FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. 1381 
Mr. CogswE.tu. Does not the gentleman think that this is in the 
nature of a local improvement to the property of this District? 
Mr. BurrerwortH. Every building put up by the General Goy- 
ernment, whether in the District of Columbia or in the district of my 
honored friend from Massachusetts, is in a sense local in its influence 
and a great advantage to the locality where that building is erected, 
but the people of the locality are not therefore taxed for its construc- 
tion or maintenance. The erection of a large building in my own city, 
costing eight or ten millions of dollars, was an incalculable advantage 
to all the property within the range of the building, and yet we were not 
taxed any more than my honorable friend from Massachusetts to pay 
for the building. 
Mr. Coeswetu. Another question: Does the gentleman make no 
distinction between an ordinary Government building and a great 
zoological or other park within 3 miles of the residence property of 
this District? 
Mr. Burrerwortu. I draw the proper distinction. One is a scien- 
tific institution for educational purposes, the other a building in which 
to transact public business; but they are both and equally national 
in character, and each in the interest of all the people of this country. 
So far as the District of Columbia is concerned she has all she can do 
to manage her affairs now, all she can do and more than she does well. 
Mr. James Bucuanan, of New Jersey. And very largely through 
the mismanagement of Congress. 
Mr. Burrerwortu. Very largely so, I agree. 
Mr. Buiount. Will the gentleman from Ohio state how the rate of | 
taxation here compares with that in other cities? 
Mr. BurrerwortH. Well, in all good conscience it is high enough. 
If the gentleman pays any tax here he will observe that it is high 
enough. But that has nothing to do with this question. Suppose the 
tax rate in my friend’s district is only one-tenth of one per cent, does 
it follow because we, representing all the people of the Republic, 
choose to locate some national enterprise in his district, that we shall 
therefore saddle half the cost of it upon the people of that district 
because their rate of taxation is so low? 
Mr. Biount. That was not the object of my question. The gentle- 
man was complaining of the burdens already eee upon the people 
of this District—— 
Mr. Burrerwortu. No, I was not. 
Mr. Biount. I so understood the gentleman, and I wanted to get at 
the facts by asking him to compare the rate of taxation here with the 
rate in other places. 
Mr. Burrerwortu. I was not complaining. Far from it. Iam 
willing that the District shall bear its present burdens and something 
more, but I am not willing to surrender the control of this national 
