Evening Star Newspaper, October 5, 1930, Page 5

~ CANAL CO. FIGHTS -~ PARK LAND SUIT Right to Condemn Without Maryland-Virginia Consent Questioned. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co., | ‘which owns certain property at Twenty- | eighth street and Virginia avenue sought 0 be condemned by the United States in connection with the improvement of Rock Creek, has filed objections in the District Supreme Court. - The company, which constructed the second water link in the United States, questions the right of Congress to direct the acquisi- tion of its property, which it holds under various charters enacted by the Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia and which have been approved by acts of Congress. These rights, it is con- tended, cannot be abrogated by any act of Cangress unless the States of Vir- ginia and Maryland both agree. ‘Through Attorneys Hamilton & Ham- fiton and Edmund Brady, the company contends that the ratification by Con- gress of the various enactments of Maryland and Virginia in connection with the canal constitute a contract or compact between the States and the Federal Government which cannot be abrogated by the United States with- out the consent of the two sovereign States. The condemnation proceeding was instituted some weeks ago by United States Attorney Leo A. Rover and As- sistant _Attorney General Henry H. Glassie at the request of the Rock Creek and Potomac Park Commission in con- nection with other properties along the line of Rock Creek for the purpose of preventing pollution of that stream. CHEST WILL COACH (Continued From First Page.) enactment of the budget law, show that the inclusion of the local govern- ment in the Federal budget law has circumscribed the authority of the Commissioners in molding the city's appropriation program from year to year. Broad Question Involved. This discussion is not intended as a criticism of Budget Bureau officials, past or present, nor does it necessarily imply that the decisions from time to time on questions of municipal policy have been unwise. The budget and ac- counting law of 1921 defined the juris- diction which the bureau exercises over District estimates. But, aside from the merits of Budget Bureau decisions on matters of local policy, the question is approached here from the elementary standpoint of whether a Federal agency should possess the same jurisdiction over the detailed expenditures for the municipal government of Washington that it properly exercises over the item- ized plans of Federal departments. At intervals since 1921 there has been discussion among District citizens of the advisability of asking Congress to relieve the local government from the necessity of going through the Fed- eral budget machinery in getting its financial prcgram before Congress. While the question has not been in the foreground recently, recommendations were made to Congress a few years ago along this line. Toward the close el 1926 it was brought to the attention “of the Gibson subcommittee of the House, which was then making a compre- hensive study of the District govern- ment, by Auditor Daniel J. Donovan. District be given its own budget bureau also was included in the report on the local government prepared by the In- stitute for Government Research of the Brookings Institution. When the budget and accounting law was enacted in June, 1921 (applying for the first time to the appropriation bills for the fiscal year 1922-1923), Congress was_appropriating for the District on SPEAKERS FOR DRIVE Clinic to Teach Five Points for Use in Coming Charity Campaign. Pine points of after dinner speaking will be taught at a “clinic” to be held twice monthly preparatory for the open- % of the Community Chest campaign, icials announced last night. Methods of best advancing the cause of charity will be discussed by experts after they have listened to test speeches by more than 50 men and women who will appear before various civic and religious organizations during the drive. ‘The sessions will be conducted in the class rooms of the Chesapeake & Po- tomac Telephone Co. in the Strayer Building. Six speakers will talk at the first of the meetings Wednesday night. Those to be heard will be Elwood Street, director of the Chest; Miss Blanche Renard, budget expert from St. Louis; W. W. Wheeler, J. W. Talley, Miss Helen Story and Stephen 8. Talkes. Belief that a saving of $36,000 an- nually might be effected by changes in the heating systems of Community Chest organization buildings was ex- pressed last night by Allen Pope, con- tractor for engineering construction, at the conelusion of a survey. ‘The report was based on inspections the heal Hs each building had been measured and its heat loss computed by comparisons between the budget al- lowances for this expense and the sums which should be spent to provide ample warmth. In recommending further investiga- tion of the various structures, Mr. P‘g;G stressed that a saving of $36,000 an- nually 2 10-year period would ef- fect, the interest obtainable on such a sum, an operation reduction of o Biggel Commites udget mittee, he‘"‘;‘?:’mcom“nbe m. . ', & member of the Budget mfim c;‘m‘:fu as president o!dz‘he made the without cost. - SR NOISE BY WATER PIPE CAUSES BURGLAR ALARM Two Autos of Police Answer Call of Householder to Find Base- ment Full of Silence. DBNVER, Colo., October 4 (N.AN.A). —At 3 am. police received a telephone call from a frantic householder inform- ing them in tense, hushed tones that a gang of burglars was in his basement. Two carloads of officers with shotguns and ‘submachine - guns sped to the rescue and a{rr‘)wnfled the house. wrance, gun in hand, tiptoed down the basement stairs, Ellh.d on his pocket lamp and roared, 'Stick 'em up!” A thick silence greeted him and Low- rance’s hair began to rise from the top of his head. “Stick 'em up!” he shout- :f n.g.m and only the night air hooted An investigation proved the basement empty and that a water connection, worl Joose, had banged against a floor joist and given the householder the impression that he was being as- saulted and robbed. 3020 Dent P1. N.W. Just North of 30th & Q Streets 3 Rooms, Kitchen, Bath and Porch, $40 WILLIAMS LOMAT | OIL BURNERS ; THE ‘ I ALL-ELECTRIC BURNER No Expensive Gas Pilot. Cheapest and Most Dependable | of Automatic Heat Uses Heavy Fuel Oil Small Down Payment Terms to Suit. Phone or write for a list of | over 600 Washington users, | 1 the 60-40 basis. Lump Sum Changed Practice. Whatever justification existed for in- cluding the District government in the Federal budget law originally centered around the fact that Uncle Sam then had a 40-cent interest in every $1 ap- propriated for the District. But three years after the Budget Bureau began to | function Congress departed from the percentage basis of apportioning Dis- trict expenses and adopted the arbitrary $9,000.000 lump sum as the Federal con- tributfon. Thus, for seven of the nine years of Federal Budget Bureau control, the United States contribution has been a lump sum, and for six consecutive years, from 1925 to 1930, inclusive, the ‘lump | sum remained stationary at $9,000,000, despite the fact that during those years | the total of District appropriations mounted steadily. For the present fiscal year the lump sum has been raised to $9,500,000, but this increase was ob- tained through the vigorous battling of | the Senate on behalf of the people of the District. The budget for this year went to Congress last December, as it had for mem preceding years, with the $9,.- WHEN 'BUDGET BUREAU TAKES POWER COMMISSIONERS ONCE HELD| | members of the committees in Congress | | velops in the House or Senate over a | A definite recommendation that the | lump-sum provision already Your knowledge of design will tell you that it comprises adaptations, in mahogany, of the work of three masters. The side board, the server and the single pedestal table with 8 foot extension, are Sheraton; the chairs—there are five side chairs and one arm chair with seat covers in blue hair cloth—are from originals by Duncan Phyfe; the corner cabinet is a Colonial adaptation of one by Chip- pendale and completes the group of 10 pieces which is THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 5 rooms was the minimum size for & new ! sioners expressed tHe belief that the structure, with extensions added as en- | ary items referred to were comparative- | rollment increased. 1y small in total in comparison with the In & new neighborhood portables were | betterment items eliminated. used until ‘the population justified an| The subcommittee chairman indi- eight-room building. In the items which | cated throughout the discussion that it added.to the estimates last year, the | he thought the Budget Bureau might Budget Buresu suggested sfome four- | have approved a different set of items | room extensible buildings to do away |if a second list of supplementals has B e e asing the Fedems cont | With portables, In adding the $675.000; been_submitted. thibution, and placed the local muncl. | the Budget Bureau reduced or elim-| The surplus question, which formed pal officials at & corresponding dis. | inated other items the Commissioners | the basis of that difference of opinion advantage. because the budget law- | had submitted. making the net increase | between the Budget Bureau and the binding on the Commissioners as much | OF schools $29,385. g Commissioners regarding _detals of as on Federal bureau chiefs—declares Commissioners’ Hands Tied. local expenditures, no longer exists. that no official shall request an esti- Congress, since that time, has enacted mate or an increase of an amount ex- | _ Another illustration of how Budget | Jocal legislation which has used up vir- cept at the request of the committees | Bureau control over the detalled expen- tually all of the accumulated funds. in Congress. Thus, the hands of the | ditures of the city divides municipal | For example. $6,000.000 has been ap- Commissioners were tled, unless the | uthority between the Commissioners | Propriated since that time to buy land . and the Federal agency was brought | {0r the Municipal Center Development. ! | out in the hearings before the House| With no surplus, other than the cash Subcommittee on District appropria- | OPerating fund which Congress has re- | tions on the bill for the fiscal year |Quired the District to set up. the de- | ; | cisions of both the Commissioners and | At the outset of the hearings Chair- | the Budget Bureau on local expendi- | man Simmons noted that the District | tures during the next year or two will had been accumulating a surplus dur- (be of far-reaching importance to Dis- ing. the plrmdxm,zdy;:rlnr two ;nd n',::z trict citizens. i surplus- woul ncreased on the 9 i basis of the budget which had just been | e TrreA WRlowe submitted to Congress. Inquiring into| The Commissioners have submitted this surplus problem, Mr. Simmons sug- | to the Budget Bureau for the next fiscal gested that either more money should | year estimates totaling approximately be spent, or both the Federal contribu- | $48,000.000. 1t has been reported that tion and the local tax rate should be | the clty heads predicated this vears > reduced. estimates on A propose 000, shw; udeldcr;:t “\:s:yi:x::’lt tm-s Ye'to fol.| Former Commissioner Taliaferro, who | Federal contribution and a tax rate of low the recommendatiens of the Budget | W8S testifying at the time. explained £180. as compared with the current Bureau, but exercices independent judg- | that the Commissioners, having in mind | Federal share of $9.500,000 and a $1.10, | what could be spent on a $1.70 tax rate | fnent on the figures finally enacted ik | and the $9,000,000 contribution, sub- | known what view the Budget Bureau and the President will take until the law, nevertheless when an-lssue de-| ;7o %, the Budget Bureau tentative | | estimates for $42,478,031. The Budget | budget goes forward to Congress in De- Bureau replied that the final estimates | ccmber. should not exceed $39,962,107, with the| With the House preparing to study invitation to submit a supplemental | the fiscal relations problem through a list of items thus eliminated. Taking | Special committee, and with Chairman advantage of this privilege, the Com- | Bingham of the Senate subcommittee missioners then submitted final esti- | on. District appropriations also plan- mates aggregating $42,279,113. The | Ding to gather further information on | Budge Bureau, Mr. Taliaferro told the | the subject, whatever arrangement is subcommittee, reduced the final esti- | proposed in the budget is likely to be | mates, however, to $39,935622. The | thoroughly studied in both branches of amount the Commissioners had asked | Congress this Winter. for, it was testified, would have used = The first departure from the 60-40 up the anticipated revenue for that | ratio péa\l'ldvél for h,vx s\tlb.cmm‘l;«; hiw ' % x o | year. with the exception of a reserve of | occurred in Congress in June, 1924,"in e e e Axian oy | $1.100,000 to meet deficiency appropria- | the appropriation bill for the fiscal year a total by the Budget Bureau would | tions made later in the year, or appro- [ 1925. In transmitting the next set of answer the purpose of ascertainingePriations that might arise from new | estimates to Congress in December, Uncle Sam's probable expenditure, with- | legislation. 1924, for the fiscal year 1926, the Bud- out having the Federal budget officials| 1t Was then brought out in the hear- | get Bureau so worded the enacting review the action of the Commissioners | ings that after the final estimates had | clause as to make it, in effect, a recom- on all the details of the municipal de- | Peen pared down an informal message | mendation for a return to the 40 per partments, reached the Commissioners through the | cent ratio of Federal contribution. What the Budget Bureau did that year was to write the enacting clause | District budget officer that the Budget | Can Dictate Policy. | with the $9,000,000 provision inclosed | Bureau officials might be willing to en- But with only one slight variation | tertain some further suggestions. in the Federal contribution during the | Mr. Simmons inquired what action | in brackets, meaning it was language last seven fiscal years, and that one in- | Was taken on that, and Mr. Taliaferro ' taken from the preceding appropria- crease originating after the bill reached | Teplied no suggestions were made. MT. | tion act, but with the 40 per cent Fed- the Senate, the Budget Bureau's super- | Simmons wanted to know if the Com- | eral contribution also inserted in italics vision has resolved itself largely into a | missioners took the position that if | after the brackets, meaning it was a review of the judgment of the Commis- | they could not get what they originally | recommended change from the preced- sioners on the method of expending | Submitted they would not take anything. | ing act. The House, however, insisted that vear on repeating the $9,000,000 lump local tax money. Bureau Decision Binding. sum provision which had been inaugu- For example, the Budget Bureau last December inserted in the local budget | renThey fook this position.” Mr. Ta'ia. a number of school building and ground | ferro replied, “that they had presented v items aggregating $675,000, which were |in a formal and proper way what they | meg thot pane oiore: :{:S,i:’.‘h’;' L not in the regular school estimates as | thought was right, and if the Bureau irict budget has gone forw each D.e- transmitted by the Commissioners. The | of the Budget in dealing with it in a cember from the Budget Bufpau with bureau’s object in doing this was to'formal way had denied it, they had little ' tpe $9.000,000 provision alreadly incor- hasten the elimination of objectionable | hope to accomplish more, and that the porated in ',,)“ enacting section| In each portable school structures. Judged as informal suggestion which I have re- | of these five years the House fucceeded to its merits, this was a desirable step | ferred to did not hold out much hope | in holding Congress to the (89,000 000 and one which taxpayers generally of any success.” figure, until, in the bill for the current would be likely to approve, for no one | Mr. Simmons observed that some of | year, the Senate obtained a 800,000 in- crease. How the next budget will be ntil it is written into it. This gave an advantage called on them for an expression of opinion as to the adequacy of the Fed- eral contribution. Controls Local Taxes. With the exception, therefore, of the first few years of the budget system, when the 60-40 plan was still in opera- tion, the Budget Bureau, in fixing the total amount to be recopumended for the municipality, has in reality been de- termining only how much and for what purposes the money of District tax- payers should be spent, because regard- less of the total arrived at, the Federal particular item of appropriation, the group which has the Budget Bureau's stamp of approval on its side of the argument has a distinct advantage to| start with, even though it may nct al- ways win. If the Federal share in District ex- | penses had continued to change each year in proportion to the total amount appropriated, it is conceivable that the Budget Bureau would have had an in- terest in fixing the total to be recom- | mended for the District, in order to have some control over the Federal | wants to see the inadequate portables | the cuts the Budget Bureau made were retained any longer than necessary. At | items for new personnel and salaries. the same time, it illustrates how the | The chairman said it seemed to him placing of District finances under the | the difficulty between the Commissioners Budget Bureau transfers the molding and the Budget Bureau that year was of municipal policies from municipal as to how much should be allowed for | authorities to a Federal agency. Under | running expénses as compared with bet. previous school building poli eight | terments. One of the former Commis. phrased will not be known submitted to Congress. 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