Evening star., 1936-10-24
CITIZENS ASK us.
FOR MORE FUNDS
LARGER Federal Payment Is
Pressed Before Fiscal
! Relations Committee.
fcontinued From First Page.)

(COnCnUed Tioo oeS't
National Capital, Chairman McAneny
said 1t would be part OF the gen
eral picture to learn whether or not
these allowances are adequate to sup
port the city" Such a discussion,
he thought, would be "germane TO
our program"
The committee will resume its hear
inps at 1:30 pm. in the Offices OF
j. L. Jacobs, director OF the Escai
relations study in the Commercial
National Bank, Fourteenth and G
streets. Jacobs expects to conclude
the hearings in the afternoon. but
said a night session would be held If
necessary.
Follows Civic Representatives.
Colladay followed number OF
representatives Of business and civic
organizations, who submitted to the
Fiscal Relations Committee mass OF
data showing the justification for a
substantial increase in the Federal
payment toward District expenses.
Colladay appeared as the spokeS-
man for the Citizens Joint Commit
tee, which represents 18 outstanding
civic, business and labor organizations.
The Federal Government, Collacay
declared should contribute largely
and literally to the expenses OF the
District. 1.-The contribution" he said
should be on fixed and propor-
tionate basis, flexible and self-apply-
ing. So long as the lump sum Is the
means of making the contribution, 1t
should be in a liberal amount"
The Citizens Joint Committee pre-
viously had filed 246-page argument
for fiscal equity. and Colladay intro
duced a 7-page typewriter supple
ment which was read by Jesse c.
Suter, a member of the committee on
brief of the Citizens Joint Commit
tee. McAneny paid tribute to the
citizens committee for the compre-
hensive report. He said it was "a
singularly able and comprehensive
document that will be of great service
to use in the questions that come up"
Definite Rule Held Needed.
The supplemental brief pointed out
that any effort to arrive at an estl-
mate of the "cost or values" of serv-
ices provided the Federal Government
by the District government, or vice
versa would be "only estimates" unless
I'VE decide on a definite rule Of
measurement to be applied to tangible
facts"
I'VE believe the effort now being
made by your committee in this di-
rection may produce some interesting
and helpful results and We do not
approach this discussion in spirit Of
hostile criticism" the statement read.
1--WE wish merely to suggest what ap-
pears to us to be fundamental weak
ness in attempting to reach an ac-
ceptable basis for measurement Of the
Federal obligation by this method"
I'VE believe" the brief continued,
"that the attempt to apply tangible
measurement to District services rem
dered the Federal Government or
services rendered the District by the
Federal Government distorts the con-
ception Of the actual relationship be-
tween the local community and the
exclusively controlled Federal Gov
ernment. It necessarily interposes the
picture Of self-sustaining, self
determining local community whose
municipal government renders certain
services, and in return exacts tribute
from the Federal Government. It
neglects the fact that services rem.
dered the Federal Government are
established not by the local community,
but by the Federal Government, re-
gardless of the will or wishes of the
local community, and in most cases
are modelled to conform in magnitude
or grandeur or specialized function,
not to meet solely the needs of the
local community, but to meet those
needs plus the expenditure for magnifi-
cent structures that reflect the am
bitions for the Federal city by its
rulers"
Reassures Committee.
Chairman McAneny reassured the
Citizens Joint Committee that the
proposal to measure services to the
Federal Government by the District,
and vice versa, was merely one ap-
proach to their problem.
Jacobs expressed the hope that these
intergovernmental services could be
approved, so as to be eliminated as
part Of the problem"
I'VE hope to reach a conclusion
equitable and fair both to the District
Of Columbia and to the Federal Gov
ernment," he said.
McAneny disclosed earlier that the
committee hoped to work out formula
for determining the basis of fiscal
relations between the Federal and
District governments that could be
used from year to year. He did this
after L. A. Carruthers, chairman of
the Fiscal Relations Committee of the
Federation of Citizens Associations,
had expressed the hope such a plan
would be followed.
One of the developments of the hear
ing was an admission by McAneny that
the committee already had agreed to
one Of the major contentious of the
Citizens Joint Committee, that in
terest payments on public debt should
be eliminated in comparing city tax
burdens.
Colladay Touches Interest Matter.
The interest question was brought
up by Colladay in consideration of the
first table of figures in the citizens
committee brief. When he started to
explain why the citizens committee
had deducted interest payments from
the comparisons Of city tax burdens.
McAneny interrupted the witness.
''One Of our first decisions" an
nounced the chairman, was that all
comparisons should be minus interest
payments"
When Colladay brought up the
question of eliminating "State taxes"
from the computations, Chairman
McAneny said the committee had not
yet reached a decision on State taxes.
Colladay gave a detailed explana-
tion Of the statistical tables in tie