WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
66
other cities. The greater portion of the expense for the public buildings is paid, for their erection and embellishment, to me- chanics and artists who come from a distance-from Philadelphia, New York, Richmond, and other places. They are the persons who receive the money, not the citizens of Washington; and for that reason the money expended here is not chargeable to Washington. If individuals residing in Washington absorbed all the appropria- tions made in the District, and all the money paid out here by the Government, doubtless they would be in a better situation, and would have an amount of wealth that would enable them to defray all the expenses incident to a city government. I think there are obligations resting upon us to appropriate money for . this District that do not exist elsewhere. Other cities have no immediate connection with the legislative bodies and govern- mental officers of the United States. This city has; and for that reason it is necessary that appropriations be made here to pro- mote and forward the public business which are not necessary in other cities. They are commercial cities, not dependent on the Government. They do not labor and toil for the Government, and do not receive their pay from it. A large amount of the appropria- tions made by this Government should be distributed here, because the people whom it employs and pays reside here temporarily, if not permanently. This circumstance makes the expense of city government fall heavily on the resident population, because the employes of the Government are generally from other places. If the property-holders here were to bear all the expenses of the city government, taxation would be exceedingly onerous-much more so than in any other city of the Union. I wish, gentlemen, to reflect that the money paid out here is not paid to the citizens of Washington city, but to citizens of other places, who are tempo- rarily here; and hence the necessity of occasional provision to relieve the people here from those contingencies that the fact of the Government being located here has produced. I. have no disposition to protract the debate on this subject; but I think it is very manifest that the people of the District are not accountable for all the money disbursed here, but that other cities are to share a portion of the responsibility, whose citizens are recipients of it. [The amendment of Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, as modified, was read, as follows : Ancl be it further enacted, That a tax sufficient to pay one-half of the annual expen~e incurred by carrying this act into effect, shall be annually assessed upon the real and personal property
I ' I I I I
I I ' i I I i I
' : '
I I •
Powered by FlippingBook