Evening star., 1932-01-03

Nation by the original proprleIofS.
The expense incurred by the city in
opening and repairing streets IN these
early years was listed as one of the
causes entering into this financial en-
barrassment of 1885.
| Grand Plan of City.
The Southland report after calling at
tention to the unusual magnitude OF
the plan adopted for the city and the
fact that the city necessarily had to be
created in a short space OF time, made
this comment on what had been spent
up to that time on the streets:
The expenditure upon the streets
under these circumstances has unques-
tionably been one OF the principal
causes of the embarrassment of the city,
and the committee believe that it is
one which ought not to have been
thrown on the inhabitants to the ex-
! tent which it has been. They found
this opinion upon the early history of
the CITY, the object of the Nation in its
establishment and the contracts made
| by the Government for the land which
/ it possesses within its limits"
Referring again to the elaborate scale
on which the plan of the future Capital
was laid out, the Southland report con-
| tinued:
1T is a plan calculated for the mag
nif1cent Capital of great Nation, but
oppressive, from its very dimensions
and arrangements to the inhabitants, If
its execution to any considerable extent
is to be thrown upon them. No people
who anticipated the execution and sub
sequent support of it out of their own
| funds would ever have dreamed of form
| ing such a plan. 1t would have been
! the most cOnSummate folly"
The committee which made this first
comprehensive study of the relations
which should exist between Nation and
local community in developing a Ma
| tional Capital came to the conclusion
| that at the outset neither the Govern
ment nor the proprietorS contemplated
| that the whole or even a large proper
ton of the burden should be thrown
upon the inhabitants of the city
This assertion" the report added, "is
amply sustained by two considerations.
In the first place, the contract between
the Government and the owners of the
| land gave to the former a large extent
| of public lots, sufficient for all the edi-
| fees and Improvements which its con-
venience could require, and, in addi-
| tion thereto, one-haf of all the build
! ing lots within the limits of the city.
thus making the Nation itself an equal
owner of all the private property, and
| equally interested for the benefit of this
| private property in all the improve
ments which might be made In the
| next place, the Government assumed,
and from that day to the present time
has claimed and exercises, entire and
! absolute control over all the streets of
the city, so that the inhabitants or
| the corporate authorities have no power
either to enlarge or to diminish them or
to open or close them, but the authority
in these respects has been exercised at
all times by Congress"
City Took the Lead.
In reviewing the broader and more
basic aspects of the fiscal relations
problem, however, the impression which
stands out from this 1885 study of the
subject is that in this first period of the
city's history, prior to 1885, the Wash
ingtonian of that day not only did not
Shirk from but took the lead in rear
ing the infant city and giving it a start
in life.
Although that first comprehensive
study of fiscal relations in 1885 showed
that the Government had made appro-
prlatlons from time to time up to that
date, they were not based on any def
mite or equitable apportionment.
The discussion of street expenditures,
Tor example, Is one of the most enlight-
ening features Of the Southland report in
showing the extent to which the people
OF Washington put their shoulders to
the wheel in trying to do their duty
toward the newly established Capital
Before looking at the figures for street
improvements during those early years
1t is pertinent to recall that in the orig
ont of f1An I'll
and streets were transferred to the
Government without compensation be-
ing made therefor. Discussing the street
Improvements which had been made up
10 that time, the Southard report said:
-, Ihere has been appropriated for
the streets and paid out of the CITY
treasury the sum of $429,971, and, in
addition to this very large sum, it is
low estimate to say that not less
than 100000 have been paid by the
inhabitants for the improvements of
the streets in various directions. Pre-
vlouS to the year 1880 there had been
l06,3n running feet of pavement made,
oesloes the curbstoneS and paved gut
ters' and paid for by special taxes upon
the lots, to which the private building
lots of the Government had contributed
no part, although they derived an equal
benefit therefrom. While this has been
done, the Government and Nation have
expended upon their own streets, which
they formed for their own purposes. and
10 answer their own objects, in which
they have the exclusive property. over
which they have exercised unlimited
control, and which they may close and
sell at pleasure, only $208,925, and the
Whole OF this sum, with the exception
OF about $4,000, has been devoted to
pennsylvania avenue and the streets
Immediately around and adjoining the
capitol and Presidents squares alone
the improvement of which was indis-
penSable to the Government itself and
promotiVe of its own interest, In the
convenience of its officers and the
transaction of the public business.
Where Congress Shirked.
Congress has expended nothing ex-
cept upon streets which adjoin the pub
Ilc squares, and even upon such has
only made some pavementS and walks
and set out some trees along the squares
leaving the rest of the expense Of even
those streets to be borne by the CITY
While on the other hand the city has
not only expended its money on the
streets wherever the population was
scattered over its immense area, but
SPSSAolS OptIleQ dIlu improved
those leading to the national estab-
Lshments at the navy yard and ar
SenaI and those leading to and around
the public squares and reservations be-
longing to the Nation, and thus, by its
own means, enhanced the value of the
public property"
The report added that while the city
was not bound to spend the money of
itS inhabitants upon the streets which
the Nation claimed and regulated, the
committee believed that "the narrowest
measure of justice would have required,
and does now require, that the Govern
ment, having in its private building lots
and public reservations at least an
equal interest in the improvement of
the streets, should pay at least one
half of the expenses of those streets,
and that one-half of the money ex-
pended by the city for this purpose
ought now IN ha refunded tn IL being