Evening star., 1922-12-03
By WILL p. KENNEDY.

RICHTER days for the Ma
X tional Capital. over which
Congress has exclusive juris-
diction, are in prospect
! through legislative reforms now urg-
ed by members Of both big political
parties in Congress who are recog-
nized as constructive, progressive and
forward looking.
How to get action on needed legis-
lation for the capital city. which is
| now thwarted. not by the unwilling
| ness of Congress to act. but because
legislative proposals affecting the
District of Columbia are continually
being shunted out Of the way for
! some urgent measure Of general in
| terest, is the problem.
The reorganization Of the House
with the new Congress. coming in
March 4 next. offers an unusually
! good opportunity to try out a pro-
posed new plan for handling District
affairs.
Outline Of Proposal.
In nutshell. Congress is asked
% to appoint a join committee Of
the Senate and House to expedite
District legislation, and (2) to give
to the District Commissioners au-
| thority to put in force all minor laws
for the federal city through a system
! of administrative orders subject to
veto by Congress.
The proposal for a joint committee
was made In q resolution submitted
to the House about nine months ago
i by Representative R. Walton Moore
democrat. of Virginia. on which nc
action has yet been taken. The
strongest possible support for this
! proposal is found in the first volume
Legislative Procedure" of a set OF
four works on THE Science Of Legis-
lation." just of the press. which rep
resents more than ten years work
i by Representative Robert Luce. re-
publican. Of Massachusetts, who was
a member OF the general court OF
Massachusetts for nine years, a mem.
Der of the governors council as lieu
tenant governor. OF its constitutional
convention Of 1s17-1s. and of the Con-
gress of the Tilted States
| The recommendation that authority
with the check Of congressional veto
! should be given to the District Com
missioners to issue administrative
orders embodying the. bulk Of legisla
tion for the capital city. as a matter
of expedition. economy and efficiency
is made in Representative Luce's book
He promises that this recommenda.
ton will be developed in a subsequent
volume now in the hands of the print.
er
f, Successful in England.
! Representative Luces argument i.
that the COMMISSIONER or some other
responsible authority in the National
Capital. ought to shape all the legis.
\ lation for the District in the same
way that administrative legislation Is
now handled in England and which is
proving successful under system
=: that has been developing for moro
! than a century.
4 This. he points out. would change
! the attitude Of Congress from positive
] to negative. 1t would still keep con.
, troll in Congress. but would not re-
quire Affirmative legislation on mino,
! matters. THE evil Of the presen,
i system" says Representative Luce
sis that Congress has SO much to dc
that inevitably it shirks what In com.
parison are minor matters. l. re-
spends to the instinct tha. 1t is alb
surd to use the ponderous machinery
, Of governmental action for deciding
such questions as whether street
1 shall be opened or closed. etc.
Safeguard in Congress Veto.
THE reasonable thing to do" Mr.
Luce argues. ''is to intrust all these
matters to some agency. while provid-
I! ing the safeguard of a congressional
veto. to be used whenever the emer-
gency arises" In explaining the Eng
| lish system Representative Luce en-
! phasizes that some provisional orders
! do not take effect at all until they
have been approved by parliament;
| others take effect at once. but may
later on be annulled by parliament
"The latter course seems perfectly
safe to use for the District govern
, ment.' Representative Luce says,
barring. perhaps. appropriations. 1t
is possible that those ought to await
annual confirmation"
Congress 1t not averse to acting on
District legislation, he insists. but is
tied up In its own cumbersome pro-
cedure. He makes this recommenda-
ton as a short cut to get action
Members of Congress are giving a
close reading TO Representative I.uce's
work on Legislative Procedure" and
in this they find tho preliminary urge
for "a dose of common-sense" toward
lesisla ton for the capital in this
definite recommendation:
Applied to Departments.
Using tho same principle SO advan-
tageously deveolped in England. the
initiative in the Affairs OF the District
Of Columbia should be taken almost