Evening star., 1896-04-09
NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT
A Bill Providing for Five Commissioners
Of the District
-Four to BE Elected by the People
Introducing the Measure.

Senator Gallinger today introduced in the
Senate, by request, a bill providing for
change of the form Of local government by
the substitution Of a board of five Commits
sioners, four of whom shall be elected by
the people of the District and one ap-
pointed from the engineer corps of the
army by the President. In introducing the
bill Mr.. Gallinger made an interesting and
important statement. He said:
1.-The BILL which l have only casually
looked at, recommends that the board of
Commissioners of the District shall be in
creased to five and shall be elected by pop
ular vote. 1 would say that If I had my
way I would rather the District of Colum-
bia were under the well-established doc
trine that there shall not be taxation with
out representation, but that Is impossible
under the existing conditions. If I were
to have my way and a change OF the Com
missioners was to be made l should reduce
the number from three to one in place of
increasing it to five"
PrOvisiOns for nm Election.
The bill which he presented is very long
and provides in intricate detail all the ma
chinery for holding a popular election. It
first provides that from and after the first
Monday in January, 1897. the board of
Commissioners shall consist of five men,
bers, four elected and one appointed, as
already stated The term of office is to be
three years. The vote for Commissioners
is to be cast the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November, 1886, ana every
third year thereafter.
The electoral qualifications are stated in
these words: Every citizen having resided
in the District of Columbia ninety days and
in the election precinct sixty days next pre-
ceding any registration of voters, shall b
entitled to register and vote"
The city IS to be divided into four election
districts, corresponding to the geographical
North, East and South Capitol streets and
by line running west from the Capitol.
Each section is to be entitled to one repre-
sentative on the board OF commissioners.
and Is to be divided into voting precincts,
each containing as nearly as possible a
thousand Inhabitants. The Commissioners
are required by the bill to give forty days
notice Of every election held and to choose
election Judges, who shall also constitute
the board Of registration. The polls on cleo
ton day are to be opened from am. to
6 pm.
The Australian Ballot system.
The e'ection machinery provided in the bill
is very similar to the Australian ballot sys-
tenn, now in vogue in most of the states.
The vote is to be cast In the form Of print
ed ballot. and the voter is to be required to
indicate his choice of candidates by making
cross mark opposite the name he prefers.
Each vote is to be indorsed on the back by
the initialE of one of the registers. and no
vote is to be counted unless so marked.
Elaborate precautions are taken in the bill
to prevent repeating and falsifying of the
returns, and to insure the purity Of the bal
lot box. The Commissioners are consti-
tuted canvassing board, and they are given
power to provide the paraphernalia Of the
elections and are required to establish at
each precinct a voting booth. with the
necessary guard rails etc.
This bill. the authorship of which was not
disclosed, was referred to the committee on
the District Of Columbia