Evening star., 1932-05-08
The Senate and the D. G. Bill.

ep0nsibilities and made extraordinarily
important the task of the Senate, and
particularly of It's subcommittee on Dis
trict Of Columbia appropriations, In
their forthcoming consideration of the
District bill. Upon their manner OF
treatment of this measure depends far
more than the mere ALLEGATION for one
fiscal year of available revenue among
the different departments of the city
government. In effect, the question
placed before the Senate in the form
of the appropriation bill as passed by
the House is whether the District Of
Columbia is to be disastrously crippled.
even In its normal development. for an
indefinite number Of years, with re-
sultant imposition Of grossly unfair
hardship upon the members Of this
community.
The bill comes to the Senate reduced
by the House by some $4,00o,o00 under
budget estimates, and by more than
five and half millions under current
appropriations. The reductions have
been made ostensibly in the name Of
economy, during year when 1t is the
prevailing fashion everywhere to cut
everything in the name Of economy.
But the real reduction has been made
for the purpose described by the report
on the bill from the House Appropria-
items Committee as follows:
In decreasing the amount of the
Federal contribution from ss,500, 900 TO
$e,5o0, 900, the sum of SS.000,0 900 has
been changed from a charge against
the United states Treasury to charge
against the revenues of the District OF
Columbia, This change would have the
effect of requiring the raising OF addi-
ticnal revenue from District sources
were it not for the fact that the COM
mittee In the preparation Of this bill
has reduced the budget estimates OF
appropriations chargeable against the
general revenues of the District by $3,-
800 900. With this decrease in appro-
priatiens there will be SUFFICIENT income
to meet the estimated expenditures for
1888 and provide q small surplus.
Senate committee consideration Of
the ball, therefore, will naturally follow
q course designed, first, to discover
whether 1t is equitable deliberately TO
transfer a charge Of $3,0oo,00o from
the United States to the District of Co.
iunabia; second, whether the cuts made
in the appropriation bill are justified
by real economy and whether such cuts
can be made without actually harmful
results
It is to be remembered at the outset
that the Senate, in this bill, Is dealing
with q municipality which happens TO
be the Capital of the United States,
governed and exclusively controlled by
the Congress Of the United States and
It's agents. Unrepealed organic law re-
quires that this municipality is to be
% jointly financed by revenues furnished
by its taxpaying citizens and by reve-
nues appropriated from the Federal
Treasury, to which the taxpayers OF
the District contribute through taeir
Federal taxes, and the law, unrepealed,
though evsded from year to year, pro-
vides that the proportion of these con-
tributions shall be sixty per cent and
forty per cent by the District and by
the Federal Governments, respectively.
The letter and the spirit of this law
have both been evaded since 1924, with
the result that the local revenues have
been forced to meet the annually in
creasing expenses of the Capital, while
Federal revenues have been proportion
ately decreasing. The Senate two years
ago inserted temporary stop-gap in
this downward trend Of Federal contri-
buttons when it raised the Federal
share from nine to nine and a half
millions. Now the House has cut the
Federal contribution by the unprece-
dented total Of nearly third and
makes no bones over the crudely raw
deal of transferring an obligation OF the
United States to the politically i'm
potent and unrepresented people Of the
District of Columbia.
For the District of Columbia there il
CALLING irony in the fact that the trans,
fer of this obligation has been made
In the name of economy. By speciou:
reasoning 1t is represented that a re-
duetion In the District budget Is beini
made because of the necessarily harsh
dictates of economy. municipalities
everywhere are cutting their municipa
budgets. Similar cuts should be made
in the budget of the local municipality
But other municipalities profit from
economies by savings In their taxes
In the District the process is reversed
Such economies, accomplished through
the methods represented in the Dis
trict bill, will have the effect not onl!
OF bringing about the curtailments nee
eSSarily accompanying retrenchments
but will in the end produce higher. in
cuts made by the House affected. TO
ths most part, public Improvements
These public Improvements were re
stricted at the outset by the Commis
sioners and by the Budget Bureau u
the bare essentials Eliminating then
now merely postpones them TO tim
when. as in the case OF the school
after the World War. the accumulation
of unmet needs requires the expendj
ture OF vastly increased sums c1.icen
trating the burden y tuIure years In
stead Of spreading it evenly througl
normal annual expenditure. And alon
with this piling up of unmet needs tn
District is faced with having, in ad
dition to meeting its proportional
share OF the cost. to bear nearly tflir
Of the costs heretofore borne By tn
Federal Government.
Thn duty Of the Senate Is TO restor
tia u np sum to the hgure Of niye an