Evening star., 1921-01-15
CITIZENS PROVE DISTRICT
UNITED FOR FEDERAL VOTE
SOME CONGRESSMEN SAY
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| continued from FIRST Page.)
trict She replied. Exactly what theS-
| are In the states" MIR. Dyer asked il
| she would impose property qualifi-
| cation. an educational qualification,
| etc. Mrs. Paul replied:
| II stand for an educational Qualifi-
| cation" and explained that as there
is an opportunity for every one to
acquire education today, such quail
fcation would not be oppressive. and
! that every citizen should be able to
! know the duties of the officers for
/ W hom he or she votes.
Mrs. Pau next discussed the status
. of government clerks in the event of
/ suffrage in the District. which had
| been raised by members of the COM
| nittce. She pointed out that while
| the population of Washington is made
! up largely of officials, members of
| Congress. representatives Of foreign
! governments and government clerks.
/ there is also large class of other
| people who must live here: who have
| no homes anywhere else. and whose
/ residence here is required that the
| government may function. She asked
j the committee if such residents should
, be deprived Of the right of American
| citizenship.
| Mrs Paul said that the trainers Of
the Constitution never intended that
hundreds OF thousands of American
citizens should he deprived of their
rights as citizens in order that a
built up. She emphasized that there
are two great classes OF Washing
tonans whnse rights must be con-
Sid.rcd.
First. nativ. horn Washingtonians
of four generations. who have no
where else to "a, TO vote; who cam
not appeal to Sc anator or represent
ative. and who are and have been
, wholly at Il disadvantage because
others with whom they come INTO
competition have tho right OF appeal
to representatives in Congress whom
they help to elect.
! Second. the class of foreign born,
of whom she said there are 55:ooV
living under the shadow Af the Cap
itol. She protested against their
in the government of the land OF
their adoption. to which theN' nave
come as the land of the fred and
because of oppression at home
Takes Up Clerks Position.
In regard to the government CLERKS
Mrs Paul questioned whether the COM
mittee felt it was right to put on them
the hardship of returning to their sew
eral states to vote. She said this hard
wives and children must go as well as
he men of the family. Representative
Dyer reminded her that many Of the
states now allow voting by mail, and
asked whether. in the event of District
suffrage. the government employees
would vote here or in the states they
came from.
THE empioye comes here because he
has made his choice to work for his gov
ernment." Mrs. Paul said. He should
be given the choice as to whether he
will vote here. or go back home to vote.
f~tr boz .1~r-<,
should be given the right to vote. while
residents of the capital, who are not
beneficiaries of the government. and who
make possible the functioning Of the
government here, are denied the right
to vote"
Questions Are Asked.
Representatives Summers of Texas.
Gard of Ohio and other members of
the committee, questioned Mrs. Paul
in regard to local self-government.
She said she thought that the citizens
of the District should have every
right that a citizen of any other state
has. When Representative Summers
asked if she thought the government
should surrender all control over the
federal city, Mrs. Paul replied that
she thought an arrangement could be
made between Congress and the peo-
pie of the District SO that the local
citizens would have some form OF
W ME Son COS sum
maintained jurisdiction for the pro-
lection of it's property and the safe
guarding against tyranny in the seat
iof government.
Representative Dyer questioned
Mrs. Paul regarding the status of
She believed they should be given
full suffrage.
Bound to Respeet Rights.
"rhe colored citizen has legal
right, under the Constitution of the
United States. the same as the white
man or woman. and these legal rights
we are bound to respect, she replied.
Mrs. Paul here emphasized that she
had previously said she favored an
educational qualification. She re-
minded the committee that many
white men have not always had the
franchise and had to be trained to 1t.
when the colored man has been
trained to appreciate the rights and
obliga tions Of the ballot he should
be given the same participation as the
Constitution affords" she said.
Representative Reavis OF Nebraska
raised the question as to whether Mrs.
Paul advocated that the residents of
the District should be given absolute
s..lf-government and that the control
bv Congress should be limited to the
protection Of government property.
When Mrs. Paul said that she thought
an arrangement could be made so that
the United States could still maint al n
this jurisdiction for all necessary pur-
poses and as contemplated in the Con-
stitution and at the same time the
citizens have some form of self-gov-
ernment. Representative Reavis said:
IF the people of the District are
given complete control-absolute local
VODK