Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-21
WASH|NGTON'S
/. POPULATION IS
SEEKING VOTE
Nonconformists of Capital Are
Growing Tired Of Being Con-
troIIed by Congress.
BY SIDNEY ESPEY.

WASHINGTON. Sept. 20-Once
more an effort is being made by the
District of Columbians to stand from
under the disadvantages which accrue
to the system Of government which
rules them-the system which has
won for the Capital of the United
States the fascinating sobriquet Of
'Washington-the kept city"
The plaything of the nation, Wash
ington lives up to that sobriquet A
city of flashing joyousness, always
dressed as though for a festival IN
the choicest garb the world has to
offer, exploited for its singular at
tractiveness and made the subject of
the adulation of people from afar off.
the city for all this exterior aspect of
levity yet knows the secret heart Of
the nation and is the familiar of the
inner soul of the center of the ma
tional life.
For this splendid municipality,
which delights to swish and rustic
its skirts in the faces of the more
wOrkaday cities of the nation, lives
like the lilies of the field. Not on
the sweat of it's brow does it earn IFS
bread, but by the kindly favor of
Congress, of the United tates as a
whole.
It lives, moves and has its being
almost solely at the nod and beck #
that Congress, for Congress shall
have power to exercise exclusive leg
islation in all cases whatsoever over
such District" says that subllmated
oracle, Sthe Constitution of the United
States. The District of Columbia and
Washington have been bought anl
paid for,
Seek Changed Order.
Now, there are certain non-con
formists in Washington, certain Purl-
tanical persons who long have agl-
tated a changed order. They desire
ardently that Washington be fire I'd
from her slavery" For, you see, IN
exchange for the purple and fine lin
en-, the SPARKLING Jewels ard the rich
gold which Congress lavishes up m
its cherished one, the city has given
up its civic honor, as some say,
To divorce metaphor, why then. b9-
cause Congress appropriates money
for half of the upkeep and general
improvement and garniture of the
National Capital, the citizens have
given UP their right to vote, or rather
have had 1t taken away from them.
The District of Columbians are a dis
franchised people, and 1t is Congress
which presides. Delphic, over the des-
TIMES of the Capital.
1t is an exotic existence for a city,
care-free of the trials and embar-
easements that veX a city which
must nay its own way.
But to return to these stern-visa ged
Puritans who frOwn upon such prac-
tiCes. Lord MaCaulay was pleased 20
say in his time Of the Puritans that
while assuming themselves the mien
of rulers OF the earth, equals of every
man, they blithely set their feet upon
the neck of a king. Wherefore, il Is
TO be gathered that these Washington
Puritans are of much the same strine.
Want Franchise Right.
Declining to abet those who favor
the continued attitude of cringing
which Washington must necessarily
affect in its relations to Congress,
these strait-laced ones are arguing
nightly for the restoration of their
franchise in order that they may have
a voice not only in the ordering Df
their own affairs. but also in the
larger ones of the nation.
It is perhaps les majestic to so
address Congress. Congress, being
Democratic does not openly take that
attitude. Some members OF the great
council, however, pointing TO the vast
expenditure OF money made on Wash
ington's behalf cry out ingratitude.