members of the appropriations com.
mittee Of the House and that what they
old was right and that what any one
else should recommend was wrong.
Mr.. President, 1t Is very un-
fortunate situation. It is unfortunate
for the Nations Capital. It is most
unfortunate for the consideration of
new construction in the District. It
has been repeatedly stated on this floor
that the Senate conferees were not in
ststing on accuracy or inviolability of
their figure Of $12,000,000, but were
willing to meet the House half way, or
even to go further than half way If
that seemed reasonable, between the
Houses contention that $4,000 900 was
a sacred sum and the Senate's con-
tention that $l2,000,000 was . fairer
sum.
THE Senate conferees also offered a
compromise to change the present law
OF 60-40 as q proportion between the
Federal and District governments to q
| new ratio of 70-30. This was also de-
clined by the House. 1t should be
stated further that the House conferees
| have indicated their unwillingness to
compromise in the slightest degree or
to meet the Senate at all on this propo-
sition, although the Senate conferees
have repeatedly offered to compromise
'st'That is the situation, Mr.. President.
1t Is not situation involving one Sena-
tor, as was lntimated by o debater In
| the House yesterday, but 1t Is the unan-
tnlo is view ot your conferees, after CIV
| ing the matter prolonged study, that
| the 1nly fair thing to do is to ask the
HouS. to compromise In the matter
| The House has indicated its unwilling
| ness and, therefore, 1t was necessary for
us to present this report indicating that
we had been unable to agree"
Hoover Addressed
The statement presented by the Board
of Trade committee to the President
! follows:
Being concerned with the present
situation in Congress regarding the cur
rent appropriation bill of the District
of Columbia, the Washington Board of
| Trade, composed of $500 of the leading
/ business and professional men and in
stitutions of the city, upon whom falls
more than go per cent of the tax bur-
den, respectfully desires to present
their views to you In this matter.
ut Is our wish to assure you, Mr.
President, that we in no way expect To
pay less than our fair share toward the
upkeep of Washington.
There is required, however, improve
ments and upkeep far in excess OF the
demands of an ordinary municipality
| by reason OF this being the National
Capital.
'Inasmuch as the present method
Of appropriation for the District vio-
lateS the existing law crnatad h,, H.a.a