Evening star., 1938-04-16
Retain the Principle.

4Ae ptlOlng OlSCrlCL lax DILL should
not repeal the ixty-forty provisions of
substantive law without offering some
workable substitute The answer from
the proponents of repeal is that the
sixty-forty provision is dead already.
Why maintain it on paper and continue
to disregard it annually?
Two wrongs, however, do not make a
right. Because the controlling National
Government has seen fit to ignore it's
self-imposed pledge, year after year, it
does not follow that it should formally
repeal its declaration of fair policy,
certainly not without some substitute
The sixty-forty law was the adaptation,
under changed conditions, of the original
declaration by Congress of a pledge to
accompany its exclusive government of
the District of Columbia by a fixed finan-
cial obligation. This declaration of policy
recognized the duty of the Nation to its
Capital; at the same time, it interposed
safeguard against the excessive and
represented in the taxing power. The
Nation is the active, dominating partner
and the District is the silent, impotent
partner in the National Capital partner
ship. Under the lump-sum plan every
cent exacted from the silent, impotent
partner decreases what the national
partner must pay. Under the definite
proportion contribution plan, every dol
lar exacted from the impotent partner
increases payment by the dominant
partner.
Outright repeal of the sixty-forty law
without provision of any substitute re-
moves the last vestige of protection for
the unrepresented local taxpayer. Rep
resentative Bacon of New York said that
the transfer of the total financial re-
sponsibility for the District to the shoul-
ders OF local taxpayers should be accom-
panied by the grant of suffrage to the
taxpayers who must put up the money.
Certainly that is true. But it does not
follow that grant of suffrage in some
form to the people Of the District would
remove the obligation of the National
Government to contribute generously to
the support of its Capital.
AS long as Congress controls, and it
Is most difficult to see how Congress
can or will ever surrender that control,
q financial obligation accompanies the
power OF control. The two cannot be
separated. The participation of the peo-
pie Of the District in their own govern
ment does not contemplate the surrender
by Congress of its control over the Dis
trict. And as this control will remain,
no matter how modified, an obligation of
financial support remains with it.
Mr.. Dirksen's tongue slipped when he
Informed the House, in the heat of de-
bate, that the sixty-forty law meant
contribution of sixty per cent by the Ma,
tional Government. The District fur
nished the sixty per cent (of certain
"divisible," not total, appropriations and
now furnishes about ninety per cent of
total appropriations And the lump sum-
set at $5,0O0000, represents no measure
OF the national obligation, no balancing
OF divisible responsibilities. 1t is merely
a handy sum, agreed on after repeated
attempts in the House to whittle 1t down
or throw it out
The Senate should retain the definite
proportion contribution declaration of
policy and amend it as to figures of rela-
tive contribution, in recognition of
changed conditions, or provide SUBJ
stttute. Throwing it out because it has
been violated is no solution.
AS for substitute, the unanimous
conclusion of the Joint Congressional
Committee of 1856 was that "The
Congress should pursue definite policy
OF regular and liberal appropriations,
having in view not only the permanent
moral and physical advancement of the
city, but also its pre-eminent beauty and
grandeur as the municipal expression of
the Nations home and its peoples pride"
Any proposed legislation in repeal of or
IN substitution for the fixed contribution
plan which In final result leaves the an
nual national expenditure for capital
building indefinite. irregular and illiberal
and leaves the local contribution through
taxation fuctuating and uncertain, will
not be in accord with the principles of
legislation laid down by the joint COM
nlittee and will not be in harmony with
the principles of equity.