Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-04-03
HE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT.
The Bill 60 Amend the Organic Act

As matter of general intensive print below
the able argument Of Col. Dom Piatt before the
Senate Committee on the District of Columbia
on Monday in opposition to the bill amending
the act creating new government for the
District Of Columbia" ny akiug q large num-
Der OF tie officers elective; brief abstract of
which Argument was published in TIE STAR OF
that day.
Mr. Down Pistt said he had been hopored bv
a request 10 appear and say something in behalf
of the present territorial government as against
these meDorialists who seek to terminate its
existence, for that is what this bill means. In
accordance with this request he had attended
the former meeting of the cezlmittee, and after
listening 20 the learned gentleman, Mr.. Ord
way, who appeared for the memorialists, he
found nothing upon which to base a reply.
He had appeared a second time and listened To
Mr.. Green, with a like result. Those gentle
men had onwittingiy made q strong argument
III favor Of the government as IL is. MIR. Ord
way had gwen an account of the deplorable
condition OF the so-ealled voting population OF
the District. He had infor med the committee
that five men could control majority OF the
voters; that be had seen men marched TO the
polls and voted like cattle; and then, not salts
fed with his own statement. he confirmed the
assertion with certain affidavits, 80 that what he
said others had sworn to. And Row Mr.. Green
comes in with a like showing. And vet the
proPosition - c0oily made TO extend this evil
from where II is now confined TO ali the Officials
OF the District. The gentlemen did not exagge-
rate in the least. They gave us a Photographic
view Of the voting population of Washington.
and il is smally true.
In this respect our national capital is co wo sc
than any other city in the United States. The
question OF what as to be done with cur cities
presses painfully upon us for p s0luti0H. These
cities are cesspoOis CT corruption. They gene
rate a poisonous malaria that affects the entire
country. To this source trace much IL not ali
that has so demOralEed our legislation, lowered
the tone OF our courts and corrupted our people.
We need not cOnfine ourselves to New York
whose foul rottenness has shamed us before the
world. 1t exists in every city where we have
manhood extended N a
where In each instance one class eXpends u hat
another pays, and irresponsible men use the
treasures OF taxpayers.
believe, gentlemen, that this evil comes, In
the first place, from popular error as to this
thing called the elective franchise; and in the
second place, from a mistake in the organiza-
ton of oar cities. This voting is not a tight but
a privilege, and originated IN the necessity OF
some process through which the right to life,
liberty and the use of ones property might be
prOte cted and perpetuated. siOw far il NAV
properly be exercised can be gRGged by remem-
boring that tbe man voted for helds the position
of agent, a..d where that agent Obeys our will
and reflects car opinions il is necessary TO have
him elected. But when the Official has some
specific act TO perform as in the ease OF Judge,
or when Lis duties are those of mere routine, as
IN postmaster or policeman, vctiGg for such
l. not essential. On the contrary IL in direct
violation of whaS we seek to maintain. j want
the member of the legislature TO reflect my will
IN the laws he may make, OF the policy he may
iHaugnTate; but what is il to me whether the
judge who decides my case or the postmaster
who distributes my mail is a republican CT a
dc mocrat, 30 that he does his duty with fidelity
and intelligence ? The man, then who pleads
for manhood suffrage in the selection of a Board
OF Public Works simply muddlcs the affair.
But our great trouble comes from the fact that
We have modelled our cities after those OF Eu-
rope, forgetting the difference in circumstances
that brought about such widely different re-
suits In Europe the cities we're not incorpo-
rated by higher municipal authority. They
grew up slowly in the dim past, and were in
time great centeTs Of wealth and intelligence
Before the age OF printing all the learning Of
the age was concentrated in these cities. Hone
sought tor scientific or literary intelligence, lie
had TO seek the teachers and their manuscripts
in these cities. In this way the deniZens of the
towns were Tar in advance OF the country. and
as they grew in wealth and knowledge they be-
me OF course the governing elements and a
certain sovereignty attached. They made the
governments then, and they make the govern
ments low: Iou pass from the refinement, the
wide intelligence and patriotic impulses to-day
OF any city in Europe to the ignorance of the
masses in the country around-the peasantry,
that are scarcely one remove from our former
slaves of the South. The terrible conflict we
have lately witnessed between the cOmmunes
OF Paris and the traitors of Versailles illustrates
what / mean.
How different all this is with US If there is
any difference between the inhabitants of our
cities andthosc OF the country the difference is in
favor of the rural districts. At least there is no
claim that can be established in favor OF the
in towns over those of the country
10 such an extent as TO give the town any supe-
nor right to sovereignty. And yet this is PIE
precisely what the towns arrogate to themselves.
and IL Is singular fact that we deny at the end
Of bitter, bloody war, to state what We accord
willingly TO city. In il we center our police
and sanitary measures, and TO il we give, most
atsurdly / maintain this precious manhood
suffrage. | say abSUrdv. Tor after we have re-
stored 10 the state the courts, the police, ami
sanitary acts and agents, we have nothing left
but care OF streets and alleys, mere property
IN which proTerty-holders alone are interested
They are the stockholders of this corporation,
and man who sleeps on the steps of bank
might as well on that account claim a seat at the
board OF directors. or man riding in a car
assert his right TO share in the management
Of the railroad company, as the non-prO perty.
holder OF a city demand the exercise of a pro-
cess that selects agents and expends the money
Of others, and herein lies his safety. Give 10
the taxpayer the expenditure OF his tax and
you will have economy in place OF extravaganza.
and honesty in lieu OF theft.
But, MeSSIs. Senators, the District of C,olum-
bla rs peculiarly situated. That which the peo-
pie solicit cannot conStitutiOnally be granted.
and does not in fact exist. The fathers OF the
government, for good and sufficient reasons to
themselves, ard for good reasons that time has
since illustrated and demonstrated, moved the
seat OF the national government from the old
cities that they might take it from the local in.
nuences OF a mob Influenced by political pas
sions and pTejudices They had seen in Europe
the masses OF ignorant, passionate men infuen-
eng the official agents Of the governments; they
had on one occasion themselves been surrounded
and threatened, and so they wisely removed the
of government to the wlds OF the Potomac,
where they solemnly resolved, and put their re-
solve In the Constitution, to have population
without politics and city that should belong TO
the government, instead OF a government that
would belong to the city. In accordance with
this organic act the District was managed by a
commission until, believe, 1872; and since then
until now We have had a mODgrel affair that
has all the evils of low political life with
ont any of its good, if, indeed, such good ex-
lists. We have cultivated the pot-house politi- |
clan and the corner grocery caucus of the |
me8nest sort. In other cities the man who |
seeks to be an alderman may and does aspire to |
the legislature, and lie may hope for. one ]
day, to TeIresvii: constituency in CONGRESS I
he has some LITTLE restraint-not much, con |
TESS, but some little-and it becomes his interest
to keep something like a fair record. But here |
a man cannot even vote for a Congressman or a
President, and can never hope. Sc long as be re-
mains a resident OF the District; to reach any
Office, high or low. His ambition is bounded by
the purse-strings of the taxpayer. He can han
die and, perhaps, appropriate TO himself some
of that money, but that is all. The result is.
that the lowest, meanest. and smallest creature
the Lord, in His wisdom, ever set on end for
some unknown purpose is your Washington pot
house politician, the brawler about rights he
cannot possess and does not even understand
We have seen them drumming in tOrchlight
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