Evening Star Newspaper, January 5, 1932, Page 3

THE EVENING S TAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, JAN 20 2. UARY 19 A3’ 1/3 to 2/5 LESS For Automatic 0Oil Heating This when late Winter, congratu- mild MATIC OIL HEAT would have saved you even more money! Specially Priced for Prompt Installation DOWN 24 Months to Pay $395.00 Complete ODOMESTIC SERVICE RPORATION' CO| T30, SIS AN T RUSNELTI0e and leave it to Mistol/ Put Mistol in the nose with the handy dropper, and check what started to be & bad cold! Mistol goes deep into the nose passages and throat—keeps its healing balms in contact with the inflamed membranes, gives you relief. Doctors rec- ommend it. At any druggist. SPECIAL NOTICES. : WHO SAW WOMAN HIT ot of Kann's, Market d 8ih streets. on Dec . i ALLEN COE. 1 Press Bld i ROOMS PAPERED. ave the pape New s 3588 f by RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY other than my- N, 522 1ith st 52 am- OF THE STOCK- Electric’ & Armature be held at the Washington, at’'3 pm retary-Treasurer NG OF THE STOCK- an Building Associ such the meet THE ANNUAL ol o PRICE OVER 30 DOLLAR AD NATIONAL N. Y. ave. iE ¥ FOR gs and i RE PARTIES ot | of Mrs TAKOMA CTZENS AT WAPES BILS Resolutions Term\lncrea'sed | Taxation and Federal Sal- ary Cuts Unjust. The Mapes Committee bills ncreas- | ing taxation in the District of Colum- bia were denounced at a meeting of the Citizens' Association of Takoma, D. C.. last night in the Takoma Park branch of the Washington Public Li- brary, Fifth and Cedar streets. The recent action of the Citizens' Joint Committee was unanimously indorsed The matter was brought to the at- tention of the meeting by George E Sullivan, who read extracts from the Congressional Record showing the at- titude of members of the House during the discussion of the various measures when they were rushed through with- out hearings. Mr. Sullivan read to the meeting the recent editorial from The Evening Star, “The Citizens of Swampoodle,” which | referred to the ridiculing of citizens and citizens' assoclations because they had ednpl\‘d resolutions protesting against hh]el action of Congress on the Mapes ills. Mr. Sullivan presented a resolution, which was unanimously adopted, in-| dorsing the action of the Citizens’ Joint | Committee on Fiscal Relations Between | the United States and the District of | Columbia, protesting against any in-| crease in the District taxpayers' already | heavy tax burden, to facilitate a reduc- tion by millions of the lump-sum pay- men§ by the Nation toward Capital maintenance and upbuilding. The resolution provided that no addi- tional increased tax be imposed unless, after thorough examination, it is found that such additional taxation is abso- lutely necessary to meet urgent munic- ipal needs, which cannot otherwise be satisfied. The association also favored the re- jection by Congress of the House bill re- pealing the provision of the substantive law of 1922, establishing the 60-40 defi- nite proportionate radio, which legalizes a lump-sum appropriation in its stead or no appropriation at all, in accord- ance with the will of successive Appro- priation Committees and changing Con- ! greses. The proposal to cut the salaries of Federal employes was termed in a reso- lution unanimously adopted as unjust, unnecessary and shortsighted. E. Claude Babcock addressed the meeting on the subject of the Com- munity Chest and the plans for the campaign to start January 24. New members were elected as follows: Guy A. Peterson, D. Stewart Patterson and Will H. Carieton. The resignation of H. L. Thornton was accepted. C. C. King reported the streets in- | corporated in the next budget in Ta- | koma Park and vicinity. E. J. Hibbs presided, with W. C. Magathen as secretary of the meeting. MAPES LEGISLATION | IS BRANDED UNFAIR| Sixteenth Street Highlands Asso- ciation Adopts Resolution Pro- testing Proposed Tax. Steps to fight proposed tax legisla- tion for the District embodied in the bills which are the outgrowth of the Mapes report were taken by the Six- teenth Street Highlands Citizens' Asso- ciation, meeting in the Sixth Presby- terian Church last night. A resolution was adopted authoriz- ing the president of the association, Dr. Lewis J. Battle, to appoint a special committee to appear before the Senate District Committee to register a protest against the tax legislation which has passed he House. Dr. Battle named H. I. Quinn to head the committee as chairman. Mr. Quinn was authorized to name two other members of the committee to serve with him. The resolution was introduced by E. C. Snyder after members had joined in expressions as to the “unfairness” of the proposed legislation. Another resolution on the matter asked that the Senate District Com- mittee be requested to take no action on the tax measures until conditions have been studied ana citizens of the Dis- trict have been granted hearings. The association adopted a resolution requesting the erection of an athletic | stadium on grounds adjacent to the Roosevelt High School, Thirteenth and Allison streets. Attention was called last night to the first issue of the association’s new bul- letin which tells of improvements advo- cated by the association and its gen eral policies. Dr. Battle, the presid presided at the meeting. GIDEON LYON TO SPEAK | “How to Write a Travel Article,” Subject of Address. Attention Again, in 1 Recognition by Nati (This is the second of a series of | special articles discussing the history of the fiscal relations controversy and Jow the problem has been dealt with in the past.) | LTHOUGH the events of 1835 ! demonstrated how heavily the burden of building up a Capital | ! City had fallen on the local | | taxpayers up to that time, ap- | | proximately 40 more years elapsed be- { fore a permanent and definite basis of | | dividing the expense between Nation | and local community was established | With the enactment of the half-and- | half plan in the organic act of 1878 The report of 1835 had proclaimed in | forceful terms the obligations of the | Federal Government and suggested a | | National definite proportion contribu- tion, but from that time until 1878 | those obligations were only meagerly met and without regard to any equit- ble apportionment of the relative re- s of the partners. ‘Appropriations were made by Con- gress from time to time for specific purposes, but, as in_the days prior to | 1835, the people of the District, in their desire to see the Capital City im- proved, continued to outdo the stronger national partner by assuming a greater financial burden than should have fallen on them, considering the dominating in- terest and control which passed to the Federal Government when the Capital was established here. The people of the | city went on shouldering national bur- | dens in the matter of improvements, | and, in re-creating the city after 1870 agents of the National Government, the so-called territorial government, increased the city's debt until it | amounted to some $20,000.000. In sketchily presenting this period in the history of fiscal relations the Mapes | Committee Teport apparently chooses to | find only one point worth emphasis, to wit: that “self-government” for ‘the | District was an abominable failure that only plunged the city into staggering | debt. The Mapes Committee chooses | several brief excerpts to support its theory that the people of the District were responsible for the diffi- culties into which they and their city had fallen in 1874. One of them is from the Poland report of 1874—"There never has been, since the location of the Capital at this place, any consis- tency, or even intelligence, in the ad- jostment of these expenditures.” ~An- | other, from the Allison report of 1874— | “The testimony discloses that the Dis- | trict_treasury is practically exhausted in all its departments” Another, from the same report—*“Your committee have unanimously arrived at the conclusion that the existing form of government in the District is a failure.” Again, the Mapes report errs in not giving all sides or presenting the pic- ture in full What Really Was Demonstrated. It this period in the history of the | city demonstrated anything regarding Americart principles of self-government or of the ability of the people them- selves to run their own affairs, the demonstration was of the fact that the. so-called territorial government was | not self-government. Before it ex- isted, municipal self-government was permitted, but this self-government was destroyed by the territorial government and not restored by the temporary com- mission government of 1874 or the per- manent commission government of 1878. The real power in the so-called territorial government rested in the Board of Public Works, appointed by the President. The Upper House of the Legislature and the Governor were also appointed by the President. The only elective offices were the voteless Delegate in the House and the members of the Lower House of the municipal or territorial Legislature. It has been suggested in the past, and the same suggestion is inferred in the Mapes report, that the shame and scandal of the so-called Feather Duster | Legislature should prohibit forever any | thought of voting at elections for any | purpose in the District of Columbia, or | of giving to the people of the District | the privilege of active participation in the body which taxes them. But the conditions referred to by random quota- tlons selected by the Mapes Committee have no relevant bearing upon _the kindred issues of political and fiscal equity for the people of the District. The real warning of the territorial | experiment of 1871-4 is against the kind of voting which then prevailed, a voting not for American representation | in House, Senate and Electoral College, | but for members of one branch of a so-called territorial legislature and for | a voteless delegate in the House. | Washington's contention has been that only full voting representation in Con- gress and in the Electoral College, with permanency guaranteed by constitu- tional authorization, should be desired As Congress can only to a limited ex- tent delegate its exclusive power of District legislation, the warning of 1871-4 is against such delusive repre- sentation as that exemplified by the Feather Duster Legislature and the Voteless delegate in Congress. |8 | sponsibilitie Gideon A. Lyon, assoclate editor of | | The Evening Star, will speak before t Free Lance Club Thursday night at & o'clock at 1106 Connecticut avenue on | “How to Write a Travel Article.” Mr Lyon’s lecture will be the fourth of the | Winter season. The program also in- cludes reading of short stories by Ione Lee Mooney and Jean Pritchard .| ROGERS WILL SPEAK | District Yale Club to Hear Assist- ant Secretary of State. James Grafton Rogers, Assistant Sec- | retary of State, will be guest of honor | and speaker at the montfy luncheon meeting of the Yale Club of Washin, ton, to be held tomorrow at 12:30 o'clock. William C. Miller, president of the club, will preside. All Yale men in Washington have been invited. Mr. Rogers was a member of the class of 05 Fire Destroys Dwelling. HALLTOWN, W. Va., January 5 (Spe- | cial) —Fire of undetermined origin de- stroyed the two-story frame dwelling H. S. Snyder here early while the owner and family Not a thing was saved. A new garage, built last year to replace one previously burned, was saved. It was tke seocnd fire within several weeks terd: were away | at the Snyder home 4 : JAN. B 1 ‘and’ ‘West. AGENT We aiso ‘pack and ANS anywhere. STORAG! 5 s_North 3342-3343 " Prosperity Printing ,!I'h National éapital Press FLA. AVE., 3rd and N NE. Linc. 6060 y and ea Call ) ably per- us up! rd St. 8.V, rict 0933, Dt ABOARD S. S. RAWALPINDI— There's few prettier sights than steaming out of beautiful Hong- kong Harbor. 1 wanted to go by and set the Philippines free, but, being & friend of Hur- ley, maybe we better Jet Pat keep 'em awhile. I am in favor of giving the Philippines their freedom and then United States g0 under their protectorate. That's the only chance I see of United States maybe getting an improvement in the Government. i Another Warning. There is also the warning that local self-government is impossible for the District until court decisions have been modified, which in voiding certain acts | of the Feather Duster Legislature de- | clared that Congress had no power to | delegate to anybody its constitutional | exclusive power of general legislation for the District. The territorial government was &n obvious failure then and it would be today. But the Mapes Committee is | not correct in reaching the conclusion |that even this form of substitute for | real self-government was, on the whole, |injurious to the District. It kad its | features of humiliation, of shame, of | injury and distress. But it also had th neficial result of developing into sitive force the national sense of | obligation and duty in respect to the 1 Capital. It was the failure territorial form of government 4 to the organic_act of 1878— on recognition of the Nation’ obligation—under which Wash- as in a material sense so won- y and justly prospered. he Poland report of 1874 was one of | signs_of this development. #n the so-called territorial form of | ment was being replaced in 1874 by the temporary commission form of government, fiscal relatiofs between the Nation and Congress had again claimed the attention of Congress. The Poland Report. In reviewing the subject in the Sum- mer of that year the House Judiciary Committee, in a report by Representa- tive Poland, concurred in the funda- mental thought which ran through the Southard findings of nearly 40 years be- | fore, namely, that the Capital belonged to the Unfon, was being developed in | the primary interest of the Union and that the United States should bear its equitable share of the expense. That committee had been asked by | the House to consider whether an ac- curate basis of expenditure would be established by law, and reported it be- lieved this “to be of paramount im- portance, both to the Federal and local government.” That committee found that the ex- penditures of the Government in Wash- ington had never been based on any fixed principles, but had been unsteady and fitful “and in such manner as to almost entirely fail to carry out any of the features of the plan of the city.” From a Treasury statement of ex- penditures by the Government up to 1871, the Poland Committee found that in some years the Government would History of Fiscal Relations No. 2 Years of Neglect by Congress After 1835 Forced Concerning the National Capital. | ipality cannot look to the sources of | be borne by the United States and the 874, Upon Need for on of Responsibility appropriate a large sum and in other years a very small amount. For ex-| ample, in 1869 the Government ex- pended more than $300.000, while the | next year the amount was only about $2.000, and the year following that,| $10,000. i (From 1790 to 1878, according to a Treasury report, the citizens of Wash- ington expended $14,000,000 more th: the United States in Capital improve- ments—street improvements, _etc.—or what should have been national under- takings, in addition to $25,000,000 spent on local government, schools and for other municipal purposes. Under this burden they worked themselves into virtual bankruptcy in 1835, and so in re-creating the city after 1870 the main expense of the achievement was repre- sented by the grievous debt of some $20,000,000 Some more exact compari- sons between local and national expen- ditures in Washington will be found later in_this article.) | The Poland Committee said it was| manifest from a moment’s examination | of the plan adopted for the National | Capital that a city was laid off here | for the use of the United States on a scale hitherto unknown in this or any | other country, the carrying out of which would lead inevitably “to an ex- penditure entirely beyond the require- | ments of a city for business purposes “It was a plan,” the committee said, “having _reference peculiarly to the wants of the Government, and not to those of its inhabitants; its streets and | avenues, in number, length and width, | are upon a scale that was appropriate | for a National Capital, but was entirely | inappropriate to the demands of a| sparse population not engaged in manu- facturing or commerce and when manu- | factures and commerce were not en-| couraged to come.” Industries Not Wanted. It is still to-be remembered in 1932 as it was half a century ago, that the making of a beautiful Capital precludes the presence of large industries. Wash- ingtonians, who take pride in helping preserve and improve the appearance of the Capital, recognize the necessity for this. All they ask is that Congress, in determining the fiscal relations prob- lem, consider the fact that the munic- revenue which large industries repre- sent in other cities. They ask Congress to remember that in Washington the Federal Government occupies the center of the stage and that local considera- tions are always subordinate to national requirements. When the House Committee sat down | 47 years ago to weigh the equities of the” situation, it took cognizance of the evident intention of the founders that everything about the city should conform to its national character. “Viewing the Capital City in this| national aspect,” the committee re- ported, “we may well understand the motives which governed its founders in imposing upon all who were to come after them such duties and responsibili- ties toward it as would be peculiar to the Capital City alone, and which would fully justify a liberal, if not a munificent, policy in expenditures. “As to the mutual obligations of the Federal Government and the citizens ta defray these expenses, the committce find little difficulty. It is clear, if this National Capital was founded for the use of the United States and was placed under its exclusive government and con- trol and upon a scale of magnificence appropriate only for a National Capi- tal, it could never have been contem- plated that the burden of expenditures should fall upon those citizens of the United States who might temporarily or permanently take up a residence at the Capital. Originally we know there was no population here to which the Government, could look for contributions toward these expenditures, and as the city was not to become one of trade and commerce and manufacture, the lo- cal population could not be looked toin the future as being sufficient, either in numbers or wealth, to carry out the magnificent intentions of the founders. Nor, indeed, would it have been just to impose this burden upon them, for, upon the theory upon which the Capital was founded, all these expenditures would ultimately be for the benefit of the whole people, and justice would dic- tate that the burden should fall upon the whole people.” Joint Committee Reports. That the task of building up & Capital City in accordance with the adopted plan would be too great a burden to | impose on those who happened to live | in the Federal district was recognized | by a Joint Select Senate and House | Committee that same year. In pro-| viding for the temporary commission form of government in June, 1874, Con- gress had created this Joint Committee | to make a further study of a form of | government and_apportionment of ex- | penses for the District. A report filed by this committee in December, 1874, dealt mainly with sug- gestions for the governing of the city, but, in reference to the proper develop- | ment of the Capital, it contained these | observations: | “The demands for expenditures, as indicated in the disposition of its ave- nues and streets and numerous squares, will necessarily be upon a scale beyond what might reasonably be imposed upon or drawn from the resources of a busi- ness and resident population. These may properly be rzquired to make that just contribution to the current annual ex- penses, the interest of the public debt and its ultimate payment, which a peo- ple so situated as compared with other communities may be required to pay for like protection, privileges and im- munities. The streets, avenues, squares and general plan of the Capital City bear the impress of paramount and ex- clusive nationality; spacious and grand in design, dedicated to the sacred uses of & National Capital, onerous and even intolerable as a charge upon private property, the provision for supervision of all suitable improvements and deco- rations obviously, properly and impera- tively devolves upon Congress, and it will, as it respects the character of its jurisdiction and the dignity of its trust, exercise a jealous care over it.” That report took the view that the proportion of expenditures which should residents of the District “is & propo- sition not deemed susceptible of exact determination; nor does it, in the views taken by your committee, become im- portant.” 2 “These, not to repeat, necessarily im- pose on Congress the duty of making provision for needful expenditures, as well _as for their supervision, as for ~ WANTED Complete information on Droperty you wish to sell, with plat ‘WHITEFORD & JAWISH, Inc. National 2 236 Southern Bldx. T BLENDED FLAVOR- S GUL Mustard utmd' ODENS v other branches of the public service,” the committee added. Four years later, however, when the organic act of 1878, establishing the permanent _commission form of govern- ment, finally was placed on the statute books, Congress wisely decided that jus- tice required an equal division of the cost. By this equitable measure Con- gress brought to a close a period of more than 75 years of haphazard ap- propriating for the Federal City—a pe- riod in which the financial burden had rested largely on the local community. Reports of the Commissioners. 1t is proper here to take note of two | important. reports delivered to Congress just priot to and immediately after the enactment of the organic w of 1878. The first of these was from the Com- missioners who served under the tem- porary form of commission government from 1874 to 1878, and who occupied in effect the role of receivers in bank- | ruptey for the heavily indebted District of Columba. In their report of 1877 these Commis- sioners emphasized the Nation’s obliga- tion to bear an equitable share of the | expenses of the Capital City. They pointed to the urgent need of immedi- ate relief for the school system, then faced with the prospect of closing two school term for want of money upon which to operate. “We trust that Con- gress will give its careful consideration | to this important subject and establish | a liberal system of annual appropria- flons for the schools.” sald the Com- | missioners. “The obligation to do so is strengthened by the fact that since | 1794 Congress has contributed, by loan | and_otherwise, in money only $253.- | 588.51 to the support of the public schools in the District of Columbia, while during the six years alone ending June 30, 1877, there was expended on | account of the public schools in the District an average of $397.651.70 an- nually, or an aggregate of $2,386,910.23. In view of these facts, the request of the trustees for the payment by the | United States of one-half the annual | expenses of the schools is not unrea- | sonable.” Turning from the condition in the schools to the broader obligations of the | Federal Government toward the Capi- | tal City, the Commissioners declared: Permanent Adjustment Needed. “The attention of Congress has been called by prominent citizens of the Dis- | trict in a carefully prepared statement on the subject to the importance of a permanent adjustment of the propor- tional expenses of the District govern- ment that should be borne by the United States, including the regular payment by the Secretary of the Treasury of the interest on the 3.65 bonds, so called, to be credited on the proportion of the District expenses provided for by Con- gress. “In our last annual report we re-| ferred to this subject in connection with | the recommendation of the joint com- mittee of Congress to prepare a govern- | ment for the District in their bill for that purpose, which, failing to become a law, has been again submitted to the consideration of Congress. “We again call the attention of Con- gress to the principle involved. That principle is the duty of the United States to pay its just proportion of the District expenses, as well as because of its interest as a property holder in the | District, as of the extraordinary and exceptional expenses incident to the maintenance of the District government in its several departments, inclusive of its heavy debt,¥ncurred in the improv ment of its avenues, streets, etc. all resulting in large measure from Wash- ington being the Capital of the Nation. Until a fair adjustment of the propor- tional contribution by the United States to the support of the District be deter- mined, the means of the District to maintain and make the improvements necessary to meet its wants as the Na- tional Capital will be, as now, inade- quate, and the ability of the District government to perform its functions satisfactorily will be seriously impaired. When to these considerations there is added the injustice to the property holders in requiring them to pay of these expenses, as they are now doing, through taxes, general and special, the proportion exacted from them, the jus- tice of the United States making early provision for the permanent payment of its full proportion thereof is too clear for argument. We hope that Congress will during its present session provide all the necessary legislation in the premises.” Enpenditures Are Compared. The enactment of the organic law of 1878, containing the fixed ratio of ap- propriations principle on the basis of 50 per cent for the District and 50 per cent for the United States followed this Teport by seven months. ‘The first report of the new Board of Commissioners, established by that act, contained a presentation of the relative amounts spent by the United States and by the people of the District in Capital maintenance and development during the 85 years preceding. The Commissioners called attention to the {irgent need of street repair and sewer construction, which should be taken care of immediately, but which under the annual appropriation bills would be spread over a period of years. They also outlined a plan for refund- ing ‘the District’s debt on a basis that would cut down the heavy annual re- uirement for interest. It was in con- nection with these two emergent rec- ommendations that the Commissioners | balanced the books to show the total | amounts expended by the controlling al Government and by the local rs for the Federal City. | months ahead of the completion of mci | streets and avenues; | the District of $43,462,720.74.” The Commissioners included a Treas- | ury statement to show that total ex- What! Furnace Cleaning In January? 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This sum embraces, besides the usual aid t the Police, Health and Fire Depart- | ments, expenditures for improving the public grounds—Capitol and presiden- tial included—the Botanical Gardens, together with their keepers, watchmen, laborers and all other current expenses: the construction and maintenance of hospitals, infirmary and jails; the sup- | | | port of prisoners at penitentiaries; the | cost of courts; the whole expenditure of the Washington Aqueduct, all appro- priations for bridges, improvement of for the Washing- ton Canal and filing up of the same, the jail and the courthouse at Alex- andria, the City Hall in Washington, Freedmen's Hospital and numerous other purposes. The only expenditure for public institutions not_included. in which the people of the District have any interest, is the Hospital for the In- sane, and the reason for this omission is that the District has paid for the maintenance of its patients. “A statement of the amount of tax assessed upon property in Washington for the years 1800 to 1876 has been prepared by the officers of the District, the aggregate amount, as reported, being $32,007,255.70." District’s Expenditures Shown. To this amount the Commissioners added ‘“collections for licenses, etc., $4,078,626.12 Water Department $626,838.92: expenditures by Georgetown, $3,500,000; expenditures by county, $2,000,000; expenditures by Alexandria prior to 1846, date of retro- cesslon to Virginia, $1,250000; out- standing District funded det, $8. 400; outstanding 3.65 bonds, $13,743 The total expended by the people of the District was fixed at $65,569,370.74. “Deducting the amount of the bonded debt, above stated, from the $65,569,- 370.74, there still remains an absolute paid-up expenditure by the people of _This was compared by the Commis- sioners with the $27,311,950.66 expended by the United States. “If an equal division of the expendi- tures for the local government between the United States and the District of | Columbia is a just one, as is now ad- mitted,” said the Commissioners, “then the United States is in equity a debtor (; the"DLstricl of Columbia as above shown. Mapes Report Explanation. In discussing the adoption of the 50-50 ratio of appropriation the Mapes Committee contents itself with the statement that the prportion of 50-50 was reached by the “unique method of measuring the value of Federal property with that of privately owned property in the District” and by including in the total valuation a theoretical value of 30 cents per square foot upon Fed- eral-owned streets and avenues—a valuation for Government property equal to the valuation of privately owned property was reached and Con- gress evidently was persuaded that the cost of operating the District govern- ment should be split evenly between the United States and the District.” Basis of Federal Obligation. But the true basis of the Nation's obligation of proportionate contribution toward maintenance and development of the Capital was not and is not solely or primarily untaxed ownership of Dis- trict real estate, though a substantial and continuous obligation does arise in connection with such ownership. The strongest obligations resting upon the National are equitable in their nature and based primarily on the circumstances of the Capital’s creation and the treatment of the Capital by the Nation ever since the birth of the Na- tion’s city. This is an obligation over and above that which is imposed solely by the fact that a city is a capital. It is the obligation that was stressed, broadly and specifically, in the reports by the Southard Committee, discussed at length in the preceding article, and again In the Poland and other reports mentioned in this and in later articles to follow. ‘There is a second obligation, coupled with and measured by the degree to which the Nation controls its Capital— extraordinarily great as it affects Washington. This is the obligation that is coupled with power: i. e, finan- cial obligation is coupled with political power. If the Nation controls, it pays; and to the extent it controls, it pays. ‘Washington is the only capital in the world in which, if certain proposed | policies prevailed, the Nation would do all of the controlling and none of the paying. The Mapes Committee fails to men- tion the fact that the assumption and exercise of absolute and exclusive legis- lative power by the organic act of 1878 were coupled with recognition of a pre- existing and continuing financial obli- gation, The Nation cannot equitably repudiate or reduce to a minimum its financial obligation and retain and ex- ercise its full despotic and exclusive power to tax and to govern. The principle of fixed ratio in the organic act is not sacred to Washing- ton, nor fought for by Washingtonians, | because it may have represented, near! 50 years ago, an appraisal of Federa real property. The fixed ratio, as well as representing a fixed degree of Ied- eral responsibility to prevent such de- | plorable shifting of that responsibility as had existed up to 1878, protects as well the taxpayers against abuse of the taxing power by a changing Congress. It guarantees that local dollars wili be | matched, wholly or in large pa:t, by | Federal dollars. It sets a maximum | limit upon the local contribution, as | well as national contribution. It does not—as in the case of the lump sum provide an arbitrary limit to the c tributions of the exclusive and a controlling national partner, and le ‘he sky determine the limit that this exclusive and_all-conirolling national partner may fix for the unrepresented taxpayers of the District Under the partnership equitably established by organic law the National Capital moved steadily forward for nearly half a century in developing a Federal City which would be worthy of so great a country. The United States, in the meantime, has risen t> a more exalted position than ever before among the nations of the world. Occupying such a position, the upkeep and care of its Capital City become mere, not less, important. But, with the balancing influence of a fixed atio removed and the Nation limiting its share to an arbitrary lump sum, the fiscal year 1931 finds the local com- munity meeting $36,000,000 and the Federal partner $9,500,000 of District expenses. (Next Article—Attacks on the Fixed | Ratio Principle.) | 'D. C. CITIZENS DEMAND CAMPAIGN FOR VOTE Forest Hills Action and Attitude of House in Passing Mapes Bills. Association Scores An “unremitting campaigr.’ to_se- cure the enfranchisement of L2 Dis- trict of Columbia and to give Wash- ingtonians representation in Congress was urged upon the Federation of Cit- izens' Associations last night in a reso- lution adopted by the Forest Hills Cit- izens' Association. The resolution, the direct outgrowth of the so-called Mapes bills for in- creased taxation in the District, which the association “views with amaze- ment and indignation,” follows “Resolved, That this association urges upon the federation an unremit- ting campaign for the enfranchisement of the citizens of the District of Co- lumbia to the end that said citizens | may secure their proper and rightful representation in Congress; and our delegates to said federation are hereby | instructed to employ their utmost dili- | gence in furthering such campaigns. “The recent action of the House of Representatives in passing with small consideration and no debate the ill- considered and unwarranted Mapes | bills is ample evidence of the fact that the citizens of the District need and are entitled to some voice in the levy- ing of taxes upon the private property of the District.” | With respect to the bills themselves, the association declared it “views with | amazement and indignation the scheme of taxation proposed for the District of Columbia in the so-called Mapes bills of the House of Representatives, and deplores and resents the spirit of hos- tility and animosity toward the resi- denis of the District that animates the House of Representatives in the admin- istration of the affairs of the District.” The association declared further that Georgetown 2901 K Street Phone Decatur 0273 Patent Attorneys [ ¢ dei- able office space in The Star Building at very reasonable rates. 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