Evening star., 1931-12-21
Climax of Inequity.


Once again the people of the District
must look to the Senate for considerate
justice, so ruthlessly denied in the
House
The action of the latter body last
Saturday evening in passing a measure
without hearing, without committee
consideration, without debate, repudiat-
ing the policy of National Capital de-
Velopment which finds reflection of its
wisdom in the grandeur and the beauty
of the Washington we know today, is
the fitting climax to as deplorable an
exhibition of inequity as the annals of
Congress record.
1t Is nothing new under the sun, of
course, to find opposition, no matter
how poorly supported, to the appro-
priative principles of the organic law
Such opposition has always existed. 1t
Is nothing new to watch the opposition
gather adherentS and become an organ
lied attempt to emaSculate or, as in the
present case, blindly seek to overthrow
the fixed principle OF appropriation by
removing it from the books. That has
happened in the House before. There
Is nothing strange in the thought that
occurs to informed, as we'll as misin-
formed, men that there may be a bet
ter way Of expressing the responsible
ties OF Congress to the Capital City and
at the same time of safeguarding the
few rights of its citizens against un-
wise exercise of the power of taxation
by changing but omnipotent Congress
than is represented in the fundamental
provisions Of organic law. That thought
Is always welcome in Washington, pro-
vided only it presents the constructive
substitutes so far sought in vain.
But in this case the House has rashly
defeated the very thing it ostensibly
set out to accomplish by throwing to
the winds elemental precautions against
the possibility of error and injustice.
Its proceedings in the last week become
a farce in so far as statecraft is con-
cerned, and invite storm far more
damaging to its ward, the District, and
to its own reputation than the tempest
of two years ago. out of which the
Mapes Committee was born.
The conclusions upon which this
committee based its four tax bills can
be riddled by fact. The loose language
OF its legislation, so unceremqniouSly
considered, has already raised the very
practical question of what it means,
which in turn receives vague and un-
certain answers from those who con-
ceived and voted for TIE bills. And as
a parting shot the House received on
one day and passed on the next a
hastily framed instrument that would
eliminate provisions Of organic law in
such manner as to return the problem
of Capital financing to its muddy status
of more than half century ago.
The resulting ball of knots has been
rolled along to the other end of the
Capitol for the Senate to unravel. The
citizens of the District have been prom
tsed full opportunity to present their
side Of the case for unprejudiced con-
sideration. Their arguments will sup
port the platform of principles laid
down by the Citizens Joint Committee
on Fiscal Relations between the United
States and the District of Columbia as
modified by the new organic act of
1922 as follows.
I'VE contend, first, that the United
States should contribute largely to the
maintenance and upbuilding of the
National Capital; second, that this con-
tribution should be fixed and definite
proportion; third, that this proportion
should be y-forty-sixty by the
District taxpayers and forty by the
United States"
Congress framed the organic act in
1878 and amended it in 1922 only after
prolonged and dispassionate considera-
tion by both the House and the Senate
and in 1922 by joint committee. That
is the only way to proceed with this
matter The Senate knows 1t. The
House, despite precipitate action to the
contrary, knows it, too.
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