Evening star., 1937-02-24
DISTRICT BUILDING
SALE IS WEIGHED
BYBUDGET BUREAU
Commissioners Submit Plan
to Help Finance New
Municipal Center.
SEVERAL OTHER BILLS
OFFERED FOR VERDICT
New Methods of Raising Revenue
Also GO Before Body for Policy
Decision.

The Budget Bureau today was con-
sidering bill offered by the Commits
sioners proposing sale of the District
Building to the Federal Government,
a long-proposed step toward financing
construction of the main unit of the
new municipal center.
The bill is one of more than a score
sent to the bureau by the Commits
sioners for a determination at the
Federal agency if the legislative pro-
posals are in accord with the policies
of the President.
A second plan of the Commissioners
is for the sale to the Federal Gov
eminent of the lower half of the mu-
nicipal center site, no longer needed
for the new home of the District.
since the minor court buildings are
to be erected - Judiciary Square.
This proposal is not included in the
list of bills just sent to the Budget
Bureau for its inspection.
Sale Previously Rejected.
Removal of the District government
from its present home was contem-
plated when the United States started
development of the Federal triangle"
buildings, which led to the purchase,
at cost of more than S6,000000,
of the new municipal center site.
Past proposals for sale of the Dis
trict Building, however, had met with
the disapproval of the Budget Bureau.
Three of the bills proposed by the
Mapes committee of the House sew
eral years ago. calling for an increase
in taxation on the District, are among
those sent to the bureau. One pro-
vides for adoption of an income tax
for the District, and the third for an
increase in the Districts gasoline tax,
another for adoption of a tax on motor
vericleS by weight A fourth of the
old Mapes bills. which have been re-
introduced, provides for repeal of
substantive law which requires that
the United States bear 40 per cent of
the costs of the National Capital.
The Commissioners have not re-
vealed whether they have proposed
favorable or unfavorable action on the
bills they have sent to the Budget
Bureau. In the past they have with
held statements about tax increase
proposals until Congress acts on the
report of the Jacobs Fiscal Relations
Committee.
Silence Imposed by Order.
Their silence, they say, has been
dictated by the executive order of the
President of several years ago, which
prohibits Government officials from
advocating legislation on budget mat
ters until they have passed in review
before the Budget Bureau.
Compulsory semi-annual inspection
of all motor vehicles in the District
is provided in one of the Il. cham
pioned by Traffic Director William A.
Van Duzer. The Commissioners also
seek approval of a measure which
would allow the District to share in
the Federal gasoline tax collections to
be used for road Improvements. The
Districts share has been calculated at
some s600,000 year
Other bills, on which the Commits
sioners have secretly told the Budget
Bureau of their proposed reports, are:
To authorize an appropriation for
the purchase of a new site and for
the construction of a new building for
the central building of the Free Pub
lie Library; to provide retirement pay
for judges of the District Police, Mu-
nicipal and Juvenile Courts; to per-
nit the sale and consumption of liquor
at bona fide lunch counters; to pro-
hibit the manufacture, sale or con-
sumption of alcoholic beverages in the
District; to furnish steam from the
central heating plant to buildings Of
the District to be erected in Judici~~r
Square.
Street Changes Involved.
To permit changes in the highW
plan west Of Seventeenth street and
north of Constitution avenue for Fed
eral building plans: to regulate the
practice of cosmetology or beauty
culture: to abolish capital punish
ment; to incorporate the National As
ISOLATION Of State Librarians; to pro-
hibit experimentation on living dogs:
to exempt from taxation the National
Rifle Association of America, Inc; to
rename Concord avenue as Missouri
avenue: to prohibit the bottling Of beer
in other places than where the beer
is manufactured; to permit changes
in District highways to permit con-
struction of building for the Pam
American Union; to regulate the profit
which may be taken by private vend-
ors of admission tickets, and to pro-
vide for the reappointment to the
District Police Department of David
R. Thompson and Ralph S. Warner.