Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-29


ment have been enjoyed.
The limited privilege of voting for some
or all the branches of municipal gov
eminent, ope: ating by sufferance of Con-
was not viewed as constituting in the
smallest degree the American political
birthright.
AS we have seen the un-American dis
reimbursement of the people OF the CAPT
tai, meaning thereby their exclusion from
national representation. was complained
Of as a grievance from 1850. and from the
time of the occupation OF the city by the
proposed thai the Constitution should be
amended to permit the District to have
one senator and one representative.
Washington was in existence only
few months when it's residents began to
bcmoan their prospective disfranchise-
ment, their exclusion from participation
i'll national elections. In pamphlet con-
corning the government of the territory
Of Columbia. published in 1901 by a. b:
Woodward. it is said: This body of
people is as much entitled to the enjoy
ment of the rights of citizenship as any
other part OF the people of the United
States. There can exist no necessity for
their disfrancisement, no necessity for
their countrymen to be protected from
tyranny: to mere spontaneous attention
for the regulation of their interests. They
are entitled to participation in the gen
and reciprocity And constitutional
amendment was urged giving the District
one senator as we'll as representation in
the House. From the beginning of the
century. too. members of Congress who
have viewed the condition of the capital
with other emotions than that of indif-
ference have either felt their hearts
bleed over the enslaved condition of the
chised as selling their republican birth
right for mess of pottage.
In debate in the House, December,
1900. Representative Smile said: Not
man in the District would be represented
in the government. whereas every man
who contributed to the support Of gov
eminent ought to be represented in It;
otherwise his natural rights were SUBJ
verted and he was left not a citizen but
a slave. It was a right which this coun-
try. when under subsection to Great Brit
ain. thought worth making a resolute
struggle for. and evinced determination
to perish rather than not enjoy" In 1903
the 'unrepublican' condition of the Dis
it was proposed to recede to Maryland
and Virginia Jurisdiction over the parts
OF the District originally coded by them.
John R RAJ, 2; II; in February Of that
indeed. to see the people within this Dis
trict restored to their rights. This spe-
cies Of government is an experiment how
far freeman can be reconciled to live
to the liberties Of these states. But in
asmuch as 1t had been already made, in
asmuch as was not accessory to 1t, and
as at some future time its deleterious ef-
vote against the resolution" A PROPOSE
don to recede the territory of Columbia
outside Of the limits Of Washington
caused Representative Clark to say, in
1905. that he spoke Of the Inhabitants
whenever he had occasion to allude to
them with pity and compassion. and he
most devoutiy wished to see them placed
IN condition more congenial to his own
feelings, and the feelings of every true
lover Of civil and political freedom. Alex
andria was retroceded in 1916, her gall
ing disfranchisement" being referred to
IN debate. Georgetown had sought retro
cession In 1888. but unsucessfuliy.
Durins all these years Washington as
been voting In their respective municipal
governments.
Views Of the Presidents.
The first President to discuss formally
the political status Of the District was
Monroe, who in his message Of 1918
said: by the Constitution tho power
OF legislation is exclusively vested In
the Congress Of the United States, In
the exercise Of this power In which the
people have NO participation Congress
legislatee in all cases directly on the
local concerns Of the District. Az this
Is a departure for q special purpose
from the general principles Of our sys-
tenn 1t may merit consideration whether
an arrangement better adapted to the
principles OF our g0vefnment and to
the particular interests Of the people
may not be devised which will nelthe
infringe the Constitution nor affect the
object which the provision in question
was intended to secure" In 1913
Washington. Georgetown ana Alex
andria were enjoying by grace of Con-
gress municipal self government"
Washington. for instance, elected city
councils. who elected a mayor Nom
by the people In the con-
gressional power of exclusive leeisJa-
ton WAS the departure from the gem
eral principles" Of the American svs-
TEN, of which Monroe suggested a cor
rection.
Andrew Jackson was the first Presi-
dent to urge specifically the election by
Congress-. He made this recommendation
in 1880 and repeated and enlarged it in
1881 and 1895. In 1881 he said:
1T was doubtless wise in the trainers
OF our Constitution to place the people
of this District under the Jurisdiction Of
the general government. But to accom-
plish the objects they had in view 1t Is
not necessary that this people should be
deprived Of all the privileges of self-gov-
eminent independently of the difficulty
of inducing the representatives OF distant
states to turn their attention to projects
of laws which are not of the highest in
terest to their constituents, they are not
individually nor in Congress collectively
well qualified to legislate over the local
concerns Of this District Consequently
it4 intefeatS are much neglected aud he
people are almost afraid to present their
grievances lest a body In which they are
not represented. and which feels little
sympathy in their local relations, should
In its attempt to make laws for them do
more harm than good. Is 1t not
Congress IL not a local legislature to
make laws for the District subject to
the approval or rejection of Congress?
l earnestly recommend the extension to
them Of every political right which their
interests require and which may be conf
patible with the Constitution"
President William Henry Harrison in
1s41 discussed the political status Of the
District sympathetically and earnestly,
saying:
Of our states who have dreamed of
their subjects in the District of Column
bia? Such dreams can never be real
lied by any agency Of mine. The peo
pie OF the District of Columbia are, not
the subjects of the people of the United
States. but free American citizens. Be-
Ing in the latter condition when the
Constitution was formed. no words used
in that instrument could have been in
tended to deprive them Of that charac-
ter. II there is anything in the great
principle Of unalienable rights SO en-
phatically insisted upon in our Declare
ton of Independence they could neither
make, nor the United States accept. a