Evening star., 1939-07-14

que, the District
Charles G. Ross. "a community
of 627 900 peoples without funds
with which to carry on its munich
pay services. The appropriation bill
is caught in deadlock between the
House and the Senate over the
amount of the annual Federal con-
tribution to the Districts expenses
and unless the deadlock Is broken
there will be no funds with which
to meet the Districts payroll to-
morrow.
Indeed, because of the failure of
Congress to do its Constitutional
duty, the District has been oper-
ating Illegally since the first OF July.
Oh1cially, 1t does not exist. In the
words of Mr.. Early, a secretary to
the President, rejecting the justi-
fed evaporation of the President
at the mess into which things have
been allowed to drift, the District
OF Columbia today is running as an
extra legal government, as in an
emergency"
Congress in effect, under the Con-
stitution, is the city council for the
voteless District. It has the power
ito exercise exclusive legislation in
all cases whatsoever, over such dis
trict." When Congress fails to make
the necessary provision for the Dis
trict's running expenses, it is as if
the City Council of St. Louis, abdi-
eating charter function, had left
the city services-the police and fire
and park departments and all the
rest-high and dry.
House Rejects Compromise
There is no space here in which
to go into the details of the present
row. Suffice it that the Senate pro-
posed lump-sum Federal payment
of 100000 toward the expenses Of
the District. The House voted for
$5,000,0 900. The conferees named to
adjust the differences between the
two branches recommended a COM
promise on S6,500,000 The House
rejected the compromise by vote Of
238 to IA with 116 not voting. On
another vote, it told its conferees to
go back and insist upon the S5,0O0,-
600 and instructed Them in addition,
not to agree to any proposal for a
joint committee to study the tax
problems of the District of Colum-
bia. Thus matters stood, at tht
writing. at a stalemate.
The Federal contribution needs a
little explaining 1t is not subsidy,
but a measure Of simple justice to
compensate the District for the fact
that great proportion of the prop
erty in the District is Government
owned and therefore tax-free. Tn.
contribution is neither a new thing
nor Is 1t, as was stated in an editorial
inserted in the Congressional Record
not long ago, one-half Of the Dis
trict's expenses. From 1878 to 1922,
there was an equal division of ex-
penses between the Federal Govern
ment and the local taxpayers. The
ratio was then changed to 40 and
go, with the Government on the
small end. Since 1925 the Federal
payment has been lump sum, and
thiy has been gradually cut down to
the S. ZOO, 900 payment for the fiscal
year 1899. This amount is only from
10 to IL per cent of the annual Dis
trict budget.
U. s. Share Whitfield.
Now in view of the steady in
crease which has taken place in
Government holdings in the Dis
trict Of Columbia, the proposed in
crease Of the Governments share
to $6.500,000 (whittled down from
the Senate's suggested 100000
seems not unreasonable. A COM
promise at $6,50O,000, particularly
since the Senate has yielded to the
House on virtually every other phase
Of the bill, would seem to be in
order. But the writer is concerned
here not SO much with the size Of
the Federal contribution as with
the general attitude of Congress
toward its ward, the District of
Columbia.
There are, to be sure, honorable
exceptions, but the average mem
Der OF Congress-and that applies
to all Congresses and not merely
the present-knows little about the
affairs of the District of Columbia
and cares less. Not only this, but
there Is often evidenced in the
votes on District measures a spirit
of positive vindictiveness toward this
community. 1t is clear that there
are plenty of men who are not
above letting petty grievances
over rents, the school situation and
what not-influence their stand on
District legislation. The District
has no votes; it can be, therefore,
and 1t is, kicked around at will.
Only in the sense of its political
impotence is the District of Colurn-
bia an unimportant part of the
United States. 1t is no collection of
squatters, but city, as have said,
Of 627 900 people, and it pays into
the Federal Treasury more than the
collections from any one of half the
States Of the Union and more than
the combined receipts from nine of
the States.
Typical of the Misrepresentation
from which the District suffers was
the statement on the House floor
the ether day that 80 per cent Of
its Inhabitants are on the Federal
pay roll. So what? The Govern
ment employees are American cit.
izens. But the fact happens to be.
as shown by official figures, that the
percentage Of the District residents
on the Federal pay roll is %.
The casual and often cavalier
treatment Of the District by Con-
gress-treatment which at times.
like the present, is nothing short
of national scandals something
to be resented not only by the cit
izens of Washington, but by the
country as q whole. What has hap
pened in the present session has
convinced this writer, against his
previous judgment, that steps should
be taken toward giving the District
people voting representation in Con-
gress and the electoral college.
They ought to be taken out Of the
class Of convicts and detectives and
given some voice In the conduct Of