1186 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
the expenses of the District which the people here ought to pay, and 
the proportion which the people of the United States ought to pay. 
But let us not visit the punishment upon the people of the District, 
when they have had no voice in the action that has been taken in the 
past, and when it has been done by — itself, which has had sole 
authority to act in the premises. 
Mr. Herpert. I wish to ask the gentleman from South Carolina 
whether it is not also a fact that in order to make the showing of the 
Government owning one-half of the property here, all the Government 
buildings have been charged to the people of the United States? And 
is it not also a fact that the Government itself, without any help from 
the people of the District, takes care of every public building here? 
Mr. Hempniiy. I presume that is all true, but I do not see that it 
has anything to do with the question at issue here. 
Mr. Herpert. It is an answer to your argument about the Govern- 
ment owning one-half of the property. 
Mr. Hempniiy. It is not an answer to my argument; and if the 
gentleman thinks it is, 1 am quite satisfied that he has a monopoly of 
that opinion. We did this ourselves. Congress fixed the matter to 
suit itself, and not the people of the District, and if anything is wrong 
Congress is responsible, and Congress alone has the power to change it. 
Mr. Herpert. The facts I have stated, though, go to your argument, 
based upon the estimate of the Government owning one-half the 
property here. 
Mr. Hempntiyi. That does not make any difference. I simply say 
that that is the estimate which has been recognized heretofore, and 
that Congress, which has had the power, has not changed it. The 
gentleman from Alabama is entitled to his opinion, and I may agree 
with him, but at the same time it is not fair to make the people of the 
District responsible for the existing state of affairs. 
Now, there is something else I would like to say in regard to this 
park. It is well known that Rock Creek flows right through the 
District from one end to the other, until it empties into the Potomac 
River. Along a considerable portion of Rock Creek the banks have 
been built up with dwelling houses, and as a natural consequence the 
creek has become in some parts the natural sewer for everything in 
the shape of refuse coming from those dwellings. Rock Creek has 
thus become a stench in the nostrils of the people in that portion of 
the city. There has been pressed most urgently upon the District 
Committee a proposition to arch over Rock Creek in part, and to 
tunnel another part, so as to get rid of these noxious odors coming 
from the creek. If we should undertake to do that work, although it 
would apply to only a very small part of Rock Creek, it would cost, 
according to the estimate, $600,000, and in all probability by the time 
we had finished it the cost would be a great deal more. 
