The Washington herald., 1913-09-24
Figures Which Do Not Lie.

Representative Tavenner of Illinois
has introduced bill in Congress which
proposes to submit to the people OF
the District of Columbia the question
whether they desire the right to vote
Mr.. Tavenner evidently has no posi-
tive views of his own upon the sub
icct,. because he does not propose TO
enact suffrage for the District willy
niIly. as is the case with most OF
the advocates of the ballot. At the
same time the fact that he has intro
duccd his measure indicates that he
would not object to changing the form
OF government here if majority of
the voters should SO decide.
1t is worth while to analyze Mr..
Tavenner's bill so as to determine
what factors would be most active
under its provisions. He proposes
that all citizens of the United States
.weny-one years of age and over,
Without regard to sex who have been
actual residents OF the District of Co.
Iumbia for at least one year prior 10
the date of the referendum vote, shall
be qualified to vote in the said refer
endum:" and he specifically includes
Federal employees who may have voted
in any of the States. There is no
doubt as to the wisdom of this latter
provision. although, whether such in
clusion of voters elsewhere could be
maintained if an elective government
should be established here is doubt
full question. The privilege of voting
twice is not legally accorded anywhere
n the Union.
There are in the District of Colum-
5ia. according to the figures of the
census of 1910, exactly 247,4o3 males
and females over twenty-one years of
age The alien population is negligible,
oeing less than 5000. Included in the
aggregate, however, are 5,oS2 illiterate
males. against whom Mr. Tavenner's
Dill makes no discrimination. OF the
Nhite male population over twenty-one
wears of age Io3,76I are white and
2z.62I are colored; while in the same
category there are SI.662 white females
and 34,44o colored females. There be-
ing I85,423 white persons and 62o7o
colored persons of voting age, the pro-
portion of the latter is approximately
% per cent.
1t IS safe to say that of the 62ooo
,olored citizens OF both sexes entitled
o vote fully nine-tenths would avail
themselves OF the privilege. They are,
as a class. better educated than the
average OF their race. because for forty
years they have enjoyed equal ad
,aritage with the whites in the mat
.er of public school education. Be-
sides this. they eagerly welcome every
where the opportunity to vote, and this
District would prove no exception to
he rule On the other hand, il is not
At all likely that large percentage of
he $1,000 white women would so to
the poll> Female suffrage has never
made much headway in the South, and
there is a good deal of the Southern
sentiment here. 1t is also more than
probable that the proportion of white
males who would take the trouble TO
vote would be much less than among
the .colOred population.
1t IS by no means certain that Mr.
Tavenner's bill will became a law. If,
howcyeF, it is ever seriously consid-
cred it will be worth while for the
legislators who have our destinies in
their hands TO review the figures shown
BY the census. The question of dis
turbing existing conditions is one not
TO be lightly considered. Under them
the District has prospered nightly,
with great results achieved and with a
total freedom from the gratis and scan
1alS which have been unfortunately
rampant in other cities. There IS a
vast difference, too, between electing
delegate. to Congress who would be the
representatives and spokesman of the
District people and overturning a we'll
established clean, honest, and efficient
system of local government based upon
the principle of Federal partnership.
The maintenance of this system would
seem to be the part of wisdom, in view
of the unique conditions existing here
and the paramount necessity of making
Washington worthy of its high place
as the Capital of the United States.
Huerta Committed Not to Run.