The Washington herald., 1913-09-11
THE OPEN FORUM
FINDS DEFECTS IN
DISTRICT DELEGATE BILL
Correspondent Suggests Changes to
Make II More Progressive

J 'iuihB loT lne eiectiOn OF delegate II
the House OF Representatives, and 70
. other purposes" 1t recognizes the prin
ciple that the residents of the Distric
have an equal right with American citi
zens elsewhere to participate In the ma
tional government, and TO have a Rep
resentative in Congress to protect theil
, local interests. 1t provides for the neces.
sary election machinery, and IL enacted
into law, II would no doubt help the Dis.
trict people ito get the habit of votinI
"a habit watch, for the past thirty mine
years, they have had no chance TO cul.
tivste. The bill is up 10 date in, pro.
vidins for equal suffrage for men and
women. Furthermore, it is claimed by
the advocates of the bill that IL we once
get a delegate in Congress he will work
for such form OF municipal self-govern-
ment as the people of the District may
desire; and no doubt he would do so,
provided he were elected and controlled
by the people of the District and not by
= political machine which would repre-
sent only the privileged interests OF the
District.
The secretary of the District Delegate
Association has announced that the as
| sOciation will gladly consider any OBJ
! jections to any Of the provisions Of the
Poindexter bill. with view to recon-
mending any changes that will make il
a better bill" In response to this lib
eral invitation. the writer asks space
III The Herald to point out some very
serious defects in the bill Whether these
defects can be cured by amendments
without drafting an entirely new bill,
is an open question.
In the first place, the bill limits the
suffrage TO residents who shall have
paid r tax of not less than IS upon
real or personal prperty in the District
of Columbia within one year next pre-
ceding the election" In its practical
operation this bill would exclude more
than half OF the, white adults from the
franchise. The white people who live
in rented houses, rooms or apartments.
and who own less than 81. .O0O worth OF
personal property. constitute probably
more than oue-half OF the white popula-
ton. They all pay taxes Indirectly in
the form of rent; for no one would accuse
the landlord Of so far forgetting his own
interests as to fail to add enough 10
the rent to cover taxes. Most of these
tenants. although they do not pay taxes
directly. to the tax collector. are well
qualified TO exercise the right Of suffrage.
and are as much interested in good gov
ernment as are the property owners
Why should they be disfranchised?
In the second place, this bill disfran-
Chises the wives of property owners eX-
ceDt the few who own property and pay
taxes in their own names. Taxes are
usually paid in the name of the husband.
The bill would permit the husband To
vote. but not the wife. In other words,
while the bill theoretically admits women
to the ballot box. it practically shuts out
nearly all women.
4 third and very serious defect in this |
bill is its failure to guard against that !
kind Of machine rule which has done so
much to nullify popular government in |
other cities. II sets up the old machinery
of party nominations, without the check |
of popular control by means OF the !
initiative, referendum and recall. In |
the election and control of a delegate and |
of District officials, would not this an !
tiquated party system work out the same |
results here as elsewhere? Would we
not very soon have at least two party |
machines in full running order in the |
District? And would not the machine |
bosses he very likely to stand in" with |
the predatory interests which would be |
only too glad to pay their campaign |
expenses? And would not thS bosses |
in turn dictate the nominations so as
to further the interests OF our local tax
dodgers. real estate boomers, and pri-
vate corporations at the expense of the
average citizen? That these dangers are
not imaginary. every student Of Ameri-
can municipal history will admit.
II We want TO make Washington "a
model city, ia good
why We should not have a nOnpartisan.
democratic. commission form Of city gov
srnment. similar TO the Des Moines plan,
which has proved SO wonderfully effective |
wherever adopted in the elimination OF |
graft. in the promotion of efficiency, and
n the stimulation of public spirit. or a |
,ity charter like that recently adopted in
he city of Cleveland: The essential fea-
ures in both the Des Mones and Cleve-
and systems are nonpaTtisan nominal
ions. direct responsibility to the people,
md popular control through the initia-
i've. referendum. and recall Ii
Why should the people of the District II
n their local affairs be forced to divide
N national party lines? If, for example,
he District happens to elect party
Democrat 10 Congress as delegate and
le finds Congress controlled by' Repub- |
lean majority, his hands are more or less I
led; whereas If the delegate comes to
congress without any party label. he wim
'e able to do good work for the District, :
10 matter what party is in power. Why
Ot. then. amend the delegate bill so as
o provide that any group of. say. ZOO
itizens, may by petition nominate a dele
ate for Congress, adopt the preferential |
ystem of voting, AMI provide that party |
ibels shall not appear Oh the District
allots. also applying the same system 10
he election of city officials? II
II We had a system of nonpartisan
it would be absolutely inn
ossible for the negroes or any other
lement to control the District by hold q
lg the balance of power between two ,
arties. Wherever the initiative. refereh-
um, and recall have been adopted there
not the slightest need of a property or
EDUCATIONAL qualification for the suffrage. T
Thy? Because there is no longer any I
raft in politics. The bosses have no 4
niger any power to sell franchises TO k
or make dishonest contracts II
ith crooked big business They can no {
niger deliver the goods, and they have Q
lerefOre no incentive to carry elections n
y hrihiug ignorant and corruptible v
1ters. Under the Des Moines plan, the
norant and venal element do not vote. v
hey automatically disfranchise them d
ives. If you doubt this statement you O
ave only 10 read Hamilton's remarkable il
tile book on THE Dethronement of the c
ty Boss and especially what he says s.
)out Sioux City, Iowa, where there is ID
rye foreign population and where the VI
es Moines plan has been u great sue b
ss =,
II is understood that at the next session Il
Congress, the Chairman OF the House o.