Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-09-02
WANT To VOTE
At WASHINGTON
Final Action on Suffrage
Amendment Bring Out This
Fact Clearly by Both Sexes
BY w. S. MANN.

(COpyrignt, 19ZO, by Inc
ton Starr
WASHINGTON. Sept. 2-The final
ratification of the nationwide wo-
man suffrage amendment to the con-
stitution la emphasized the fact
that there is one place-the very
heart of the United States-where
neither men nor women are permit
ted to vote. This is the District Of
Columbia, the capital of the nation.
There are in Washington thousands
of women and men, too-who are
as anxious to vote as were the wo-
men of any of the states recently
e~nfranchised. But they do not have
the privilege of voting. They do not
cast ballots for President and Vice
President, for congressman, for any
of the municipal officials that gov
ern them. They have no real repre-
sentation whatever in their own
government. Taxes are levied upon
them, and they have no say as to
what these taxes shall be. The
money so raised is appropriated and
expended without the people of the
District having a voice in the matter.
There is no other capital of a great
country where constitutional govern
ment exists in which the people are
DISTINGUISHED as they are here.
Though the fact of their disfran-
chisement is brought home to the
residents of Washington in many
ways, and particularly in election
years, there are millions of persons
in this country living outside the
District who do not know that the
people in Washington do not have
the vote. For a number of years,
citizens of Washington and their
civic and trade organizations have
naflf1nnnd nnn erase faH m aAA-I
ment to the constitution which
would permit them to vote for Pres
ident and Vice President and to elect
representatives in both Houses of
Congress. They are demanding what
they call national representation"
They feel that with votes in the
electoral college and votes in the
Senate and House, they will have
say in their government, which the
people of national capital should be
accorded.
Today the population of Wash
ington is 100000. This is more than
the population of a number of the
states, four OIL five. 1t is rue that
many of these people have retained
residences in the states from which
they have come to work for the gov
eminent. But there are thousands
of them who have not done so, and
there are more thousands of men
and women, who are bona fide resi-
dents of the District, who were born
here and have always lived in Wash
ton.
For a number of years a resolu-
ton has been introduced at the
beginning of each congress provid-
ing for an amendment to the con-
stitution giving the people of Wash
ington the right to vote for national
officers and to elect members of con-
gress. With the exception Of a
handful of men in the senate and q
few more in the House, congress has
turned a deaf ear to the plea. But
the people of the District have con-
titnued and hre continuing their
struggle. They sent representatives
TO the national conventions of the
Republican and Democratic parties
this year. asking to have a plank in
cluded in h party platforms pledg-
ing aid in securing national repre-
s~entation for the District. Out in
Chicago the resolutions committee
of the Republican convention voted
the plank into the platform by a
substantial majority.
Then the influences which have
hindered the pleas of the people of
Washington got busy. There has
0NN 49, OPRODANAOAA ~ lllC oClldLG
to the plan. Senator's Mccormick
of Illinois and Smoot of Utah, took
of their coats and went to work.
They obtained a reconsideration of
the vote. and the plank was lost. In
San Francisco at the Democratic
convention, the Districts suffrage
plank Jared no better.
The people of Washington feel
that if the matter were submitted to
the states, there would be no ques-
ton as to the outcome. They be-
lieve that the people would give
them the ballot. They contend that
the trainers of the constitution,
who provided for the Federal Dis
trict and the national capital, if they
had forseen the present situation,
with almost half a million people
disfranchised, would not have acted
as they did. The only argument
ever put forward in favor of the plan
was that the federal government
should have absolute control of the
capital through congress and the ex-
ecutive branch that the capital city
without politics and elections. would
never be a, scene of revolution as
have the capitals of some other ma
tions.
Eventually. the people of the Dis
trict say. enfranchisement will have
to come. The population of the Dis
trict is likely to grow to a million
souls in a few more decades. There
Is 4 strong demand in many quar-
tiers for the direct election of Pres
ident and Vice President, by a ma
jority vote of the people, rather
than the old electoral college plan.
under which a number of Presidents