The Washington critic., 1888-04-09
WASHINGTON, APRIL o, 1888.
FALSE ALARMS.

Either the American right OF representa-
tion in the National Government must be
granted the thousands upon thousands of
permanent Washlngtonlans or the reserya.
tion theory must be carried 60 It's logical end,
the private ownership of real property in the
District must be destroyed with compensa.
tion by the exercise of the right Of eminent
domain, and the supcrfuous inhabitants not
In Government employ must leave or bo
eNictcd. Which shall It be III Evening star.
The quotation given above is the
concluding paragraph of an editorial
in the Washington EreHiag Star of
Thursday last, in which Senator
Blair's proposed amendment to the
Constitution, giving to the District a
Senator and one or more Representa-
tives in Congress, is unqualiiedly in
dorsed.
Without raising the question at this
time as TO whether it is absolutely
necessary, or even desirable, for the
District of Columbia to have repre-
sentation in Congress other than the
nine Senators and thirteen Repre-
sentatives now composing the Dis
triet committees, we certainly cannot
subscribe to the extreme and startling
doctrine enunciated in the above ex-
tract.
The alternatives presented by our
esteemed contemporary are not war
ranted by past experience or the pres
ent situation. They are the utterances
Of an alarmist.
Is it possible that such views can be
seriously entertained by sober-minded,
intelligent citizens? That unless the
people of the District are permitted
TO elect their own representatives to
the Federal Congress all residents of
the District not in the employ of the
Government will sooner or later have
TO leave the reservation or be evicted?
"The American right of representa-
tion has been" denied to the inhabi-
tants Of this District for the greater
part of the present century. The ter
ritorial experiment that was tried
here, with this American right
granted, proved thoroughly unsatis-
factory and was speedily repudiated,
and under the present form of gov
ernment, without suffrage, without
representation, without this great
American right, the District entered
upon career Of prosperity and de-
velopment that has made the National
Capital the finest city on the conti-
nent.
Tho CI1gf n Il ~, &c ~, ~ nt,,. toi
pal government is excellent and can
only be injured by attempts to ap-
proXimate it to that of other large
American cities;' it admits that "un-
limited suffrage" is not to be desired,
and that ''the power of exclusive
legislation should not be taken from
Congress-" yet makes the extraordi-
nary assertion that unless the Blair
amendment is adopted, or something
similar to it, the "private ownership
of property in the District must be
destroyed - All this, in spite of the
exclusive legislation of Congress
TO prevent such a catastrophe-in
spite of admittedly the best municipal
government in the United States
How our neighbor reaches this fatal
and calamitous conclusion is mys-
terry. Where is the sense of it? What
is the object of it
Is it scheme to bear the real es-
tate market? To frighten property
holders ont of their wits? To warn
intending investors off the premises
To steer capital in some other direc-
tion ? To stop enterprise and force
the business community into bank
ruptcy?
Is it possible that the proposed con-
stitutional amendment is our only
hope of salvation?