DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



bill was passed by Congress, and approved 

 -Nth, providing for tho appointment of 



nuimii-Moii.T^ ti> \vinil up tho all'uirs of tho 



i, ami of :i committee comprising two 



nl two members of the House, to 



litablo form of permanent govcrn- 



iih-rit. The iv port of the committee was sub- 



! to Congress December 7th, through tho 



chairman. Senator Morrill. Tho plan submit- 



:!uit Congress should exercise that 



:\o legislation over the District with 



which it is invested by the Constitution, and 



provide for the general superintendence of its 



ami tho enforcement of the laws through 



:-.s and agents directly amenable to the su- 



executive authority of the United States. 

 rin of government recommended by tho 



committee was as follows: 



i a frame of government, observing their in- 

 struction and the constitutional limitations on the 

 appointing power, and having regard to proper effi- 

 ciency of administration and of official responsibility, 

 the committee have deemed it necessary to make the 

 new government for the District a department in the 

 Government of the United States strictly limited to 

 tlie atfairs of said District. At the head of this de- 

 partment shall bo a board of general control, desig- 

 nated " a Board of Regents," of three persons, to bo 

 appointed by tho President and confirmed by the 

 Senate, with a certain tenure of office, and removable 

 only for cause, who are to exercise the chief execu- 

 tive authority, always acting as a public body and 

 with limited and denned powers. Within thi de- 

 partment and subject to its supervision are distinct 

 subdivisions of bureaus, the head of each of which 

 is a Board of Cooperative Control, whose duties and 

 powers are also defined, and whoso doings are open 

 to proper inspection. These boards are appointed 

 by the regents, except as to the Board of Education, 

 a portion of tho members of which are to be elected 

 by the inhabitants, and except, also, as to the Bureau 

 ot' Public Works, the head of which is to be detailed 

 by the President from the Engineer Corps of the 

 nnny. have a'certain tenure of office, and are re- 

 movable by the regents for cause. They relate to 

 and embrace the entire civil service of the District, 

 except such as falls under the executive departments 

 and tho courts, and are denominated the Boards of 

 Health, Education, Police, Excise, Public Works, 

 Fire, and Buildings. 



With tho view of relieving Congress of embar- 

 rassing details of strictly municipal affairs, it has been 

 thought desirable to present a framework of gov- 

 ernment that could be administered with as infre- 

 quent appeals to its authority as the nature of the 

 case would allow. To accomplish this it was neces- 

 sary to confer sweeping, ill-defined, discretionary 

 authority, or to enter into details as to the extent and 

 manner "of exercising authority, and accordingly the 

 latter course has been adopted, and, tho committee 

 trust, will bo found to have secured thereby a de- 

 sirable publicity of official action, certainly as to 

 method, responsibility for abuses, efficiency in tho 

 public service, and protection to individual rights. 

 Authority to make suitable and necessary ordinances 

 and regulations in harmony with the laws of Con- 

 gress has been conferred upon those charged with 

 the executive administration as extensive as the local 

 intt-rcsts are likely to require. 



The militia system has been revived, and a limit- 

 ed and comparatively inexpensive force provided 

 for, deemed adequate, however, to any demands for 

 its service which may be anticipated. 



The judicial courts, standing upon tho basis of 

 statutes of the United States, quite independent of 

 local control, are not deemed necessarily to fall 



within the scope of the authority of the committee, 

 and have received no share of it* attention, except 

 as to the Police Court, in regard to which certain 

 provisions are made with the view of efficiency and 

 dispatch in the transaction of its businea*. The 

 establishment of a Municipal Court is also provided 

 t'.-r, having exclusive civil jurisdiction of mutter* 

 noncognizablo by justices of the peace, and thus 

 superseding the office and jurisdiction of said jus- 

 tices ; and in addition thereto it is provided that any 

 Judge of said Municipal Court may, under such reg- 

 ulations as may be prescribed by the Supreme Court 

 of the District, be designated by the Chief-Justice 

 of said court to hold a term and sessions of the Po- 

 lice Court, with the view of facilitating tho business 

 therein. 



Provision is made for the assessment and collec- 

 tion of a tax upon the real and personal estates of 

 the inhabitants of tho District, except uch as are ex- 

 empt by law, at tho supposed medium rate of $2 on 

 the $100, the valuation for such taxation being the 

 true value thereof, as upon ajust appraisement be- 

 tween debtor and creditor. The asuessoi a are to be 

 appointed by tho regents, and may be by them re- 

 moved for cause. The taxes are to be payable to the 

 Collector of Internal Revenue for the District, col- 

 lected by him and paid into the United States Treas- 

 ury, and all sums provided for from any source what- 

 ever are to be collected and paid into the Treasury 

 of tho United States in like manner, and all pay- 

 ments for salaries and compensations and for other 

 purposes are to be made by the Treasurer of the 

 United States upon appropriations by Congress, and 

 all vouchers and accounts are to be audited by, and 

 all warrants and requisitions are to pass under the 

 control of, the proper officers of the Treasury of the 

 United States. 



Annual reports are to be made by the regents to the 

 President, to be transmitted to Congress with a par- 

 ticular statement of the public service for the past 

 year } the application made of all public moneys, with 

 detailed statements of the expense of each bureau 

 and separate office of said government. 



Tho net debt of the District of Columbia, 

 less securities on hand and available, was thus 

 reported by President Grant in his annual mes- 

 sage at the opening of Congress : Bonded debt 

 issued prior to July 1, 1874, $8,883,940 ; 8.65 

 bonds, act of Congress, June 20, 1874, $2,088,- 

 168.73; certificate of the Board of Audit, $4,- 

 770,533.45 ; total, $15,742,667.61 less special 

 improvement assessments chargeable to private 

 property in excess of any demand against such 

 assessments, $1,614,054.37; less Chesapeake & 

 Ohio Canal bonds, $75,000, and Washington 

 & Alexandria Railroad bonds, $59,000; in 

 the hands of the sinking-fund, $1,748,064.87, 

 leaving the actual debt, less said assets, $18,- 

 994,613.24. In addition to this, there are 

 claims preferred against the government of 

 the District amounting in the estimated aggre- 

 gate reported by the Board of Audit to $3,147,- 

 787.48, of which the greater part will proba- 

 bly be rejected. This sum can with no more 

 propriety be included in the debt account of 

 the District government than can tho thou- 

 sands of claims against the General Govern- 

 ment bo included as a portion of the national 

 debt, but the aggregate sum thus stated in- 

 cludes something more than the funded debt 

 chargeable exclusively to the District of Co- 

 lumbia. The act of Congress of June 28, 1874, 

 contemplates an apportionment between the 



