Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-12

An interesting addition has been made
to the literature of suffrage in the District
during the past few days by the introduce
ton by Mr.. PETER of Senate bill 2IfO ITO
provide a representative assembly for the
District of Columbia" Mr.. PETER is SO
genial and good-natured that he often in
PRODUCES odd attempts at legislation from
all quarters of the country, but even Mr..
PETERS complacence failed him at this
point and in self-defense he was forced
to note the fact that the bill was intro
duced by request" By whose request is
not generally known. 1t is not to be
doubted that the enactment and enforce
ment of such law would produce results
wholly unsuspectsd by it's authors. and
little good can be expected to ever come
from such an experiment except to demon
strate how utterly futile are many of the
suggestions that have been made for local
suffrage. There can be no fear that the
Representative assembly described In this
bill would ever bring any serious distress
or hardship upon the District. AS outlined
In the measure. it would be so delight
fully inconsequential that no possible
harm could ever come to anybody. AS men,
toned in the first section, this assembly Is
to make recommendations to Congress as
to legislation affecting the District to rec
ommend TO the President candidates for
appointment as Commissioners of the Dis
trict, and recommend to the Commission
ers candidates for appointment as subordi-
nate officers" There Is absolutely no hint
whatever of any obligation on the part of
Congress, the President or the Commits
sioners to accept or even consider such rec
concentrations when made, and there is a
magnificent prospect of a state of utter
irnccuous desuetude-of legislative irnpo-
tency, so to speak-in this bit OF proposed
law. Nor IS there even the possibility that
such an assembly would give rise to cor
ruption. The compensation of members of
this assembly Is certainly not alluring
enough in its magnitude to attract many
OF the professional politicians into the
ranks of local legislators, not at least
for the mere money that is in the
job. There may be any number of mem
bers above one hundred. Each shall re-
ceive one cent per month for each of his
constituents. The present population of the
District is 10000. giving a probable voting
strength of $4,000 or one-ffth of the entire
population. This would cause an expend-
iture for salaries of $40 per month. and at
the minimum strength of one hundred
members this would give an average Of
$40 per month per member. BY means Of
combinations the majority Of the voting
strength of the District might be cast for
one man, who would thus receive the lions
share of the $40 monthly. In that case
the ranks of the legislature would have
to be filed with mere dummies receiving
only few cents per month for their SER
vices. That they would be dummies is as
sured by the provision that 1.-The voting
power OF each representative shall be equal
to the number of his constituents" So also
in the matter of recognition by the chair.
The representative having the largest con-
stituency shall have the greater right for
priority Of recognition. The suggestion
that this might possibly become a one
man power Is but feeble expression of
the situation. In order to accomplish the
tremendous work imposed upon 1t and to
adequately discharge the important duties
created by law, this august assembly with
out any power would meet each Thursday
evening during sessions of Congress and
once a month during recesses Of Congress.
1t Is a pity that in body of which the
only function could possibly be the exer-
else of lung power strict gag rule should
be enforced at the very outset. No repre-
sentative Is to be allowed to speak more
than ten minutes In introducing bill. On
the debate following its Introduction each
side is to be allowed only thirty minutes.
In a paraphrase of the language of the
Texas statesman, What on earth would
they be here for? But the gem of the en-
tire measure is the third section, which
qualities the suffrage by requiring voters
to be citizens of the United States. resi-
dents of the District for one year, of legal
age. and able to read that section. With
a humane instinct the author of the bill
has provided that IL a voter be blind he
may recite the section. But the dumb are
disfranchised. Neither Senator PETER nor
his friend who framed this most eccentric
measure has any use for voiceless man.
By no means averse to the celebration Of
holidays, the American people may never