Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-18

favor of this wide latitude for the district,
but probably not enough to insure passage.
The most promising bill, so far as enact
ment is concerned, is the least liberal. 1t
leaves congress in control Of the city and al
lows the district people to elect one delegate
to congress. This official would be on a par
with the delegates from Hawaii, Porto Rico,
Alaska, and the Philippines. He would have
voice in congress, but no vote.
A voteless delegate is obviously not so de-
sirable to city as full-fledged representa-
tive. But the District of Columbia has got to
the point where it will accept any measure
that gives it standing as a responsible
community.
Washington Aroused Slowly
It has taken Washington some time to be
aroused to interest in this question. Any 9TH
er city would have long ago opposed the idea
of having it's affairs administered for it by
body, no single member of which was d.
rectly concerned in it's welfare. But Wash
ington has large proportion OF transient
residents. The government clerk, diplomat,
politician, and army and navy officer tend to
regard life in Washington as a camping-out
experience. In the past few years, however,
business men and citizens associations have
succeeded in interesting this casual popula-
ton in the capitals worries.
A few wealthy men who are interested in
banks, real estate, and utilities and who are
powerful under the present system, are said
to be the mainstay of the opposition.
The need for a change in the government
of the capital is common topic about the
city. When the district appropriation bill
comes up, congress is told how many schools
are needed Crowded conditions are pointed
out. Congressman are taken to see school
rooms with every desk taken and children
sitting in chairs too high for them or at the
teachers desk. Perhaps the committee is
sympathetic, and pares down the requested
appropriation only little. But somewhere
between the committee and the presidents
signature the funds for adequate school ac-
commodations are slashed so that conditions
remain much as they were.
Congressional Interest Lays
Washington shrugs its shoulders and re-
marks that it wouldn't happen anywhere else.
But, of course, congress, aside from a few
members, possibly, isn't vitality interested in
the district, and it is easy to economic
there.
This goes on in every phase of Washing
tons government. The fire chief is now la
menting that he needs searchlight truck
should have had one long ago. A powerful
light thrown on the Knickerbocker theater
while rescue work was feverishly going on
in the dark would have been an invaluable
aid. 1t might have saved lives. But even
now, the searchlight truck has been cut from
the appropriation bill as not urgently neces-
sary.
Workers for local suffrage here see signs
pointing to a change in the city's govern
ment. They firmly believe that before this
congress ends some sort of suffrage will be
granted the people of the national capital,
and that they will be given some measure of
the political liberty enjoyed by citizens of
the states.
1t is strange fact that Washington should
be the only capital in the world without a
representative government of some sort. It is
even stranger, perhaps, that this city, which
has larger population than seven of the
states should be the only community under
the United States flag that is completely dis
franchised