Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-12
VIEWS OF FRANCHISE
Extension of Privilege to Dis
trict Under Discussion.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLAN
Representative Kahn of California
Opposes Restoration of Ballot.
FAv0Rs EXISTING CONDITIONS
Thomas C. Noyes Declares for Rep
resentation in Congress and
Home Rule.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLAN
FAVORS EXISTING CONDITIONS


fornia. member of the committee on
! the District of Columbia of the House
of Representatives. and Thomas c.
/ Noyes director of the Chamber of
/ Commerce., delivered addresses before a
! meeting held in the Chamber Of Com
MERGE rooms last night, under the aus
pices of the chambers committee on law
and legislation. Each gentleman recited
his views on the so-called Reynolds re-
port, which recommends a change in
the form of government in the District
| of Columbia.
Mr.. Kahn was opposed to franchise in
! the District, saying his experience shows
him that most Washingtonians interest
ed In franchise want TO limit 1t to GER
tain classes of citizens. a condition which.
Mr.. Kahn stated. would never be allowed
to prevail in the National Capital. On
the other hand. Mr.. Noyes. while agree
| ing substantially with Mr.. Kahn's views
on retaining a commission form of gov
eminent, declared himself unlaterably in
| favor of representation in Congress. and
| franchise to the extent of voting for
| President of the United States and the
| men who should represent the District
in the legislature.
Mr.. Kahn's Address.
Mr.. Kahn prefaced his specific re-
| marks on District affairs by outlining
the history of the various movements and
experiments in municipal government,
and made the statement that municipal
legislation Is worthy of the deepest study,
as 1t is a question of the gravest i'm
porance.
IF our system has weakness it is
| to be found in the municipal govern
| ments,' he said. leading up to the state
ment that nearly every prominent city
by political grafters. And he said.
lit is found in the cities that some vote
| for republicans, some for democrats and
| some vote for two dollars.
than is your city of Washington" he
said, no cleaner city and no city with
less talk of graft. Therefore l cannot
see what you would gain by change to
| single-headed form of government. If
there should be any change / should say
give the Commissioners full authority
over the departments which they control.
Possibly another change 1 would make
would be to eliminate the Engineer Com
missioner as such, and give him charge
of the engineering and Improvement prof.
| ects. but / would not bother him with
questions of business administration. In
his place could be a third Commissioner,
however. to help the others.
Mr.. Kahn believes in selecting for Com
missioners the best men for the position
wherever they be found, from the At
lantic to the Pacific. In expressing this
view he said he supposed 1t was not popu-
lar in Washington. There was a ripple Of
laughter through the audience, and sew
eral members of the chamber told him
he was correct-that view was not popu-
lar. Mr.. Kahn's reasons for believing in
selecting a Commissioner from the United
States at large were based principally on
the assumption that q local man has local
likes and dislikes that would follow him
from private life to the District building.
This view was discussed later by Mr..
Noyes. who declared himself in favor OF
selecting the Commissioners from among
the men of the District.
Opposes Glass Distinction.
Mr.. Kahn did not dwell long on his
dislike OF franchise in the District. merely
declaring that there should be no class
distinction in case the right of casting
ballots should ever be returned to the
citizens here. He made q suggestion
that the board of education should be
| limited to three or not more than i've
salaries and required to give all their
time to the schools. He said the ex-
perience of the cities showed that such
a form OF school administration is the
best All hearings before the Commits
sioners. he said, should be public and
! notice should be given in advance, so
that any one could be on hand to ex-
press his views. and in this connection
he said that the legislative committees on
the District sought the views of the citi-
zens to the fullest possible extent.
Mr.. Noyes Opposes Reynolds. Plan.
| Mr.. Noyes said he was radically OPP
posed to the Reynolds plan of one-man
government for the District. and outlined
the splendid growth of the National Capt.
tai under a commission form.
While Washington is the National Capt.
tai and the federal city and in a class by
itself as such.' said he, lit Is still our
! local city, and we want to recognize the
national attitude of the city as we'll as
the local conditions. Therefore l want to
dent so close to federal affairs that he
| cannot feel the pulse of local sentiment.
| With three men We have three centers of
local feeling. With one man We would
I have but one center for local feeling-and
one man becomes an autocrat."
On the question of divided responsibility
I'm a three-man government. Mr. Noyes
took issue with the Reynolds proposals,
! picion OF divided authority than have 4
| single man at the head Of the city's af-
fairs who failed TO fell the full extent of
public sentiment
An absolute despotism, with one man
controlling the destinies of the state, gets
| things done quickly-but II Is un-Ameri-
can"
Regarded as Dangerous Step.
| Further on Mr.. Noyes said:
!! The proposition to give US a governor
| is the farthest and most dangerous step
4 yet taken to make Washington a mere
bureau OF the national government. We
/ must retain our local individuality, and
| the plan that includes the citizens COM
mittee of 100 is simply sop 10 the Dis
! trict OF Columbia. The committee would
have no power, no authority. IL would
have simply the permission to meet, to
falkland go home.
! Mr.. Noyes stood firmly for Washington
men for the places on the board Of Com
! I