Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-10
Privilege of Advising as to Sc
lection of District Commit
tees May Be Sought.
FRIENDLY COOPERATION
is SOLE OBJECT IN VIEW
No Intention Of Proponents to An.
tagonize ANY Member Of House
or Senate.

The establishment of a representative
committee Of citizens of the District
to advise with the steering committee
of the Senate and House ways and
means committee the appointment
of new members of the Senate and
House District committees is being
seriously considered by members OF
various civic and trade organizations
of Washington. ii was said yesterday
by officials of these organizations.
P. T. Moran. president of the Cham
Der Of Commerce. said last night that
resolution would be offered at the
meeting of the chamber scheduled for
Tuesday night providing for the Gre
alton of such committee. He said
that he favored such a plan.
Purpose to Be Served.
"A committee of residents of the Dis
trict.'' said Mr.. Moran. could look into
the records and qualifications Of MEM
bers of Congress. with particular ref
erence to their abilities to act in civic
and municipal matters. and then give
its advice to the steering committees Of
the Senate and House. / think this
could be done very properly and with
out any offense whatever to members
of Congress. 1t is only fair to the citi-
zens of the District that members of
Congress be selected for the District
committees who are interested in Dis
trict matters and willing to give them
some attention and work. Too often
in the past men have been assigned to
these committees who have had no in
terest whatever in District affairs and
who fail to give them any attention
whatever"
Such a committee to represent the cit
liens of the District would be purely
advisory. it was made clear. and would
not make II a business of working
against any member of the Senate or
House.
Approved by Mr.. Ufford.
Walter Ufford. president Of the Mon.
day Evening Club. said that the plan
for a committee of citizens to advise
the Senate and House steering commit
tees in regard to the selection of new
members Of the District committees
had been informally discussed at
meeting of the executive committee OF
the Monday Evening Club. He said
that he would be glad to discuss the
matter with the heads of other civic
and trade organizations.
Mr.. Ufford said he thought it possible
that out of the plan for such an adj
visory committee might grow repre-
sentative committee which could go be.
fore congressional committees and
urge legislation needed by the District.
In this way, he said, 1t would be possi-
BILE to present a united front in regard
to desired legislation. He pointed out
that nthe past representatives OF va
that in the past representatives OF va
fore congressional committees demand
ing Numerically opposite action. This.
he said, had led to criticism by mem
bers of Congress and frequently to IN
action by Congress.
Says Citizens Should Be Heard.
81 have long thought that the resi-
dents of the District should be given
an opportunity to voice their desires
and to give their advice in the matter
of selecting members of the District
committees of Congress-" said Edwin {.
Brandenburg. president of the Board
of Trade 81 intend to take the matter
up at the next meeting of the executive
committee or the board of directors OF
the Board Of Trade"
Mr.. Brandenburg said he thought IT
would be entirely proper for the citi-
zens of the District to endeavor.
through advice to the steering COM
mittees of the Senate and House. to
have men who were at least neutral
to the District appointed to the Dis
trict committees He made ii clear that
he did not think such committee OF
citizens should make any effort to have
members of the Senate and House com.
mittees now serving or who have
served in the past eliminated from the
committees. no natter whether these
men had been antagonistic to the inter-
ests of the people of the District or
not.
Willing to Cooperate.
The idea is a good one," said r. p.
Andrews, president of the Retail Mer-
chants Association. land ! shall take
up the matter for consideration at the
next meeting of the Retail Merchants
Association. II feel that the associa-
ton should be Very. willing to cooper
ate with other organizations to bring
about the selection of representative
committee of citizens. whose duty II
should be to advise with the steering
committees of Senate and House on the
matter of selecting members of the
District committees. 1t could be made
very plain to members of Congress
that such a committee would advise
only in the friendliest spirit.
Edward F. Colladay, president of the
Federation of Citizens Associations,
said that as an abstract idea the plan
appealed to him strongly. and that he
would be glad of an opportunity to dis
cuss it with representatives of other
civic organizations. If Congress could
be made to realize that the proposed
advisory committee was really repre-
sentative of the people of the District.
he said, he thought Congress would be
bound to give the advice of the COM
mittee consideration.