The Washington herald., 1907-12-19

The inhabitants Of the District of Co
iumbIa are suppIiants-nothing less-doing
nothing but lobbying" declared Repre-
sentative Sims. from Tennessee. and a
member of the House Committee on the
District of Columbia yesterday.
Il am in favor of permitting them to
have voice IN the management Of ali
their local affairs. and l believe this is
the only way justice can be done.
80 far as Washington, the National
Capital, is concerned. Of course. Congress
should have charge. but in such local
matters. as the selection Of a school
board. the personnel of the employees in
the District offices. and all that there
should be some means for the local
property holding and properly qualified
citizens 10 express themselves.
Last session / introduced. and will again
introduce this session. a bin providing
that all appointees 10 Office in the District
of Columbia, so far as the Office per-
ta!ns TO the government Of the District,
shall be bona fide citizens OF the Dis-'
trict, and shall have been such residents
for the three years Immediately preceding
their appointment
Give People a Voice.
IF they must be appointed, think the
people should have an opportunity 10 ex-
press their preference, and thus permit
the President 90 ratify their choice. This
thing Of bringing in outsiders for the
good places in the District government is
not fair 10 the persons in II. and am
heartily in favor OF giving them some
rights Of this kind.
so far as the postmastershlp Is con-
cerned. since he has 10 deal more with
national matters, il can rightly be con-
sidered a Federal appointment for which
the applicant must only be well qualified
without regard 10 his former place Of
residence.
i would. however. like 10 see the peo-
pie here have some way granted them
whereby they could indicate to the Presl-
dent their preference for all the Offices,
the appointive powers OF which are In
vested in him, and I would like 10 see
that bill of mine passed so that only real
residents OF the district would be given
the Offices here.
'Of course, / believe there should be
some restrictions as 10 the right Of suf-
frage, but I would be willing TO put
everything up 10 the people under such
an election qualification law as exists In
Massachusetts. a Northern State, and
where il cannot be said there is any race
prejudice. II is a property and educa-
tional qualification. and with such re-
strictiOns here. all these matters that
now occupy much Of the time Of Con-
gress could be settled by the people
themselves, and with far greater salts
faction TO them"
FavOrs Vote on Question.
Would you care 70 submit your prohi-
bition bin to a vote in the same way?''
he was asked.
I most certainly would" he replied.
Il introduced that bill at the request Of
the prohibition workers In the District
because they said il was what they
wanted. It is practically the webber bill.
and I put ii in. as do all bills from Dis
trict residents. because feel that as
they have no representative here, some
one should aid them.
AS 70 the present difficulty in the
schools. know little. but I believe that
any legislation by Congress until the
heat Of the present conflict has worn
away would be a mistake. As for the
talk OF { Congressional committee taking
care OF the schools, irrespective os its
legal aspect, I believe il would be a great
mistake ! think that the school board
should be elected by the people. who have
TO patrOniZe the local schools, and then IL
the system was at fault. II could be
remedied by the persons most interested"