The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-04-06
Champions of Tyranny.


had Territorial government, with governor and
delegate in Congress. The people of the Dis
trct then could make their voice heard on the
floor of the House, even if they had no vote.
The commission form of government was insti-
tuted in 1874. 1t has worked well, but some
Senators and Representatives who have been born
since that date, are inclined to the thought that
the fathers intended to permit the citizens
of the District to have any form of local gov
eminent except that which should be handed
down to them by Congress after each member
had consulted his constituents on the theoretical
proposition as to how the Capital of the nation
should be governed A distinguished lawyer
from Ohio, governor of Western State, and
numerous people out West who have the ref
erendum and recall, are telling Congress that the
only way to rule this beautiful city is to deny
the people who live here any voice in the man.
agement of their own affairs.
These expressions indicate the thoughtless
way in which many people adopt a parrot-like
method of joining what they think is the crowd
to shout for something they do not believe in
and petition Congress to ignore the rights
Of citizens in great municipality, which con-
tributes to the support Of the Federal gov
eminent than any one of twenty-one States. The
lack Of sincerity in these petitions lies in the
attitude of these same petitioners to the same
proposition when applied to themselves. The
majority of these petitions from sections
of the country where the people have repeatedly
revolted against legislative enactments which did
not express the will Of a majority Of the people
Ohio early rebelled against the laws handed
down to the Territory by the governor appointed
by the President, and when the people in that
State came to frame constitution, they refused
to give the governor the veto power. So deep
seated was that prejudice against laws handed
down from above that the governor of Ohio
was denied the veto power for more than hun
dred years. 1t took century to live down that
prejudice in the Buckeye State, and yet lawyer
from the capitol Of Ohio who knows that history
makes long argument against Congress permit
ting a referendum to the citizens of the District
in legislation which applies to no other section
Of the country
Kansas had many revolutions against mere
Legislative enactments, of the most pic
turesque being the uprising of the populists, be-
fore the State lived down its reputation for
bleeding and battling against mere Legislative
suspected their legislatures of Iegislating for the
corporations and against the people, and they
made merry hell in the State until they had
government which satisfied them by making laws
which they were willing to respect Nebraska
Colorado and other Western States had similar
experiences which are among the exciting and
romantic chapters in American history. But Con-
gress is receiving voluminous petitions from
those States from governors, legislatures and
from citizens, urging that the people of the Dis
trict of Columbia shall be denied the boon OF
liberty for which those Western people fought
for many years.
An early authority on jurisprudence said
that law represented the moral consensus OF
the people. The history of government in this
country has demonstrated the truth of that say
ing. Mere legislation is not enough to make
law. When the enactment is opposed to the con-
sensus of the majority of the community to
whom it applies it becomes farce The people
respect law which represents the majority opin-
ion because the majority make it respected
When the old revolutionists of Kansas, Colorado
and other Western States, petition Congress
to enact laws for the District of Columbia, with
out consulting the public opinion in the Dis
trict they forget that they are asking legisa-
ton which they would repudiatc if applied to
themselves. 1t would be just as we'll for Sena-
tors and Representatives who receive these pc
titons to deny referendum to the District, to
remember that they come from States where
the people would see that these Senators and
Representatives did not return to Congress, if
they should dare apply that principle of legis-
lation to their own constituents