Evening star., 1921-04-29
CONTINUED from First Page.)
Jcct for which they were thus sep
nrated from their fellow cltiseHsf"

| describing those who may raise the
| issue Of eligibility as to render it
practically impossible to find a wash
| ingtonian who has such IAN interest
in the office as to entitle him to put
the eligibility of an appointee to the
| test. 1t is futile to question the wis
dom or the equity Of the Supreme
Courts decision. putting this nullify-
order that the District may not be de-
prived of the vestige Of indirect rep
resentation in its municipal govern
ment. Congress ought at once to
amend this statute and make It en-
| forcible by giving to any District
courts the eligibility under the or
ganic act of an appointee as District
| Commissioner.
Recall of Commissioners.
! II the nation should desire to in
crease the participation by the people
of the District in their municipal gov
ernment without disturbing national
control of that government. power Of
! recall of n Commissioner offensive to
the people of the District might be
given to the community.
| All three Commissioners might be
| appointed from the District (as is now
the requirement in respect to the two
| cIvlllans) and power of recall might
then be given to the District in respect
! to any of these Commi Ssioners, such
recall addressing itself with a power
| ful persuasive force to the President.
| the appointing power, who would fill
| the vacancy caused by the recall. With
| the Commissioners thus selected from
! the community. and indirectly re-
| sponslble to it. the power of initiating
| local legislation and requiring vote
by Congress on such propositions. and
of referendum to the limited extent
] of 3dViSiDp nj oil
bills compulsorily referred to them,
| might be vested in the Commissioners.
| Ihe Commissioners now have under
| the law power of initiative in respect
to the local appropriation bill, and
! in practice other local bills have
! been perfunctorily referred to them
by District committees for their
| opinion. But the Commissioners are
not now compulsorily responsible in
any way to the local community
| of recall in respect to them, even
though exercised Indirectly through
I the President. could hardly fail to
| be beneficial in it's effect.
The President now has practically
! absolute and unlimited power of re-
| call in respect to the Commissioners.
which he would not lose if the COM
| munity had in addition the suggest
| ed limited power of recall, which
| might on occasion require him to
| who had incurred the communitys
! strong displeasure.
Modify Restrictive Court Decisions.
The Constitution. in the ten-mile-
| square provision, gives Congress the
power fand imposes upon it the OBJ
llgatlon) to exercise exclusive legis-
| lation in the seat Of government thus
! created. The United States Supreme
Court has declared {Stoutenburg VS..
Hennick, 129 L. s. 14D that Con-
gress may not delegate this power
of general legislation constitutional
ly imposed upon it and that an act
of general legislation by a local
legislature created by Congress was
void. tThe principle is substan-
TALLY the same as that laid down
even more distinctly and sweepingly
by the Supreme Court of the District
wick, Macarthur and Mackey's Re-
port. p. 171)
These decisions in effect deny the
power of general legislation in the
District. even temporarily and ten
tatively. to a local legislature. They
concerning local government can be
anything but stringently restricted
easily revocable and distinctly less in
substance than those granted with
unsatisfactory results in 1S71-4.
1t may be wise to plan to get a
case before the Supreme Court which
will reopen these decisions and Sc
cure an expression of opinion upon
the principles involved from the Su-
preme Court of today. Even if there
cision. it's modification by the United
States Supreme Court, with a result
ing enlargement of the power of
Congress to delegate it's power Of
general legislation in the District.
would helpfuny increase the degree
nj 10 Dist tric nneSihla arfi irir
ton in its local government and
would promote the capitals welfare.
Referendum for the District.
There would be no disturbance Of
national control of the capital il this
modification of these court decisions
were sought and obtained; and such
modification would enable Congress
to shift more of its local law-making
power upon the Commissioners. or
upon the people of the District by
authorizing advisory referendums in
respect to specified local issues Of
major importance. Congress has on
occasion in the past adopted the ref
erendum for the District to the ex-
tent of permitting its people to vote |
upon some question vitality affecting
their interests. as in Buchanan's ad- !
ministration in 1853. when the people !
of the capital voted on a proposed |
code of laws
The nations city is the material !
embodiment of the national spirit I
1t has fourished and ii has sick kened |
in proportion as that spirit has been
strong or weak. 1t has been and is n J
vital patriotic harmonizing force In |
the republics history, bringing to-
Eether in sympathetic Interest the |
people Of the sections and the states |
and binding them together in the |
Grand Order Of National Americana. !;
The people of the National Capital, !
with their record of practical and |
sentimental service to the nation as |
good Americans and through their |
city as unifying patriotic force, |
and with their peculiarly high stand |
ard of Americanism, are clearly en- |
titled to fair treatment by the ma
ton. and surely deserve to be re-
lieved from humiliating slurs and
from disabilities not essential in the !
public interest which place them in |
certain respects on lower plane than |
nt her America