Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-01-02
THE WASH|NGTON|AN
AMER|CAN|zAT|0N
CATECH|SM.
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.

BY THEODORE w. MOVES.
t9) Is not your application for con-
sideration of your political status un-
timely while war is raEinEs
No. War brings to the washington
Ian appreciation of the dignity and
value of full American citizenshfp ana
intensifies his desire and demonstrates
his fitness to enjoy 1T.
war brings to the Washingtonlan
vivid appreciation of his obligations TO
the nation as an American. He responds
to the national appeal with volunteered
and conscripted money and personal
service, with sacrifice of property and
labor and with blood sacrifice upon the
nations altar.
What men fight for and are ready to
die for they come to appreciate, to
value highly and to love.
The burdens and sacrifices cheerfuliy
endured by the Washingtonians in the
war time develop not only patriotic de-
votion in meeting the obligations OF
American citizenship. but full valua-
ton of the dignity. the honor and the
glory of TINT citizenship, and the
strong desire to enjoy Its rights, Its
privileges and its powers.
Thus the very act of meeting fully the
primary wartime obligation of ma
tional safety and national service first
arouses and thrills Washington with
passionate determination to nation
alize itself. to become an integral part
politically of the nation, to rid itself
of an Americanism that is stunted, de-
fective, tainted. and inspires it in a
spirit of patriotic enthusiasm to organ
1ze itself so thoroughly that its whole
weight and strength can be thrown as
unit in support of the constitutional
amendment which is to Americanize it
by giving 1t national representation.
War not only makes natural and Op.
perfume the Washlngtonian's thought
of national representation, but brings
to the nation vivid appreciation of its
shameful lack of political equity In
dealing with the capital community and
prompts 1t to AmericanIze Its capital
quickly as n wise measure OF war pre-
paredness.
War is upon u.s. World issues and
vital national questions absorb atten-
tion.
Is this a time to redress the capi-
tafs political grievances II
Yes, says Washington. To Ameri-
canize the political aliens of the Dis
tr1ct Of Columbia is to do justice and to
shame-achieveme which. like the
motion to adjourn. are always in order.
And not only in a general but in
special sense is this Americanizing proc
ess peculiarly opportune, in that 1t
reflects the very thought and spirit OF
the times and is an integral part of
the legislation which springs naturally
from the patriotic impulse toward true
preparedness.
The dominating thought today con-
Germs vitaIfzed Americanism; patriotic
quickeninE and intensifyinE every
where of the fine. strong spirit of
American nationality.
The present nOn-representatlve COM
tion Of paradoxfcal fnccnsfstency, In
equity, Observation-Disclosures, unpatri0fic
unpreparedness. 81.
1t invoIves injustice to the capital
ard shame to the nation.
The shock OF war eIectrtdeg the.
Americanism Of the nation az well -
the individual, of Americans collective.
ly as well as individually.
Will not the nation. now demanding
of the individual purer. higher,
stronger Americanism. respond on the
instant to it's own appeal and thor
ough1y Americanize itself?
Surely the Washingtonians who go
to war in response to their country's
down their lives to secure representa-
tive government for everybody else in
all the world except themselves.
America will as a matter of course
first Hberate and give representative
government to all her soas. Washing
tonians included. before sending them
forth to fight to bestow these vital
privileges upon the rest of mankind.
The purpose of the war is to SUBJ
stitute democracy for autocracy every
where Let us make a beginning by
substituting democracy for autocracy
in the national government of the ma
tion's city.
Shall we applaud representative gov
ernment in Russia. urge 1t upon the
people of Germany, go to war to es-
tablish it in all the world-and then
spit upon, mock and cruelty the prin-
ciple Of representative government in
the capital Of our great self-govern-
ing republic?
II the nation and capital are to be
the savIors of representative govern
ment abroad they Will surely not re-
main Its cruciHers Mt home.
and of spirit as well as of muscles and
sinews Obviously a nation would be
unprepared in spirit to enter war to
destroy slavery in another hemisphere
II it held portion OF its own people
in slavery at home. Clearly an army
composed in part of slaves is unpre-
pared in spirit to fight for freedom for
somebody else.
Is the United States prepared in spirit
to fight as the champion of world de-
mocracy against autocracy and of rep
resentatiye against despotic irresponsi-
BILE government, when it tolerates the
autocratic. noH-repreSentatiye govern
rnent of it's own capital under its own
exclusive control?
= Ss x
Un-Americanism at the American cap
ital is startlingly unexpected and in
congruous.
The exposure of a shameful national
disagreement is here most glarinely
conspicuous. 1t cannot be hid. 1t is
like a saber slash across the face or
brand burned deep on cheek or brow,
An evil condition maintained by the
nation at the nations capital is rightly
viewed as typical and chnracteristic
The shame is national, not local
Autocratic non-representatiye gov
ernment in the only American territory
governed exclusively by the nation
| brands the nation itself distinctly and
! indeiibly as un-American. AS is the
| nations city SO is the nation The cap
! ital is the nations heart. If the repub-
/ lie is tainted with n-Americanjsm at
it's heart, the whole of the body polite
| is thus tainted.
| Washingtons slave pen in time of
/ civil war thus branded the nation itself
with the shame of slavery, and to rid
1 itself of this reproach the nation freed
I