HEARINGS BEFORE U.S. Jonore 26 SUBCOMMITTEE OF HOUSE COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF MESSRS. CHARLES R. DAVIS (CHAIRMAN), LOUIS C. CRAMTON, IN CHARGE OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1921 SIXTY-SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION WASHINGTON 1920 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1921. HEARING BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON STATEMENTS OF HON. LOUIS BROWNLOW AND LIEUT. COL. GENERAL STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONER BROWNLOW. Mr. DAVIS. We are going to begin these hearings, taking up the first item on page 2 of the committee print of the bill, and if you desire to make any general statement, Mr. Commissioner, concerning the District, its finances, management, and so forth, the committee would be pleased to hear you. Mr. BROWNLOW. Mr. Chairman, I have not prepared a comprehensive statement, but I would like to avail myself of the opportunity to submit some general observations. The chief matters of concern are outlined in the letter of the commissioners of October 15, 1919, to the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying these estimates, which letter you will find on page 270 of the committee print. You will observe from that letter that the estimates as submitted are in the aggregate $73.97 less than twice the amount of the total estimated revenues of the District for the fiscal year 1921, after taking into consideration, pursuant to the act of March 3, 1909, all probable charges against such revenues under appropriations for that period other than those in the regular District appropriation bill. The aggregate of the estimates as submitted at that time showed estimates chargeable to the general revenues of $18,242,006.03, and of expenditures chargeable to the revenues of the water department of $937.710. The estimated appropriation fund applicable to the portion of the foregoing estimates other than the estimates for the water department is $18.242,080. The commissioners, of course, as you know, are limited by the law in their estimates to an amount not exceeding twice the amount of the total estimated revenues of the District for the fiscal year for which the estimates are submitted. Mr. DAVIS. You mean the District revenues? Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes; not to exceed double the amount of the estimated revenues for the fiscal year for which the estimates are submitted. Last summer when the commissioners began to consider the 3 preparation of these estimates, they knew, of course, that prices of everything had gone up and that the District of Columbia was not unique; that it was experiencing what every other business, public or private, was experiencing with regard to the increasing cost of things; so we advised the heads of departments to be extremely careful in submitting their estimates and to pare them down. However, when the estimates came to us from the several heads of the departments it was apparent that they greatly exceeded the amount we could approve, so that we went through them and cut them to the bone, sacrificing many of the things which were not only desirable but many things which could have been denominated as necessary, and even then, after we had cut to the bone, we discovered on totaling up the estimates as we had left them that we were $3,000,000 in excess of the amount that we could estimate, so that we went back again and ruthlessly applied the knife to bring the estimates within limits. Mr. BUCHANAN. You not only cut to the bone,but cut some of the bones? Mr. BROWNLOW. We absolutely cut some of the bones. Since that time the estimates as they are now before you do exceed the total amount of the estimated revenues, owing to the fact that the bills increasing the salaries for the firemen and policemen have been passed, and alternative estimates have been submitted to carry out the provisions of the new law. Mr. DAVIS. Must you, then, and this committee, reduce to come within the half-and-half proposition? Mr. BROWNLOW. The only thing that the law says is that in submitting our annual estimates we shall not exceed twice the amount of the total estimated revenue. Mr. DAVIS. I was figuring on the ultimate results of the committee's work. Mr. BROWNLOW. The results have been, frequently, that the committee cut far below that amount. Mr. DAVIS. Can we exceed that amount? Mr. BROWNLOW. Unquestionably. Mr. DAVIS. We can? Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes. You have both the constitutional and the legal power. And understand, also, that while we did make these very severe cuts in the needful estimates for carrying on the work of the municipality, we had eliminated from the very beginning one of the very greatest needs, and that was the increase in salaries for the employees. We did that on the advice of the letter dated, I believe, September 9, 1919, from the Secretary of the Treasury, who advised us that on account of the fact that the Congress had created a Joint Commission on Reclassification of Employees, none of the heads of departments-estimating heads-were to include any increases in compensation of employees in their estimates. Mr. DAVIS. Then you have not Mr. BROWNLOW. We have not, in this bill, included any increases in compensations. Mr. DAVIS. Except where you have asked for new places? Mr. BROWNLOW. Except where there are new places; and there are not a very great number of them; and there is special reason for them. I must say that there were some new places asked for that we deemed to be highly advisable, but they had to go when we made that final revision of the estimates on the 14th of October. Mr. DAVIS. But you have made some new places? Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes; but very few new places, and those only where we were impressed with the imperative need. Now, I would like to submit to the committee my thought with reference to the condition in which the District of Columbia as a municipal corporation finds itself, with respect to the carrying on of its current work and making necessary improvements. During the period of the war, when the appropriations for the various services of the Federal Government, more especially those that were more or less directly concerned with the war itself, had been tremendously increased, the District of Columbia, while its appropriations increased, did not increase in the ratio of the increases that were given to the Federal departments, nor in the raito of the increased cost of materials and labor, nor in the ratio of the increased population. Mr. DAVIS. Why did you not increase in the same ratios? Mr. BROWNLOW. Because the commissioners felt, and Congress felt, that during the war all of the energies and all of the money ought to go to the project of winning the war, the direct project, and that municipalities might well wait; so that now we have a deferred maintenance. We have neglected to do the things during the past three years that ought to have been done, because we have not had the money. We have not been able to erect buildings. We have not kept up with a great many things, because all of the energies and all of the money went properly into the channels of the war. But now the time has come when a very great loss is going to result and very great inconvenience and a very great dimunition of the qaulity of the municipal services here in the District, if there is not liberal consideration given to the District. Mr. DAVIS. Is not the current appropriation act larger than any previous District of Columbia act? Mr. BROWNLOW. Yes. Mr. DAVIS. How much? Mr. BROWNLOW. I will get that for you. Of course, there were increases: but, as I said, the increase was not in proportion to the increases of the Federal Government and ought not to have been; not in proportion to the increase in population, and not in proportion to the increased cost of things. Amounts of the appropriations to provide for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal years 1915 to 1920, inclusive. [District of Columbia appropriation acts.] |