Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-16
WOULD CHANGE FORM
Mr.. BurIeson AssaiIs the Dis
trict Government.
LOCAL PEOPLE HELPLESS
In Favor of Giving Them Control Of
Commissioners.
REFORMS WOULD THEN CONE
Cannot See Why National Government
Should Pay Half of the
Local Expenses.
LOCAL PEOPLE HELPLESS
REFORMS WOULD THEN CONE

up by the House today, and following re-
view Of its provisions by Representative
-Gillett of Massachusetts, chairman of the
subcommittee which framed the BILL Rep
resentative Burleson of Texas, a member
of the District subcommittee, made
speech in which he assailed the present
form of government of the District and
declared that if the District Commission
ers had more power to control corporations
and were themselves directly responsible
to the people the citizens of the District
would long ago have had 75-cent gas, uni
versal transfers and a cheaper telephone
service.
Mr.. BurlesOn said he had noticed in the
newspapers that the people of this city
had aspirations for a Greater Washington,
and he wanted to know if members of Con-
gress We're going to continue to burden
their constituents with one-half of the ex-
penses of the District of Columbla-one-
half the expenses of this much talked Of
Greater Washington.
referring again to the Commissioners,
Mr.. Burleson said they were responsible
FOR nobody-ne.ther to the people Con-
gress. They were appointed by the Presi-
dent. who was too busy attending to
various reforms and giving advice to
various people to look after District Of
Columbia affairs.
people in the mountains of Tennessee should
be taxed to pay for the education of the
children of the residents of Washington.
He wanted to know why the people on the
coast of New England should be taxed for
this and other purposes. He was heartily
in favor of the general government being
liberal In its dealings with the District of
Columbia, but in his opinion there were
certain obligations resting on the people of
the District of Columbia which they should
carry for themselves and not share with
the constituents of the members of the
House.
Proud Of the City
Every one in Congress was anxious he
said, that Washington be made city
beautiful. Every one took pride In the
fact that the capital of the United States
is one of the most beautiful cities in the
world. And he believed that any one who
had ever been abroad and had visited old
world capitals came back believing in
their hearts that Washington was more
beautiful than any one of them.
Bit the question was. he continued.
should the existing conditions continue?
He thought that the District Commissioners
should be given larger responsibilities and
greater authority and be made directly re-
sponsible to the people. If this had been
the case the people of Washington would
long ago have had granted to them 1o-cent
gas. cheap telephone service and the uni
versal transfers for which they were now
fighting.
The Price of Gas.
Representative Fitzgerald of New York
wanted to know what authority Mr..
Burleson made his statement concerning
75-cent gas, and Mr.. Burleson said that he
had looked into the subject and had found
out how cheaply gas could be made. He
said that even had he the authority he
would not put gas a single cent lower than
was right and just but Congress was al
ways slow to move and he supposed that
so many complex matters confronted the
wise men of the District of Columbia COM
mttee that they hadn't been able to report
any proposition to put the gas even as
low as it should be.
Representative Olcott of New York. a
member of the District committee, inter-
rupted to ask If Mr.. Burleson knew that
the District committee was even now in
vestigating the gas question.
Mr. Burleson said he didn't know any
thing about that but he did know that at
the last session of Congress a paragraph
in the appropriation bill lowering the fiat
ate for gas burners had been stricken
out, and, despite the pleadings of members
of the appropriations committee, the Dis
trict of Columbia committee had done moth
ing about it. Mr. Burleson then went on
to say that for years the people of the Dis
trfct had been victimfzed by the gas monop-
oily. the common stock of which had been
inflated by the issuance of so-caled GER
tifcates of indebtedness.
Responsibility of Commissioners.
He thought the proposition that he had
advocated, of giving the Commissioners
greater authority and making them direct
~ responsible to the people, would be real
lied within quarter of a century. He
thought by that time that members Of
Congress, even on the republican. side,
would have the courage to stand up on the
floor and advocate plan for changing the
form Of government of the City of Wash
ington. so to enable the people of the
District to hold directly responsible those
who had charge of District affairs.
At the close of Mr.. Burlesons speech
Representative Foster of Vermont began
an hours talk on the Japanese question.
General debate the District bill will
probably close this afternoon, and the bill
will be taken up under the fve-minute
rule tomorrow.