Evening star., 1933-06-08
The District Loses.

reached agreement on a 1884 Dis
trict of Columbia appropriation bill tina
in substance represents the recon
mendations of the Bureau of the Bud
get. The same inequities and harmful
results of drastic reductions that wer'
so obvious in a study Of the bulge
recommendations have, therefore, beer
carried into the bill. Most of the i'm
portant remedial steps proposed by th'
Senate Appropriations Committee ans
approved by the Senate in its passage
of the bill have been lost.
The items which still remain IL
formal disagreement between the con.
ferees, and which must be submitted tt
the House for approval. do not affect
by one penny the total expenditure
under the bill They relate to the
transfer of funds from one subhead tc
another in the appropriation fol
schools, libraries, Fairgrounds, health
department and public welfare-the
thought here being that authority SO tc
transfer appropriations might prevent
some dismissals of needed personnel
and, generally speaking. will give the
responsible authorities more leeway in
stretching their slender funds to cover
the greatest amount of territory. An
other item remaining in disagreement
provides for the transfer of special
teachers to class room work when such
transfers are necessary-thus permit
ting the filling of vacancies by this
method.
All that is left for the local taxpay-
ers to hope for now is that these pro-
visions will be approved by the House
and remain in the bill For, if they
are not approved, such important and
even essential municipal institutions
as the schools, libraries and play
grounds will, in addition to the drastic
reductions already made in their allow
ances, suffer further harmful and un-
necessary hsndicaps.
Even as the bill represents the rec
concentrations of the Federal Bureau of
the Budget. so does it place new and
powerful authority over the District of
Columbia in the hands of the Director Of
the Bureau of the Budget. The House
provided that certain surplus funds
from the gasoline tax and water reve-
nues might be expended on construc-
ton and employment-giving work il
and when the President authorized it.
The Senate increased the amounts that
might be so spent from these funds,
but left the discretion for their ex-
penditure in the hands of the Comnis-
sioners The Senate also left the au-
thority to transfer funds from one SUBJ
head to another in the hands of the
budget officer of the District and the
Commissioners.
The conferees have now decided tt
place all this discretionary authority
not in the hands of the President
or the Commissioners, but in the
hands of the Director of the Bu-
reau of the Budget That means. OF
course, that the busy Director of the
Budget will put the matter in the
hands of one of his assistants. BY thii
act alone, any semblance of local repre-
sentatfon that may have been ex-
pressed in the authority of the Com
missioners to act in response to the
sentiment of local taxpayers is lost
The affairs of the District Of Columbis
and the welfare of the taxpaying mem
bers of the local community are more
strongly centralized than ever in the
hands of the Federal Bureau of tht
Budget. The District has urged the
justice Of removing from national Bud
get control the expenditure of funds
contributed solely by District taxpayers;
in response to this appeal Budget con-
troll has been extended and strengthened
In this respect the District asked fol-
bread and is handed stone.
The Senate conferees' capitulation Il
the House on the Federal contribution
places that sum at $5,700,000. But ever
the Budget Bureaus recommendation o.
this amount was conditioned on tn,
amount carried by the appropriation
bill as whole. 1t was intended Il
reflect the same reduction in the Fed
eral lump sum that had been made IL
expenditure Of local revenues. Increas
ing the allowable expenditures from
local funds should have been accom-
panied by increasing the amount c
the Federal contribution. and this th'
Senate recommended. Final failure Il
increase the lump sum in accord will
the Budget Bureaus formula by which
again that the Federal contribution M
longer represents equitable or fair con
sideration of the facts. The size of i
represents the result of manipulation b.
every conceivable device at the expens,
OF the District.
The present bill will permit of som
reduction in the real estate tax. A re
duction in the tax rate is taken TO
granted and will probably be ordere,
by the Commissioners in a few day:
1t will bring some relief to the res
estate taxpayers. But, because of the dis
proportionate burden in financing tn
Federal city already placed upon thes'
and because of the steady shrinkage i
tax collections and the consistently hig
level Of unreduced real estate assess
ments, the relief will be small. 1t wi