Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-15
Washington Needs a CONNER
ciaI, and Separately a
Broadly Representative Civic
Organization; Also Sectional
Associations.
ALL TO COOPERATE AS ONE
Editorial Oorrespondenes Of The Star.
BY THEODORE W. MOVES.

JealousieS ana pre1udtces ana stand
shoulder to shoulder in the battle for
Washington. We who fight for Wash
ington. old men and young alike. have
had as our watchword all our lives.
aWashinKtonians must stand together
as ono man In harmonious and ener-
Eetic cooperation"
As president Of the Board Of Trade in
1898 in my annual report 1 called at
tention to tho fine record OF legisla-
tive achievement in that year and
added: This record teaches the lesson
OF the value of harmonious effort. of
sinking petty personal and sectional
differences and standing shoulder to
shoulder in defense and promotion of
the general welfare. The Board
ship every section of the District and
every local interest. and dealing on
broad. liberal lines with those subjects
which are of general concern. is a
needed unifying force in the life and
progress of the municipality. Citizens
sections Of the District for the ad-
vancement Of sectional interests and
the securing of sectional improvements
come together in the Board Of Trade.
Of their particular section. or their
own individual fortunes. but to CO.
operate with other citizens in the ad-
vancement of those measures which
board. fulfilling this function and con-
sfstently acting on this line OF policy.
conceding to the citizens associations
In the various sections the handling of
matters peculiarly sectional and local,
and binding together the public spirit
ed from all the associations and from
the citizens generally for the promo
ton of the public welfare. will con-
tinue to be power for good in the
community. In municipal as in ma
tfonal development we are to know no
north no south, no east. no west. All
Washington is to work for wise high
way extension. though the subject is Of
greatest immediate concern to the su-
crossings. though east and south
Washington are the special sufferers
from this evil; for an increase in the
water supply. though this lack is most
painfully felt in the high sections of
the community; for comprehensive
sewage disposal though the low-lying
business section will benefit most
thereby: for the reclamation of marshy
flats, whether in the Anacostia on the
east or the Potomac on the south and
the west; for abating the nuisance of
open sewers, whether they deface the
northwest in the shape of Rock creek
or the southeast in James Creek canal.
The legislative achievements Of 1898
complished when the forces which
work for Washington pull as one man
in the same direction. and furnish in
sp1ration for persistence in the policy
OF harmonious and energetic co-Opera-
tfon."
The vital necessity of unselfish har-
monious cooperation in the capitals
interest has been SO deeply impressed
upon Washingtonians that any de-
mand upon them which even super
hcially appeals to this principle
secures Immediately their Interested
and sympathetieally responsive atten-
ton.
Merger Death and Resurrection.
Based on the general principle of the
benefit of unity Of effort it is now pro
posed that certain existing citizens or
ganiZations of Washington shall in
effect disband. that they shall commit
suicide SO far as their separate entities
are concerned and be resurrected in a
new all-Washfngton organization
which shall speak with authority for
the whole city, and which shall do
away with all pulling and hauling in
different directions by individuals or
sections, all wrangling before Con-
gress, and all waste from duplication
Of labor and expenditure.
The proposition assumes (D that
are not now in any
degree scientifically and efficiently or
ganized, that the different organiza-
tons are mere Implications of one an
other without reason for separate
existence, Cd that they quarrel and
instead Of cooperating jealousy de-
feat one another's efforts to promote
the city's welfare. and (3p that not CO
operation. but absolute merger and
consolidation Oh existing organizations
will alone cure these alleged evils.
This Indictment Is unsound on all
three counts.
% The Washington citizens orpani-
cations have evolved in their present
shape from the thoughtful experiment
tations and painful lessons of expert
ences OF thirty years. Every existing or
has sound reason for lfv-
Ing and performs, well or poorly.
useful function in the c.ty's develop
ment. Duplication of effort can be
cured by cooperation between oreani-
cations better than by the destruction
Of any Of these organizations
(2) The existing organizations do not
so fight among themselves as to re-
tard local development The competi-
ton among them is as to which shall
10 the most. and which shall have the
credit of suggesting first some well de-
vised project for the city's develop
ment. Whenever vital local issue has
presented itself they have co-operated,
as in constituting the committee on
fiscal relations between nation and
capital. and in establishing a Joint
for securing national con-
of all sorts in Washington
And when we come to make our great
drive for a constitutional amendment
FOR District representation in Congress
and electoral college. the same hearty
and efficient cooperation is assured.
(3) This unity which Washington's
welfare demands is one of co-opera-
lion. not necessarily one of consolida-
Ion or merger of effort. There must
be no wrangling. no selfish or sectional
pulling in different directions by those
who fight for Washington. but 1t is
not necessary that all shall promote
he city's welfare in precisely the
same way. or that all the organized
champions Of Washington shall be run
9 precisely the same mold.
Indeed, experience has shown that the
of commercial Washing !
on, for instance, is best promoted by
IN organization dominated by the mer- |
,hants and manufacturers of Washing
ton: that non-commercial Washington, |
which develops from wise and consid- |
rate legislation. especially concerning
public Improvements, is best promoted
~ non-commercial organizations like
he Board of Trade; that purely sec
ional improvements are promoted with |
he greatest enthusiasm and efficiency i
~ those who are most directly and per-
onally interested in them; that broad, |
General projects, affecting everybody in |