FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. 18738 
As appears by the statement presented by General Chipman, the 
early leaders of political thought in this land, from the beginning 
until the present generation, never felt that the demands of patriotism 
called upon them for such contributions to the advancement of this 
capital as are now deemed proper. .For seventy-one years, as this 
record discloses, these influences were not strong enough to draw from 
the Federal Treasury more than $1,000,000. I would prefer, sir, 
that the simpler methods of the past should obtain. I realize that in 
view of the progress which has been made in the matter of expendi- 
ture, and in view of the habits of thought in the country, we have 
reached that point where we may not perhaps undo the legislation of 
the past, but I trust that for a time at least we may be able to main- 
tain a standstill. : 
We are expending at this capital to-day out of the Federal Treasury 
more than is being expended as the cost of administering many of the 
State governments. And as the gentleman from Illinois has well 
said, this expenditure is based largely on the idea that we own one- 
half of the property in the District of Columbia. But when you come 
to examine the itemization of this property you find that it consists 
largely, I might say almost exclusively, of streets, alleys, and parks 
which were reserved by the Federal Government from the beginning 
for the convenience of the people. The whole property, of course, 
belonged in the beginning to the General Government; it was laid off 
into streets and alleys and reservations; the land was sold, and the 
people bought along with it the right to the use of these alleys, streets, 
and reservations. There is, so far as the Federal Government per se 
is concerned, nothing in the streets. The real proprietors, those who 
really own and enjoy this property, are the citizens of the District of 
Columbia. Yet they tell us with an immense amount of cheek, 
‘*These streets are not ours; they are yours; and therefore you must 
pay half the expenses of the local government.” 
I would like some gentlemen of the great constituencies away from 
here all over the land, in the South, West, on the Pacific slope, to take 
position on the platform before the masses of electors and present this 
sort of argument for extorting taxation from them and have a test as 
to the truth and justice of it from that quarter rather than from the 
social influences that surround us here. 
[Here the hammer fell. | 
Mr. Cannon. I reserve the remainder of my time. 
Mr. McComas. Mr. Speaker, if I understand the practice on the 
motion of higher privilege to recede, is it not my right to conclude 
debate on that motion? That has been the ruling heretofore. I re- 
member a case in the Forty-ninth Congress. 
The SpeakeER. Will the gentleman from Maryland be kind enough 
to refer the Chair to that ruling? 
