Evening Star Newspaper, October 26, 1926, Page 5

CAPITAL, DEBT FREE, PAYS TOP ¢ PER C{\PIT A ASSESSMENT NOW Washington. Without Federal Aid Enj oyed | by States, Finds Taxable Land Area Shrinking Rapidly. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Congress has been shown that we have here in the Nation's Capital not only the most world—an und: ;\f“!)w cost of main! out of debt, or and free from °t is now being izet Bureau and 1 to g0 to Congress, it is an ap- te time to t account of to see just what we get for our tax dol'ar, and how little truth there in the &laim of some members of »ss that we do not pay enough itative William C. Hammer th Carolina, a member of the House 1 t committee and a mem- ber of the 1l subcommittee of seven to make a comprehensive studv of the municipal government, said at & public hearing a couple of weeks ago. “it's the hardest thing in the world to pay s’ he records show that in the District act their g we have 75,000,000 coll know just how each spent—including absolutely noth: for graft and corruption, which pvramid the costs in other large cities. District's Value for Taxes. That tax expenditure our co-opertive mon good, which is the essence of our form of government, which has proved to be the best in all the world's hitsory. Under that tax fund we had more than 9500 persons working for our common interests 365 days in each of the three We had 3,000 persons engaged in our children, which is the tant single activity of our We had 1,343 persons department on guard day and night to protect our lives and property. We had %65 men ready at A minute's notice to risk their lves to shield us from the ravages of fire. We had nex < many providing us an adequ supply of parity. under engincer proper represented bolice our high V' 970 additional ., not only in 600 working for us daily in jails S pitals. reformatory and correctional institutions, safezuarding soclety from serivusly offend against it. * just how each tax dol- for the last 38 cents out of scation—and our all the people has Vvthing else to make “different” and superior. ar each dollar w system of & . teachers, for spectal education and for libraries How Money Goes. Seventeen cents out of each dollar is spent on the protection of life and property. This includes the support of the Police and Fire Departments and the District Militia. Twelve cents out of each dollar is &pent b corrections. institutions, ituti rt of the Gwhich i largest single and for prisons and reforma- ach dollar is spent 4 including improve- lew streets, maintenance, trect lighting and street Another 10 cents out of each dollar it on health and sanitation, with B n il of city refuse, other t of the Health De- out of each acilities, The maintenanc Water Departny does not come out t the tax dollar, but from revenues department. Dur s there has been a revenues ahove the costs of the tem, and thi= has been pport the Washington rtion of our help s Stem Nickel for Governing. Five cents in each doliar is for the zovernment, about onehalf s for salaries in the admin ¢ branch -which any business tive will tell you is a very small n 1 cent covers s listed ‘mis- In the pas 1 cent or less out of - interest and debt. ad a debt of $5. is was cleared up Au- Fust 1924, so that today we are Clear of debt of any description what aneous’ ave paid significant—and the business-like inicipal adn ider that n our indebted: increased our 000,000 in where in - 1 we had expenditure only at the very time ient arbitrarily especially nis wh t w m 0,000 in 1 Federal Govern #PHorlicks " The ORIGINAL o Cooking. Homae Food-Nrink for All Ages The Hecht Co. have been in their new I Street store just one year? action for the com-| in the| changed the fiscal policy, reducing the Federal contribution. Take the 23 cities in the same class with Washington—those population of 500,000 and over. At the time of the last census report on the financial statisttics of cities, in 1923, shington was lowest on the list, for © then had a per capita debt of 35 :nts, since wiped ou.: while the next wwest was $16.28 per capita, in St. -ouis, ana the high figures ran up 0 $186.47 1n New York city, $197.67 n Cincinnati, $2 in Jersey City nd $214.20 1n Seattle. Our succ ful busine: rdministra- ion—the tact that we taxpay o much for our tax dollar, 100 service—is not b, $9.000,000 = ton, so that it may present * appearance.” No Justice in Charge. There is no justice in the often- heard complaint in Congress that we here in Washington are not taxed high enough. As a matter of fact, we pay the highest per capita assessment in_the country There is tegislation pending in Con- gress, a proposal for a joint commit- tee of House and Senate to determine an equitable fiscal policy of paying the costs of maintenance and broad- visioned development of the Capital— not only ot the half million persons resident here, but of the more than 120,000,000 persons in all these 48 United States. This is the one outstanding subject to which the Gibson subcommittee of the House District committee has been asked to give prime consideration when it starts its hearings just after the congressional elections, because it Is fundamental and basic. From 1878 to 1920 the organic act provided that the Federal Treasury should contribute one-half the ex- s of the Capit: Then until al year 1925 we had the Fed- eral Government paying 40 per cent and the District taxpayers 60 per cent. In 1925 and 1926 we had the parent Government grudgingly giving us a lump sum of $9,000,000, as a hap- hazard guess at its rightful share of the cost. This was i budget of some §: . have now climbed to $37,00 that even at Congress’ own at a fair proportion it should now be nearer $15,000,000. Some Real Facts. Here are some real facts: (1) Congress is constantly sable area in the District by ng Government acduisition of the best picces of property, and during the next five yea very large number of most desirable tr: are to be removed from tax a ment. (2) Congress has for many yea; held a dead hand on large stretches of the best commercial property in the District, retarding development which would have meant increased tax revenue—-the triangle between Pennsylvania avenue and the Mall being a ready example. reducing S8+ Vhich from o strictly municipal view- point are not the most desirable loca- tions for community recreational facilities, and then retains the title in the Federal Government for land the R dents have paid for. with exclusive control vetarded the de- I areas which d the tax revenues year after year, because some Federal project superseded the municipal in- terest. Congress has - discriminated st the District in the matter of al aid, which other States en- joy, and this is espec seen in the $150,000.000 road-buil 2 s and roads. Un- der this “ederal aid 259 railroad grade crossings have been climinated in the States, while we are importuning Con- gress to authorize the elimination of four here in the Capital at a cos? of 000—every dollar of which would taxes ally we pay nearly $20,000,- rnal revenue taxes, consid more than is puid in eight combined, and more than twice 4s much as the rest of the Nution pavs towards its Capital These in- revenue t are disbur on str 604-610 9th St. N.W, Dailv, §1.00, $1 $7 room® S8 weekiy: $10.50 room 13 with tole wer and ‘Tava <30 “Rooms iike Mother's, MAAAAAAAAAAA CHINGERS SAVE YOU MONEY ON SASH ROOFING WALLBOARD beard. 3¢ por o ft Now fireprost Roch berrd—s barguin ot 335 por 1,000 oq. Mt &/ Garage PLAIN RAIL SASH eLight . Glaaed While 2ex 90c y 343 Lase $1.35 Alse Other Sizes Enclese Your Porch CAMP_MEIGS 5th & Fla. Ave. ortheast MAIN OFFICE 6th & C Sts. Seuthwest jallotment. ‘direct bearing on the subject of the lerty is removed from taxation. |a total of 43,000 acres, we find by the having a! THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, throughout the States and the District of Columbia gets no corresponding The first of these facts has a very tax dollar. There is no city in all the world where so much of the prop- ‘With records of the assessor's office that the United States Government holds 7,500 acres valued at $400,000,000; the District Government, 625 acres, val- ued at $30,000,000, and legations, charitable institutions, churches and schools, 1,300 acres, valued at $50,- 000.000. This leaves 30,000 acres ex- clusive of streets, on which taxes can be levied. This land is valued at £402,84%,046 and improvements valued at §497.901,796—or a total of approxi- mately $900,750,000. In other words, there is ahout a billion and a half of real estate here, of which taxable in- dividuals own less than a billion and the other half billion—one-third of the total, is exempt. In setting up the lump-sum plan it was argued in_justification in Con- gress that the Government had about renched a limit on its land holdings here, while the residential develop- ment and business improvement were constantly increasing. Millions upon millions—perhaps a total of $50,000.000 | —in the choicest real estate locations re alreadv on the program to be ~cquired by Congress within the next five years—thus removing more and more of our land from taxation. It must be made clear that the re- turns to the District treacurv from the tax on real estate do not meet all of the District’s chnrs of the budget for the maintenance and Improvement of the National Canital. For example. the tax on intangible personal proper- tv brought in approximately $2.300. 000: the tax on public utilities, banks building assoclations, etc., brought in annroximately S1.870 000: revenue from various miscellaneous sources, such as license fees, $3,000,000. What ever balance is needed in addition to these sources of revenue is raised by taxes on real estate and tangible per- sonal property. The assessment en lmost of the people working for the| & | real estate for the current year was $900,749.842 and the assessment an tangible personal property was ap- proximately $100,000,000. $9.000,000 Does Double Duty. And not onlv does the Nation ex- pend millions (toward which the Dis- trict makes substantial contribution) upon the several States, without per- mitting the District to share in this distribution, but the individual States and countfes spend millions in_sub. ventions upon thelr great cities. While Congress was making a great to-in about contributing $8,910,000 toward the upkeep .of the Nation’s Capital, New York City was getting $18,542,- 557, while Chicago, Philadelphia, De- troit and a score of other cities were drawing many millions. Thus on analysis we find that_the lump sum of $9,000.000 from the Fed. eral Treasury toward building the greatest Capital in the world is made to serve as an economical substitute both for natlonal aid to the State and State aid to the city. We get no Federal or State ald in the support of our local schools. We are just completing a big school-build- ing “program with hearly $4,000,000 paid from our surplus funds, which represents the amount Congress was shy on matching dollar for dollar with us. Yet Congress has fixed it so that people who pay taxes in Maryland and Virginia get thefr children edu cated at the expense of the taxpavers lof the District of Columbia. Also we have in our schools children from avery State in the Union, who come here in the traln of members of Con- i gress. Consider also that the Government uses 40 per cent of our water and pays no rent. We have here the Federal City, with vernment on salaries that are small in comparison with salaries paid else- where in private industries. They are the ones on whom the burden of tax- HOME OF THE “2.PANTS" SUIT | meeting of new ones. Of | breaking sales, too. The sweet—the apples’ good. friend, drop in and “hav with us. THIRTY-DOLLAR FALL TOPCOATS $19.75 Boxy Model—Silk Trimmed Hundreds of $35 and $40 TWO-PANTS SUITS 1005 Pa. Ave. l For Men and Young Men D. C, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1926. HOW D. C. TAX DOLLAR IS SPENT This chart illusirates the d into the t: n of ation falls, for we have no considerable commerce here, as in other cities. If these Government employes are called upon to keep up the finest citv in the world, with boulevards 160 feet wide and the best park system in creation it curtails the amount allowed them. And remember they.are not in busi- ness, where the tax can be passed along, but are on a salary, where the tax cannot be shifted. ‘The Congress, in cutting down the amount of taxable property and in- creasing the rate paid by private own. ers is surely cutting down the salary of the Government employes, instead of protecting them. The people of the District cannot supply funds for the National Capital without a corre- sponding pinching of those working for the Government. Obviously to tax the indlviduals here for support of the sT.Nw PAY RAY PAY DAY Special for Wednesday Only COMBINATION DIAMUND RING AND WRIST WATCH BOTH FOR ONLY $39.75 tu a Week D. J. KAUFMAN'S THIRD The Big Kick of *“this here" Harvest Home Festival has been the "haling” of old friends and the course, we've had busy days—record- cider's Come, ) e one . } LIEBSTER'S ment), 1315 F real “he fellow “stuff.’ OLD-TIME VALUES 29" Mpr. Oscar I. Dodck, Manager of LAODINID every dollar that local residents pour coffers of the Capital. Nation’s Capital puts on them a bur- den in excessof what is paid in other }\lzmles where the burden is purély ocal. Proves He Wasn't Drunk. CHICAGO, October 26 (#).—To prove he wasn't drunk, George Wil son, when arraigned in court yester- day, offered to btalance a penny on the end of a match. Three times he failed and the court grew Impatient. Then, trying his left hand, he man- aged to keep the penny on the match for 30 seconds. “Discharged,” said the Jjudge an instant before the coin clat- tered to the floor. 1233 10th St. N.W. ANNUAL AID N PRISON RI0T FREES 4 CONVICTS Pardoned by Governor for Help in Foiling Missouri . Jailbreak. By the Assoclated Press. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., October 26.—Full pardons as the reward for aiding guards of the Missouri State Penitentlary here during a riot and attempted outbreak Sunday after- noon, in which seven convicts took part, late yesterday were granted to four prisoners by Gov. Sam A. Baker. The men are: Ollie Cooper, 47, ne- gro, serving three years, from Pop- lar Bluff, Mo., for burglary; Clyde Wolf, 33, doing 15 years, from Kan- sas City, for first-degree robbery Grover McAlister, 38, sentenced to 20 years, from Poplar Bluff, Mo., for sec- ond-degree murder, and Artie Booth 83, sent to the prison from LaFayette County to serve eight years for bur- glary. Cooper was one of the heroes of the riot. He was assistant cook in the tuberculosis hospital, which is near the cell building from which the prisoners fled. He fought off five of the men as they attemptéd to kill him, and J. L. Fleeman, guard. Both Cooper and Fleeman were stabbed in the shoulder and arm. The other three convicts went to the ald of Guard A. J. Wekenborg in “B” hall of the main cell building where the attempted break started. and kept the rioters from stabbing the guard. Cooper left for his home in Balti- more, Md.; Booth departed for Cali fornia; Wolf went to Chicago, and McAlister returned to Ponlar Bluff. Raymond Crews and James Wad- low, two prisoners who were peppered with buck shot, are expected to re- cover, officlals of the prison sald. UPHOLSTERING Your five-piece suites reupholstered for less now than you can buy one new chair for nowadays. $9.00 Silk Tapestry cut to $2.98 per yard—this week only. CLAY ARMSTRONG Frank-a-lin 7483 CHARGE ACCOUNTS INVITED I do heartily endorse your stores as THE PLACE for men to obtain youthful, quality merchandise at a reasonable expenditure, and this is evidenced by my patronage with D. J. Kaufman since boyhood. Having been associated with you, I KNOW THE FAIR POLICIES used—and I always enjoy cominyg (Dress Depart- St. N.W.—and a Read Oscar’s Money’s Worth or Money Back [ in—if just for a chat with the boys. Cordially yours, (Signed) OSCAR 1. DODEK. TWO-FIFTY WARM WINTER UNION SUITS $].65 Cream and Gray—34 to 46—3 for $475 Hundreds of $35 OREGON CITY (Virgin Wool) Made where the sheep are grown O'COATS 1724 Pa. Ave. for that tired feeling these brisk Fall days. Tone up your system. Drink EVERFRESH Citrate of Magnesia, the wonderful impurity ouster that has no weakening Sealed in new non- returnable bottles for your protection. WORKERS Loans that help you save, too! Borrow from us what you need—from $75 to $450. Repay it conveniently over twelve months. And at the end of the year—be credited with a Savings Bal- ance of $50 for every $100 borrowed! It's our new plan—and an excellent one! DEPARTMENTAL BANK “Thé Bank for Departmental ;’mpl«"' 1714 PA. AVE. N.W. Beautiful Engagement Ring and Wedding Ring to Match 49 Pay £1.00 A Week Blue-white diamond in handsome 18- kt. white gold carved mounting and wed ding ring to match. PAY N FY 3 v MARX 701 Seventh St. R! COMPANY N.W. Northeast Corner 7th and G Streets Lantz Bros.—7th & D Sts. S.W. Is a Star Branch Office If you want help of some kind, or a position, a Classified Ad in The Star will put you in touch with what you are seeking. For the convenience of patrons of the Classi fied Section, there is a Star Branch Office, dis playing the above sign, in your neighborhood— whether you live in town or the nearby suburbs. Make free use of its facilities; it will serve you without fee; only regular rates are charged. The Star prints MORE Classified Ads every Five-Twenty-Two RITTENHOUSE Street N.W. FREE Admission 10AM.to10P.M. TODAY And Every Dav Till October 31 day than all the other papers here combined because they reach more people and the RE- SULTS are bettef. “Around the Corner” is a Star Branch Office