Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-02
Columbia Heights Citizens Declare
Against Elective Franchise.
RESOLUTION LAID UPON TIE TABLE
Advocates of the Ballot Replied to
by Mr.. BaIlinger.
OTHER MATTERS DISCUSSED

proceedings were more than interesting.
At the previous meeting a communication
was received from the local Suffrage Asso-
citation, to the effect that the latter organi-
cation would be pleased to visit or be visit
ed for the purpose of spreading the gospel
Of District elective franchise. The COM
munication was then referred to commit
tee. consisting of Messrs. Arthur 8. Browne,
Eugene g. Jeffery and Leo Simmons and
Its report was laid before the Columbia
Heights Association last evening, recon-
mending that delegate be sent to the suf-
frage organization, and that the association
resolve that 1t Is in favor Of form of
local representative government properly
safeguarded. and of representation in both
houses of Congress and in the electoral
college.
Mr.. Browne, in presenting the report, and
moving the adoption of the resolutions. ex-
planned that the committee had invited
Messrs. Heasey, Reyburn and Beall. men,
ters of the central committee of the Citi-
zens' Suffrage Association. to be present.
and he asked that they be invited to pre-
sent their views. The Invitation was
promptly extended and Mr.. Hensey first
spoke. He believed no intelligent man
would say that suffrage would. give a per-
feet government, but he contended that
there is something in every American which
makes him want to have something to say
in 'the matter of taxation at least. When
the people of the District go to Congress
for relief. said Mr.. Hensey, they find that
they are looked upon almost as interlopers,
and he had been told by a representative
that I'VE don't care a d-n about the Dis
trict of Columbia" Mr.. Hensey said 1t is
no answer to those who ask for suffrage
here to say that the United States pays
one-half of the expenses, for 1t Is not true
that the general government pays its part,
as it owns 53-1OO of the District area. What
the people of the District need, said Mr..
Hensey, is some responsible representative
system of government a government by
the people. and in that connection he stated
that the men who fought in the revolution
airy war and in the last war on both sides
were not of the best people Of the country,
but were the people for whom Lincoln and
Washington and Jefferson had so great
respect.
Opposed to Present System.
Mr.. Hensey said that not a man of any
prominence in either of the great parties
dares to say that the District govern
ment is the best government, certainly
not In the hearing Of their constituents.
While he has great respect for the Dis
trict Commissioners, Mr.. Hensey declared
that each Is absolute in his department,
and the people have no redress. He said
that when Virginia and Maryland ceded
parts of their states to form the District
of Columbia they never dreamed nor in
tended that the people there should be
forever DISTINGUISHED. Much has been said
about the supremacy of the objectionable
elements in the event of suffrage here,
but ne denied that such elements could
prevail. and remarked that the last mayor
of Washington was elected by a combina-
ton of the white vote.
Mr., Hensey referred to what is known
as the feather buster legislature of the
District, and claimed 1t had been elected
by those who learned the ways of Tam
many Hall. He also remarked that the
men who raised the debt Of the District
from three to twenty millions were nomi-
mated by the President and confirmed by
the Senate. He denied that any other city
In America really desires a form of gov
eminent like the one here. and said that
when the people of the District say by
lawfully taken majority vote that they
do not desire suffrage then. and not until
then. will he cease his efforts to secure
suffrage.
Present Government Expensive.
DIR. Robert Reyburn followed Mr.. Hensey,
claiming that the District government is
the most expensive in the country. He
also charged the people here are taxed
higher and more unjustly than elsewhere
Another charge he made was that the la
boring people of the District are paid less
and are in worse condition that those Of
the same class anywhere else in the coun-
try. Their condition will not improve he
commended until the people of the District
nave suffrage. He cited the condition of
the board of public school trustees as be-
Ing without authority to appoint even a
janitor as an example of the autocratic
powers Of the District Commissioners Alb
soiute power cannot be trusted to any
three men, and. while he has the highest
respect. personally, for the Commissioners
he held that the people of the District need
hn hoI Lot md he
heved that IL Congress would allow them
10 express an opinion in the matter at the
polls the vote would be three to one in
favor of the ballot.
Mr.. Beall, who explained that he was an
official under the old city government next
addressed the association, claiming that tie
laboring people are given starvation wages
here, and remarked that the District gov
eminent. since the days of the old munich
pal regime, looms up before him as a
monument Of fraud.
President Ballinger Replies.
President NJ. A. Ballinger, having called
Vice President O'Donoghue to the chair,
proceeded TO reply to the addresses made by
the three advocates of suffrage, referring
to what they had said as containing more
transformation than he evsr heard in any
three speeches. He declared hat since he
came to Washington, thirteen years ago,
ne had consulted at least 800 representa-
been treated most considerably by them,
and had never yet heard one say that Con-
gress did not car, a d-n for tie District of
Columbia. He also said the District Com
missioners had always treated him cour-
teously, endeavoring at all times to do
what they could for the District He re-
marked that people came to live here be-
cause they thought 1t the most desirable
place OF residence in the country, saying
that those people who were dissatisfied
with the existing form of government are
not compelled to remain here, but are at
liberty to remove to some other place
whenever they feel SO Inclined He re-
gretted to hear the men who had fought
in the revolutionary and the last war
spoken OF as not of the best people.
An Interruption.
Mr.. Hensey interrupted him here to ex-
plain that he meant that they were not of
the wealthisst people, but Of the plain pco-
pie of the land. Mr.. Ballinger denied that
per capita expense here Is greater than
elsewhere, claiming that it was between
$40 and 81 per man, one Of the very lowest,
II not the lowest, in the country
Mr. Ballinger closed his remarks by NOV
ing to lay the whole matter on the table,
remarking that the subject of suffrage was
one with which the association has nothing
to do. Before q vote was taken on Mr.
Ballinger's motion, Mr.. Hensey DR. Rev.