Evening star., 1932-01-03
History of Fiscal Relations
No. L
Proper Conception of Washington as the Seat of
Government Necessary to Understand Present
Problem-Mapes Committees Incomplete
Quotations From Southland Findings
of 1885 Discussed.

shifted from basis of equality under
the half-andhalf law to a point where
| 1t is largely on the shoulders Of local
| taxpayers under the lump-sum plan, Is
more forcefully revealed by a set of
comparative figures inserted by the Dis
! trict auditor at the hearings In Decem-
! Der, 1880, before the Special House
Committee then studying the subject.
Here is what they show:
In 1920, the last year under the
! half-and-half system, the appropria-
tions totaled $ls,709,292, the District
paying $9,990, 1856 and the United States
S9,718 ,906.
In 1924, the last year in which ap-
propriationS were made on the 60-40
basis, the appropriations totaled s20,-
505,454, the District paying s12,424, ,349
and the United States S8,081 los.
In 1925, the first year Of the lump
sum plan, the appropriations totaled
s31.183,151, the District paying $22,-
I'm 1881, the last year for which ap-
propriationS have been made, the ap-
propriations dncluding certain perma-
nent and indefinite appropriations) to-
tailed S45 100000, the District paying
S36,O00.OO0 and the United States
SO. 500, 900.
1T will be seen that between 1920
and 1881 the appropriations have in
creased nearly $26,000,000; that the
Districts proportion of S9,900,000 in
! 1920 has mounted to $36,000,000 in
! 1881, and that the United States pro-
portion of $9,7O0,000 in 1920 has drop
ped to $9,500,000 in 1881.
In other words, in the face of an
| iYnrooea nf ian ront in pnnrnnrio
tions during this period, the United
| States is paying less today (excluding
consideration of certain divisible items
of miscellaneous revenue) by 100000
than it did in 1920"
Nations Obligation Always Dominating.
Since the day of the creation of the
Capital the Nations obligation toward
it has remained the same-primary, eX
elusive and dominating-bu the degree
in which the obligation has been rec
ogniZed and met has been the f1uctuat-
ing factor.
The Mapes Committee, correctly stat
ing in its report that the subject of
fiscal relations and of the division of
governmental responsibility between the
Federal Government and the local COM
munity has always been a subject of
ment of the City of Washington and
later the District of Colun bia has never
been very successful in the management
of its finances when left to its own
devices" and in substantiation of this
conclusion quotes the following extract
from the report of Senator Southard,
chairman Of the District Committee in
February, 1885:
The city is involved in recurring
obligations, from which it is utterly
impossible that it can be relieved by
any means within its own control
or BY any exertionS which it may
make, unaided by congressional legiS-
lation."
Again, to emphasize the undisputed
fact that the Capital City was set aside
as the seat of Government over which
the Federal Government should eXer-
else exclusive control, the report selects
this portion of the southaard report for
reproduction:
The design of the Constitution
and its founders was to create
residence for the Government where
they should have absolute and un-
limited control, which should be
regulated and governed by them
without the interference of partial
interests in the States, which should
~ bOAAO NP a44O cNSbd4AISA Ny l4lCA
authority and resources, not de-
pendent upon the will or resources
of any State or local interest"
The Mapes Committee was wise IN
studying the Southard report. But for
the sake of giving full meaning to the
spirit Of that document 1t should have
gone into it more thoroughly.
For the Nations degree Of RESPONSE
bility toward the Federal City has sell
dom been stated more clearly than it was
in the Southard report, made TO the
Senate in February 1885, by the Dis
trict Committee, which had considered
petitions of the local inhabitants to
Congress for assistance in meeting in
debtedneSs resulting from the early ef-
forts on the part of the local COM
munity to improve the infant city.
After 1t had taken up and discussed
the several factors making up that early
Indebtedness, the Southard report ex-
pressed the basic principle of the Ma
tion's obligation to its Capital in these
words:
In the investigation of the subject
committed to them, and of the relief
to be proposed, the committee have been
unable to separate the interests of the
District from the interests Of the
United States They regard it as the
child Of the Union-as the creation of
the Union for its own purposes. The
design of the Constitution and its
founders was to create a residence for
the Government, where they should
have absolute and unlimited control,
which should be regulated and governed
by them without the interference of
partial interests in the States, which
should be built up and sustained by
their authority and resources, not de-
pendent upon the will or resources Of
any State or local interest. II this
had not been the design, temporary
or permanent seat of Government would
have been selected in some populous
city or some territory subject to State
jurisdiction. And if this was the de-
sign. it Is not easy to comprehend
either the principle which would pre-
vent the Government from liberal
appropriation of national resources to
accomplish the object or the policy
which would confine the city to the
means possessed by the inhabitants for
its improvement. In accomplishing
their object, the Union undertook the
guardianship of the District, deprived
its inhabitants of the right of Self-gov-
ernment and Of the elective franchise
and made them dependent upon the
will Of the Representatives of tbs
states, 10 whom alone they can look
for relief"
When the Southard report was made,
the city had an accumulated debt Of
sl,806, ,44259.
1t was in no sense of criticizing the
local community that the Southard re-
port called attention to the debt 1t had
accumulated-a debt that reached "the
enormous sum of $l806,44289" The
criticism was of congressional neglect
The small community that made up the
City Of Washington had been goaded
by taunts at the Capital of the Nation
into desperate efforts to perform the
task intended to be performed by the
Government but left undone. Suns
be- ond their resources were spent upon
the improvement Of the streets, in
erecting city buildings, and In the en-
deavor TO give the Capital CONNER
cial footing by digging the Chesapeake