Evening star., 1942-01-20
DANGEROUS MuddIinq


gress and the executive officers to
live up to their responsibilities to
the District.
A case in point is the recent an
nouncement by Harold D. Smith,
budget director, that $4,000 new Gov
ernment employees are to be brought
to Washington this year, and that
this will involve a total population
increase of 250000 for the MetrOpoli-
tan Area. Mr.. Smith made it clear
that this tremendous increase, COM
parable to superimposing a city the
size of Akron on Washington, will be
emergency in character and directly
attributable to the national war
effort THE cost of expanding water,
sewerage. electricity and gas systems
will be huge" he said. Telephone
facilities, fire and police protection
and schools would be utterly made
quate, and, without respect to cost,
it is doubtful if they could keep pace
with such an influx of population"
Mr.. Smith was speaking in support
of the order for the transfer from
Washington of twelve Federal agen-
cieS, numbering some 10000 en-
ployeS. But his remarks lend them
selves more appropriately to illus
trating the gross neglect of the prob
lens that are going to be created
for the District by the National Gov
ernment's war program. An example
of this neglect is to be found in the
recent local budget estimates, pre-
pared by the District Commissioners
and approved by the Budget Bureau.
These estimates called for little more
than mere maintenance of existing
municipal service, and the Budget
Bureau recommended, in the face of
the emergency, the wholly made
quate Federal payment of $4,000, 900.
Yet the Budget Bureau presumably
knew at that although no Dis
trict official had such information
that upward of $4,000 new workers
were going to be brought to the Dis
trict, and that critical inadequacies
in water, sewerage, gas, electricity,
telephone, fire and police and school
facilities inevitably would arise. Why
was no provision to meet these needs
made in the budget estimates? Why
did the Budget Bureau, presumably
in possession Of the facts, fail to
reflect them in its recommendation
on the Federal payment? Clearly
responsibility for this failure does
not rest upon the District.
Nor has Congress met its response
bilities to the District in any better
fashion. AS yet the Commissioners
have been unable to secure funds for
local civilian defense. Despite the
plain and urgent need for more
housing, local departmental employees
the very employees whose iaflux has
brought about the housing emer-
gency-have been excluded from the
assistance authorized by the Latham
Act and no other suitable provision is
being made for them. While these
major problems are wilfully ignored,
the Schultz Subcommittee of the
House District Committee has been
taking testimony on bill to increase
the pay of police and firemen, and
has reported the measure favorably
despite the opposition of the Com
missioners.
Last week. during consideration Of
a bill to grant even larger pay in
creases than those presently being
considered, Representative Rees of
Kansas asked where the District was
going to get the s1,5O0,00O a year
| necessary to provide the increases
Frankly" replied Mr.. Schultz, who
is sponsoring the bill, I'VE are going
to try to raise the salaries and then
figure out where to get the money"
That is statement which is indica-
tive of the temper in which many
members of the House are perform
ing their function as the District s
local legislature in this time of great
emergency.
Protesting against the present pay
increase bill, which would cost the
District $717,609 in the first year and
more in subsequent years, Commits
sioner Young stated bluntly that the
community could not afford the in
crease, and contended that if the
police and firemen are entitled to an
increase on the theory of rising living
costs so are all of the Districts 1900
employees. To this Mr.. Schultz re-
piled: Il don't know a city in the
country where profits are as large
and the tax rate is as small. 1t is
high time that we increase the pay
of all District employees"
That is a statement which revives
an old distortion. The Districts tax
rate is low, but it's tax burden is
relatively very high. The rate, as Mr.
Schultz knows, is low because real
estate assessments are exceptionally
| high, maintaining over a period OF
! wears an AVERAGE ratiO of 1(14 rer cent