Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-23
Washington Makes Friends With
Congress.
BIZ FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.
(SpeciaI Correspondence of The Argus) +

1
ity is springing up between Capitol hill and the
rest OF Capital city Congressman and sena-
| tors are being invited frequently to address
citizens associations on all sorts Of subjects,
from the price of milk in the district to the
League of Nations. And those who accept are
being rewarded with a lot Of applause, smiles,
handshakes, and other evidences Of friendly
appreciation. During the past summer more
congressman and senators than ever before
have been observed sitting on front porches,
other than their own. engaged in neighboriy
confab with local inhabitants washington has
no cftizensl. Some congressman are begin
ming to believe that Washington is not AFTER
all inhabited exclusively by prohteers rent
sharks and cave dwellers." but contains a
certain percentage of real human people.
This new entente cordiale between the men
who make the laws for Washington and the
voteIess inhabitants who have to obey them, is
not a spontaneous and unaccountable thing.
It is the result of a deliberate propaganda set
on foot by the Federation of Citizens Associa-
tons of the District of Columbia under the
leadership Of its president W. B. Westlake
This propaganda is conducted on the plausible
theory that you can catch more congressman
with honey than you can with vinegar AFTER
the congressman is caught, or at least captl-
waited. the object of the federation is to induce
him to vote for an amendment to the cOnsti-
tuition OF the United States, permitting the in
hebitants OF the capital to elect member to
congress, TO vote TOT the pTCs4uChIIoA SiSOIOi .
and to sue and be sued in the federal courts
For Washington, today, as Mr.. Westiake
will tell you with JUNCTION, is the only city IN
the civilized world the inhabitants or which
have no voice in the making OF the laws whlch
govern them. It is the only place in America
where still exists that ancient wrong OF taxa
ton without represen tatton.
If the citizens of Washington want new
school building more policemen or a new
park they can wheedle congress to give them
these things but that is all They have not
even a representative of their own in congress
to introduce a bill providing the money for
building a school. One school house in the city
of Washington. for instance. has been over
crowded for many years. Boys who went + .
school when the agitation for a larger building
began are now young men starting out in bust
ness. The school has since then overhowed
into a church a residence and several smaller
buildings, but money has yet been appro
prfated for the new building. And every school
in the northwest section is in somewhat the
same fix
But the Washington people. led by their
Joint committee of 80 leading citizens, do not
care so much about airing their domestic dif-
fcuties What they want to emphasize is the
fact that it is wrong for the capital of greV
nation not to be represented in its congress.
They appeal to all the citizens of the United
States to pull them out Of this hole for it is
only the citizens, through their congressman
and senators, who can do it.
It is not meant to imply that the relation
between the legislators and the local people
have heretofore been notably unfriendly, but
they have undeniably been distant and in spots
somewhat vinegary. Washington has been in
the past socially. disappointing to a good many
congressman. The term cave dwellers' which
has been so often applied to the local social
set suggests about how cordial II mas Deen 10
the recently arrived And this lack of cordial
ity has been felt the more because a good many
congressman come to Washington with the
idea that they are about to embark on an i'm
pressive social career. Perhaps this idea is
entertained by the congressional wives and
daughters more than by the congressman them
selves. but the net effect is the same. If Mrs.
thinks the Washington people arc
a lot OF crabs, MIR. Congressman usually comes
to agree with her. The average congressional
family which arrives here equipped with new
gowns and large expectations finds nothing to
greet it but number OF other congressional
families, similarly equipped Hence a con
gressiOnal circle has grown UP which reVOlves
in its own orbit and does not touch that OF
the cave dweller set any more than the moon
touches the earth.
The usefulness of a little contact between
these two separate organisms is becoming in
creasingly apparent to the local people. II
the newly arrived congressman is socially
that individual is politically very much at the
mercy of the congressman. Both parties have
axes to grind but the cave dweller's axe ID
a good deal larger and IN more urgent need OF
grinding than that of the congressman.
1t Is true that there are a certain number
OF people in Washington with social aspira-
lions which take the form Of a fervtd desire to
government officials But a large
percentage Of these are not really inhabitants
of the city They are Of the sort who own
houses here and merely come for the season D"
good many make this place their legal resi-
dence for the sordid reason that Washington
has a very low tax rate on intangible property.
One wealthy man told senator that he could
pay for the upkeep of his Washington house
with the money he saved in taxes on stocks
and bonds by making this his official resi-
dence. he spends only few months a year
here.