Evening star., 1909-05-09
PRESIDENT TAFT AGAINST SUFFRAGE FOR THE DISTRICT

for all that is peculiar and local in the
interests and deeds of the community?
| VIII 1t not be wisdom to treat it SO!
Let US not forget that there are thousands
upon thousands here who have no other
abiding place. Their roots have struck
deep into the soif They love the city
with all the national pride we share with
them and with that tender sentiment
which we call the love of home besides.
Is 1t wise to treat them as aliens in the
here till all ties with other places are
dissolved: and they expect that their
children will live here when they are
gone. These people, so completely and
,irrevocably identified with the place. con-
stitute an element not wisely to be over
looked when one is considering how local
affairs may be most prudently and loyal
ly administered.
Parting of the Ways.
who knows? Perhaps we have come
already to the parting of the ways. Lit
tie by little the local hold is lost. Here
a hospital is drawn under the control
of department. There the Jail slips out
of the hands of the District into the
hands of the Attorney General. Now 1t
is proposed that the schools be placed
| under a bureau: and now. that the city
shall be officered on the principle Of
| efficiency alone-by any one who can be
| found who is most competent, though he
never saw Washington before. 1t would
be something to assume that among
35o,ooO such as we find gathered here
| not a single man could be found capable
| of conducting the business of the city.
| But if il should be cOnjectured that In
| some far off place a Commissioner might
| be found somewhat more efficient, would
that difference in efficiency make up for
the sacrifice of one more bond-some-
| times IL seems as If II were the last
between the government and the local
bo nf g
not altogether. l venture to think. mat
ter of perfecting the machinery. Men are
not altogether machines. They have SEN
timents. they have hearts. And il there
had not been sentiment and heart as well
as brain there would be today no Wash
tngton. AS far as the municipal govern
ment is concerned, the people Of the Dis
trict seem to have settled down to the
| arrangement that there should be no
| suffrage.
"Sir. I am not inclined to discuss to-
night the various proposed changes in the
constitution of the city government.
efficiency in the municipal machine. In
what / am vet to say ! prefer to dwell
! upon a broader question. But no one
| ought to refer to the form OF govern
| ment that has given shape to our affairs
/ since 1874 without doing justice to the
splendid advances that have been made
| under its direction. In 1878 the plan was
adopted of raising upon the ratable prop
/ d
matching that with an equal amount from
the national Treasury. Up to that
time the District had carried the bur-
| den, year by year, almost or quite alone.
| and was sinking under a debt OF many
millions. Under the new arrangement
| Washington has sprung to her feet. Parks
| have been laid out avenues extended.
| bridges built. public buildings erected.
| grade crossings abolished, railway ter
minals improved. magnificent new sta
| ton built, the sewage and water sys-
| TENS practically made over. millions upon
| millions spent toward making the city in
health and beauty what it ought to be.
! Meantime. absolute fidelity in the dis
| charge of duties, no stain or hint of
| corruption, scarcely dishonest transac-
| tion ever charged. Surely that is record
! for any city to cherish, and for those
who have had a share in making il to
| look back upon with pride.
Meeting the Expense.
| "Some forbidding obstacles have been
encountered and are met with still One
is this being compelled to pay for perma-
nent improvements out of the current in
| come. What other city is expected to pay
! for it's great works. to last for genera
| tions. out of its ordinary receipts, mean
while taking 1t out of its schools and
scrimping its legitimate expenses? Any
other city would raise the money on bonds
and pay them little at time. Washing
ton need not be bonded, since the national
Treasury can supply it with the loan and
let it be paid back at a reasonable rate:
but the principle is sound. 1t Is enforced
by the late Secretary of the Treasury in
his able report for 1908, where he sets
forth with great lucidity the need of a ma
tional budget to bring about an adjust
ment between disbursements and receipts
with rigid separation between expendi-
| lures for the ordinary service OF the gov
ernment and those for permanent public
works the latter to be met by bond issue.
But there are obstacles of graver i'm
| port. and they constitute defects radical
and without remedy in the present rela-
| ton between nation and District. They
can be removed only by a changeN in
that relation itself. We shall all agree
| that to legislate wisely requires two
| things: First. lively interest in the
| object of legislation; second, clear in
telligence touching the subject in hand.
There being no representative from the
District itself in either branch of Con-
gress, 1t becomes necessary to commit
the interests of the District and the
| interests of the nation in the District
to hands unfamiliar with the subject
and without any lively interest therein.
The Congress as a whole cannot be eX-
pected to supply these requisites. No
| one pretends it does. 1t is engaged
| upon a thousand subjects. many Of
which appear to its members to be
concerns the District We cannot won
der at tit is the nature Of things 1t
should be so. The step logically re-
| quired by this condition is next taken.
A committee in the House and a COM
mittee in the Senate are specially
! charged with these affairs. Not hat
their word is accepted as final. II 1t
were, some difficulties would be escap-
ed. But in the end their report must
run the gantlet of the whole House,
| or Senate. Here ignorance of DISCREET
affairs has often shown itself so eyre
| gious and glaring A-t 1t could excite
nothing but laughter If tears were not
often more fitting recognition of the
! folly.
"Voiceless in the Hall"
And when that occurs there is no rep
| resentative Of the District to meet the
ignorant unfounded claim. Three hun
dred and fifty thousand people are voice
less in that hall. The committees cannot
meet the emergency. Yo expect 1t would
| be to expect more tLan mortal men can
!, do. Who are the members of the COM
mittee? Are they senators and represent
atives set apart for this work and Tree
| to devote themselves entirely to such
business? BY no means They have their
own constituencies to serve, and they
have besides their share of responsibility
for the general legislation, like all their
| fellow members. They are appointed:
| they do the best they can, and IL they
give sufficient time to our affairs to un-
derstand our problems they run the risk
lof losing their seats entirely by being
| thought at home to have neglected their
| own states or districts. am credibly
informed . at the risk has turned into a
l11- t~s,