Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-16
PLANS HARD DRIVE
FOR D. c. SUFFRAGE
Federation of Citizens AS
sociations to Coordinate
All Propaganda.
ADOPTS Give" PROGRAM

ADOPTS Give" PROGRAM
Plans for coordination OF all exist
ing media of propaganda for suffrage
for residents of the District of Column
bta and for cooperation of the Fed
GRAFTON of Citizens Associations in
the efforts OF all other organizations
of the District toward that end were
outlined at last nights meeting OF the
federation in the board room of the 4
District building.
The program outlined by tho CO.,
mittee on suffrage for the District. ,.
r. Crawford. chairman: Charles :.
Shreve and Washington Topham. in
cluded designation of a finanH COM
mittee to raise funds with which 10
carry on an active and nationwide
campaign of publicity; a committee
on cooperation. to work with other
organizations active along simriar
| lines; a press committee. to keep tha
I matter of ATnericanization Of and sur.
frage for District residents properly
| before the people of the entire coup-
| try by means of press bureaus, maya
zine articles. etc: a speakers bureau
| TO obtain speakers equal TO the task
of placing the problems Of District
| residents adequately before the va
rious state societies, civic and other
| organizations and bodies in the Dis
trict as well as before conventions
meeting here, and a committee on
facts and figures, the duties of which
| would be to gather. digest, assemble
| and make available for reference ana
distribution striking facts concerning
participation of District residents in
| the affairs of the country
Surpassed Seven States.
| In this connection. it was pointed
| out by Mr.. Crawford. chairman of the
committee, presenting the outline of
| plans, that the District in supplying
more than $4,000 men to the military
! and naval services of the nation dur
/ ing the world war exceeded the num-
| Der of men furnished to these serN-
ices by any one of seven states.
| 1t was further pointed out that Dis
| trict residents pay a greater aggre-
gate of taxes than is paid by the
! residents of half a dozen states, and
that residents of the District bought
| more liberty bonds of the four issues
| than were bought by the residents OF
| several of the states.
Debating the committees report and
| outline of plans for waging the cam.
paign for suffrage for District resi-
| dents, several of the delegates voiced
the opinion that when the people OF
| the District demonstrated the fact
1 that they really want the vote Con-
gress will no longer be able to with
| hold it. President Westlake declared
tersely that the purpose OF the fed
| GRAFTON now is to translate words into
/ deeds and action.
| The time has passed, he said, whon
| the question of suffrage for the Dis
trict, of representation in the House
! and Senate. of an equal standing IN
! the federal courts with citizens OF
the states, of the right of local self
government and of election of officials
of the city government. and OF all
questions pertaining to the exercise
of all of the rights of full Americans,
could be passed over with mere rhe-
toricaI displays and eloquent speeches.
Time Ripe for Action.
! with the unanimous adoption Of the
committees report and recommended
ton. President Westlake said. Dis
/ trict residents for the first time have
sincerity of their demands, renewed
| from time to time over a period OF
nearly forty years.
Appointment OF the various COM
mittees and definite organization OF a
plan of campaign are to be undertake
en- at once.
| william NICK. Clayton Of the COM
mittee, named at the federation's last
injecting to invite Senator sherman
! of Illinois to address the delegates
at last nights meeting, reported that
| the Illinois senator declined the in
vitation. Mr.. Clayton read the com
mittee's letter to Senator Sherman.
to which the senator replied as fol-
lows:
| Il have your letter inviting me to
be present on February Is at your
meeting. / thank you for the invita-
| ton, but it is the writer's belief that
| a discussion at the time and place
named would serve no useful purpose.
The courtesy ought TO be reciprocal:
think. If ] accept the invitation OF
your association to address ii ought
! to be in a condition to invite the rep =
| reese natives of your association to
address the Senate. The latter is inn
| possible under the rules. 1t not being
possible to make the exchange OF
courtesies equal. / therefore decline.
After extended and somewhat heated
debate on the declination and proper
methods of procedure. during which
the suggestion was made to memorial
ize the Senate in the name of the
federation, it was decided to lay Sen
ator Sherman's letter on the table and
to take no further action toward at
tempting to call him to account for
utterances in his recent criticism be-
fore the Senate of certain classes of I.
residents of the District. Mr.. Clay
tons committee, however. was in
structed to extend an invitation to
some other senator to address the
federation at its next meeting.
Heartily Greet New Delegates.
Appearance of two delegates from .
the Columbia Heights Citizens Asso-
citation and announcement that after
twenty years of refusal to affiliate
that organization had decided to join
the federation ELECTED a burst OF ap-
plause The two delegates were Fred
erick ]. Rice, president, and J. Clinton
Hiatt Delegate Rice was named a
member of the committee on law and
legislation and Mr. Hiatt was made
member of the committee on educa- +
ton.
Resolutions from the North Wash 8
ington Citizens Association protest
ing against the turning back into the :
federal Treasury of unexpended funds
raised by taxation in the District. and
demanding that such unexpended por-
tions of District revenues be used for
street improvements, were Endorsed.
A resolut ton from the Conduit Road
Citizens Association urging Congress
to enact a law forbidding the holding :
in Washington of bolshevik meetings.
and empowering the District author
tiles to prevent any repetition of any
such ''monstrous demonstrations" as
the recent meeting in local fheater