1912. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 883 on raw and refined sugars; to the Committee on . Ways and By Mr. SULZER: Petitions of James D. Smith and Arthur Means. P. Lucebesi, of the Panama Canal Zone; to the Committee on By Mr. MOORE of Pennsylvania: 1\Iemorial of Emerson Club, Interstate and Foreign Commerce. of Philadelphia, asking for investigation and inspection of all Also, resolution of the Harlem l\faennerchor, of Forest Park, dairy products; to the Committee on Agriculture. Ill., urging investigation of the administration of the immi By Mr. MORGAN: Petition of Lodge_No. 216, Switchmen's gration office at Ellis Island; to the Committee on Immigration Union of North America, located at Oklahoma City, Okla., ask and Naturalization. ing that the o1eoruargarine law be amended so that a tax not By Mr. UNDERHILL: l\Iemorial of Commission for the In exceeding 2 cents per pound be placed upon the product, etc.; vestigation and Control of the Chestnut-Tree Blight Disease in to the Committee on Agriculture. Pennsylvania, for eradication of the fungous disease known as Also, petition of Lodge No. 216, Switchmen's Union of North the chestnut-tree blight; to the Committee on Agriculture. America, favoring the passage of House bill 5601; to the Com Also, petition of German Catholic Society, of Elmira, N. Y., mittee on Interstate and If'oreign Commerce. urging the passage of House bill 2896; to the Committee on Also. petitions of citizens of Oklahoma, .in favor of old-age Ways and Mean§, · pensions; to the Committee on Pensions. Also, memorial of city council of Portsmouth, N. H., against Also, petiti.ons of citizens of Oklahoma, urging that the duties abolishing the Portsmouth-Kittery Navy Yard; to the Commit on raw and refined sugars be reduced; to the Committee on tee on Na val Affairs. Ways and Means. By Mr. WILSON of New York: Memorial of Woman's Ile Also, petitions of citizens of Oklahoma, against the parcel publican Club of New York City, for establishment of a chi 1- po3t; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. dren's bureau; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign By Mr. MOTT: Memorial of Maritime Association of New Commerce. York, for improvements of the national harbor of refuge at Point Judith, R. I.; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Commerce. Also, memorial of Northern New York Development League, FRIDAY, January 12, 1912. for the development of the Long Sault Canal; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. The House met at 12 o'clock m. Also, uetition of Ira C. Hinsdale and others, of Antwerp, The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., delivered the N. Y., protesting against the extension of the parcel-post serv following prayer : ice ; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Our Father in heaven, realizing our dependence upon Thee Also, petitions of S. A. Moone and others, of East Rodman, for all things, we seek Thy Spirit that it may possess our N. Y., urging that the duties on raw and refined sugars be re minds and hearts and guide us to a happy solution of all the duce The name of Patrick Maloney, late of Company C, Ninth Regiment Mr. RICHARDSON. Certainly. United States Infantry, and pay him a pension at the rate of $16 per month in lieu of that he is now receiving. Mr. AD.A.IR. I might say to the gentleman from Tennessee The name of Larkin Richar 1\fr. MORSE of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I call up the bill in the possession of United States forces at that time-because H. R. 8861, reported from the Committee on War Claims; No. 3 the debtors had no interest, their debt having been paid. It on the calendar. held that the money could not be recovered in the interest of Mr. RICILl.HDSON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask. the the creditors, because the transaction was in violation of the Chair a question about tb.is calendar, if the question is in order. nonintercourse act. I looked back through the records and dis The OIL I RMAN. The gentleman will state his inquiry. co\ered the order of President Lincoln, signed in his own hand, Mr. RICIL\RDSON. I want to ask the Chair for the sake and I have attached a copy of that order to this report. of information this question: There are two bills, both pension .Mr. SIMS. Read it. bills, H. It. 14053 and H. R. 14054, on the Calendar of the Mr. l\IORSE of Wisconsin. He says: Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. At It is ordered that cotton moving in compliance with and for fulfill what time, under the rules, can I call them up? Can I do it ment of said contract, and being transported to said agent, or undei: his directions, shall be free from seizure or detention by any officer of now? the Government, and commandants of military departments, dish·icts, The CHAIRl\1.A.i~. The gentleman can not now call up any posts, and detachments, naval stations, gunboats, flotillas, and fleets bill on the Union Calendar. Only private bills can be called will observe this order, and give the said Jos. B. Stewart, his agents and transports, free and unmolested passage for the purpose of getting up on this day. said cotton or any part thereof through the lines, while the same is lllr. FULLER. Mr. Chairman, I desire to make a parlia moving in compliance with regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury II)entary inquiry. and for fulfillment of said contract with the purchasing agent of tbc The CH.A1Rl\1AN. The gentleman will state it. Government. Mr. FULLER. The gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. SULLOWAY] wa~ inquiring why the bills ordered reported by Mr. BURKE of South Dakota. Will the gentleman yield to the Committee on InYalid F~nsions were not on this calendar. me for a question? A point of order was made against that. I do not know what Mr. l\IORSE of Wisconsin. Certainly.' the point of order was. Other members of the committee a1·e l\Ir. BURKE of South Dakota. I would like to ask the gen being importuned by .Members all over the House to know tleman to state to the House why this claim has not been pre why bills are not reported from that committee and placed on sented before this time. this calendar which were ordered reported before the holiday l\lr. MORSEl of Wisconsin. Because it did not find its way recess. to the Supreme Court of the United States until a few years Mr. RICHARDSON. The gentleman from New Hampshire ago. It was immediately presented to Congress and favorably propounded a question, but a poillt of order was sustained reported by many of the Congresses, some five or sL-Y, I ha\e against it. forgotten the exact number. The CHAIRl\fAN. The gentleman from Illinois has not pro l\lr. CRUMPACKER. Will the gentleman yield? pounded a p::i.l'liamentary inquiry, and the Chair can not answer l\fr. MORSE of Wisconsin. Certainly. for the committee. l\Ir. CRUMPACKER. Was the Lincoln order before the court M.r. FULLER. What was the point of order that was sus when the case was decided? tained against the inquiry of the gentleman from New Hamp Mr. l\IORSE of Wisconsin. It was; and the court held that shire? He desired to find out why these bills were not reported the President of the United States could not set aside the non from the Committee on Invalid Pensions which were ordered intercourse act. to be reported before the holiday recess. Mr. SIMS. .Mr. Chairman, I want to sa.y to the Members of The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from New Hampshire the House that the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. l\IonsE] withdrew his inquiry before it was answered. has made a very clear statement of the facts in this case. Mr. SULLOWAY. No; I beg the pardon of the Chair. I This man was not a blockade runner, but had sold goods in the did not withdraw the inquiry, and I heard no point of order vicinity of Savannah and collected his debts in cotton, and made. I was unaware of it until informed of it after taking this was the cotton moved to New York, the proceeds of the my seat. sale of which were co"Vered into the Treasury. But it was held by the court, and properly so, that he had violated the noninter LEGAL REPRESENT'ATIVES OF SAMUEL SCHIFFER. course acts and therefore he could not recover in a suit in the comts. But the facts show that he acted under the permission :Mr. MORSE of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I call up the of the President of the United States, and that there was no bill (H. R. 8861) for the relief of the heirs of Samuel Schiffer. intention on his part to violate the nonintercourse acts or any The bill was read, as follows: other law. The money is in the Treasury; there is no question B e it encctc .Mr. MORSE of Wisconsin. I move, Mr. Chairman, that, the S. 3870. .An act to grant authority to the Inland Steamship blll be laid aside with a favorable recommendation. Co., of Indiana Harbor, Ind., to change the name of the steamel' The motion was agreed to. Arthur H. Hawgood to Josep h Block. l\Ir. SA.MUEL W. SMlTR. hlr. Chairman, a parliamentary The message also announced that the Senate had agreed to inquiry. the amendment of the House of Repre~entatiYes to the bill ( S. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state it. 4006) to amend an act entitled "An act to authorize the con Mr. S..U1UEL W. SMITH. Is not this the day set apart for struction of a bridge over the Missouri Rh·er at or near Sibley, the consideration of bllls reported from the Committee on In in the State of Missouri," approved July 3, 18&1. valid Pensions? The message also announced that the Vice President had ap The CHAIRl\.IAl'{. On this day bills on the Private Calendar pointed l\lr. CLARKE of Arkansas and Mr. BURNHAM members are taken up, and preference is giren to private pension bills. of the joint select committee on the part of the Senate, as pro Mr. SAMUEL W. SMITH. In view of the statement ma . 191_2. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 887 Much has been said and written upon this subject during the When that bill was up in the House for passage, Mr. Bland last 40 years. Bu_t I shall upon this occasion devote the .greater said: part of my remarks to a dlscussion of the 3.65 bonds of the I raise a point of or'der. District of Columbia. In doing this I shall undertake to review The Speaker (James G. Blaine) said: the subject from a standpoint not attempted, in so far as I can The Chair does not see anything in this bill which, either by direction find by anyone in recent years. These bonds were authorized or indirection, increases the obligations of the United States. There rtre by ~n act approved June 20, 1874, by the seventh section thereof, two provisions-one is to correct a clerical error ; the other is to pro vide thn.t these bonds may, when desired, be registered instead of. coupon which is as follows: bonds. • That the sinking-fund commissioners of said District are hereby con The bill can in no event take money out of the Treasury; it would tinued; and it shall be the duty of said sinking-fund commissioners to rather save. it, if anything. cause bonds of the District of Columbia to be prepared in sums of The Chair does not sustain the point of order. (CONGRESSIONAL REC· $50 and $500, bearing date August 1, 1874, payable 50 years after date, ORD, 2d sess, 43d Cong., p. 557.) bearing interest at the rate of 3.65 per cent per annum, payable semi The sin.king fund commissioners of the District of Columbia, annually, to be signed by the secretary and the treasurer of said slnklng fund commissioners and countersigned by the comptroller of said Dis in submitting their report to the second session of .the Forty trict, and sealed, as the board may direct, which bonds shall be exempt third Congress, said : from taxation by Federal, State, or municipal authority, engraved and It will be observed that the langu.age of the act, as it finally passed, rinted at the expense of the District of Columbia, and in form not is rendered somewhat obscure by the omission of the words do so Enconsistent herewith. And the faith of the United States is hereby where they appear in brackets * * *. The defect in the wording pledged that the United States will, by proper proportional appropria of the law and the absence of such an express and explicit guarmitee tions, as contemplated in this act, and by causing to be levied upon the by Congress as would satisfy counsel to whom was referred have pre property within said Distrkt such taxes as will provide the revenues vented the bonds from being taken as an investment by various finan necessary to pay the interest on said bonds as the same may become due cial institutions in the larger cities; and, being thus dependent upon the and payable, and create a. sinking fund for the payment of the principal local market for support, has caused them to sell for a less price than thereof at maturity. Said bonds shall be numbered consecutively and was anticipated when the act was under consideration. registered in the office of the comptroller of said District, and shall also be registered in the office of the Register of the Treasury of the United It will be seen that the then commissioners of the sinking States, for which last-named registration the Secretary of the Treasury shall make such provision as may be necessary. And said commissioners fund-and this was only a few months after the bonds were shall use all necessary means for the prevention of any unauthorized or authorized-construed the law, as did counsel, to mean that the fraudulent issue of any such bonds. And the said sinking-fund commis United States was only to "guarantee" the bonds. sloners are hereby authorized to exchange said bonds at par for like sums of any class of indebtedness in the preceding section of this act It was also the opinion of James G. Blaine, Speaker of the named, including sewer taxes or assessments paid,· evidenced by certifi Forty-third Congress, that the United States was not the debtor cates of the auditing board provided for in this act. in that bond issue. In order to emphasize, I repeat part of the act: On the very day of the passage of the act which authorized the 3.65 bond issue-June 20, 1874-there was filed with Con And the faith of the United States is hereby pledged that the United States will, by proper proportional appropriations, as contemplated in gress a report from- this act, and by causinff to be levied upon the property within said Dis the Joint Committee on the Affairs of the District of Columbia, to trict such taxes as will provide the revenues necessary to pay the whom was referred the message of. the President relatl~e to " one fea interest on said bonds as the same may become due and payable, and ture" of the bill entitled "An act for the government of the District of create a sinking fund f.or the payment of the principa thereof at Columbia, and for other purposes,"- maturity. this being the title of the bill which authorized the bond issue. I wish it understood at the very outset that I do not contend The question arose as to whether or not the proposal made in that these bonds should not be paid. Upon the contrary, I in the act of June 20, 1874, to refund the indebtedness of the Dis sist that they shall be paid; and if they are paid by nobody trict, was a repudiation of the indebtedness of the District then else, then the United States should pay them, because the United outstanding, much of which was in the shape of bondS" alL"eady. States has pledged her faith that they shall be paid. Besides, That committee, composed of William B. Allison, A. G. Thur the owners of the bonds gave a valuable consideration for them. man, William M. Stewart, Jeremiah M:. Wilson, Lyman K. Bass, I shall, so long as I am a Member of Congress, do all in my Robert Hamilton, Jay A. Hubbell, and Hugh J. Jewett, said in bumble way to see that these bonds are paid and that the their report (Rept. No. 774, 43d Cong., 1st sess., dated June 20, pledged faith of the United States is held inviolate. Every 1874) : time the question has arisen as to whether or not the United That the investigation made by this committee discloses the fact that States is bound for the payment of these bonds the answer has much of the indebtedness proposed to bP. funded into the bonds provided for was created when there was no adequate provision for payment and been properly in the affirmative. But until recently, whenever upon a basis of credit-the contractors understanding at the time that the question has been raised as to the liability of the United they were to receive evidences of indebtedness, the time o! payment of States that question was as to the liability of the United States which was uncertain, by reason whereof these evidences were depreci ated in value. to the bondholder. I freely admit that both the United States And while there were no means whereby the committee could deter and the District of Columbia are bound to the bondholder. But mine the matter with absolute certainty, after giving the subject ca1·e I contend that the District of Columbia is principal and the ful consideration they believe that a bond of the character provided for would be, as a rule, fully equal in value to what the contractors ex United States is nothing more than guarantor, I do not now pected to receive under their contracts. Besides this, the funding pro propose to discuss this question as to the moral liability of posed is permissive and not compulsory. The creditors have ell the the United Stutes to the bondholder. That is admitted. What security they had when the debt was created and., in addition, tlte op tion to accept the bonds provided for. .No injustice, therefore, will be I have to say to-day is to assert that the District of Columbia done to any creditor who shall take such bonds in lieu of the security is principal in the debt and the United States guarantor only. lie 'iow hoLds. * ~ * The bill does not compel any holder of Dis trict securities to take bonds for !:hem ; it merely gives him the option Remember, plerse, that these bonds were issued under act to do so or to retain them and receive payment thereof when the Dis of June 20, 1874. When issued they were bought and sold upon trict may be able to pay. the market Capital is timid. It is not invested by that class The changes made in regard to the District government do not dis of moneyed people who purchase bonds until the act authoriz charge or impair its contracts or liabilities. ing their issue has been passed upon by good attorneys. That The distinguished gentlemen who made that report said was the case in this issue of bonds. When they were put upon therein that the creditors of the District had in the 3.65 bonds the market those who were considering their purchase had all the security they had before. advice of counsel, as appears from the sixth annual message of That security was the taxing power of the District. That President Grant, wherein he states to Congress, in substance, taxing power was still their secul'ity in the 3.65 bonds. that the market value of the bonds is being depressed by an am Those same gentlemen said in that report that the change in biguity, discovered by an attorney representing the contemplat the form of government, which was that day taking place. did ing purchasers, in the act of June 20, 1874, which authorized not change or "impair" the debts of the District. Therefore, their issue, and in that message President Grant recommended could not the holders of the 3.65 bonds now assert their " un that Congress cure the ambiguity by inserting the words impaired " claims against the District and waive the " pledged " do so " after the fortieth word in that sentence of the seventh faith" of the United States? Who can imagine any creditor section, which provides for the levying of a: tax upon the prop of the District of Columbia in 1874, immediately after the panic erty in the District to pay the interest and principal of said of 1873, ea:pressing a fea1· of being compelled to make nn even bonds. exchange of old obligations of the District then due for a bond Accordingly Congress did pass an act inserting the two words which the United States had guaranteed? "do so"; and that sentence, as amended, now reads: Was there a man then or since who would have hesitated for • * • And by en.using to be levied' upon the property within the a moment to exchange District certificates which were being said District such taxes as will do so, provide the revenues necessary to peddled about at 30 cents on the dollar for District bonds guar pay the interest on said bonds as the same may become due and pay anteed by the United States? Who belie-res now that there able, and create a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof at maturity. was such a man? Yet the creditors feared that the 3.65 fund ing act of the District's indebtedness was repudiation. Why? 'rhe act inserting the words " do so " was approyed February Because they saw an attempt to take up their certificate~ of 20, 1875, just eight months after the bonds were authorized. indebtedness, then due, by 50-year bonds. 888 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. J .A.NU.ARY 12, An empty District treasury stared them in the face. They 20, 1874, which created the present form of commission gov saw no hope for the payment of either their old bonds or of ernment,_ and the act of June 11, 1878-the, alleged "organic their certificates. The 3.05 bonds could · not be worse. The net "-are substantially the same, except the latter act contains creditors Of the District made the exchange. the "half-and-half" provision. The act of 1878 is practically There was another trouble wllich g:.rre the holders of -the old a reenactment of the act of 1874, with the material addition of obligations much concern, and it was this: While section 7 the "half-and-half" plan. conferred the authority to issue the 3.65 bonds,_and provided If any one of the advocates of the half-and-half plan should that they might be exchanged at 11ar for certain classes of Dis be asked the question at this moment whether or not the sweep trict indebteduess set out in section 6, section 2 of the same ing of the streets and removing nefuse and filthy accumulations act provided that the Oommissioners of the District- from the streets and avenues and the i·epairs and cleaning of * * * shall ba>e power to apply the taxes or other revenues of the the sewers are necessary municipal objects, be would answer said District to the payment of the current expenses thereof, to the support of the public schools, the fire department, and the police, and quickly they were. Yet s-qch is not true, for on March 1, 1S;75, to the payment of the debts of said District secured by a pledge of the Congress passed an act saying, in substance, that it was the securities of saicl District or board of public works as collateral, and intent of the act of June 20, 1874, that these specific items also to the payment of d~bts due to laborers and employees of the shonl sions of limitation is used in connection with any other $14,036,500, and that was in 1880. The interest at 3.65 on that appropriation? amount was only $512,332.25. The amount of the 3.65 bonds . In 1888, 10 years after the passage of the so-called organic outstanding in 1888, when Mr. Noyes wrote, was $14.0B3,600. act of 1878, l\fr. T. W. Noyes, editor of the Washington Star, · The interest on that amount was $512,226.40. Consequently :Mr. wrote a series oJ. articles for his paper relative to the District Noyes's " between one and two rnillions " each year was all of of Columbia. These article have since been gathered together the interest and sinking fund for the payment of the bonds. in pamphlet form. I have read one of these pamphlets, and I Therefore it was then the debt of the District and the United find that l\1r. Noyes then entertained the same opinion as to the States was guarantor only. If that was true then, it is true liability of the United States upon the 3.65 bonds that I now now. have-that is, that they were the bonds of the District, and On July 29 of last year the gentleman from Ohio [.i\1r. that the United States was. gnarantor only. On pages 17 and TAYLOR] made a speech in the House, and quoted a part of sec 18 of said pamphlet Mr. Noy_es says: tion 5 of the act of June 20, 1874, as follows: This wonderful change for the better (in the city of Washington), That a joint select committee shall be appointed, consisting of two · e!Iected by certain wise and energetic agents of the General Govern Senators, to be appointed by the Presiding Officer of the Senate and ment, whom the District delights to honor, is the result, in part, of a two Members of the House, to he appointed by the Speaker o'r the revei·sal of tbe conditions which hampered the city's growth. Congress, House of Representatives, whose duty it sball be to prepare a suitable no longer hostile or indiffet·ent concerning the pecuniary needs of the 1 form of government for the Disti'ict of Columbia and appropriate District, has spent large snms not only upon the public buildings, but drnfts of statutes to be enacted by Congress for c:nrying the same into also in the improvement of the city, at fast spasmodically, since 1878 effect, and report the same to the two Houses, respectively, on the first systematically. The people of the District, encouraged by the general day of the next session thereof; and they shall also prepare and submit abandonment of the idea of a removal of the seat of government, have to Congress a statement of the proper proportion of the e.xpenses of said also made extensive outlays. But the main public expense of the work government, or any branch thereof, mcluding interest on the funded of re-creating the city is represented by a present rlebt of more than debt, which should be borne by said District and the United States t'tO,fJ00,000, nearly all of which has been incurred by officials placed respectively, togethet· with the reasons upon which their' conclusions over the affairs of the District. * • * may be based 'Ill * o. While it is not of consequence in determining the legal propo The gentleman from Ohio, in commenting upon that part of sition whether or not Congress, by the act of June 20, 18i4, section 5, not being familiar with tlle entire subject, reaches made the United States anything more than guarantor of the the conclusion tlrnt the "funded de:bt" mentioned in tllat sec 3.65 bonds, yet later on in my remarks I shall ham something tion was the sawe as the 3.65 bonds which were authorized to say relative to the authority which created the debts upon in section 7 of the act of 1 74. The "funcled debt" mentioned the District which were funded into the 3.65 bonds. in section 5 of the act of JS74 had already been funded, and But, back to the question of liability as between the District $0,902,251.18 was outstanding on November l, 1873, due by and the United States. I just read what llr. Noyes said about the District of Columbia, late corporations of Washington and the $20,000,000 debt of the District, so that his reference to it on Georgetown. Section 5 referred to a debt already fw1ded and page 21 of the same pamphlet may be understood. Continuing, not to one (the 3.65 bonds), as the gentleman from Ohio would he says: have you beliere, the bulk of which wns not funded until aborrt This act of equity is the more necessary for the reason that the four and n bn lf years thereafter, ancl a considerable part of heavy debt, to which reference has been made, guaranteecl by the Gov which was not funded until seYen or eight rears thereafter. ernment, but constituting in effect a mortgage of about 18 per cent As I said, \Yhen the 3.65 bonds were authorizecl the District upon the assessed value of private taa:ablc property in the District, · weighs heavily upon the citizens of the Capital. n. few mont1:s before had a funded debt of $9.902,251.lS, and It will be seen that Mr. Noyes then knew the meaning and it wns the interest upon this debt which was referred to in sec intent of the stah1te 1878 (the organic act) to be that the tion 5 of the act of June 20, 1874, and not the interest upon a United States did just as he says she did, guaranteed the 3.65 debt then not funded. bonds, and " in efl'ect," as Mr. Noyes says, place- One of the strongest arguments against the contention that Congress intended that the United States should pay any part n mortgage of 18 per cent upon the assessed value of private taxable property in the District- · of the interest of the 3.65 bonds is found in both the bill (H. R. And to pledge her faith to see that there should be- 3259, printers' No. 3444) prepared by the joint committee Ievied upon the property in the District (other than the property of cha1·ged with that worl;:, as well as the bill which did become . the United States and the District of Columbia) such taxes as will "do a law on June 1J, 1878-the organic act. Tbe bill which was so" (provide the revenues necessary to pay the interest * • * prepared by the joint commission hacl the following prodsion: of and principal * • * said bonds). $ That all taxes collected shall be paid into the Treasury On page 32 of the same pamphlet l\Ir. Noyes further says: of the United States, and the same, as well as the appropriations to be made by Congress as aforesaid, shall be disbursed for the expenses In the performance of its (the United States) duties as ~uardian of of said District, on pl'Ope1· vouchers * * *. the Capitars welfare four courses are open to Congress: First it may lea"¢e the relations bt!tween the District and the General Gov'ernment In another section of that proposed bill is found the fol unchanged, but give more time and c:onsideration to the Capital and its affairs, remodeliug its laws in accordance with the wishes of its citi lowing: zens and providing liberally for the improvement of its appearance That hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay the interest for its general development, and for its relief from the heavy debt i11~ accrning on the 3.65 bonds of the District of Columbia as tbe same equitably imposelZ ttpon it. matures. and the amounts so paid shall be credited as part of the It should be remembered that the so-called congressional appropria appropriation for 1he year by the United States toward the expenses tions for the Capital's ordinary expenses are not gifts or beggars· of the government of the District, as herein provided. alms. * • * If the interest on the~e bonds was such a part of the expenses See, again, how Mr. Noyes recognized that the ordinary of the District as the United States wanted to pay one-half of, expenses of th~ District were appropriated for by Congress the two words "credited as" would not be in the act. and not for its relief from the heavv debt imposed upon it. Without these two words the act would read: Again, ou pnge 39, :Mr. Noyes says of the District: -• * * Shall pay the interest accruing on the 3.65 bonds ns the One-half of its property, and the best half, is owned by the United srune matures, and the amounts so paid shall be part of tlie appropria States and pays no taxes, and the other half is mortgaged fo1· one tion for the year by the United States. fourth of its value by a debt contracted in exhausting and paralyzin"' The act adopted June 11, 1878, contains almost that identiral efforts to make it what its patriotic founders designed it to be. "' language. There is no material difference whatever between '.flrn.t "other half" which he says is mortgaged to secure the them. The law directs that the schools shall be paid for on payment of the 3.65 bonds is the property in the District owued the half-and-half basis-to the extent Congress approves the by the citizens of the District and by the District government. estimates therefor-and the law makes the same provision for Anu again, on page 47 of the same pamphlet, Mr. Noyes says: the firemen; and the same for the prisons; and the same for the As long as Washlngton is compelled to divert from the funds for its mafotcnance and development as the Capital of the Nation between one bridges; and the same for the Washington Aqueduct; and the and two millicn llolla1·s, paid each vear in interest and to sinking fund sam~ for the reformatories, and, by special act, for the sweep and the heavy debt thus indicated rests upon it, draining its resource!'!' ing of the sb·eets; but, as to all these not one word is said the growth of the city will be delayed. ~. in any of the bills or acts, not even in the " organic act " of Here .Mr. Noyes, writing from the standpoint of the city's 1878, as being "credited as a part" of the appropriation by best friend, again admits that the "heavy debt "-the 3.65 the United States. · bonds-was the debt of the District and not of the United It is, therefore, I contend, quite manifest that Congress tlid States. · not provide that the interest and priJJ:'Cipal of the 3.65 bonds He admits, in addition, that the District was paying should be paid on the half-and-half b:isis, just as provision was ~~~a:en* on~ a1!d two million dollars each year in interest and to sinking made for the payment of the schools, tile firemen, the britlges, the charitable institutions, tlle prison~5, tho Washington Aque If the District was payil'?g " between one ancl two million dol duct, and so forth. If the interest and principal of these bonds lars" for that purpose, then-1888-it was paying all and not were to be paid on the hrrlf-and-hnlf basis, like these other half, because the greatest amount of those bonds which were items, why use the expressions "credU-ed." "refund, ·• reim outstanding at any one time between the year 1874, when the burse," and so forth, oue or the othet· of ''hich is used erery bonds were authorized, and 1888, when Mr. Noyes wrote, was time this interest and principal are mentioned, wh~n no such 890 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. ·JANUARY 12, qualifying or directng expression to any of the other items is If the United States were to pay this money it would be ap used? propriated out of the '.rreasury; but, as the Di'strict is to pay it, Th~ various acts upon the half-and-half plan mean, concisely it is appropriated out of the proportional sum already appropri put, that tile United States shall pay one-half of such cnrro1t ated by Oongress to the Distt-ict as one-half of its expenses. expenses of tbe District as Congress approves, and that the Let rue again refer to the speech made July.29, 1911, by the one-half thus deposited by the United States with the Treasurer gentleman from Ohio [Mr. TAYLOR]~ for the benefit of the District shall be credited upon or sub In tllat speech. when answering questions and when con tracted firoru the total amount so deposited by the United States fronted with the exact language of the acts of Congress which for the use of the District. rela te to the 3.65 bonds, he changed his position several times. To illustrate: Suppose the total amount of the expenses of For instance: On page 3445 of the daily CONGRESSIONAL the District were $12,000,000, exclusive of interest and principal RECORD, of date July 29, 191~ he relies upon the act of June 20, of tbe R.65 bonds. If $1,000,000 were to be paid in that year 1874, for his law to bind the United States to pay one-half of upon the 3.65 bonds, then the total amount to be pa.id would be the principal and interest of the 3.65 bonds, and cites that part thirteen millions. Of this amount the District would owe seven of said act, which reads : millions and the United States six millions. Then., if the United And the fatth of the United States is hereby pledged that the United States should ad1fillce the one million with which to pay this States will, by proper proportional appropriations as contemplated in ·tlie act (as contemplated in sec. 5), and by causing to be levied upon interest and some part of the principal of the 3.65 bonds, the the property within the District suc.h taxes as will- one million thus advanced should be " credited" upon the one Here Mr. TAYLOR left out the words "do so." half of the twelve millions of expenses. In this way the United provide the revenues necessary to pay the interest on said bonds as States would pay six millions of the expenses and the District the same may become due and payable, ancT create a sinking fund for would pay six millions of the expenses, and in addition thereto the payment of the principal thereof at maturity. the District would pay one million upon interest and sinking Remember, please, that :Mr. TAYLOR at first pitched the fight fund for the bonds. So, when the District Commissioners come apon that part of said act by which- to make up their annual budget, they should first deduct the one The faith of the United States i..s hereby pledged that the United million from this total with which to repay the money which States will, 'by proper proportional appropriation, • • • each year the United States advances to the District upon ac On the next page (3446) Mr. TAYLOR says: count of sinking fund and interest, and afterwards make out However, nothing in the way of legislation was enacted (since 1874) their estimates which they will ask Congress to approve and pay until what is known as the organic act, passed in 187 , became a law. The act of 1877, upon which the chairman [lllr. JoRNso~ of Kentucky} one-half. To accomplish this the District Commissioners should seems to rely, was, as I have stated, clearly enacted for the purpose of never include the interest and sinking fund for the bonds in me~ting the interest on the 3.65 bonds when due, the same t-0 be re their estimates upon which they ask the United States to make funded out of District taa:.es when collected. payment to the extent of on~half. But this amount of sinking That the sum paid by the United States was to be refunded :tlmd and interest should first be deducted from estimated reve to the United States out of District taxes was what I claimed nues of the District. then was the law, and that is what I now claim is the law; and The Treasurer of the United States keeps tllese accounts I am glad that the gentleman from Ohio agrees with me upon between the District and the United States, and tllc law cfu·ects that point. I still claim that it has not been refunded to the him, in keeping said accounts, to advance the interest on these United States. bonds, and afterwards, when the appropriation of one-half is The gentleman from Ohio [l\fr. TAYLOR], continuing, on page available,. to "credit n that advancement as so much paid upon 3446 says that the United States made that appropriation to the total appropriation authorized by the United States for the pay interest on the 3.65 b-Onds because there was then- benefit of the District. No legislation providing !bat the Government should pay any of the If the total amount of the revenue of the· District for any expenses of the District, and it was not until the following year1 when the act of 1878 b-ec:ime a law, that the entire 1·elation8 between tne Dis year is seven millions, and its commissioners wish to expend ·it trict and the United States Government undencent a clia1ige. • • • all,. they must first consider an advancement of about one mil For the first timer in section 3 of this act, Congress enacted a half-and lion by the United States on acco-unt of interest and sinking half clause, which from that day compelled Congress to pay one-half of fund, which amount must be " refunded ,. by the District to the the expens-es of the District. United States; and then they will have only six millions left By this the gentleman from Ohio abandons any reliance upon for general expenses, and they can· not then ask the United that section of the act of 1874 which pledges the faith of the States to duplicate more than the six millions, notwithstanding United States, and so forth, and up to this point now relies their revenues for the year are seven millions. The mistake upon the half-and-half plan contained in the act of 1878. which the commissioners make is that they incltulc the one Bnt it mu t be borne. in mind that Congress has enumerated million used toward interest and sinking fund in th~ir esti what items compose the expenses of the District; an as. mated expenses, whereas tbey should exclucle it, because Con " sweeping~ cleaning, and removing all refuse and filthy ac gress has by every a.ct upon the subject treated this interest cumulations in the streets, alleys, avenues" were not municipal and sinldng-fund item as one for which the casb would be functions within control o:f the commissioners until made so by advanced by the United St tes, but which should be returned to special act of Congress; and as an enumeration of items is set the United States, by the proper credit, dollar for dollar. This out in the same section of the act of 1878 which contains the is unquestionably the meaning of the- several acts to which I half-and-half clause; and as the 3.65 bonds are not in that have referred as concerns interest and principal of the 3.65 enumeration of items, they can not be included, except by bonds, and is unlike the other items-schools, bridges, firemen, special act of Congress, to include them, and no such act has and so forth-which I ha.ve heretofore enumerated. ever been passed. The act known as the "sinking-fund act," approved March 3, The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. TAYLOR], further along in his 1879, nearly five years after the bonds were authorized, rends as speech of July 29, 1911, next abandons the half-and-half plan. follows: contained in the organic act of 1878, for the payment of any interest or principal of the 3.65 bonds, as is shown from the And there is hereby appropriated, out of the proportional su111' whicll the United. States may contribute toiva:ra the expenses of the District following colloquy, pages 3448-3449, daily CONGRESSIONAL REC of . Oolmnbia, in pursuance of the act of Congress approvea Jmie 11, ORD, July 29, 1911: 18181 f01· the fiscal year ending .June SO, 18W, and annually 'thereafter, Mr. JOHNSO~: of Kentucky. Then, does the gentl~man mean to con sucn sums as will, with the interest thereon at the rate of 3.65 per tend that by the act of 1878-tbe act which I read-Congress refused cent per annum, be sufficient to pay the principal of the 3.65 bonds of to pay its share of one-half on these bonds? the District of Columbia issued under the act of Congress approved Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Tb~y say the United St.ates Treasurer shall June 20, 1874, at maturity, which said sums the Serretary of the Treas pn.y it. ury shall annually invest in said bonds' at not exceeding the par value i\:Ir. JOHNSON of Kentucky. But they sny when it is paid by the thereof, and all bonds so redeemed shall cease to bear interest and shall United States T1easurer it.shall be deducted from the appropriation. be ca.nceled and destroyed in the same manner that United States bonds Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Further on, in 1879, they ehangca tlie law anti are cancelro and destroyed. the entire scheme, and made a permanent annual appropriation for the Whenever Congress appropriates money out of the Treasury sinking fund; a-ni! that undoubtedly does aicay ieith the act of 1878. the usual terms used are: So the gentleman from Ohio started out in his speech claiming most confidently that the act of 1874, by which the 3.65 bonds T bat the following sums of money be, and are hereby, appropriated, to be pa.id out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropri were authorized, bound the United States to their payment ated. • ~ • by pledging the faith of the United: States, and so forth. He abandoned that contention, admitted all that I claimed The language used in the abov~quoted " sinking-fund act" for the act of 1877, and planted himself upon the " organic is not: " Ont of any money in the Treasury not otherwise ap act "-the "half-and-half" act of 1878. propriated.,; but the said "sinking-fund act" says: Next he abandoned that posttion, saying that (the act of 1879) And there is hereby appropriated, out of the proportionai s1,11i. tohich " ·undoubtedly does away with the act of 1878." Great heavens! the U1ii tea States ma.11 contribute toioard the expenses of the District of Ool·unilJia in pu1·suance of the act of Congress, approved June 20, And the act of 1879 " tindouf>tedly does away· with tlbe act of 1878. • • • 1818 ''-the organie act. 1912. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 891 Now, according to the gentleman from Ohio, the act of 1878 But the n.ct of March 3, 1879, fixes "par" as the price at which is dead, at least as far as the 3.65 bonds are concerned. he may retire the 3.65 bonds. That act "undoubtedly," as the gentleman from Ohio says, In 1888 James W. Hyatt was Treasurer. He held that any can not be relied upon further in this controversy. Conse bonds except the 3.65 bonds could be purchased at a premium, quently the gentleman from Ohio, perhaps the most able cham but that they (the 3.65 bonds) must be retired at "par," as pion upon this floor of all that the District wants, mal;::es a last directed by the act of March 3, 1879. During that year he stand upon the act of 1879, which act treats of principal and retired of the 3.65 bonds for the 3.65 sinking fund to the amount not of interest I will quote that act again: of $51,300 at par. And there is hereby appropriated, out of the p1·oportional sum which The present Treasurer is retiring these bonds at a preminm, the Uni ted States may contribute towanZ the e:i;penses of the Di.strict of and at such premium as he wants to give. Siuce 1899 tlle Columbia iii pursuance of the act of Cong1·ess approved June 11, 1878, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, and annually thereafter, such Treasurer has paid $811,654.95 in premiums on 3.65 bond , for sums as will, with the interest thereon at the rate of 3.65 per cent per the 3.G5 sinking fund, notwithstanding the act of 1879 forbids it. annum, be sufficient to pay the principal of the 3.65 bonds of the Dis The joint committee, composed of William B. Allison, A. G. trict of Columbia, issued under the act of Congress approved June 20, 1878, at maturity; which said sums the Secretary of the Treasury shall Thurman et al., in the report made by them June 16, 1874, in annually invest m said bonds at not exceeding the par value thereof; speaking of the then heavy debt of the District of Columbia, and all bonds so redeemed shall cease to bear interest and shall be say, on page 20 of said report: canceled and destroyed in the same manner that United States bonds The committee, believing that it is due to the people of the District are canceled and destroyed. that all the debts created by the board of public works and by the Now, the gentleman from Ohio and the other advocates of the District government should be adjusted, and inasmuch as it will be impossible to impose sufficient taxation upon the property of the Dis proposition that the United States, in au issue between the trict to provide for their i rnmediatc payment, they have recommended District and the United States, shall pay one-half of the inter that these debts be funded into a bond, payable at a remote period est and princirial of the 3.65 bonds, are standing full of con and bearing a low rate of interest; and as preliminary to that funding, they think it essential that a careful audit of these claims should be fidence upon the above quoted act of 1879 to maintain their made by responsible officers of the Government, and therefore tbey position. recomm end the passage of the sixth and seYenth sections of the bill Let us see. According to the gentleman from Ohio, the act reported to the House and Senate. of 18i4, with the pleuged faith of the United States h::is been From the aborn it will be seen that the said joint committee put out -of business by the organic act of 1878; the payment of recommended bonds due at a " remote " time and bearing a low interest on those bonds must be refunded to the United States rate of interest because the District, whose indebtedness it was, under the act of 1877. The act of 1878, which contains the half could not st:ind such a tax for " immediate" payment. nnd-half plan, is no longer relied upon to provide for the 3.65 Therefore, the 50-year, 3.65 bonds were issued because the bonds and interest, and all now depends upon the act of 1879, District would require a rnmote time for payment. The long just quoted. . time, low rate of interest bonds were not recommended by this The act of 18i9 approp:iated such sums of money as will, committee because the United States was not financially ready with. interest at the rate of 3.65 per cent per annum, be suffi to pay her part, if she owed any part, but to gi\e the District cient to pay the principal of the 3.65 bonds of the District at ample opportunity to pay all-not half. maturity. How much money is thereby appropriated? That is At the time the 3.65 bonds were authorized it was stated that a matter of calculation. From what fund is that appropriation the indebtedness to be taken up by these bonds was but little runde? From funcls belonging to the United States? No. But more than $8,000,000. Therefore, if the United States was to the money thus a'i)propriated is appropriated, according to the pay any part of it, she would have paid it in cash and would act itself- not have gone into a bond issue for $4,000,000 for 50 years. out of the proporti<,nat sum tohich tlw United States may contribute Amendments to the bond-issue act afterwnrds permitted 3.65 toward the expenses of the District of Columbia. * * * bonds to be issued to the extent of $15,000,000; but even at that amount the United States would not have issued bonds for Therefore, whene·rer the United States contributes money, $7,G00,000--less than the cost of one battleship. The interest under the organic act of 1878, toward the expenS"es of the alone on the half of an $8,000,000 bond indebtedness for m District such sums so contributed, with the interest thereon, years would be $7,300,000 at 3.65 per cent. Certainly the as will be sufficient to pay the principal of the 3.65 bonds shall United States did not contemplate that. be invested in the 3.65 bonds, and the said bonds must be in The sixth and seventh sections referred to were incorporated -rested in at par. in the act of June 20, 1874, -and the seventh section authorizes The proposition is made clear by the above act of 1879 that the 3.65 bonds. the United States, when making contributions to the expenses We frequently hear it said that the· United States should pay of the District under the "organic act," stipulates that those one-half of the District expenses because, as they say, the contributions can not be used to defray the current expenses of United States owns one-half of the property of the District. the District until the Secretary of the Treasury has first in This statement has b~en made so often that many realJy be vested in the 3.65 bonds of the District, for the benefit of the lieve it. District, to the extent required to create a sufficient sinking The methods frequently resorted to to influence legislation fa fund to retire the 3.65 bonds at maturity. vorable to the District and detrimental to the taxpayers in the Now, under what act will the ad\ocates of the proposition States are many. that the United States is bound to the District for one-half of · I have heard frequently that the real-estate people endeavor these bonds seek shelter? EYery act upon which they relied to ha\e l\lembers of Congress become interested in District real has actually melted away under their feet and left them in estate so that thoS'e interests may fare well in legislation. but I 1912 just where they were in 1874; except, in the meantime, the never suspected that such a scheme would ever find its way District, through executive officers, has, without warrant of into public print in a Washington newspaper. law, taken many millions o~ dollars of money belonging to the However, I saw in the Washington Post of August 28, 1911, United States and applied it to the payment of the District's debts. the following: The drift of the well-to-do and Influential element toward this city Let me, before I learn the sinking-fund act of 1879, just could take no better turn than we see in the increasing numl.>er of quoted, call attention to the fact that that act creates a fund congressional homes. Once they become interested, it is noticeable that for the payment of the "principal" only of the 3.65 bonds. Members undergo a change of heart that bodes no ill for the munic ipality. Naturally, they come to see that Washington really needs all It also provides that whenever a 3.65 bond is taken up that that Washington people are asking for. Already we owe much to the it shall be taken up "at not ea:ceeding par." Yet these same efforts of Senators and Representati-i;es t.i;ho ha?:e made permanent in· execatfre officers violate this part of the act and have taken vestments here, and conceivably the good offices of many <>thers would be quickened if proper influences were brought to accelerate the move· up some of these bonds at a \ery high premium. ment from the ' deestrict" to the District. ~ act of Congress approved March 3, 1881 (21 Stats., 466), In 1873 Gov. Shepherd made the statement that the United prov1d~s: States owns one-half of all the property here, but lre used That hereafter the said Treasurer as ex officio sinking-fund commis values and not area. And in order to run the holdings of the sioner as aforesaid, with the approval . of the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and empowered to purchase any of the funded United States to as high a value as possible he includecl the indebtedness of said District of Columbia for the sinking fund author streets and avenues and valued them at 30 cents a square foot. ized to be created for the redemption and payment of the indebted When the city of Washington was laid out it is said that ness of the said District of Columbia as, in his opinion, may be for the best· interests of said District of Columbia. within her corporate limits there were 6,110 acres, and that 3,606 acres were set apart for streets and avenues and alleys; Under this act the Treasurer may purchase such bonds for that 982 acres were donated to the United States by the original the sinking fund as he may deem best for the interests of the 19 men who owned the land, and that the United States pur District, and as to any of the bonds of the District except the chased 541 acres for public buildings. 3.65 bonds be may exercise his judgment as to price, because The 19 men who then owned the 3,606 acres bounded by as to bonds other than the 3.65 bonds no limit is fixed for him. Florida Avenue, the Eastern Branch, the Potomac, and a short 892 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. JANUARY 12, stretch of Rock Greek between Georgetown and Washington Neither is it important in 'Construing a statute to consider conveyed it to trustees upon the condition that the national what officers were in control of local affairs when District capital should be located there; but in conveying to the said debts were ereated. But I do not consider it out of the way trustees or commissioners they imposed the condition that after to call attention upon the present occasion to the real facts the said area had been laid off into streets, avenues, and so in the premises. forth, -every other lot should be reconveyed to the original · Some of the half-and-half advocates argue that all of the 19 owners. Just here the then value of this tract of land be- District debts, whether bonds, certificates, or what not, should comes important. Mr. T. W. Noyes, editor of the Washington be paid to the extent of one-half, because, as they say, officers Star, said in the columns 'Of that paper Februacy 25, 1888: appointed for the District by the United States were in so1e The site of the city was (in 1800) covered in the main by marshes. control when the debts were made. pastures, dense woods, and some cultivated ground where wheat, to- This is not correct;. When the territorial government was bacco, and [ndian corn were raised. The elevations were overgrown form d · 1871 th th · · l ti · th with scrub-oak bushes. There were only two houses on the line of e 1Il ere were · ree mumc1pa corpora ons m e Pennsylvania Avenue between the President's house and the Capitol. District, Alexandria having been receded to Virginhl. in 1846. For much of its length this ave~ue was a deep morass covered with 'These three were the city of Washington, the city of George alder bushes. town, and the Levy Co1ut, the latter being all that part of the Charles W. Jansen, an Englishman, said of the place in 1806: District not included in the boundaries of Washington anU. Strangers after viewinf! the offices of state are apt to inquire for the Georgetown. All three of these municipalities brought heavy city while they are in its very center. • • * Some .half-starved debts to the territorial government of 1871. cattle brow ing among the bushes present a melancholy spectacle. Much ·of the debt of the District was created from 1871 to Quail nnd other birds are constantly shot within a hundred yards of the Capitol during the sittings of the House of Congress. 1874 under the said territori:al form of government; but dur- " Go there 0 (Massachusets Avenue), said another, "and you will find ing that time the District had a legislative assembly, which yourself not only out of town, away among the fields, but you will find had appropriating power over the moneys of the District, yourself beyond the fields in an uncultivated, undrained wilderness. Tucking your trousers up to your knees you will wade through the while the go-vernor, appointed by the President, had the veto bogs; you will lose yourself among rude hillocks; you will be out of power only. The governor admittedly exceeded the legal power the reach of humanity." conferred upon him as vice president of the District board of Would not any owner of such a God-forsaken place have been :public works and wasted public money. But he could not have willing to .gh·e alternating blocks, together with streets and done this except by the support of the legislative as embly, one avenues reaching au the blocks, those retained as well as those·· branch of which was elected by the people of the Dish·1ct. given, to have the Nation's Capital located there? After the In one instance, when the governor desired to issue $4,000;000 capital was located some of this land sold for $66.66 an a.ere. in bonds, not only did the legislatirn as embly agree with him The 6,110 .acres upon which the old city of Washington was lo- as to that bond issue, but the proposition was submitted to a cated included the Anacostia Flats, the flats where Potomac , popular vote. Upon this question 15,973 votes were cast. Of Park has been built, all the Mall, and even part of the Potomac these, only 1,213 votes were cast against the bond issue of River. Many acres of the 3,606 which they say are in streets $4,000,000. This is one of the many instances, and perhaps the have not yet been redeemed from the water and marshes. Mr. mast glaring, where debt was imposed upon the District by the Smith, of the Botanical Gardens, recently to1d me that he had people and their elected representatives -and afterwa.rds charged seen boats crone up to Pennsylvania Avenue and unload where up to other officials. the Peace Monument now stands. Much of that a.rea which Even if an appointive officer-Gov. Shepherd-was in any was a .gift to Washington City has cost the United States miJ- measure respunsible for it, the people who complain treat htm lions of dollars to redeem. The argument that the United as a benefactor. States should contribute one-half to support 6,110 acres, which After the $4,000,000, just referred to, the 1egislatirn assem originally made up the city of Washington, is entirely a different bly passed an act authorizing the issuance of $2,000,000 of proposition from .giving one-half to the support of the District what were called "certificates of indebtedness." of C-Olumbia, containing nearly 50,000 acres. There is no After exhausting this $2,000,000 the legislatke assembly by longer a city of Washington; that, together with the city of .an a.ct divided the cities of -Georgetown and Washington into Georgetown, has been wiped out and merged into the District sewerage districts and levied .a tax ·upon these various districts. of Columbia. Tbe name "City of Washington ' no longer has · Other acts of the legislative assembly were passed of u similar an existence except npon the .records of the Post Office De- character involving smaller sums. .An act of Congress had lim- partment. ited the -debt of the District to $10,000,000, but by such acts of '.l'he title ·of the United ·states- rthe legislative assembly the :floating debt and the then funded , . . debt aggregated not less than $18,000,000 in 1874, when tile Said the gifted George E. Spencer, of Alabama- present commission form of government went into ~ff~ct. in ilie streets of Washington is lller-ely nominal. It is the title which : In 1873 the District government presented to Congress a bill ihe sovereign ·holds in trust for the ·people. The United States has no . ...-i b th D' t · ·t f th u 'ted St te · different or other property interests in the streets of Washinrton tb for work uone iY e ~s r1e o:r e m . a s amounting the .public .:lUthority everywhere possesses in the public ways ~ithin ~ · to $4,170,427.94. Of 1th1s amount $573,171.75 was for alleged ,jm1sd~ction. The auth_or1ty of ·congress ove-r the streets of 'Washington work done on reservations .and public J:ruildlngs. This work if its derived from sovereignty, not irom ownershlp. It bas precisely the d t ll d ft . · ti h a b 'd same power over the streets of Georgetown and over the .streets of th one a: a ' was one a er some upp.iopna: ans a een ma e former county of Washington that rit -has over the str:eets of the cit; to -pay for work of a doubtful character, and after Oong1·ess, by of Washington.. act of January 8, 1873, had "prohibited" ·the contracting of The streets, including the aTenues., of the city .0 f Washingto:n,, any further liabHities on b.eh~ of the United States. for. im as laid down upon the :plan of the city, were to be conveyed to .provements bey_ond appropnabons already made. An Itemized tbe United States under .a. deed of trust from the original jpro- s~a~eme,i;i-t makmg up t,!11s unlawful, unwarra~ted, and '"pro prietors as "streets," and for the lJUl'POSe of streets only, and h1bited amount. of $513,171.75 shows, acco.rdmg to a report without compensation. The United States accepted the trust made by the Allison-Thurman ·et al. comrmttee .at the time, and has .since sold the alternate squares of land-which it ac- was, in part, for work done on stree~s where the GoYernrnent quired at the same time-according to the plan of the streets hafl no ·proflerty. Another part of _th1-s sum was spent, _so the as establish-ed in the manner agreed upon under the deed of said committee re.ported, upon _pavmg for the street railroads conveyance. The law and the facts of the case have been re- between the Interior Department und Post Office Department peateclly stated by tbe Supreme Court of the• United States. and on Se-yenth Street, east of the -same, but was charged to the In the case of Smith v. The Corporation of Washington (20 :United States. _ ' . How.), referring to the powers of the corporation of Wash- Another amount of $1,056,::>74.36 was .. cl;,nrged ~o tbe "f!mt.ed ington, the court says: States .b.ecause.tJ:e work ~as done ?,n ~yenues;, t?e D~.stnct It is tlllll€cessary in the consideration of this point to recur to the authorities clarmmg that avenues were not tr.eels, and early history of th~ foundation of the city of Waswhgton; suffice to its payment was insisted upon, although Congre s llad thereto say the l~nd w~s originally conveyed to trustees .to be laid out as ·a · fore on March 3 1873 appropriated $1,000 000 for that very Federal city, with such streets, etc., us the President shall approve. . ' ' ' ' It has been so laid out ancZ tlic streets dedicated to the .Public. .As ia purpose. . . . . an other cities and towns, tho legal title to the p1tbli.o streets is vested · Another charge made against the Umted States at that tune in the so-i;ereign as trustee for the puo1io • * $, ' by the District was an item of $2,740,581.83 for work on sewers. I intended in the beginning of my remarks to confine myself The said committee, in a report made at that time, snid that almost excJusiYely to n discussion of the 3.65 bonds; but I ha-ve the cost of the sewer, when completed, was $2,435, "'5.23. From digressed somewhat, and trust I shall be .Pardoned by the House those figures it will be seen that the United States's vroper pro. for doing so again. portional part of the sewer i\\'US $304,826.60 mo-re than the whole Whether the United States should, by a spirit of equity in sewer cost. The act of Congress of date January 8, 1873, appro denling with the District, be charged with street necessities is, priated $1,241,920.-92, and the act of March 3, 1873, appropriated as I have said ·before, not important in construing :a statute $2;207;012.09, which appropriations, the snld committee reported, which does not, in fact, so bind the United States. were founded on accounts presented by the District for work CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE .. 893 said to have been done, and for which the United States was expressed a willingness to pay more than one-half of smch items said to have been equitably liable. Concerning this, ~owever, of expense as Congress sball approve. Tbe leniency and liber the committee said, in substance, that from testimony taken ality of Congress has gone to the extent that all the District, they believed tlie accounts were " unreliable and inaccvrate." even her commissioners, go to the extreme of demanding from But that committee which prepared the act of June 20, 1874, Congress, for the use of the District, an amount equal to the which act a utborized the 3.65 bonds, said in their report, sum collected from taxes, privileges, and so forth. Under the page 27: act of June 11, 1878, each item must be approved in advance by The committee recommend, in view of all the circumstances, that not Congress before the half-and-half plan attaches. Upon the less than the foregoin"' sum ($1,000,000) be appropriated by Congress question to approve one of these items it would be lost if the and be disbursed m; follows : vote were a tie. 1. To the payment of interest on the debt of the District, due J°'y 1, 1874, ao.d the remainder to pay employees and laborers, whether To save anyone the trouble of turning to tbe half-and-half of the board of public works or of the District government; and that act of 1878 relative to the "estimates," I will here read it again,. of this sum the interest should be reiinbursed, and the t·emainder should await the proper adjustment of relative payments as her·ein suggested. as follows: In this estimnte no account has been taken of the necessary cost of The said commissioners shaU submit to the Secretary of the Treasury funding the floating debt or auditing the accounts and Indebtedness for the ti.seal year ending June 30, 1879, and annually thereafter, for his antecedent thereto. examination and "approval," a statement showing in detail the work proposed to be undertaken by them during the fiscal year next ensuin"' Digressing somewllat, this question is now pertinent: Are and the estimated cc.st thereof; also the cost of constructing repairln~' those who are now at the head of the District financial affairs and maintaining all bridges authorized by law across th~ Potom~~ River within the District of Columbia, and also all other streams in endeavoring to pay her indebtedness or to postpone payment, said District; the cost of maintaining all public institutions of charity with the hope of settling some further part of it upon the United reformatories, and prisons belonging to or controlled wholly or in part States? by the said District of Columbia, and which are now by law supported wholly or In part by the United States or Dish·ict of Columbia· nnd The Washington Times of date February 17, 1911, had the also the expenses of the Washington Aqueduct and its appurtenanci>s · following to say: and also an iteniized statement and estimate of the amount necessary REASO~S FOR JUDSON BILL. to defray the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the next fiscal year: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall The regular payment provided by law on the bonded debt is included be construed as transferring from the United States authorities any of in the District appropriation bill. This is 975 408, and will reduce the public works within the District of.. Columbia now in conh·ol or the bonded debt to about $7,500,000. Unless the Judson plan is adopted supervision of said authorities. The Secretary of the Treasury shall and the f1oating debt thereby allowed to stand until after the bonded carefully consider all estimates submitted to him as above provided and debt is paid the f1oating debt will be wiped out In two or three years. shall approve, disapprove, or suggest such changes in the same 01: any Until this ls accomplished, whatever bn.lance the District has to its Item thereof as he may think the public interest demands ; and after he credit in the Treasury on June 30 each year will be applied to the shall have considered and passed upon such estimates submitted to him floating debt. To be pro'Vi pl:lce to say so than by·adopting Mr. Hendee's amendment upon United States pays as interest on that bonded debt of the District shall be accredited to it upon such portion of the cmrent expenses as it that subject. assumes. This bill nowhere makes the Federnl Treasury responsible Instead of adoyting Mr. Hendee's amendment Congress for one doUar of the debt of this District, either of the principal or of adopted another provision, which required payments upon the the interest. But it does say that the aovemment of the United States shaU pay 50 per cent of the current expenses of the District and that 3.65 bonds to be made· out of moneys already appropriated to it shall have credit on that p·ayment for every dollar of interest it pays. the District for" ordinary" purposes, and such payments as the The section referred to by .Mr. Blackburn was section 8: Treasurer was authorized to advance for the District were to That until otherwise provided by law the Seeretary of th-e Treasury be refunded to the United States. shall pay tl~e interest accruing on the 3.65 bonds of the District of The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. TAYLOR], in his speech of Columbia as the same matures, and the amounts so paid shall be credited as a part of the appropriation for the year by the United July 29, 1911, quoted from the remarks of Representative Sthtes toward the expenses of the District as herein provided. • • • Buckner, of l\Iissouri, when, in 1878, Congress wan endeavoring to make some provision for the payment of the 3.65 bonds. This is, in substance, the same as the act of June 11, 1878. The gentleman from Ohio, in this instance, quoted too little In the debate on l\Iay 6, 1878, referred to by the gentleman of the proceedings. He quoted only what Mr. Buckner said from Ohio [l\Ir. TAYLOR], Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, did not upon that occasion. I h::rrn heretofore said, and I now repeat, at any time gay or contend that the "Government was abso that there is upon the United States a moral obligation to see lutely bound to pay the interest "-meaning the interest on tbe those bonds paid; and that:-!, in consequence of that, shall under 3,65 bonds-but he did say: take to do nothing which will look toward the repudiation of I deny that we are bound for the principal, but the lnw does say those bonds, either by the District or by the United States. that Congress shall guarantee the payment of the interest. I have no quarrel with these bondholders; I am contending The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. TAYLOR], on July 29, 1911, for nothing more than, as between the District of Columbia and said: The Treasurer in his first repoi:t recommended that in lieu of all the United States, that the District is principal and the United existing provisions for various sinking fupds Congress make a perma States guarantor only. nent annual appropriation of $1,155,583.51'i to meet the interest on all On May 7, 1878, section 8 was before the House, which section the outstanding funded debt and maintain a sinking fund. He esti· mated this would be sufficient to extinguish the debt of the District reads ns follows : in 1924. That hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay the interest on the 3.65 per cent bonds of the District of Columbia as the same Continuing, 1\fr. TAYLOR said: matures, and the amount so paid shall be credited as part of the ap Congress adopted this suggestion in the sundry civil bill passed · propriation for the year by the United States toward the expenses of March 3, 1879, United States Statutes nt La1·ge, Forty-fifth Congress, the government of the District. as herein provided. October 15, 1877, to March 3, 1~79, page 410. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall ever be construed as to commit the Government to the payment of the principal of sa"id bonds. 'rhis alleged adoption of the TYeasurer's recommendation as to the sinking fund, and this alleged change of the law and the This section never became law. I would not have opposed entire scheme made by this act, as claimed by the gentleman that part of the section that provided that the interest paid by from Ohio, is found in -rolume 20, United States Statutes at the Secretary of the Treasury should be returned to the United Large, page 410. l\Ir. TAYLOR said, also : States; but I would have opposed the proviso which sought to • • • The act of 1879 changed the law and the entire scheme, release the United States from a moral obligation to the bond and made a permanent annual appropriation for the sinking fund, and holder, because the faith of the United States, as guarantor, that undoubtedly does away with the act of 1878. · was already pledged to the bondholder. That proviso was Let us Yicw the Statute and the recommendation referred to, beaten, and properly beaten, because the U~ited States should as made by Treasurer Gilfillin in his first annual report, and see not be released as guarantor to the bondholder who purchased if .Mr. TAYLOR is warranted in saying that Congress adovted with the faith of the United States pledged as guarantor. the suggestion made by the Treasurer, or that the act of ~larch All that part of the section which precedes the proviso was 3, 1879, changed the whole scheme, or that it made a permanent ·adopted in almost exact language. The rejected pro-dso reads: annuai appropriation for the sin.king fund. That 11otlli11g herein contained sliould. be construed to commit the I quote said recommendation of Treasurer Gilfillin in his first United States, etc. annual report, which is as follows: At that particular juncture l\Ir. Buckner offered an amend Be it enacted, etc., Tbat there is hereby appropriated out of the ment which, if adopted, would have made the 3.65 indebtedness revenues of the District of Columbia for the fisca year ending June 30, 1880, and for each fiscal yen~ · thereafter until the debt of the said Dls payable out of a half-and-half fund; but that proposed amend Jrict and of the cities of WashinJ;ton and Georgetown shall be entirely ment was defeated. extinguished, the sum of $1.155t.o83.55 for the payment of the interest Mr. on the funded debt of the saia District and cities, exclusive of the The amendment proposed by Buc1.."Iler was- water stuck and for the maintenance of a sinking fund for the redemp That one-half of 1 per cent of the 3.65 per cent bonded debt shall tion thereof, which sum is hereby constituted a permanent annual ap be annually set apart from the taxes and apvropriations provided for in propriation and shall be annually charged to the appropriation for the the sixth section to create a sinking fund for the purchase of said 3.65 year by the United States for its proportion of the expenses of the per cent debt of the District. District of Columllia. And the payment of the sum hereby appropriated shall have priority of all other claims and demands upon the revenues There, almost simultaneously, with but little debate, Congress of the said District, whether arising from taxation or from appropria defeated .Mr. Buch.-ner's amendment to pay this indebtedness tions by the United States, and the same shall be disbursed by the out of a half-and-half fund. Treasurer of th·e United States upon the warrant of the Secretary of. the Treasury; and any excess of the said sum over and above the After the proviso of then section 8, which undertook to re amount required for the payment of interest on the funded debt, ex lease the United Stats as guarantor to the bondholders, bad clusive of the w!lter stock, shall be applied by the Treasurer of the been defeated, Congress later adopted an amendment to the United States to the purchase and redemption of the debt of said Dis trict and of the !!ities of Washington and Georgetown in the manner effect that the amounts paid by the Secretary of the Treasury prescribed by existing laws: Provided, '.fhat so much of the act of the should- legislative assembly of the said District approved August rn, 1871, en titled "An act to create commissioners of the sinking fund nnd to pre be credited as a part of tile appropriation (to the District) for the scribe their duties," as required the said commissioners to Inscribe on year, etc. their books the amount of bonds, stocks, and certificates of in<'tehtedness There, I say, Congress sirnultaneoUBly rejected the plan to purchased by them on account of the sinking fund and to collect the pay the 3.65 bonds out of a half-and-half funtl and provided, in interest thereon, be, and the same is bere!Jy, repealed. effect, that it should be paid by the District alone. This can l\Ir. TAYLOR said that Congress adopted this suggestion in the be found on page 3248 of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD of date following language : " For interest and sinking funrl on the May 7, 1878. funded debt, $1,155.583.55." Indeed, may we be led to exclaim, 'l'he gentleman from Ohio [l\ir. TAYLOR], in his speech re what a wonderful abbreviation of a concisely stated recom ferred to, quoted my yery dear friend, ex-Senator J. C. S. mendation of more tban 200 words: If tbe recommendation of Blackburn, than whom no more lo-rnble or honest man was ever the Treasurer had been adopted, and made permanent, as the gen created, who in 1878 was a Member of the House; but Mr. tleman from Ohio says it was, then and there Congress would Blackburn was not quoted in full in the remarks of Mr. TAYLOR ha-re established a sinl.;ing fund for ati of the indebtedness of concerning the 3.65 indebtedness of the District. That which the District of Columbia and cities of Washington and George l\1r. TAYLOR did not quote from Mr. Blackburn, and which is town, and lie then would be warranted in saying that Congress important when taken in connection with Mr. TAYLOB's quota bad changed laws and made a permanent anuual appropria tions from him, is as follows : tion. But what is there contained in the words "for interest [ CONGnESSIO::- This last paragraph, Mr. Chairman, is the one to which I Mr. JJARTHOLD~. I merely want to suggest that in nearly desire to call the attention of the committee especially, as I all wars such occurrences happen along the boundary lines consider it a most remarkable statement in the message of the and in such cases, of course,. the government of the countcy President upon this question. whose citizens were injured would not have to declare war or Here in the President's message is clearly outlined the use its military power to redress its wrong which had been policy pursued by the administration with regard to the pro suffered, but it would have been merely regarded under inter tection of our· people along the border during the Mexican national law as a case for damages; that is all. re-volution. l\.fr. Sl\IITH of Texas. And the gentleman would not then Because -of the fear that our motives might be misunder-· undertake to defend the people that were thus incidentally stood and misrepresented, and of thus inflaming Mexican popu: assailed by a foreign power? lar indignation against Americans in .Mexico, the President hlr. BARTHOLDT. Certainly I would. refused to utilize the military force which was present and Mr. Sl\fITH of Texas. Then the gentleman and I agree. adequate to protect American citizens on Americap. soil engaged l\.fr. Speake;, when our Army was sent to the :Mexican border in their usual avocations under the American flag. Instead, I believe it was generally assumed that it was sent there to he suggested that the people of Douglas might avoid injury protect American citizens, but it seems that the administration from the Mexican shot and shell " by a temporary incon had no such purpose in mind, for the President said in his venience "-that is, by placing themselves "where bullets could message that- not reach them;" in other words, by an evacuation of the The presence of the troops before and at the time of the i:nfortunatc city by taking their 10,000 people, including their women and killing and wounding of American citizens at Douglas made clear that the restratnt exercised by our Government in regard to the occurrence children, ns well as their sick and helpless, and fleeing to the was not due to a lack of force or power to deal with it promptly and open plains for nn indefinite time, where there was neither aggres~ivel.Y, but was d~e to a real de.sire to use every means pos ible food nor shelter, ::i.nd leaving their homes and their business to avoid direct Intervention in the affairs of our neighbor whose friend and property exposed to depredation and destruction. ship we valued and were most anxious to retain. l\1r .. Chairman, I hall not at this time enter upon an ex It is frequently said that the President is at all times very tended discussion of the question whether or not the conditions frank. I want here to bear witness to the fact that this is true. at the time justified the President in standing by and wit Where could you find a greater exhibition of frankness than in nessing such an unprecedented outrnge and humiliation upon the quotation I haye just made from the President's message? American citizens without an effort to protect them when he In effect, he says : had at hands the means of doing so. But I venture to express The troops. were :i:iot at Douglas to protect Ainerlcan citizens. although the belief that no government will long retain the respect of its they were of sufficient force to have done so, but they were tllere to people when it refuses to proteet them on its own soil and under demonstrate to the Mexican people that our friendship for them was its own flag against the inrnsion of any foreign power and such that we could stand by complacently and see their troops shoot under any circumstances whatever. down our unoffending citizens without raising a hand in their defense. .An American citizen, while conducting business in a lawful It is no wonder to me that the Mexican a~mies lost all fear manner in his own country, has never been and I hope neYer and even respect for our power, and felt free to throw their will be required to humiliate himself by retreating in the face shot and shell into another American city and wound and kill of danger. Under every principle of law and justice he has our people. We had demonstrated to them so very clearly at the right to stand his ground and repel force by force in the Douglas that we wer.e going to maintain our friendly relations defense of his home or his person. And in case of an invasion with them at all hazards. of his rights by a foreign power it is the duty of the GoYern :Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a very remarkable thing, to my ment to which he owes allegiance to protect him, regardless of mind, that the President in his message makes absolutely no cost or consequences. mention of the battle at Juarez, the Mexican city immediately It is no excuse to say that this invasion of the rights of the across the Rio Grande from El Paso. .Still more remarkable people of Douglas was not willful; that it was only an incident is the fact that after discussing the occurrence at Douglas, the of war. When two men engage in mortal combat they have President states in his message, in immediate connection, that no right to kill innocent bystanders. The bystanders, when they he is "glad to say that no further invasion ·of American rights consider themselves in danger, have the right to stop the fight to of any substantial character occurred." In this, it seems to me, save their own lives, and, if neces&.'lry, to kill the combatants. the President has done some violence to his reputation for · In the situation at Douglas our Government had a similar frankness. l\lr. Speaker, it is this omission of the affair at El right, and it was the duty of the administration, as I see it, Paso from the President's message that I referred to in the to exercise that right to the full extent necessary to protect beginning of my remarks, and I want now to supply what the American citizens upon American soil. It was an occasion President omitted. when the President had an opportunity to show that he had The battle of Agua Prieta occurred on April 18, lDll; that at iron in his blood. He was informed that the fight at Agua Juarez afterwards, on l\fay 8, 0, and 10, and during those three Prieta would endanger the lives of the people of Douglas, and days of fighting 5 Americans were killed and 18 wounded on he ought to have warned the combatants that it could not take American soil in the city of El Paso, all by bullets from Mexi place. If he had done this, I do not believe the battle would can guns fiTed from the Mexican side. have occurred, but if they had not taken heed he should have The El Paso Herald, the leading Republican newspaper of made his word good. If he had done this, Mexico would have the Southwest, reliable and usually a loyal supporter of Repub had some respect for American power and diplomacy, and we lican policies, in a recent issue discussed, editorially, this affair, should not have had afterwards a similar outrage committed and gave in detail many of the important facts.connected with upon the peaceable ancl law-abiding people of El Paso,, another it. I now quote from that paper. In speaking of the Presi American city which I have the honor to represent upon the dent's message, which I have been discussing, it says: floor of this House. Take notice that in this special message on Mexican and other foreign relations there is not one word about the fight in Ciudad .!Ur. BARTHOLDT. Will the gentleman permit an inter Juarez, which resulted in the ki1ling of 5 American citizens in El Paso ruption? and the serioos wounding of 18 American citizens in El Paso, most of Mr. Sl\1ITH of Texas. Yes. whom were killed or wounded in their own homes or going about thefr lawful occupations in an American city vf 40,000 inhabitants, and all Mr. BARTHOLDT. What would my friend suggest that the of whom were killed or wounded on American soil in law-abiding in President might llave done under those circumstances; declare nocence, by bullets fired by foreigners across the international line in war with Mexico for the purpose of protecting the innocent direct and flagmnt violation of the positive demands of the American Government and of the order sent in pursuance of those demands, and people who were living along the border line? under direct authority, by tile American commandant of the military Mr. Sl\fITH of Texas. I would have had the President take a forces on this border to the leaders of both contending factions in firm stand in defense of the safety of the people on the Ameri Mexico. The act of the Mexicans was more than a violation, it ex can sicle. pressed more than defiance, it meant contempt for the flabbiest Amer Mr. BARTHOLDT. But could the President or anyone con ican diplomatic policy that ever disgraced American annals. nected with the office of the War Department foresee these Mr. BAR'.rHOLDT. Will the gentleman permit another inter occurrences? No one could tell where the fighting would be, ruption? and for that reason it would have been impossible; unless a .Mr. SMITH of Texas. I will. cordon would have been stretched all along the line of Mexico Mr. BARTHOLDT. These bullets were stray bullets, were to protect innocent bystanders. they not?. In other words, the Mexicans were fighting with l\Ir. SMITH of Texas. I will state to the gentleman from each other-- Missouri that at the time th.is correspondence took place be Mr. SMITH of Texas. It was not done willfully. tween the governor of Arizona and the President the fighting Mr. BARTHOLDT (continuing). And each faction was shoot had already begun and Americans had been killed, and there ing at the other, and some stray bullets fell across the bouml was a sufficient number of American troops on the ground to ary line and wounded and killed some innocent people? have stopped the fighting. l\Ir. SMITH of Texas. Yes, sir. 1912. CONGRESSIONAL _·RECORD-HOUSE. 897 Mr. BARTHOLDT. In considering the question of war and the Government to protect its people from acci I have heard a great dea1 of late of what they call "dollar seemed that there was no respect paid either by the rebels or diplomacy" and "shirt-sleeve diplomacy." This case can hardly by the Mexican Government for the people on our side of the be said to belong to either of these classes. It may be appro line, or any effort made by the Mexicans to prevent the firing priately called "spineless diplomacy." across the line. One or more companies of our troops wete If press reports are h·ue, the United States Government is present at the time these battles were fought, and I understand falling behind all the other nations in the matter of adjusting a good many telegrams passed between the Washington au the claims of its citizens growing out of the recent Mexican thorities and our military officers there during this fighting. I revolution. I read in the papers that the German ambassador think they were certainly derelict in not preventing the firing to Mexico has been tra\eling through the various States of that across the line and the taking of the lives and the wounding o:f :;ountry investigating the claims of German citizens with a view our citizens. to pressing t11em for settlement. I also see it reported in the Mr. SMITH of Texas. l\Iy understanding is that the state newspapers that even Chinese claims have been pressed to a ment of my colleague is correct. There are a great many facts final and satisfactory conclusion. and details growing out of this matier that I have not had the The German and Chinese claims were for injuries inflicted time to bring out, of course. within the territory of Mexico where the claimants had yolun 1\lr. SISSON. Mr. Chairman, I was not in the Chamber ta ri1y assumed the risk of Mexican protection. when the resolution was read. I am in hearty sympathy with Only the unfortunate American, it seems, who was injured the resolution, to whatever extent it may go. Does the gentle while attending to his own business in his own country is re man's resolution prot'ide for the presentation of all claims quired to pack his bag and baggage, hie himself to the Mexican growing out of the Mexican revolution as affecting citizens of capital, and beg as a gracious favor the settlement of his the United States? claim. He not only does not have the assistance of his own Mr. SMITH of Texas. My resolution has reference to those Government, but suffers the handicap which hi&. President has injured on American soil, because I think a different rule might placed upon him by having said officially that the invasion of apply in tbe settlement of claims arising in Mexico. There can his rights by the Mexican troops was not of " any substantial be no question in my mind that it is the duty of the adminis character." tration to make an investigation of these claims and determine Mr. Chairman, those who haye suffered injury at the hands them and press them for payment through diplomatic channels. of Me:x;ican troops on the border deserYe better treatment at Those who suffered injury in Mexico might, under interna the hands of our Government. I have no hostile feeling toward tional law, be required to submit their claims to determina Mexico. I was in thorough sympathy with the insurgent move tion down there. As to that I am not now expressing any ment and was glad of its success. President Madero has not a opinion. more sincere friend or well-wisher than I am. I wish for his Mr. SISSON. There is, of course, a different principle of in administration the largest measure of success. ternational law which applies to those injured on American I realize that the shots from Mexican guns which killed and soil and those injured on the soil of 1\lexico, but does the gentle wounded American citizens in El Paso were only incidental to man think it would disturb his resolution in any way to haye it the fight and jn no sense willful or malicious. amended when it comes up for consideration so as to have the But this does not absolve the Mexican Government from lia whole question investigated? bility. And, in my judgment, it would not disturb the friendly Mr. SMITH of T·e:x;as. I think the whole question should be relations between the two countries in the least for our Gov investigated, and I expect, when the matter is taken up, to ernment to take these claims in hand and press them. I have haye the committee go into a thorough investigation of the no doubt Mexico would have more respect for our diplomacy whole subject. if the Government would do so. The CHAIRMAN (Mr. GARRETT). The Chair will state that It is a well-settled rule of international law that when a 2 hours and 47 minutes ha.Ye been used in general debate, all government takes up the claim of one of its citizens against on the majority side of the House. Of course, if anyone de· another government, it necessarily possesses and exercises the sires recognition on the minority side, he will be recognized. power to decide for itself when and to what extent it will Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I am just informed press the claim as well as the means which it will employ for that a member of the minority does desire to address the House that purpose. I can not believe that it can be doubted that our for a few minutes. Government ought to take up the claims of those El Paso peo The CHAIR.MAN. At this time? ple for adjustment and vigorously press them for payment, and l\Ir. TAYLOR of Ohio. At this time. I yield to the gentle to this end I have introduced a resolution in this House. It man from Missouri [Mr. BARTHOLDT]. ought to be passed. Its effect would be to infuse some virility The CHAIR'MA.i~. Does the gentleman from Ohio desire to into our diplomatic force and require this Government to dis yield to the gentleman from Uissouri, or does the gentleman charge a plain and important duty which it owes to a number from Missouri desire to be recognized in his own right? of its worthy citizens. Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. I will yield to him. Let us restore American diplomacy to the high prestige to The CHAIRMAN. How much time? which it is entitled. Let us give every law-abiding citizen as l\fr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Five minutes. surance that he has the care of his Government, and that he The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Missouri is recog may at all times appeal to it with confidence for protection and nized for five minutes. for justice. Let us save him from humiliation when be looks upon the flag of his country. Let us cause him no blush of [Mr. BARTHOLDT addressed the committee. See Appendix.] shame when in the presence of foreigners he is called an The CHAIR.MAN. Does the gentleman from Ohio wish to American citizen. [Applause.] use any more of his time at present? Mr. STEPHENS of Texas. Will the gentleman yield for a l\fr. TAYLOR of Ohio. No, Mr. Chairman; no one else on question? the minority side desires to speak. Mr. SMITH of Texas. I will. Mr. BORLA}\~. Mr. Chairman; I desire to address myself Mr. STEPHENS of Texas. I ·understand the gentleman to briefly to the Disti-ict of Columbia appropriation bill now before speak only of El Paso, and he certainly is correct in that. Has the committee. There is nothing that is more popular to discuss the gentleman said anything concerning the conditions which as a glittering generality, especially along about campaign time, existed at Douglas? than economy in the public service. There is nothing that is l\ir. SMITH of Texas. If the gentleman had been in th~ more di:fficUlt to put into practical operation. Nevertheless, the Chamber when I began my remarks he would not have asked new majority in this House has pledged itself earnestly to the that question, because I devoted a good deal of time to the people of this country to secure, as one of the main fruits of its discussion of the affair at Douglas, Ariz. victory, economy in the public service. It has addressed itself Mr. STEPHENS of Texas. Is the gentleman aware that earnestly and sincerely to that object without regard to the par there were two battles~ fought at Agua Prieta, opposite the ticular attacks that may be leveled at it by the beneficiaries of town of Douglas; that in the first instance the Government of the former system. Everybody will ~gree that economy in the Mexico was in possession of the city of Agua Prieta, and that public service is absolutely essential and that there must be some the Mexican regulars were defeated, and that several persons where a safeguard of the people's money. But the very minute on our side of the line were killed at that time; that subse that that specific and concrete reform is attempted there a.rises a quently the same city was attacked, that the rebels took pos great clamor from the vicinity in which the reform is to oper session of the city after they defeated the regulars, and then ate that that particular reform is the most foolish and ill-ad- aftenvards the regular Mexican Government troops defeated vised reform that could possibly be hit upon. the rebels, and each time the defeate(l party was adjoining the Thls is the first regular-session of the Sixty-second Congress United States boundary? This line is only an undefined line at which it becomes the duty of the new majority to offer to the across the prairie, and their long-range guns raked the city of country its appropriation bills, and it so happens that the first Douglas and killed and wounded many of its citizens; and it of these bills to be brought into the House is the bill proYiding 900 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. JANUARY 12, for the expenses of the government of the District of Colum funds are provided without the necessity for repeated issues bia-the bill now before this committee. and political campaign biennially or annually before a voting That bill shows, in round numbers, a reduction of nearly 20 population. It has none of the difficulties of administering city per cent in the appropriation for the government for the District. government which confronts other municipalities in regulating Tba t bill is a fair index of the care, the earnestness, and the their expenses and keeping down their limit of government ex sincerity with which the new committees have addressed them pense to the economy of public service, and yet Washillgton selves to the difficult task of reform in public expenditure. That comes next after Boston and New York in the expense per bill was not framed by a subcommittee to which I have the capita of administering her city government. honor to belong, and therefore I feel more freedom in speak Mr. FORNES. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? ing of it I know it to be the product of the unceasing toil Mr. BORLAND. With pleasure. and patient investigation of the men charged with its con Mr. FORNES. The gentleman is making a very excellent n.r struction. It will be somewhat difficult for gentlemen to point gument in behalf of the economic administration of Washin~· out where the appropriations named in that bill will not ade ton as compared with the city of New York, and in that co~· quately provide for all the necessary operations of the govern nection I might call his attention to this fact: That the city of ment of the District of Col~bia . The reduction in the amount New York, in order to ha.ve communication between the Yarious of the appropriations for the District is made necessary by the boroughs of which it is composed, has to maintain, at great ex great extravagru1ce of the District government-an extravagance pense, bridges which cost over $150,000,000-bridges which it which I undertook to point out to the House a year ago and the has been obliged to construct. Furthermore, it has a very large cause for which I shall again call your attention a little later water front, which has to be maintained, so to say, out of the on in my remarks. taxation of the city, and which in itself amounts to a sum ot The total estimates submitted by the Commissioners of the more than $40,000,000 a year. Another heavy expenditure is its District of Columbia~ as were aptly described by the chairman water supply, for which it has had to bond itself for its new of the District Committee [Mr. JOHNSON], in his speech on the supply to the extent of at least $170,000,000. On all of these floor to-day, are the result of doubling the estimated revenues outlays, necessarily, interest has to be paid annually, whicb of the District on the theory that the United States would adds very largely to the budget. conh·ibute an equal amount to that raised by taxation within Mr. BORLAND. I am very glad to haye that information. the District, and then bringing the estimated expenses of the Mr. LOBECK. The budget of New York is now something iD District within the combined amount of these revenues, instead the neighborhood of $160,000,000, is it not? of first making, as the law requires, an estimate of the nec l\1r. FORNES. One hundred and seventy- even million dol· essary expenses of the District, and then providing for the lars. . contribution of one-half by the Federal Government. I dis Mr. BORLAND. I am now satisfied that my first statement agree in principle 'with the one-half plan, as I shall hereafter was justified-that New York faces problems which no other state in full. city in the Nation does or can or will be called upon to face-so Before doing so, however, I want to call attention to the that we have no right to compare the expenses of the city o1 comparative expenses of the District of Columbia, which is New York with the expenses of the city of Washington. We practically the city of Washington, with other cities in this have a better right to compare the expenses of the city of Wash· country of similar size and character. The last statistics of ington with Baltimore or Detroit or some other city nearer to it cities that we have is compiled in the Tribune Almanac of 1912, in industrial problems. Yet when we do so we still have a bal and that shows that the total expenditures of the city of Balti ance in favor of Washington, in the absence of certain indas more, with a population of 558,000, is $16,286,000; whereas the trial problems with which other cities must deal, so that when total expenditures last year of the city of Washington, with the subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations havfog in only 331,000 inhabitants, were $15,133,000. The city of San charge the appropriations for the District of Columbia under Francisco, which has nearly 100,000 more people than Wash took the task of pruning down this extravagant administration ington, expended only $14,042,000; the city of Detroit, which of the District revenues which has been going on and gather has 465,000 people, expended only $11,361,000 ; and the ·city of ing expenses year by year they undertook a task of great diffi Milwaukee, which has a population of 373,000, expended culty-a task which required the utmost patience and the ut $12,081,000. The lowest I find in that list is the city of Min most investigation and toil. neapolis, with a population of 301,000 people, and a total ex The result has been a bill here which is offered as the prod penditure of $7,000,000. uct of that committee, which will fully conduct in all of its I want to call attention to another fact. The Tribune Al departments the existing government of the District of Colum manac says that of cities of over 300,000 population the smallest bia, and that will cripple none of those departments. Now, let running expenses were to be found in New Orleans, with Mil us see where the principal changes have been made in this bill waukee a close second. Expressed in per capita averages the The recommendations of the commissioners called for 183 new cities of over 300,000 with the highest expenses were New employees of the District government, and they were given just York, $24.71 per capita; Washington, $24.63; and Boston, $27.58. two. They called for repeated raises of salary, from their I know nothing about the local conditions of Boston, but we own and their private secretaries on down, and they were given all recognize that the city of New York has industrial and civic just two raises of salaries, the laundre ses at the Tuberculosis problems not comparable to any other city on this continent, or Hospital. Does anybody believe that the government of the possibly in the civilized world. There is no comparison between District of Columbia will be crippled by reforms and retrench the city government of· any other American city and the city ments of that character? It is not to be expected that the of New York, based upon population, area, or upon any other proposal to reduce the disbursement of the Federal revenues basis of comparison. The problems. that confront New York within the District of Columbia. will meet with a popular sup are to a large extent the problems of a nation. It is the great port. That is another peculiarity about the city of Washing gateway of the Nation, the' great immigratiqn gateway of the ton. In any other city in the United States the honest effort Nation. It is the great gateway for the enormous mass of .for of public officers to reduce the expenses of the government and eign population that for more than a hundred years has been to curtail the tax burden upon the people would be met with a crowding into this country and has filled up every nook and somewhat high and united measure of support both from the corner of this Republic with American citizens adopted from press and the people, and yet the fact remains that yesterday foreign countries. Through the great city of New York passes and to-day every newspaper in the city of Washington has, in practically all that enormous immigration from foreign points. its news columns and in its editorial columns, denounced this New York is the first American municipality to receive them, committee. For what? For seeking to reform and retrench gives them their first lessons in American civic duties and the tax burden upon the people. American citizenship. New York has problems beyond :ind Mr. MANN. Will the gentleman yield for a question? above any other municipality in the country, but Washington Mr. BORLA.1'~. Yes. • is at the very antipodes of civic problems as compared with Mr. MANN. In what respect does this affect the tax burden the city of New York. Washington escapes most of the great upon the people of the District of Columbia? civic problems that confront other American cities. Wash Mr. BORLAND. I will come to that before I get through, ington, which is not an industrial or manufacturing city, which if tbe gentlema.n will wait. i will be glad to answer that ls not an exporting city, which is not a city with a large foreign Mr. MANN. Certainly. ·or floating population, escapes four-fifths, I might easily say, Mr. BORLAND. A reform in the expenditure of public money of the great ci"vic problems that eveq city man knows confronts is not popular in the District of Columbia. On the contrary, the municipalities in its dealings with a mixed and varied the extravagant expenditure of public money is popular in the industrial population. Washington has a population almost Dish·ict of Columbia, and yet the argument is constantly pre exclusively based upon Government employees, of the most sented that the Federal Government is under a high and bind homogeneous character. It has no problems of taxation. Its ing moral obligation to contrib~t~ to the expenses of the Dis- 1912. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-JIOUSE. 901 trict of Celumbia because the Federal Government uses the city peculiar to the city of Washington in 1873 and 1874, because of Washington as n capital city and owns certain beautiful it existed all over the United States. The career of extrava and per1Danent property -in the District. Instead of the presence gance, beginning with the Republican administration and end of the Federal Government being a burden upon the taxpayers ing with the election of Tilden in 1876, produced the panic of of the District of Columbia the truth is that the presence of 1873, which has never been approached in the history of a the Federal Capital is the greatest asset that the city of Wash free people. It was a perfect Saturnalia of politkal extrava ington can have. There is not a city from the Atlantic to the gance and corruption, and it extended necessarily to the seat of Pacific that would not to-day donate every foot of land the political corruption at the National Capital at Washington. Federal Government desired to use by a constitutional amend Washington was absolutely prostrate, and the seat of govern ment making it forever free of taxation if the Federal Gov ment being located here, it was essential that Congress should ernment would locate its capital at that city, hot one. take over the local government regardless of what it cost. In Mr. AD~R. And pay millions of dollars. doing so it took an enormous amount of debt that had to be l\fr. BORLAND. And probably pay millions of dollars, as paid in some way or other. So there never was any compact the gentleman from Indiana suggested. There is no burden with the people of the District of Columbia. All the talk of an upon the people of the District of Columbia by reason of the organic act in 1878 or any other time is a pure figure of speech. presence of the Capital here. When the Federal Government, There can be no organic act for the District of Columbia. at the earnest request always of the Representative from that · The ·rery last pronouncement of the Supreme Court of the district, decides to buy a site and erect a public building in United States in the Safety-device case, in the two hundred and any other city of the United States it instantly ceases to pay seventeenth United States, is that the power of the United States taxes on that property. It not only ceases to pay any taxes 01er the District of 'Columbia in legislation is plenary. There to the municipality, the county, or the State, but it refuses to are absolutely no restrictions in the Federal Constitution in re pave the street in front of and adjoining that property. If the gard to it. The Supreme Court says in that case that the power city wants its street paved it must pave it"at the generalexpense does not depend upon the interstate-commerce clause or any or at the expense of the property owner on the other side of other particular clause, but the District of Columbia is placed the street. So that every Federal building in the United States directly under the plenary jurisdiction of Congress. There outside of·Washington carries with it its own burden of exemp fore, :my regulation that we may have made in 1874, or in any tion from taxation, whereas the people in the District of period, when we redeemed the government of the District of Columbia have been led to believe by certain interested parties Columbia from bankruptcy, is of Iio binding obligation, nor can that the presence of the Federal Government is actually a be of any bindini obligation in law or in morals. And if the burden upon it and imposes a high moral obligation upon the conditions now are not the same as the conditions then, there is Federal Government to shoulder a major portion of the taxes. no reason why a rule made then should apply now. That we Why, it has even been insisted here, I understand, in various should contribute 50 per cent then is no reason why we should reports and documents that the Federal Government owns 50 do so now. That we should contribute 50 per cent to the run per cent of the real estate in the District of Columbia, and, ning elpenses in order to secure some form of suitable city therefore, it ought to contribute 50 per cent of the running ex government, or that we should contribute 50 per cent to the penses of the District of Columbia. I find they have made up payment of interest on their obligations in order that the obli the 50 per cent by including the streets, alleys, parks, and all gations could be refunded and carried along until they were otller public grounds, the title of which, of course, is in tlle · paid, is no reason why we should pay 50 per cent when we have United States, but which are used for civic purposes; and then, raised the District to the high state of prosperity it has reached. I think, they come within about 12 per cent of the necessary Not very long ago there was a lot sold on Sixteenth Street. 50 per cent. It is 31 feet front and about 80 feet deep. Mr. JOHNSON of Kentucky. Does not that apply to the old l\Ir. l\IADDEN. Did you not buy it? [Laughter.] city of Washington? . 1\fr. BORLAND. No; I am sorry to say I did not. But it Mr. BORLAND. And tb~t, as the gentleman from Kentucky sold for $25,000, or, if we 'should measure it by the front fJ>Ot, suggests, applies to the old city of Washingto,n, with boundaries over $700 a front foot. at Florida A--venue or wherever they used to be, and can not Mr. BUTLER. What was there on the lot? apply to the District at large. So that, as far as the people Mr. BORLAND. It had on it a negro shanty of about four of this country are concerned, men who are familiar with rooms. It is manifest to us that property that sells for resi civic affairs in other sections of the country, who are familiar dential purposes for $700 a front foot is not being sold in a with such expenses, the action of this committee in reducing downtrodden, oppressed, or tax-ridden community. the expenses of the city of Washington will be welcomed and No downtrodden population is existing in that community, be recognized as a patriotic service in redemption of the Demo where residential property is selling for as much as $700 a front cratic pledge of economy in the public service. [Applause.] foot. No population exists there that is compelled by poverty Now, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. M.ANN] wanted to to shoulder off 50 per cent of all its running expenses upon the know how, directly or indirectly, this thing was going to affect people at large, upon the Nation. I do not know at what figure the burden of taxation upon the people in the District. In the that lot appears on the assessment rolls. It may be of interest first place, as long as the District Commissioners follow the for some of us or of all of us to find out, but I have no doubt plan outlined by the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. JOHNSON] that there are many other such instances in this community. and estimate the entire revenues of the District, and then Another point I want to make is that this half-and-half rule double the amount on the theory that the United States will con not only has no' legal or moral basis, but it is a stumbling block tribute an equal amount, and then bring their expenses or to the reform of the taxing power in this District. The half estimates of expenses within the combined amount, the people and-half rule, as they call it, or the "organic law," as they of the District who are actual taxpayers here are suffering like to describe it and refer to it, is very earnestly supported to that very extent. They are having every dollar's worth by a large number of people in the Dish·ict who are anxious of their taxable power used up without any opportunity or to develop real estate within the IHstrict partially or almost possibility of retrenchment for their benefit. But that is wholly, in most cases, at the expense of the General Government not all. and at the expense of the local revenues of the District. They I am opposed to that half-and-half policy on principle, and I know that the minute the half-and-half principle is abandoned, believe that it is the root of the evil. I believe that it is the and the people of the District begin to feel the entire weight great stumbling block to reform of taxation in the District, of the running expenses of the District, this career of extrava and I believe it is a great burden on the necks of the honest gance must then come to an end by the excessive weight of taxpayer and home owner and merchant in the District. I will public opinion itself, and they know that they can keep that show you why I think so. condition away from the ordinary home owner and merchant In the first place, from the historic sketch we had from the in the District of Columbia only by clangling constantly before gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. JOHNSON], the District of their eyes the idea that they must continue this loyalty to the Columbia came under the direct control of the United States half-and-half principle. again in 1874, after a short career as an independent self The idea is that if it costs $12,000,000 to run the city of governing municipality. At that time the District of Columbia Washington, the Government of the United States is asked to and the municipalities within it were hopelessly burdened with pay $6,000,000 of that amount. It is only a question of time debts. They were absolutely and unqualifiedly bankrupt. They when it will cost $20,000,000 to run the government of the city were not in any position to make any terms with the United of Washington, and when that time comes the United States States. It was simply and solely a question of the United Government, it will be claimed, will be under the same binding States Capital being here, and in order to keep a city govern obligation that it now rests under to pay half of that amount, or ment running at all the United States was compelled to take $10,000,000. lf it costs $40,000,000 to run the District govern them over on any terms that it could. That condition was not ment, then the people of the United States would be charged 902 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. JANUARY 12, $20.000.000 as the share of the United States Government, and Mr. FOR~"'ES. Can the gentleman tell us what percentage absol utely without a dollar of additional advantage accruing of the cash value of real estate is assessed upon it? to the people of the United States in Washington as the seat l\lr. BORLAND. I can only st.ate from hearsay. My infor of the Federal Government an9. the capital of the Nation. If mation is that it runs as low as 20 per cent. we :ire contributing on that ground, it is apparent to e\ery 1\Ir. JOH.l'ISON of Kentucky. Two-thirds on real estate and gentleman in this room that $6,000,000 is an ample contribu the full rnlne of personal property. tion by the people of the United States; and there is no reason Mr. BORLAND. It is supposed to be two-thirds, but my why it should continue to increase from year to year as the information is that it runs as low actually as 20 per cent of taxable rnlue of the pr-0verty of the District increases. the cash yalue of the property. Now, let us see. We are asked occasionally here to pass new 1\Ir. FORl~ES. The large property bolder gains to the extent tax Jaws for the District of Columbia. We never have suc that his assessment is low. ceeded in pa sing one since I have been in Congress. We were l\1r. BORLAND. Certainly. The man with a $3,000 house . a ked last year to pass two, both of which appealed very does not get off with less than a $1,000 or $2,000 a se sment, strongly to the experience and judgment of the l\Iembers of whereas the man with a million dollars' worth of vacant prop this House. One of them was a law providing for the taxation erty may get off with a $50,000 or $75,000 asse sment. of inheritances in the Dish'ict. The District is a little State l\1r. FORNES. If the property were asses ed at nearly its like Tew York State in its powers of legislation. It has the full value, the citizens of Washington would pay a greater same right that New York or any other State has to pass that proportion of the tax, as against the United States, would they kind of a rernnue meas11re. No man knows how much revenue not? a law of that kind would produce, but the 'upshot of it would be 1\Ir. BORLAND. No. They would if the half-and-half prh~· that erery dollar it produces, whether $1,000,000 or $10,000,000, ciple were changed, but if it were not changed they woulcl nnt. would have to be matched under this.beautiful plan by another The only result of raising the assessment in the District wonld doJJar from the Federal 'l'reasury. Rich people come here be to raise the taxes on your people back in your own districts. from other sections of the country and make this their home Every time you raise the assessment in the District of Colum on account of 1.he adrn.ntages they enjoy here, and thereby bia, eYery time you raise any kind of taxes in the District of Mr. BORLAND. What I want to call attention to is that, as Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Will the gentleman from Missouri the gentleman from Illinois well states, there are many States permit me to answer that question? where t}le repair and maintenance of streets is at the cost of Mr. BORLA:t\TD. Certainly. the general fund, and there are many cities where both the Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. '!'here are some of the police sta original construction and the maintenance are at the cost of tions that are very old and inadequate; that are old-fashioned; the abutters. In Washington the original construction and that have brick cells, built like vaults, that are not at all mod maintenance are both at the cost of the general public. ern, and I think they should be changed ; but we found also Mr. BUCHANAN. Will the gentleman from Missouri yield? that the men are locked up in them only for a few hours, when Mr. BORLAND. I will. they are transferred to a more sanitary and modern jail or l\Ir. BUCHANAN. The gentleman has stated that the ex place of confinement Two or three of the fire houses are in pense per capita in Washington is greater than any oth€r city, very bad condition. They are old and in very bad condition ~xcept New York and Boston. Can the gentleman explain why and should be remodeled or rebuilt But we did not find that the salaries of the police department and of the fire depart it was an absolute necessity this year. ment, the stations in which they are housed, are not equal JUr, BUCHANAN. Was the gentleman not impressed with and up to the standard that they are in first-class cities? the fact that some of them seemed to be insanitary? Mr. BORLAND. I can not. Mr. TAYLOR of Ohio. Absolutely. Mr. BUCHANAN. I have information that the salaries of Mr. BUCHAJ.~AN. And unhealthful for firemen and police the police officers, the GOnditions under which they work, the men. to sleep there? pensions that they are paid do not equal that of other first l\fr. TAYLOR of Ohio. I would not say exactly insanitary class cities. If the gentleman from l\lissouri has any informa and unhealthful, but they are not proper places for the men. tion as to why this is so, I would like to have him state it. They were too close to the horses; there was too much smell. lHr. BORLAND. I ha Ye not; but I will say that I notice There were things -of that kind that should be changed in those from the return of the Auditor of the District of Colllinbia that two old houses that we visited. In my judgment, there should they collect between $80,000 and $00,000 from the license fees be new houses built. of foreign insurance companies. That is devoted to the general Mr. BUCHANAN. Most of the policemen and firemen sleep expenses of the Dist1~ict of Columbia. In my city we collect there. about $78,000 from foreign insurance companies, and we turn .1\Ir. TAYLOR of Ohio. They sleep in dormitories above the every dollar of that over to the firemen's pension fund. So that room in which the apparatus is kept. may account for the conditions here. Mr. BORLAl~. l\Ir. Chairman, I want now to get back to .Mr. BUCHANAN. As the gentleman knows, I am a new the subject I was talking about, namely, the payment of public Member here, and these matters may have been up before the impro-vements out of the general fund, and its effect on the Honse in previous Congresses, and I thought the gentleman growth of the District. l\Iy obserrntion has been that that is the might have the information that I desired. source of more complaint in this District among property own l\lr. BORLAl\TD. The gentleman from Illinois will recognize ers than any other one thing. It puts wholly into the hands that these matters pertaining to the city goyernment are of of the District Commissioners the discretion to say where these minute details and that we can only touch here and there upon public improvements are going and largely what character they one or two illush·ated points. I have never had any informa shall assume. They may be very beautiful or ornamental tion directly upon the reason why the salaries or the pensions things, calculated to raise the value of the property in the im of firemen and policemen here did not compare fa-vorably with mediate vicinity to a Yery fashionable height, and apparently other cities, but I have been informed that the number of po it is entirely within the discretion of the commissioners where licemen in the city of Washington is about equal to the number they shall go with these improvements what kind they shall be, of policemen in tl1e city of Baltimore, and Baltimore has nearly how many fancy lights they shall put on certain streets, and twice the population of. Washington. So the number of officers on what streets they shall put them. and men on the rolls, or some other ~etboci, may consume tl1e That is what has caused a great deal of complaint among the fund available for that purpose. small property and home owners all over the District of Co .Mr. KINDRED. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? lumbia. They do not have any voice in the matter. If the plan l\Ir. BORLA.ND. I will yield to the gentleman from New is followed by which the property owner pays for his own im York. provements, he ought to have them just as fast and just as l\Ir. KThTDRED. Referring to the salaries of the officials of good as he wants them, because that is his business, and he the District of Columbia and to the great economies proposed will get them just as fast and just as good as he can. That is by the committee's bill, do I understand the gentleman from ·the experience of cities, because every dollar that he puts into l\fissouri to state that these economies are to be obtained mainly ·street improvements of this kind is immediately absorbed, ac by disallowing the proposed increases in salaries of certain cording to the general rule, in the increased value of his prop officials and their secretaries? erty. That is especially true if his property is suburban prop l\f r. BORLAND. No. I said that disallowing the proposals erty, which is coming into value as residential pi:operty. If or recommendations for increase of salaries cut us down con you bring in an addition to the city to be sold on the market, siderably below the estimates of the commissioners. But then the minute you put down asphalt pavement and stone or con we made a _further reduction under the actual appropriations crete sidewalks, curbing, trees, and cross guttering, and that of last year of $1,600,000, which, of course, could not be ac sort of thing, you raise your ya.Jue. more in proportion than the I counted for by refu~ing proposed increases of salaries. It is actual cost of the street improvement. No wise real estate accounted for by the reduction in the force and other econo man omits to do that. What do they do in the District of Co mies in the administration of the city government. I will lumbia? They plat an addition somewhere after they have mention only one of these by way of illustration, for it would carried the street improvements and nice boulevards and high be impossible ta go over all of them, and I think the chairman ways out to the edge of their property, and then they throw the of the subcommittee would have the facts more at hand than I. addition on the market. From that time on, from the time One of them was at the District Building. We found the total they have opened the streets-and ·of course they are opened expense of running that building to be $36,000 a year for sala by benefit-the whole expense of the improvement of that ries-$3,000 a month for just help and employees to take care addition and putting it on the market is borne out of gen of the District Building. They had 40 cleaners do\vn there. eral revenues of the District. Fifty per cent of that cost is We cut that force down to 30. We thought they could keep paid by the taxpayers of the United States at large, the other clean enough with 30 cleaners; and that is about an average 50 per cent being paid by the small home owner, the merchant, of the way the cuts have been made all along the line. We and business man of the city of Washington. found that they asked for $30,000 a year for fuel, and we gave And that is where our little home owner gets rubbed up them $20,000; and they seem to be keeping warm enough even against it again; he is paying for improving these conditions in these perilous times. You can only touch here and there on out there. Your down-town merchant with a stock of goods on illustratiYe points. his shelves is paying for sending people out there where they Mr. BUCHANAN. l\Ir. Chairman, I want to ask whether can not trade with him. That is what they have done and the committee investigated the police and fire stations and have . been doing for years. Now, every man who has got a what condition they found them· in? big tract of land in this District is busy, of course, looking after l\Ir. BORLAND. I am not able to answer that, and I will his own interests as a property owner. He would like to see refer the gentleman to the chairman of the subcommittee. improvements go on there and he raises a terrible storm of pro Mr. BUCHANAN. I investigated one or two on my own test in the papers and otherwise against any change o( the account, and some of them are in an insanitary condition, not plan that would make him pay for his own improvements. fit for the purposes used. Now, they claim that in the down-town section where the cir~ 904 .CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- HOUSE. JANUARY 12, cles and boulevards have been established that the streets are Mr. MANN. That would have nothing to do with the hear wide and there the cost of improvements and maintenance ings. It might be proper that the committee should not give would be grea t and ought to be paid out of the general fund, out in advance a tentative bill, but I do not see how, if a m:m but when you come to the outlying sections that reason can has the hearings, there should be any complaint from that not apply. Not a dollar of it should be paid by the little home source. While I will not undertake ·to question the statement owner of the District or the small merchant of the District of of the gentleman from New York [Mr. FITZGERALD], who knows Columbia or the ordinary citizen of the United States; not a what the practice of the committee has been heretofore, I will dollar of it, because millions of dollars would be made and are say indivj_dually that I ham succeeded, thinking it was con made and have been made under the policy of the District Com trary to no practice, in obtaining a hearing from the committee missioners by that sort of thing. heretofore without questio"n. l\fr. DYER. I would like to ask the gentleman a question. Mr. FITZGERALD. I think that was because the gentleman . l\Ir. BORLAI\TD. Certainly. was regarded as in a peculiar class in the House, and, being as :Mr. DYER. I am anxious to know if in any other cities in well informed as he is on all classes of business, special ar the United States that plan is in opemtion? rangements were made for his benefit. · .Mr. BORLAND. I know of no other city. I will not say Mr. l\IANN. My judgment would be that the committees no other city, but I say I know of no other city. I want to making appropriations have not been anxious to favor me in show what the engineer commissioner of the District had to reference to hearings. I think they have not favored me. Ent say about this thing of paying out of the general fund. the practice to which I have referred has been customary ns l\fr. LO BECK. What page? to all the l\Iembers of the House. The bill was reported in l\fr. BORLAND. Page 102 of the hearings. Of course, he here yesterday, is taken up for consideration to-day, and the is a devotee of the present system, but I want to show you hearings not given to the Members until to-day. However. I that in undertaking to compliment it he did compliment the am glad the hearings are printed. I supposed they had not other system. He said: been. Mr. BuRLESO~. Now, Major, turn to ~age 58, and give us the reason [The time of the gentleman from l\Iissouri [Mr. BORLAND] for that proposed increase. having expired, by unanimous consent he was granted lean~ Maj. Juoso)I. Under this item of assessment and permit work- to conclude his remarks.] ' They call assessment and permit work that work which iS Mr. BORLAND. Kow, gentlemen, I want to ~ny this: If a done where half is paid back by the property owner; that is, reform were instituted in that particular nnd special impron• for sidewalks and paving alleys. It is the only portion of the ments which raised the value of these additions that are being public improvements in the District that is paid by the abutting put on the market were pai Also, a bill (H. R. 17771) granting a pension to William H. Also, a bill (H. R. 17807) granting an increase of pension to Brown; to the Committee on Pensions. Edward Fickert; to the Committee on Pensions. Also, a bill (H. R. 17772) granting an increase of pension to By 1\Ir. NYE: A bill (H. R. 17808) granting a pension to Hiram l\ledley; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Roswell R. Hurlburt; to the Committee on Im·alid Pensions. Also, a bill (H. R. 17773) granting an increase of pension to By Mr. O'SHAUNESSY: A bill (H. R. 17809) to refund Ralph G. Jones; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. moneys paid into the Treasury of the United States through Also, a bill (H. R. 17774) to correct the military record of mistake; to the Committee on War Claims. Walter N. Scott; to the Committee on Military Affairs. By Mr. PADGETT: A bill (H. R.17810) for the relief of heirs By l\Ir. BROWN: A bill (H. R. 17775) granting an increase of James Rockwell, deceased; to the Committee on Claims. of pension to Helen B. Harrison; to the Committee on Invalid By Mr. PALMER : A bill ( H. R. 17811) for the relief of Pensions. Gertrude .A.. Dotterer; to the Committee on Military Affairs. By Mr. BULKLEY: A bill (H. R. 17776) for the relief of Also, a bill (H. R. 17812) for the relief of Theodore W. ' Joseph Kuehne; to the Committee on Claims. Kreamer; to the Committee on Military Affairs. Also, a bi11 (H. Il. 17777) granting an increase of pension to By Mr. ROTHERMEL: A bill (H. R. 17813) for the relief Belona B. l\Ioran; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. of the Agricultural and Horticultural Association of Berks. Also, a bill (H. R. 17778) granting an increase of pension to County, Pa.; to the Committee on War Claims. Wi1linrn M. Wallace; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. ·By Mr. SLO~.\..i~: A bill (H. R. 17814) granting a pension to By Mr. CARLIN: A bill (H. R. 17779) for the relief of Nel Emma Hughes; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. son Wallace; to the Committee on Claims. By l\.fr. SWITZER: A bill (H. R. 1781'5) to remo\e the charge Also, a bill (H. R. 177 0) granting a pension to David C. of desertion from the military record of Frederick Boeden; to Mc:\lillan; to the Committee on . Pensions. the Committee on Military Affairs. Also, a bill (H. R. 177 1) granting an increase of pension By Mr. THOMAS: A bill (H. R. 17816) granting an increase to Albert S. l\Ia on; to the Committee on Pensions. of pension to James H. Lile; to the Committee on Pensions. By l\Ir. CATLIN: A bill (H. R. 17782) granting a pension to By Mr. WILSON of New York: A bill (H. R. 17817) for the Helen Ha call Woodward; to the Committee on Pensions. relief of Edward Shultz; to the Committee on Claims. By l\lr. CL.ARK of l\1issonri: A bill (H. R. 17783) granting an By Mr. _WOODS of Iowa: A bill (H. R. 17818) granting a increase of peusion to Ezra H. Martin; to the Committee on pension to John E. Smith; to the Committee on Invalid Pen Invalid Pensions. sions. By l\Ir. CR.A. YENS: A bill (H. R. 17784) granting a home By l\Ir. REDFIELD: A bi11 (H. R. 17S19) granting au in stead patent to James E. Luster; to the Committee on the crease of pension to l\Iatilda A. Gage; to the Committee on In Public Lands. valid Pensions. Also, a bill (H. R. 17785) granting a homestead patent to l\Irs. Zella Hargrove Gaither; to the Committee on the Public PETITIONS, ETC. Lands. By Mr. DAVIS of West Virginia: A bill (H. R. 17786) for Under clause 1 of Rule XXII, petitions and papers were laid the relief of Henry Borman; to the Committee on Military en 1..he Clerk's desk and referred. as follows: Affairs. By Mr. ASHBROOK: Petition of T. E. Barnes and 45 other By ~Ir. DICKIKSON: .A. bill (H. R. 17787) granting a pen citizens of l\Iohawk Village, Ohio, and vicinity, asking for the sion to Penelope .A.. White; to the Committee on Invalid Pen passage of the Sulzer parcel-J1ost bill (H. n. 14) ; to the Com sions. mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Also, a bill (H. R. .1773, ) granting a pension to Virginia By l\Ir. AYRES: Memorials of Chicago Civil Service League Hager; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. and of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, in favor Al'"'o, a bih (H. R. 17789) granting an increase of pension to of House bill 5970; to the Committee on Reform in the Civil Le,·i oYey; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Service. By l\Ir. FLOYD of Arkan aM: A bill (H. R. 17790) granting a By l\lr. BAilCHFELD: Petition of the Allegheny County pension to William W. Hixson; to the Committee on Invalid Sweig D. TI. K. Staats-Verband, of Pittsburgh, Pa., favoring Pensions. House bill 2896, to provide a tax on white-phosphorus matches; Also, a bill (H. R. 17791) granting a pension to Robert Lane; to the Committee on Ways and l\Ieans. to the Committee on Inrnlid Pensions. Also, papers to accompany bill for the relief of Marie L. Also, a bill (II. n. 17792) granting an increase of pension to Puhlman ; to the Committee on Pensions. James M. Farmer; to the Committee on I11Yalid Pensions. By l\Ir. B.A.RTHOLDT: Petitions of 2,386 Army women and Also, a bill (H. R. 17793) to correct 1.he military record of 279 physicians, in farnr of the restoration of tile Army canteen; James M. Morrow; to the Committee on Military Affairs. to the Committee on 1\lilitary Affairs. Also, a bill ( H. R. 17794) to correct the military record of By lr. B~IBTLETT: Resolutions of International i\lolclers' James H. Cowan; to the Committee on Military Affairs. Union of Korth .America, No. 349, of Macon, Ga., against the Also, a bill · (H. R. 17795) to correct the military record of Smoot bill; to the Committee on Printing. George W. Boling; to the Committee on l\Iilitary Affairs. Also, petition of W. G. Tyrus and others, of ~lilner, Ga., Also, a bill ( H. R. 17796) to correct the military records of against the parcel post; to the Committee on the Post Office tind 1\!at Grub, John Simpson, William $troud, .A.be Broom, Jeff Post Honds. . Phillips, and .A.darn Phillips; to the Committee on Military Also, i1etitions of Barnesville (Ga.) Bottling Works; ·A. W. Affairs. Kil"sey and others, of Upson County, Ga.; i\l. H. Thompson and Also, a bill (H. R. 17797) to correct the military record of otbers, of Georgia; Maurice G:i.rr and Howard Gt1rr, of Jack William Pearton; to the Committee on Military .Affairs. son,. Gn.; C. T. Floyd and others, of Thomaston, Ga.; and Cox By Mr. GOOD: A bill (H. R 1779 ) granting a pension to & Chappell, of :Macon, Ga., for reduction of tariff on supar; to Emma Lynch; to the Comrni ttee on Pension . tbe Committee on Ways and Means. By Mr. HUGHES of Wes~ Virginia: A bill (H. R. 17799) Also, resolution of the Cotton Seed Crushers' Association of granti11g a pension to William C. Wheaton; to the Committee on Georgia. praying the enactment of such legislation as will" In· ml id · Pensio11s. effectually prevent the imposition of prejudicial and discrimi By nlr. LEE of Georgia: A bill (H. R. 17 00) granting an in natory duties on cottonseed oil by foreign countries; to the crease of pension to Allen Philpot; to the Committee on Pen Committee on Ways and 1\Ieans. · sions. By Mr. CARY: Resolutions of the executive board, Wisconsin By J.\Jr. LEE of Pennsylnnia: .A. bill (H. n. 17801) granting State Federation of Labor, indorsing House bill 11372; to the an increase of pension to Ellen R. Shoppell; to the Committee Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries. on Inrnlid Pensions. By Ur. CATLIN: Resolution of Lodge No. 37, Switchmen's By :\Ir. l\lcHENilY: A bill (H. R. 17802) granting an honor Unton of America, of St. Louis, l\Io., urging a reduction of the able discharge to John W. Derrick; to the Committee on Mili tax on oleomargarine; to the Committee on Agriculture. tary Affairs. Also, resolution of the Missouri prummer ' Association, -.By :\Ir. l\IORGAl~: .A. bill (H. R. 17803) granting a :pension to against the parcel post; to the Committee on the Post Office and Heinrich Branz; to the Committee on Pensions. Post Roads. Also, a bill (H. R. 17 0-!) granting a pension to Bennett S. Also, resolutions of the Millinery Jobbers' Association as op l\Iusser; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. posed to the· establishment of a parcel-post service; to the Com By Mr. NEEDHAM: A bill (H. R. 17805) granting a pension mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads. to Myra G. Schroder; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Also, petitions of St. Augustine's Arbeitwohl Society. German Also, a bill (H. R. 17806) granting an increase of pension to Catholic Society, and St. Joseph's Benernlent Society, of St. Oliver H. P. Bailey; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Louis, l\Io., urging the passage of th~ Esch bill, proYiding for a • 908 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. JANUARY 12, tax upon white-phosphorus matches, and for other purposes;. to Also, petition of Charles Kopky, of North D~kota, urging that the Committee on Ways and Means. the duties on raw and refined sugars he reduced; to the Com By .Mr. COOPER: Petition of Imperial Bit & Snap Co., mittee on Ways and ~Jeans . Racine Auto Tire Co., and Racine Tank Lug Co., of Racine, Also, petition of Company I, First Infantry, North Dakota Wis., against enactment of legislation to extend the parcel-post National Guardt in favor of House bill 8141; to the Committee system; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. on .Military Affairs. By 1\Ir. DAUGHERTY: Petition of citizens of .Missouri and Also, petition of W. 0. Hanson, of Minot, N. Dak., against Arkansas, flrvoring an amendment to the Constitution for Senate bill 404, etc..; to the Committee on the District of Co woman uffrage; to the Committee on the Judiciary. lumbia. Also, petitions of 0. P. Wimmer and others, of Liberal, l\to., Also, memorial of Chicago Civil Service League, in favor of fa rnring reduction of duty on raw and refined sugars; to the the passage of Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5070 ; to the · Committee on Ways and Means. · Committee on Reform in the Civil S€rvice. Also, petition of citizens of Missouri, favo1ing old-age pen By .Mr. HUGHES of New Jersey: Petition of Kornhoff Bros., sions; to the Committee .on Pensions. of Garfield, N. J., urging that the duties on raw and refiued By Mr. DICKSON of Mississippi: Memorial of Enterprise sugars be reduced; to the Committee on Ways and Means. Lodge, No. 169, International As ociation of Machinists, pro By Mr. HUMPHREY of Washington: Petitions of citizens of testing against the so-called Smoot printing bill; to the Com the State of Washington, in favor of old-age pensions; to the mittee on Printing. Committee on Pensions. Al o, memorial of Woman's Culture Club of Hazlehurst, :Miss., By Mr. JACKSON: Papers to accompany bill for the relief of urging that the tax on oleomargarine be repealed; also, for W. S. Smith ; to the Committee on Im·aliu Pensions. im:pection of dairy products; to the Committee on Ag1ic11l -By J\lr. LINDBERGH: Petition of D. 1\I. Clark and other mer ture. chants of Brainerd, .Minn., against the parcel post; to the Com By 1\lr. DOUGHTON: Petition of citizens of Taylorsville, mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads. N. C., for an effectirn interstate liquor bill; to the Committee Al o, petitions of George L. Treat and five other citizens of on the Judiciary. Alexandria, l\linn.; Otto C. Perske, of Akely, l\Iinn.; and Frank R l\Ir. DRAPER: Memorial of Chicago Civil Service League, Schmid, of Arnn, Minn., favoring reducticn in duty on raw and in favor of the passage of Senate biJl 1162 and House bill 5970; refined sugars; to the Committee on Ways and l\Ieans. to the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. Also, petition of P. V. Collins, of Minneapolis, lUinn 01 urging Al o, memorial of Woman's Republican Club of New York, repeal of Canadian reciprocity act; to the Committee on Ways in favor of children's bureau; to the Committee on Interstate· and Mean. and Foreign Commerce. Also, memorial of Massachusetts Association of Union Volun By Mr. FLOYD of Arkansas: Petition of citizens of Baxter teer Officers of the Civil War, for officers' retired list bill; to County, Ark., protesting against the establishment of a parcel the Co1lll1Jittee on Military Affairs. . post; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Also, memorial of National Woman's Christian Temperance By .Mr. FOR ,.ES: l\Iemorinl of National Federation of Post Union, for reimbursement of the Ellen M. Stone ransom; . to Office Clerks, in favor of Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5970; the Committee on Claims. to the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. By Mr. LINDSAY: Memorial of National Federation of Post Also, memorial of Woman's Republican Club of New York, Office Clerks, in favor of Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5070; in favor of children's bureau; to the Committee on Interstate to the Committee on Refol'm in the Civil Service. and Foreign Commerce. · By l\Ir. LOBECK: Petition of merchants, business men~ By l\Ir. FULLER: Petition of the American National Live voters, and taxpayers of Nebraska, against the parcel post; to Stock As8ociation. farnring the retention of the duties on live the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. stock and its products, etc.; to the Committee on Ways and Also, petitions of Gray & Gassford and other merchants of Means. · Herman; of Henry Christensen and other merchants of Wash~ Also, petition of W. L. and ·charles F. Ritter, of Genoa, Ill., ington; of P. G. Rohmer and other merchants of Waterloo; of favoring the passage of the Esch phosphorus bill ; to the Com John Nissen and other merchants of Kennard; of William mittee on Ways and Means. Sievers and other merchants of Fort Calhoun; of Sas Bros. Also, petition of the J. D. Tower ~ Sons Co., of 1\Iendota, Ill., and other merchants of Blair; of Peters Bros. and other mer favoring the passage of House bill 11543, concerning proposed chants of Millard; of Reckmeyer Hardware Co. and otlle1· amendment of corporation-tax law; to the Committee on Ways merchants of Arlington; of F. B. Bell and other merchants of and Mean . Papillon; of Thomas Nelson and other merchants of Spring Also, petition of the Equal Rights Association of Kentucky, field; of Johnson Co. and other merchants of Valley; of Wil favoring amendment to Federal Constitution for an election liam F. Hackman and other merchants of Irvington~ of of Senators by popular vote; to the Committee on Election of Theo. W. McClure and other merchants of Florence; of Henry President, Vice President, and Representatives in Congress. Bay and other merchants of Elkhorn; of August Witte and By Mr. GALLAGHER: Resolution of the Chicago Civil Serv other merchants of Bennington; and of Langdo11 & Stahl and ice League, favoring Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5070, provid other merchants of Gretna, all in the State of Nebraska, against ing for the restoration to the Federal civil-service employees of enacting law favoring parcel-post system; to the Committee on their inherent rights as citizens; to the CommJttee on Reform the Post Office and Post Roads. in the Civil Service. By l\Ir. LOUD: Petition of George H. Simmons and 243 citi By l\!r. GOLDFOGLE: .Memorial of Woman's Republican zens of Bay County, Mich., urging the passage of Berger old Club of New York, for children's bureau; to the Committee on age pension bill; to the Committee on Pensions. Interstate and Foreign Commerce. . By l\Ir. MAHER: Memorial of Chicago Civil Service League By Mr. GREGG of Pennsylvania: Petitions of Grange No. and National Federation of Post Office Clerks, in favor of the 244, Patrons of Husbandry, of Butler County, Pa., and Grange passage of ~enate bill 1162 and House bill 5970; to the Com No. 1421, Patrons of Husbandry, of Slippery Rock, Pa., pray mittee on Reform in the Civil Service. ing that special tax of 10 cents per pound on oleomargarine, By Mr. MATTHEWS: Petition of business men in New Wil colored in imitation of yellow butter, be permitted to remain; mington, Beaver, Beaver Falls, Rochester, Ellwood City, West to the Committee on Agriculture. Bridgewater, Freedom, and New Brighton, all in Pennsylrnnia, Also, petitions of George Glass and other citizens of Chicora, protesting against the passage of nny bill looking to the enact Pa., and of J. Frank White ell, of Avonmore, Pa., against the ment into law of any recommendation with reference to the parcel post; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post parcel post; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Roads. Also, petition of citizens of Hanlin Station, Pa., asking re Also, petition of Scottdale Woman's Christian Temperance duction of duty on raw and refined sugars; to the Committee on Union. of Westmoreland County, Pa., for an effective il).ter Ways and l\Ieans. state liquor law; to the Committee on the Judiciary. Also, petition of Washington (Pa.) Grange, No. 1489, P.a.trons Bv hlr. GUERNSEY: Petitions of citizens of Maine, in favor of Husbandry,· protesting against removal of tax on oleomar of olcl-age pensions; to the Committee on Pensions. garine; to the Committee on Agriculture. Dy 1\fr. HANNA: Petition of residents in Williston land Also, memorial of Woman's Christian Temperance Union of district, in North Dakota, relative to certain acts of Congress; Craton alld New Cnstle, Pa., for the pas age of the Kenyon· to the Committee on the Public Lands. Sheppard interstate liq nor bill ; to the Committee on the Judiciary. Also, petition of Karel Kare~ of Lidgerwood, N. Dak., in By l\Ir. McCALL: Petition of Company A, Eighth Regiment favor of House bill 14; to the Committee on the Post Office and .Massachusetts Volunteer .Militia, in favor of House bill 8141; Post Roads. to the Committee on Military Affairs. Also, petition of citizens of Enderlin, N. Dak., in favor of By Mr. McHENRY : Petition of Benton Grange, No. 88, parcel post; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Patrons of Husbandry, Benton, Pa., asking that the oleomar- • 1912. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-· HOUSE. 909 garine law be so .amended as to contain certain provisionB, as Also, memorial of German Society of Forest Park, Ill., in favor stated in said petition; to the Committee on Agriculture. of the passage of House resolution 166; to the Committee on Im By Mr. MORSE of Wisconsin: Memorial of residents of migration and Naturalization. Bethel, Wis., and also by residents of the surrounding country, Also, memorial of German Catholic Society of New York, ·in against the passage of the Johnston Sunday bill (S. 237), pro favor of the passage of House bill 2896; to the Committee on posing the proper observan<:!e of Sunday as a day of rest in the Ways and Means. · District of Columbia, or any like measure; to the Committee on Also, memorial of Chicago Civil Service League, in favor of the District of Columbia. Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5970; to the Committee on Also, memorial of the executive board of the American Society Reform in the Civil Service. of Equity in session at Madison, Wis., against the reduction of By Mr. THOMAS: Petition of sundry citizens of l\Iuhlenberg import duty on raw sugar; to the Committee on Ways and County, Ky., in favor of Berger old-age pension bill; to the l\len ns. Committee on Pensions. Also, memorial of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Bethel, By M:r. TUTTLE: Petition of citizens of New Jersey, urging Wis., against the passage of Mann bill (H. R. 9433), observing that the duties on raw and refined sugars be eliminated; to the Sunday in post offices; to the Committee on the Post Office and Committee on Ways and Means. Post Roads. By Mr. UNDERHILL: Petition of Cigar l\Iakers' Local Also, petition of Local Union No. 820, United Brotherhood Union No. 348, relative to certain provision of reyenue laws; to of Carpenters and Joiners, of Grand Rapids, Wis., favorable to the Oommittee on Ways and Means. Booher bill (H. Il. 56-01); to the Committee on Labor,. By l\fr. WILDER: Petition of citizens of Marlboro, Mass., in By Mr. MOORE of Pennsylvania: Resolutions of Philadel favor of the passage of House bill 8141, etc.; to the Committee phia Chapter of American Institute of Architects, favo1ing the on l\lilitary Affairs. site selected by the park commission for a memorial to Abra- By Ur. WILLIS: Petition of Arthur Parthemer and 75 other ham Lincoln ; to the Committee on the Library. ' citizens of Union County, Ohio, asking for the enactment of a Also, l'esolutions of National Federation of Post Office Clerks, law providing old-age pensions for desening men and women defining their position with regard to the .Ameriean Federation oyer 60 years of age; to the Committee on Pensions. of Labor and urging the passage of House bill 5970; to the By l\fr. WILSON of New York: Memorial of Chicago Chil Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. Service League, favoring Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5970; By Mr. MOTT: Memorial of Conservation Commission of the to the Committee on Reform in the Ci-ril Service. State of New York, in favor of the passage of House bill 14120; to the Committee on Agriculture. By Mr. NEEDHAM: Memorial of Board of Supervisors of HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Fresno County, Cal, opposing enlargement of the Sequoia Park; to the Committee on the Public Lands. SA'.ftJRDAY, J anua.ry 13~ 191~. Also, memorial of San Francisco (Cal.) Chamber of Com The House met at 12 o'clock noon. merce, opposing reduction in duties on sugars until it can be The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden. D. D., offered the fol shown by report of Tariff Commission that such reduction will lowing prayer : not interfere with the beet-sugar interests in this country; to Eternal God, our heaYenly Fatller. from whom nothing is hid, the Committee ()n Ways and Means. with bowed heads and uneovered hearts we stand in Thy pres By Mr. PALMER: Memorial of Central Labor Council of ence. Thou knowest us altogether-our weaknesses, our sins, Oakland, Oal., urging passage of Esch phosphorus bill; to the the foibles of oar nature. Pardon, we beseecfi '!!lee, our infirmi Committee on Ways and ~feans. ties, forgiye our sins, clarify our minds, quicken our consciences, By Mr. PICKETT: Petition of the Honey Creek Quarterly and strengthen us to do Thy will, that whatsoever our hands Meeting of the Friends Church, consisting of 727 member:s, find to do this day may be done with an eye single to Thy assembled at New Providence, Hardin County, Iowa, in favor glory. " If we can put some touches of golden sunset into the 'of bill prohibiting th~ bringing into prohibition territory in life of any man or woman, then we shall feel we haYe wrought toxicating liquors to sell in violation of the laws of the State; with God.'' In the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. to the Committee on the Judiciary. . The Journal of the proceedings of yesterday was read and Also, petitions of citizens of Cedar Falls, Iowa, in favor of approved. the Berger old-age pension bill; to the Committee on Pensions. MUNICIPAL BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS, MO. By l\fr. PRAY: Petitions -0f citizens of Helena and Geyser, l\fr. HAMLIN. Mr. Speaker, on yesterday I was instructed Mont., for reduction in duties on raw and refined sugars; to by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to the Committee on Ways and Means. report the bill (H. R. 16693) to extend the time for the com Also, petition of citizens of Montana, in favor of d~epening pletion of the municipal bridge at St. Louis, l\lo. The author St. Lucie Inlet and New River, Jrla.; to the Comnnttee on of the bill very kindly offered to prepare the report, and I Rivers and Harbors. very gladly accepted his senices, but I discover on reading Also, petition of Christian EndeaTor Society of Montana, in the report this morning that it is not as full as it should be. favor of proposed peace treaties; to the Committee on Foreign It does not contain tile report of the War Department on the Affairs. bill, and I submit a request for a reprint of the report so as to By Mr. REYBURN : Memorial of American Institute of include the report of the War Department. Architects, for Lincoln memorial as recommended by the The SPEAKER. If there be no objection, the request wil! National Fine Arts Commission; to the Committee on. the be granted. Library. There was no objection. Also, memorial of National Federation of Post Office Clerks, COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS NO. 1. relaUve to certain executive orders; to the Committee on Re Mr. COVINGTON. l\fr. Speaker, I desire to present a reso form in the Civil Service. lution which simply provides that the Committee on Elections By Mr. SPEER: Papers to accompany House bill 5577, grant No. 1 be authorized to sit during the sessions of the House. ing an increase of pension to Sidney J. Crocker; to the Com The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the resolution. mittee on Invalid Pensions. The Clerk read as follows: Also, papers to accompany House bill 15894, granting an in House resolution 370. crease of pension to Wells C. Sherrick; to the Committee on Resolved, That the Committee on Elections No. 1 is hereby granted Inrn lid Pensions. • leave to sit during tbe sessions of the House. Also, petitions of Grange No. 1346, Patrons of Husbandry, of The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consid Clarks Mills, Pa., and Grange No. 1178, Patrons of Husbandry, eration of the resolution? of St. Marys, Pa., protesting against the passage of any bill There was no objection. providing for the removal of the special tax on oleomargarine; The resolution was agreed to. to the Committee on Agriculture. Also, memorial of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of War DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIO~ BILL. ren, Pa., protesting against the passage of House bill 9433 ; to Mr. BURLESON. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House re the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. solve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the. state Also, resolutions of the Chicago Civil Service League, urging of the Union for the further consideration of the bill" making the passage of Senate bill 1162 and House bill 5970; to the appropriations for the expenses of the District of Columbia. Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. The motion was agreed to. By Mr. SULZER: Petition of A. H. Home, -0f Goldfield, Nev.~ Accordingly the House resolved itself into the Committee of for tile passage of hydroelectric right-of-way bill; to the Com the Whole House on the state of the Union for the further mittee on the Public Lands. consideratio1! of the bill (H. R. 17681) making appropriations