The Washington herald., 1911-05-13
The Primary Proposition.

If few years ago some one had in
troduced a measure in Congress which
proposed to give the people of the Dis
trict even the most diluted and harmless
form OF suffrage, there would either
have been a dignihed silence in the local
press or else a chorus of protest.
Times have changed
Senator Bristow's proposition to allow
the District citizens an opportunity TO
express their Presidential preference
through lcgalized primaries to elect
delegates to the national conventions has
not been ignored At least three Of
the Washington newspapers have ex-
pressed their views editorially The
Evening Star not only finds that the
proposed law would make these local
elections more orderly and dignihed
than at present and give them greater
representative force" but it goes fur
ther 1t suggests that the initiative
referendum, and recall might be estab-
lished here in a manner which will
recos lizc some American attributes in
the Americans at Washington and
which will promise benefit rather than
injury to the local community
We like the word Americans" 1t
has a wholesome sound.
The suggestion that the recall should
be exercised against the Commissioners
because they are not now responsible
in any way to the local community" is,
however, open TO serious question. We
shall not attempt to argue the matter
here. 1t is sufficient to know that it
is seriously proposed that the citizens
OF the District shall have an opportunity
to speak for themselves in their own
affairs.
The Evening Times regards Senator
Bristow's plan with favor. but insists
that it really does not mean anything
that it is not even the first step toward
local self-government, and has nothing
whatever to do with the administration
of the affairs of the municipality This
is undoubtedly true. 1t is the very
ground upon which The Washington
Herald based its belief that the scheme
would meet with favor. 1t does not
give the citizens here the right to vote
for President and Vice President 1t
merely allows them to express their
preference as to the persons who should
fill these high Offices
ever thought would fall from the legis-
lative table
The reason why the newspapers and
the people here are giving thought to
these questions can easily be found.
Within the past few years a great psy-
Geological wave has swept over this
country. In every State the people
have been coming into their own. They
have reformed municipalities they
have secured the enactment of legisla-
ton which gives them the power of
initiative and referendum and recall;
they are electing Federal, State. and
local officers by direct vote. The power
of the people has been preached at every
crossroads
Upon a pinnacle of serene abstraction
the citizens of the District of Colurn-
bia have noted the travail and labor
which has accompanied the birth of this
new democracy They can have only
the most perfunctory interest in the
great problems which the people every
where are endeavoring to solve. It
made no difference in the District of
Columbia whether a man believed in
any of the new principles or whether he
remained steadfast to the old The day
upon which he would be required to
render judgment never dawned.
But the surgings of the American
people toward popular government stir
the air. Even the placid and reposeful
District of Columbia feels the thrill.
There is no proposition to change the
satisfactory form Of the District gov
ernment; there is no desire to reiin-
quish national control; but none the less