Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-11

He SUNDAY STAR, w.
of District expenses, might be repeated If
under any circumstances the attempt were
made to withdraw the support then pro-
vided: ''As in the beginning the federal
city was without population or resources
to which its founders could look for its
development and improvement. so also at
the present time it Is wholly without the
means. either in property, commerce or
manufa ctures, to meet the enormous out
lays which the magnificence OF the plan
requires. One-half Of its property, and
the best half. is owned by the United
states, and pays no taxes. and the other
half is mortgageG for one-fourth of its
value by debt contracted in exhausting
and parayzing efforts to make 1t what
Its patriotic founders designed 1t to be-a
national capital worthy of the name it
bears. If deprivation of suffrage IS the
only condition upon which citizens of the
District are partially relieved from their
heavy burdens. they evidently prefer to
remain political slaves rather than be-
come bankrupt freemen.
The arguments already recited, which
led to the establishment of an exclusively
national district must also be weighed
when 1T is attempted to reverse the de-
ciSion then made.
The sentiment which Identifies the fate
OF the Union with that of the capital
should not be disregarded. Washington
has planted the roots of its existence and
prosperity in the spirit of American ma
t1onality. 1t has fiourished in proportion
as this spirit has been strong. The grand
designs respecting it were neglected by
those. not its enemies, who resented the
substantial embodiment of a power SUI
perior to that of the state. 1t again re-
vived when civil war developed the pa
triotic national sentiment. and Americans
learned that the Union is a substantial
something to love. to live for, and to die
for. The bloodshed of the Revolution gave
birth to the spirit of nationality and Gre
ated the city; the bloodshed of the civil
war revived the spirit and regenerated
the city. The imagination may conceive
that the soul of the Union is enshrined
in this exclusive territory. and that II
ever it's peculiar existence shall be ex-
tingushed the event will be a forerunner
of the dissolution of the Union.
National Representation.
Fourthly, retaining exclusive jurisdiction,
Congress may propose constitutional
amendment giving the District representa-
ton in the bodies which legislate for it and
tax it, voice as to the President, who
is to appoint the Commissioners to man
age its local affairs. and, in general ex-
cept as to the privilege of choosing town
or county o1ncers. to place the residents
or the District upon the same footing as
the citizens of the several states
A minor discrimination against inhabit-
ants of the capital which needs to be
thus remedied is that which denies them
the right of bringing suits in the federal
courts in those cases where the privilege
is given to the citizens of a state, and
which puts them before the national judi
ciary in less favorable attitude than
mat or aliens. Qaepburn agt. Ellzey, 2
Cranch., 446D
While the District is not a state and
While Its citizens. in addition to the de-
MAI OF the benefits of the federal courts,
are forbidden representation, it is sub
Ject to direct federal taxation, although
the Constitution says that representa-
tives and direct taxes shall be apportion-
ed among the several states of the Union
according to their respective numbers"
These words are held to furnish merely a
a rule of apportionment, and not to limit
the power of taxation. Houghborough
agt Blake, 8 Wheaton, 317) The Dis
trlct paid its proportion, some $4,000 Of
the twentymillion direct tax of August g.
1851, the last OF the four direct taxes. It
has also paid into the National Treasury
from the commencement of the excise tax
law in 1862. $G454 ,9O7O3, a larger amount
than that derived from Alabama Arkan-
sas, Maine. Mississippi Nevada, South
Carolina or Vermont. Taxation without
representation" thus prevails at the CAPT.
tai 1t is alleged. in justification, that
the District (when nearly uninha bited)
voluntarily resigned it's right of distinct
representation. and irrevocably adopted
the whole body of Congress Gncludng it's
bitter enemies and it's lukewarrn friends)
as the representatives of it's interests.
Washington was in existence only a few
months when its residents began to be-
moan their prospective ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
their exclusion from participation in ma
tional elections In a pamphlet concern
ing the government of the territory OF
Columbia" published in 1901 by A. 3.
Woodward. it is said: This body of peo-
of the rights of citizenship as any other
part of the people Of the United States.
There can exist no necessity for their dis
reimbursement, no necessity for them to
repose on the mere generosity of their
countrymen to be protected from tyran-
ny; to mere spontaneous attention for
the regulation Of their interests. They
are entitled to a participation in the gen.
eral councils on the principles of equity
and reciprocity From the beginning
of the century, too, members of Congress
who have viewed the condition of the
capital with other emotions than that OF
Indifference have either felt their hearts
bleed" over the enslaved condition OF the
people or have denounced the disfran-
chised as selling their republican birth
right for a mess of pottage. In a debate
in the House. December, 1850, Representa-
tive Smile said: Not a man in the Dis
trict would be represented In the govern
ment whereas every man who contributed
to the support of q government ought to
be represented in it: otherwise his natural
rights were subverted and he was left
not citizen but slave. 1t was right
which this country. when under subsection
to Great Britain, thought worth making
a resolute struggle for, and eVinced a de-
termina ton TO perish rather than not en-
JOY" In 1903 the "unrepublican' condl-
ton of the District was again matter OF
comment and it was proposed to recede
to Maryland and Virginia jurisdiction over
the parts of the District originally coded
by them. John Randolph, jr., in Febru-
airy of that year. said in the House: Il
could wish, indeed. to see the people
within this District restored to their
rights. This species of government is an
experiment how far freemen can be recon-
ciled to live without rights: an expert.
ment dangerous to the liberties of these
states But inasmuch as it had been al
ready made inasmuch as | was not ac-
cessory to II, and as at some future time
it's deleterious effects may be arrested. L
am disposed to vote against the resolu-
ton"
proposition to recede the territory of
Columbia outside of the limits OF Wash
ington. caused Representative Clark 20
say, in 1865. that he spoke of the inhablt-
ants whenever he had occasion to allude
TO them with pity and compassion, and
he most devoutly wished 20 see them
placed in condition more congen1al to
his own feelings and the feelings OF every
true lover of civil and political freedom.
Alexandria was retroceded in 1915. her
calling disfranchisement being referred
to in debate. Georgetown had sought
retrocession in 1898, but unsuccessfuiiy.