Evening star., 1944-05-21


taken care of, there are inequitable
divisions of costs that leave the
people Of the District holding the
short end Of the stick.
In an interview with The Star
yesterday, Mr.. Stefan said that
latter all, we want to be equitable
in our treatment of the District of
Columbia. The government of the
District is simply an agency of the
United States for conducting the
affairs of this Federal District. If
we abuse our power, we hurt not
only the citizens of the District
but also our constituents back
home"
. Sees No "Abuse of Power"
Not, he believes, that there has
been any abuse of power" on the
part of the Appropriations Subcom-
mittee. He was high in his praise
of Chairman Coffee, new head of
the subcommittee, and the other
members for their courteous re-
ception of citizens, their careful
investigation of District agencies
and their examination of witnesses.
which produced many new items OF
information on how the District is
run.
But in the availability of District
schools to children from outside the
District without tuition, in the fur
nishing of free water to the Federal
Government at District taxpayers
expense, in the disproportionate
share Of expenses for maintaining
the National Zoo and the Federal
courts paid by local taxpayers and
IN other cases which he cited, there
is need for remedy which some day
must be made.
"It is the most natural thing in
the world for the citizens of the Dis
trict to want to VOTE" he said. "Of
course, a large percentage of Fed
eral employees maintain their voting
privileges, but it is of the larger
group that we constantly should
think-those who obey the laws they
have no part in making, who pay
the taxes they have no part in vot-
ing for. I believe Congress will al
ways want to retain its exclusive
jurisdiction over the affairs of the
District. This perhaps should be
done, but it does not necessarily
follow that those thousands of citi-
zens should be deprived of the fun
damental right of citizenship merely
because they are residents of the
District Of Columbia"
Praises DIR. Ballou.
Mr.. Stefan paid tribute to DR..
Frank w, Ballou, retired superin-
tendent of schools, in connection
with the Districts school system,
which he described as one of the
best in the country He spoke of
the repeated efforts in the past, on
the part of the House, to charge
tuition for children outside the Dis
trict who attend the local public
schools. Each time the Senate has
had the tuition item stricken. He
said the school authorities are now
making a study of the matter in
order to furnish an exact estimate
of the money lost to the District
through free tuition.
The Federal Government now
owns Al per cent of the land in
the District-tax free, Mr.. Stefan
said. AS the taxable land area de-
creases and the amount of tax ex-
empt land increases, more atten-
ton will have to be paid to finding
an equitable method of settling the
financial relationship between the
local and national governments" /"
Illustrating the rapid population
growth of the District, Mr.. Stefan
recalled that Washington's popula-
ton in 1860 was 75,08O-while to-
day, in the Pentagon alone 10000
employees are working under one
roof.
The Pentagon. incidentally, he
said, uses a million gallons of free
water every day In addition, on
the Virginia side of the river alone,
the Army Air Forces Building, the
antiaircraft encampment, the Navy
Building, the Marine Corps Bar
racks, Arlington Farms Residence
Hall, the Public Roads Laboratory
and the National Airport-all use
free District water paid for by local
taxpayers.
This matter and the question of
the Geological Park, the National
Capital Parks, the Washington
Aqueduct and similar agencies in
their relationship with the Municipal
Government should be more clearly
Defined he said
Cites Court Cost Rise.
In connection with the Fedral
courts in the District, Mr.. Stefan
said that in 1885 the District paid
the full cost. This later was changed
to so per cent share, but this 60 per
cent share today exceeds the full
cost of the courts in 1885. He re-
ferred to the mass sedition trial. AT
the present rate this Is going to be
Ia record-breaking. time-consuming