Evening Star Newspaper, December 19, 1930, Page 4

HSEAI. IES"MUNY Ask for Restoration Auditor Says if Gas Tax Is Raised Personal Tax Should Be Dropped. (Continued From First Page.) statement showing the condition of the water fund, which indicated that the estimated receipts from the sale of water for the current fiscal year would amount to $2,149,000 and that the ap- propriation charges against this fund would leave a balance of $458,000 to carTy into the 1932 fiscal year. At the end of that year, on the basis of esti- mated expenditures in 1932, the state- ment showed, there will be a balance of $78,000 reserved as working capital. Donovan next gave the committee, at the request of Mr. Holaday, a mass of dsta showing the number of District charges in various institutions. These included the National Training School for Boys, the Columbia Institute for the Deaf and St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where the District pays for the main- tenance of its charges. Mr. Holaday then questioned Maj. Donovan about Judiciary Square, where are located the Pension Office and Court House. The auditor pointed out that the only buildings there in which the District had any interest are the District Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. ‘The Pension Office, he explained, is purely a Federal building. Maj. Donovan pointed out that the salaries and all other expenses in con- i nection with the administration of the two courts are paid out of the general revenues. This prompted Mr. Frear to ask him to what extent the various courts—Police, Juvenile, Municipal, District Supreme and Court of Appeals —are a burden on the District. Maj. Donovan replied that, as a general rule, the fines pay the salaries of the court attaches, except in the case of the Su- preme Court. ‘The total cost of maintaining the ing. five courts, Maj. Donovan explained, amounts to $750.000 a year, whereas the District gets back in fines a total slightly under $650,000 a year from the Police, Juvenile and Municipal Courts. The | h, fines imposed in the Supreme Court, he said, go to the credit of the United States in the Federal Treasury, although the District does receive from the Court of Appeals approximately $7,000 a year. Gallinger Municipal Hospital and the District Jail were next discussed. These institutions, Donovan said, are located on a Federal-owned reservation. The hospital, he explained, is a purely mu- nicipal institution, but the jail was built by the United States and later turned over to the District. The new addition to the jail and other expenses in con- nection with its operation since the District took it over, he declared, have been paid out of the general revenues. Donovan, in _response to other ques- tions by Mr. Holaday, explained that the arboretum on Bladensburg road is urely a Federal investment and that e District has contributed toward the cost of the reclamation of Anacostia Park out of its general revenues. Mr. Holaday asked Maj. Donmlg. for @ brief statement with reference to the District sewer system, and he replied: “The sewer system has always been m from general appropriations. The ral participation in this system was represented by the annual contri- bution made by the United States under $he 50-50, 60-40 and lump-sum plan. “All of the Federal activities in Wash- ington use this system, and the United States gives nothing toward its opera- tion and maintenance, except through its annual contribution.” Asked About” Improvements. Mr. Holaday ‘next asked for a state- road been paid from moneys collec the 2-cent gasoline tax. “Now, for 1932 we estimate a revenue avallability from _the line tax amounting to $1,915,000. appropri- ation estimate for that year carries items totaling $2,000,000, to be charged against that fund. The gas tax will g0 8s far as it can for new paving, and the shortage will be made up from general revenues.” ‘When Maj. Doncn'anl gni:‘l';‘ed“% statement, Mr. Frear aske tax in Washington is raised so that it is comparable to that in Mary- land and Virginia, if it would not be possible to provide all street improve- ments out of general funds. “Unquestionably, that is right,” an- swered Maj. Donovan. Mr. Frear then asked Maj. Donovan 1f he knew of any reason why the gaso- line tax in the District should not be increased. “I don't see why there shouldn’t be an increase in the gasoline tax,” re- Donovan. In connection with the discussion of under | tional contribution, actually money- which may omnipotent of Proportionate Contribution Plan. No Offsetting Bene- fits by Evasion of Law of 1922. Text of argument accompanying petition to Congress from the Citi~ zens' Joint Committee on Fiscal Re- lations in the District of Columbia: 1. The lump-sum payment practice destroys all relation between the Na- tional and local contributions and leav- ing all taxing power in the hands of the United States deprives the unrep- resented Capital of its safeguard against excessjve taxation by a taxing body in which it is not represented. Under the lump-sum payment prac- tice additional dollars of tax exacted from the District no longer increase, but correspondingly reduce the Na- or rela- tively. Teaches a False Theory. 2. It teaches a false theory concern- ing the relation of Nation to Capital. It obtrudes annually upon the atten- tlon of Congress the suggestion of a large cash donation to the Capital, as if the primary obligation of National City upbuilding were upon the local taxpayers and the Nation were only an incidental contributor, a voluntary and benevolent donor. Since the Na- tion in 1878 recognized and assumed its National Capital power and obliga- tion, its responsibility in respect to the Capital has been primary and dominat- . As late as 1916 this relation of Nation to Capital was fully recognized and clnrlg set forth in the report of the Joint Select Committee of Congress, which made the most thorough, ex- stive and able study of the fiscal relations of Nation and Capital that statesmen had given to the subject since 1874-8. As long as all-the assets and revenues of the National and local Joint contributors toward Capital up- building are in the hands of the N tional joint contributor, and as long as all decisions concerning the amount to be paid by the joint contributors re- spectively and concerning the expendi- ture of the joint revenue are to be made by the National contributor, the latter must, in equity, and will in“fact bear the primary responsibility of Capital upbuilding. and the local taxpayers will be recognized in their true relation as merely incidental contributors of tax money, not fixed in amount by them- selves, but exacted at the pleasure of the other joint contributor. Since all the taxing power remains in the hands of the National partner, no limitation upon the amount of National payment is required, but the self-imposed limi- tation upon the amount to be exacted from the impotent partner is essential. Is not the superlative inconsistency, the climax of topsy-turvydom attained by a financing plan which places a limit upon the amount of his own be spent hy the National partner, with exclusive power of legislation and ap- propriation in his hands, and removes all limit from the amount which the National partner may exact for Capital upbuilding from the impotent local partner, the District taxpayers? Pro- tection against himself for the power- ful partner who needs no protection! A denial of. protection for the weak part- ner who is absolutely helpless and im- potent and who desperately needs to be protected! 3. It taints with unfairness or bad faith nearly every understanding or transaction which it touches. Unlawful Offspring of Holman Rule. (a) It came into existence as & rider on an appropriation bill in defiance of substantive law under a strained con- struction of the Holman rule. This misapplication of that rule tends to put the National appropriation for Capital upbuilding in a position where it may not be increased, however righteously, without running the gantlet of the,House District Committee and of District day limitations and delays, but may be decreased, honmestly or dis- honestly, without the sanction of any committee by hasty, unthinking pro- posals from the floor of the House, adopted by & mere majority of the lit- tle group of our legislators in the House who take an interest, friendly or hostile, in District concerns. Under its viclous influence the rule seems to say in effect that in action upon appropriation bills no substantive legislation can be disobeyed unless Uncle Sam repudiates some financial obligation or otherwise makes money street improvements, Donovan pointed out that the property of the United States, the District government and foreign embassies and legations is ex- empt from taxation for street work. Churches and other institutions that are freed of tax on their property, he explained, are required to pay for street improvements. Advocates Weight Tax. Mr. Frear next asked the auditor for his judgment about remarks made some time ago by Representative Simmons of Nebraska regarding the low automo- bile license fees and gasoline tax in the District, and he replied: “I see no objection to modification of the license tax. There should be a welght tax, perhaps, but if that is done, T would knock out the personal tax on motor vehicles. The average personal ¥mpeny tax collected on these vehicles or the 1930 tax, amounted to $9.16. There were 30,000 cars that had no value, but they were assessed at the minimum personal tax qf $1 each.” “If the license fee in Washington.is far below that in other States, would think that it should be raised to a alr charge in comparison?” asked Mr. Frear “Whether we should go the limit of the high States, I would not say,” re- plied Maj. Donovan. “But an increase would add to the revenues of the Dis- you think it is fair to charge ® truck a dollar for a license tag?” in-| d Mr. Frear. “I think there ought to be a relative charge, trucks,” answered Donovar. In response to further questions by Mr. Prear concerning the per capita tax burdens of various cities, Donovan in- sisted that the only fair way to arrive at & comparable tax purden in Wash- with other citles of like size is o determine the per capita tax. He declared that in arriving at the per| capita tax rate for Washington, Federal owned property should be taken into based on weight, made against| e change. by'r;:‘ rule Jleua misconstrued and mis- applied, while barring equitable in- creases in appropriation, facilitates the denial or evasion of legal indebtedness; it invites violation with good or bad motive of existing substantive law; and dishonest repudiation Unfairness in Respect to Sllll'pl“ll:‘;.l (b) In appropriating for Nat Capital purpg:eavchp District’s five mil- lions surplus, it robbed this fine action by Congress of much of its merit It caused repudiation of equitable contribution by the United States in appropriating and expending the Dis- trict’s accumulated treasury surplus. The tax money creating this surplus was collected by authority of the half- and-half law solely to apply upon the District’s_half of District appropri- ations. Whenever it came to be ex- pended it would be equitable to spend it under the half-and-half law, the United States duplicating it. Under the demoralizing influence of the lump-sum payment practice the surplus has been expended without par- | ticipation by the Nation under any per- centage of obligation to enlarge the surplus fund for the upbuilding of the Capital. Decision that the tax surplus, collected under the 50-50 law, existed | unavoidably involved the decision that a proportionate payment by the Naton was equitably due whenever the tax sur- plus should be expended. But the Jump-sum payment practice, as applied, repudiated this equity. Taints With Unfairness Expenditures for Parks. (¢) The lump-sum payment experi- ment, as practically applied, converted the Park Commission law from a bene- fit and blessing to the National Capi- tal community into a curse. On its face the National Capital Park and Planning Commission law broadly National. The terms of the comsideration on the same basis as pro- posed by the Bureau of Efficiency in its recent report on fiscal gslations. WINS CHEST CUP De, Riley D. Moore Winner in Charity Oratory Contest. Dr. Riley D. Moore was awarded a eup last night in a contest conducted the Community Chest Speakers’ to_train orators who will de- Hver the Chest's message to the public in _the coming campaign. The contest, one of a series, was held at the Boys' Club, 420 C street. Health Expert in Chile. AIRES, December 19 (#).— | fixed in the substantive law ‘BUENOS Dr. John D. Long of the United States law suggest the patriotic interest in it to the extent of a cent a year contri- bution of every man, woman and child in the Republic. The title to all the land purchased by the Park Com- mission is vested in the United States. The Park Commission can under it purci and Virginia, as well as in the Dis- trict. The annual -pfl:nflnfim of more than & million dollars & year, author- ized as supplemental and extraordi- nary. expenditures by the District of Columbia Park Cammission law, is directed by the law itself to be paid “from the revenues of the District of Columbia and the general funds of the ‘Treasury in the same portion as other expenses of the trict of Co- lumbia.” The current ratio was and s Gb-m new organic act of 1922, and still un- ‘The whnle::;e exceptions to hase land in adjacent Maryland |, o, G STAR, WASHINGTO. DINOVAN TOFINISH| Citizens Petition Congress for Equitable Fiscal Treatment D. C, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1930. Petition by the Citizens' Joint Committee on Piscal Relations Between the United Petition to Congress b mfiufl to t’h‘:‘ uft‘-‘?’m of 1922, and further yment plan of iy bubiing concinacs appropriation ment shall de by District of Columbia and the resentatives of its constituent and co-operating organ- izations, whose names are subscril fully represent: The platform of principles laid down by the joint committee and adhered to in the committee's brief in before the joint select committee in 1915, committee in December, 1919, and the the House @ return in appropriation definite g.vopou{omu the su that while the lump-sum contribution toward Capi- a8 the annual exzcept: the amount of this lump pay- rgely increased. To the Congress of the United States: Your petitioners, the Citizens' Joint Committee on Fiscal Relations Between the United States and the States and the District of Columbia tantive law ile its and other rep- ibed below, respect- # stantive low, o the Sonate appropristions committee in April, 1920, is as follows: W3 contend, first, that the United States should con- of the District; second, mtllilun&‘:u‘uhmxmfldhnfludnddefin! third, that this proportion should be at tribe*y Fas: cagbatt This platform was modified by organic act of 1922, which reafirmed the principle of definite proportionate contribution by local community te To as for the reasons set forth in to and made @ part of this petition. this proportion should be sixty-forty—sixty by the District taxpayers and forty While Congress has refused all propesitions to amend the definite proportionate contribytion provi- sion of the law of 1922, and while the sixty forty pro- vision is the existing substantive law, Congress in 1924 provided ss & unmnrv provision on the annual appropriation act for payment contribution, in lieu of the forty contribution provided by substantive law, and has re- newed this exception to the provisions of substantive law in each annual appropriation act since that date. The citizens’ joint committee urges a return in ap- propriation practice to the sizty-f ion appropriation the United States. fiscal year 1925 a lump-sum r_pent b‘:flfl?‘ _propors argument resent that grosser and more obvious injustices. prevent glaring , petitioners there- fore wurge for m.m""&‘?u'fi argument hereto as part of this petition, that Congress should the District’s new (1) increase subs grounds, the great National and Nation toward Capital upbuilding, but changed the fifty. itio to -forty, im) SRR posing the sixty rer. The committee’s platform of principles, thus modi- - fied, was announced by the executive committee of the citizens’ joint committee October 31, 1928, as follows: We contend, first, that the United States should con- tribute largely to the maintenance and upbuilding of the National c;rlhl; second, that this contribution should be a and definite proportion; third, that Thaodure G- Hopua e sl Chatrnem, Exsaitive Cormittes, Citizens’ Joint Comeittes on . Bistrict o Prosdmt, . 'ckorar c. KAVER TR Prestent, Pederaticn of Citizens' Asesclations Ctanr e — lusbia Fiseal Relatiom tantially, both m‘!mfl on general and specific Chairman, Oitisens* Joint Commitdes W2, Vice Chairman of its Executive Committes PLITT Board of Trade e B - OO P. ai IDREDS Werchants’ end Mnufecturers' Associatioe 158 Presstent, Chember of Commres sk feu, President CErniel. Foons , Marcim Wnuractuters) As and tiom m‘l;:. Bar Asw ajetion Clnn Il JAMES B, s¥ent, Kivanis Clud o ’ —éfld—&&zfib 128 1, STENGLE Former Chairman. Finance Commitise, Federation of Citizens’ Associations. oM A, PETTY cutive Secretary, Wshington Real Estate Board. . R MOWROE WARREN Prestdamt, Butlder: Operative Association R LA Becretary, Chamber of Commerce stantive law of 1922 for the year dur- ing which the exceptions appiy and do not repeal or permanently amend the substantive law. The lump-sum payment plan, by ignoring the law’'s specific direction of 60-40 division of the cost, and by failing to make a specific increase of the lump-sum payment to satisfy the law’s direction of a National 40 per cent contribution, has practically thrown the whole cost of Park Com- mission expenditures upon the local taxpayers. It has converted a fine, wise, broadly National project, which the self-deceived District enthusiasti- cally indorsed, into an unjust and un- endurable increase of the local tax- payers’ tax burden, against which the coed District taxpayer ously protests. 1f Congress will this year merely cease to write into the District appropriation bill the annual lump- yment exception in practice to the 0-40 provision of substantive law, and permit the 60-40 provision of the law of 1922 to go automatically into effect, this injustice will be corrected. Paralyzes Permanent Improvements. (d) It paralyzes all great and costly rmanent improvements and ail ns for such improvements by cre- ating in the community a reasonable distrust whether the National partner in financing the improvements and repaying the loans will not exact every cent of payment for primarily National or semi-National projects from the impotent local pattner, the District taxpayers. (e) It taints with bad faith and hurt- ful injustice the District's new or- ganic act of 1922. The understanding when the act of June 29, 1922, was agreed upon by House and Senate viewed that hct as a compromise measure, disposing for many years of our troublesome fiscal relation issues. The District’s contri- bution toward Capital upbuilding was increased from 50 to 60 per cent; its tax rate on intangible personality was increased 662-3 per cent, and the foundation was laid (though in- tent to increase was disclaimed) for increasing its realty tax; it was de- prived of exclusive credit for large sums of miscellaneous receipts hither- to solely enjoyed, this action inflict- ing a heavy loss, and it was com- pelled to accumulate from its tax money of present years (every cent of which was needed to meet the it municipal needs of today) & of millions to provide in advance for meet- lng the first half-year expenses of 927-28 and of subsequent years. In partial compensation for drastic exactions the District was to enjoy specifically for five years and in- definitely thereafter the benefit of ap- proximate certainty as to its rates of proportionate contribution; in order to m the District all controvers) five years over ratios and tax rates the law in specific terms levied in advance this tax “for each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1923, 1924, 1925. 1926 and 1927,” indicated how the tax rate should be 'automatically fixed , |and directed that the proceeds should I ution and to the building up by f 8 surpl put the t on . was be applied to the District’s 60 per cent oon_v,.:‘ % for | incres House and Senate, which annually en- dangered the District apropriations and undeservedly prejudiced ~House sentiment against the Capital com- munity. Unjust and Hurtful Discrimination. The District has been compelled to carry out faithfully all the provisions of the five-year program that mean loss and inj to it; but in appropriat- ing for the al year 1925 Congress nullified for that year the 60-40 pro- vision of ‘the law of 1922 (the only pledge in the compromise distinctly beneficial to the District) by attaching to that biil the vicious and demoraliz- ing lump-sum payment rider. The all-powerful National partner has in each of the fiscal years since that of 1925 repeated this unjustly and discreditably discriminating exaction from the impotent local partner. When Congress ceases to enact this annual exception to the law of 1922, the 60-40 rates directed by that law will automatically operate and the | promised era of peace, good Will and the di- rection of repudiation and bad faith of the 10mp-sum payment practice is fur- ther suggested in the exaction in full {from the local partner, the District tax- payer, of the final payment on the park- way connection between Potomac and Rock Creek Parks. At first the Nation paid in full for the National parks to which it secured title. Then for parks at the Capital it exacted from the Dis- trict taxp:a'ers 50 per cent of the cost and later 60 per cent. But in this park- way case the final payment was made solely from District tax money. No Offsetting Benefits for Injuries. 4. There are no offsetting ‘benefits to the injuries inflicted by the lump-sum payment practice. e of evil concerning it have been 100 per cent fulfilled. Not one of the benefits for it has been enjoyed. ‘Washington was tempted to assent to surrender its safeguard of national pro- portionate contribution by the assur- ance that if a fixed Jump-sum payment were made by the Nation, the taxpay- ers would have practical control of the question of the amount of tax money to be raised by themselves, of the forms of taxation to be adopted and of the ob- ficu for which their tax money should spent; that since none of their tax money came from the Nation or Na- tional Treasury they could, with few llm:lhuu'xz, “l‘but.nd d ‘;.hzlr own mone; 8t hemselves, dominated by neither Budget Bureau nor Congress. Our experience has demonstrated tha the in its fiscal tax- ing and appropriatin legislation. Congress still has and jealously exer- cises exclusive power to de{ermlne how much it shall be taxed, in what forms it shall be taxed and for what purposes its tax money shall be ex- pended. With unfairness it gives back to the .Nation its pledge of propor- tionate _contribution which accom- National seizure of he - e pawer ot sel-taxation - without restoring to the District this self- taxing power of which it had been deprived. Its practical effect is to place a maximum limit on the con- tribution of Uncle Sam, who needs no protectionr, and to remove the lmit entirely from the contribution under compulsion of the local taxpayers, who, impotent, desperately need - tection from the unchecked exactions of the National partner. Some of our legislators at the time of the adop- tion of the lump-sum payment prac- tice disavowed any intent to increase the District’s tax burden by the change of appropriation practice, and predict- ed that there would be no increase. Other legislators frankly announced that one of their purposes in chang- ing the appropriation practice—a pur- pose which they predicted would be accomplished—was to enable a taxing body in which the District is not rep- resented to increase, the local tax bur- den at its pleasure, unchecked by the requirement that every such increase shall be reflected in some measure in National taxation for Capital upbuild- | ing. Authorized by substantive law to collect only 60 per cenf of District appropriations from the local tax- payers, it is now collecting 75 per cent. ‘The prophets of evil were the true prophets. ‘The maximum National contribution is made definite during the time In which Congress refrains from dimin« ishing it; but all limits are declared off in respect to the local contribution, and it remains definite o in the demonstrated certainty that the local tax burden will be largely and steadily increased, and that the local tax- payers will not participate at any time in the decision of the amount of the increase, the methods of takation by which the increase is secured and the purposes for which the tax money is spent. * ok ok % For the reasons above stated, your petitioners earnestly urge Congress e pending District of Columbia appro- priation bill to abandon the - mental lump-sum payment practice and to return automatically in practice to the definite proportion contribution, in accordance with the substantive law., NURSES HOLD BANQUET ‘The League of Nursing Schools of the District of Columbia held their annyal Christmas banquet at the Dodge Hotel last night. Dr. Darton of the Geol cal Burvey, exhibited lantern slides.of the Grand Canyon. Student nurses from local hospitals joined in the sing- ing of Christmas carols at the conclu- sion of the pi k Keene to Broadcast Address. . Carter B. Keene, former governor of the Mayflower Society, will speak on the landing of the Pilgrims over radio Station WMAL at 5 c'clock tomorrow afternoon dwing a program in eom= memoration of the historic event ‘of December 21, 1620, under the sponsor- ship of the District of Columbia mem- ican bers of the Daughters of the Ameri It Keene will be intro- in | half-million Americans While Lump Sum (St Remains Plea Is Made for Increase. Federal Allotment Should Show Gain With District’s. We of Washington urge: (1) That existing substantive law authorizes in- crease of the nine million lump-sum payment up to an amount equal to 40 per cent of the total sum carried by the bill ff the appropriations sub- committee - and committee wish to recommend it. (2) That the amount of the annual lump-sum payment should be increased in some roughly approximate relation to the incresse of the District budget. If justice re- quires the Nation to oongflmu %0 much when the District's annual of course, be reflected by an increased ition in financing this distinctly semi-National project. The ton law em; and does not weaken the argument above as it re- lates to the previous park legisiation.) ‘There. are several other National or semi-National projects which, a8 a result of appropriations on the District bill to finance gnem with an inflexible lump-sum National contribution, have been in effect paid for solely by Dis- trict yers. An example among these is the Center. The proposed “Municipal rt” is pending as an additional - project that would be through the annual District local taxes represented in the surplus of 1922, without any cor- STIMSON PROPDSES IMMIGRATION PLAN With Labor Secretary He Says 90 Per Cent Cut Would Aid Unemployed. Aid for the employment situation here could be furnished by a horisontal cut of 90 per cent in all immigration, based on the national origins method of selection, according to Secretary of State Stimson and Secretary of Labor Tespon contribution of kind or in any amount from the National ‘Treasury, is an historic case of escape, under the lump-sum practice, of rec- ognised obligations. Exclude National Prejects. the lump-sum payment can- &, uitably llcl‘l"‘ o National ,.m..m financing these National or semi-Na- | tional projects, then the Congress is asked to exclude these appropriations from the District bill, where their in- clusion results in obvious inequity, and fo finance them in some other supply budget is so much, the same justice be requires it to contribute more, when the District budget is doubled. The practical suggestion Is that the amount of the fixed payment ‘should be read- Justed 1if there is any notable increase in the National Capital's annual ex- penditure. An immediate increase of the basic lump-sum appropriation “of nine millions (now $9,500,000) would, for example, be in just relation to the steadily increasing "current taxes and annual expenditures. Increage Specifically Lump Sum. (3) The amount of annual sheuld be increased e representing in the placi in the District budget of primarily National projects which it Is should be paid for wholly or from the National "y inclusion in the District and under the lump-sum payment plan as practically applied are paid solely by the District taxpayers from current taxes. 5 A separate and distinct increase of the basic nine millions should be made to prevent Congress from vio- Iating its own statutory provisions that the Nation shall contribute and definite proportion to the appro- priations for certain great Natiomal o semi-national projects, as for example the appropriation for expenditures under the jurisdiction of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The law provides in respect to appro- priations for this confessedly National project that the Nation shall pay its definite proportion of total expenditure. If Congress makes a:rqrhuon for ithout providing icipation in the cost on the sixty-forty basis, which is the existing statutory ratio of substantive law, or by making a specific lump-sum increase of the basic lump-sum ap- propriation in lieu of the definite pro- nrthn which the law directs, both the ter and the spirit of the law will be violated and the inequity will result of exacting entirely from the local tax- payers funds for a National project, Commission, be expende oulside of the co! ion, outside of the District in Maryland and Virginia. The annual xfmpnnuom of more ’ lars a year, author- ized as supplemental and extraordi- nary expenditures by the District of Columbia Park Commission law, are directed by the law itself to be paid “from the revenues of the District of Columbia and the general funds of the Treabury in the same proportion as other expenses of the District of Co- lumbia.” ‘The current ratio is 60-40, fixed in the substantive law by the new or- ganic act of 1922, and still unrepealed. The wholesale exceptions to the 60-40 ratlo inyolved in the temporary lump- payment' plan in effect since 1924 merely suspend the substantive law of 1932 for the year during which the exceptions_apply and do not repeal or permanently amend the substantive law. Add $400,000 to Basic Lump Sum. ‘The Park Commission law clearly contemplates (and provides) tHat the authorized annual appropriation of a million dollars shall be made, $600,000 from the District revenue and $400,000 from the National Treasury. If the District appropriations for 1931 were to be made at the 60-40 ratio in ac- cordance with existing substantive law, this apportionment of the parks ex- penditure would result automatically. But since, tentatively and for only the year, a lump-sum payment is to be substituted for the National 40 per cent contribution, the Nation’s contribution of $400,000, or thereabouts, ht lawfully and equitably to be ed specifically to the nine millions of basic lump-sum payment. The P-trcwnmmhn appropriation is made unmistakably as a supplement to the current maintenance and de- velopment appropriation, with its nine millions or nine and one-half millions of lump-sum payment in accordance with the original tentative precedent. If the 60-40 ratio ‘is not applied to the whole appropriation and if the lump-sum payment is not increased as suggested, it is generally recognized that every cent of the Park Commis- sion’s million dollars per year (or what- ever part of this amount is appropri- ated) will come from the District tax- payers. Congress will not permit any tenta- tive juggling with the ratio of National and local community contribution to- ward Capital development to throw the whole burden of Park Commission ex- penditure upon the local taxpayers. 1. The law specifically forbids this procedure by directing a division of the cost 2. The project is broadly National. The terms of the law suggest the patriotic interest in it to the extent of a cent a year contribution of every man. woman and child in the Republic. Congress will detect the gross per- version of law and equity which results in a denial to 109,500,000 Americans of all participation in the patriotic priv- ilege of parks contribution and exacts 0,000 repre- senting the whole Nai from the (at more than $2 annually per head) of the District of Columbia, um| 3. The title to all the land purchased by the Park Commission is vested in the United States. The Park Commis- sion can putchase land In adjacent Maryland and Vlr‘snh as well as in the District. If the whole cost falls upon local taxpayers, their tax momey will buy for Uncle Sam exclusive title to land m‘:"llrd! of the District in Mary- A ton law, which amend- ed previous park legisation, wisely elim- inates the provision that funds :rm’o- er,ed for parks from District of Co- bia revenues may be spent in Mary- land or Vi . The language of the Cramton :geemuuy Testrains the expenditure of the authorized $16,000,000 to acquiring lands “in the District of Columbia.” ~ But the Cramton bill pro- vides that the repayment of the Treasury loan shall be made at the rate of $1,000,000 a year out of “funds in the Treasury to the credit of the District of Columbia.” Under the lump- sum arrangement the Cramton law merely continues the inequitable system wherein the semi-national project of National tal Park devels it is I reaiity Ao Districh funds Cramton that increases in Himit appropriations of District money by Congress (the Dis- trict's legislature, in which it is not fepresented) in the same way that Cap- ital expenditures of National tax money are limited under the lump-sum pay- ment plan. When the appropriations of local and National tax money for the Capital were by law and in practice in definite percen relation, this limita- tion automatically resulted, and this check upon the appropriation of District tax money, unless accompanied by & related expenditure of National . tax plan, ‘When for the latter plan, at the in- stance of the House appropriations com- mittee, the lump-sum psyment plan was tentatively substituted, it was suggested that loss of this limitation upon. Dis- trict expenditures and taxation would a be cured by permitting the District to participate so effectively in the raising and expenditure of its tax money that it could be extravagant or economical, as it pleased. But, in fact, the District has no more to say about its taxation and the expenditure of its taxes un- der the lump-sum K;rmcnt plan than under that of definite proportionate g?m;-‘llb:uon. And un:lerhzhn m e p-sum payment plan limits itself concerning expenditures on the Nation’s city of tax money con- tributed by the Nation, which it repre- sents, but removes the limit upon the raising and expenditure of the tax money by the District, which it does not represent and to which it is not at all nsible. And as a result we have appropriatiens from the District tax money abnormally swelling to meet whole-cost expenditures on National ln’: leml-Nltlz:;loDmmu. 'o prevent us injustice Congress lhdlld’el'.h- (1) increase equitably the lump-sum payment, or (2) ex- clude great National or semi-National projects from the District bill and finance them on some other supply bill, 80 wore the items thus excluded as to set for the exact method of financ- ing in relation to the amounts of con- tribution by Nation and Capital that is | by g:uthl to be just, or (3) provide for a al as well as a National maximum of contribution, or (4) by referendum or of permit the taxpa; have some effective say in regard to the amun'l ahmfl“m and the pur- poses for wl e tax mo; pe ney is to be In appropriating and in legislating our legislators are urged to I by the wording of the law, and in con- struing and applying it, that since the Nation 18 in exclusive control of, the raising and spending of all capital Yev- enue, including the District tax money, the United States is the ary and the District only the incidental con- lbutor, and not vice versa, as the present lump-sum payment plan seems to assume. Protection was afforded the local tax- yer under the 1878 law not only by ihe provision that th tribute 50 per cent of the total appro- priation, but also by the assurance that the local taxpayers would not be com- pelled to contribute more than 50 cent of the total. So in the law of lg;; the effect of the statute was to pledge the local taxpayers that not more than 60 per cent of the total would be exacted from them. Whenlthe lump- sum payment plan was substituted ten- tatively for the 60-40 ratio this pledge was suspended, but it was suggested tha! an effective substitute for pledge was found in the declared determination of canTreu under the lump-sum pay- ment plan to give the local taxpayers a certain control over their own &‘x TAls- ing and tax spending, involving the power to be extravagant or economical, and to spend as much or little of their own tax money as they pleased. But Congress in fact limited its power to expend National tax money, and left undetermined the amount of local tax monez that it could expend. And it has exel this power without regard to the wishes of to raise and spe:ii lh)e]sl taxes notw x municipal purposes, tional and primarily It is to correct this condition that Washington now urges Congress, either to abandon the lump-sum unjustly one- sided experiment, or to make the Na- tion’s lump-sum contribution flexible and to increase it, or to permit the local taxpayers to have an effective voice in deciding how much they will taxes and how they will s when raised, or to restrict the kind and amount of appropriations on the Dis- trict appropriation bill with the result of limiting arbitragily the amount of the local contribution toward Capital | upbuilding on the same lines as under the lump-sum payment plan the na- tional contribution is limited. SHOALS PARLEY CALLED Another conference on the dispute be- tween the Senate and House over dis- position of the Muscle Shoals, er and nitrate plant was ci for tomorrow morning. Chairman McNary hopes to gain an agreement before the Christmas recess. e Nation would con- | 3} national projects. | - Doak. These recommendations were pre- sented, yesterday to the Senate Immi- gnum Committee considering the bill to bar all immigration, except relatives of foreign-born American citizens, for two years. Effect of Bill Analyzed. Stimson said this measure, as well as the Johnson bill now nding in the House, would “destroy” the existing national orlms selective policy by al- lowing an reasing number of rel- atives to come In from BSouthern Eu- rope and fewer kin from the Northern European countries, reversing the poligy of existipg law. Enough lications from relatives already are on flle to absorb existing Quotas, he said. Dosk said his department was in “substantial agreement” with the State Department, and thought a “simple and direct” cut in immigration with equal distribution of the slash in accordance with the present policy would be best. War Secretary’s View. The War Department’s opposition to the bills also was given through Brig. Gen. F. L. Parker, chief of th:’ Bureau better than the proposed leg- islation. 'SHIPPING INTERESTS DISCUSS CONDITIONS Atlantic States Advisory Board Reviews Methods for Improve- ment of Services. The Atlantic States Shippers’ Ad- visory Board of the American Railway Association, one of the 13 boards which cover .the entire country, held its annual meeting today at the Wil~ lard Hotel. Alfred P. Thom, general counsel of the Association ‘o! Railway Executives, carriers, W] s ditions in the Atlantic States covered the board. The States include New Jersey, Delaware, New York, the Eastern Shore of Vi a and :mum.m“l;th east of Harrisburg port. of the advisory board, , is to provide far such ibers with of th of 'services the m{p&:( blic is entitled, also for various problems. % « The required contacts of the Ad- visory Committee with the . carriers have been established through a Con- tact Committee represen the rail- roads operating in the terril . 3. W Roberts, assistant vice president.of the Pennsylvania Raflroad, has quate standa the board. R. C. McCloud Commissioned. Robert C. McCloud, 1776 Chur. street, this city, has been commissionc by the War ent & first Heu tenant and specialist in the Reservc Corps of the Army. THE MORRIS PLAN BANK Under Supervision U. 8. Treasury 1408 H STREET, N. W. 'WASHINGTON, D.C, Notice—All orders Easy Washers, Radia Gas Appliance St 1305 G St. N. OPEN EVENINGS — Until Christmas — for Pittsburg Water Heaters, Gas Ranges, Vacuum Cleaners, ntfires, and Westing- house Refrigerators will be delivered and in- stalled by December 24th. No Disappointments EDGAR MORRIS SALES CO. Refrigerator Division 736 Thirteenth St. N.W.