Evening star., 1923-03-11
MONDELL SAYS D. c.
NEEDS NEW RULE.
Present Plan With Congress
as Board of Aldermen
q ''Not Satisfactory"
DISCUSSES LOST BILLS
Retired Congress Member, Who
Net Stormy Protest, Says
Much Time Wasted.

The present legislative plan under
which the Congress is the board of
aldermen for the District of Column
bia is not satisfactory one" says
Frank w. Mondell. who on March 1
left Congress after twenty-six years
service, for the last eight years as
House leader. and who is. now a di-
rector of the War Finance Corpora
tion.
In this statement Mr.. Mondell in
dorses the contention of The Star
and made on the floor of the House
by some prominent members espe-
clally friendly to the District, notice
ably by Representative r. Walton
Moore of Virginia. who introduced a
resolution for consideration of Dis
trict matters by joint committee. in
stead of separate committees of the
House and Senate.
1t must be remembered that Mr..
Mondell. with Philip P. Campbell. who
was chairman of the rules commit
tee. and acting speaker, was held re-
sponsibe for the failure of District
legislation to pass, particularly the
school teachers salary bill Both
Mondell and Campbell were the storm
center of protest by delegations repre-
senting the organized women Of
Washington, because they failed to
accord an opportunity for considera-
tion OF District legislation. although
special rule had been ordered on
the teachers pay bill.
Need of Changing System.
In discussing the need for chang
Ing the system and the District legiS-
lation that failed. Mr. Mondell said:
The District of Columbia, in COM
mon with the entire country, suffers
af1,-
has as great an interest as any part
of the country in the making of wise
and well considered provision for a
change in the sessions OF the Con-
gress. In the present session it was
necessary 10 first pass the approprt-
alton bills and then to enact the
legislation Of a public character for
which there was a nationwide de-
,nand, and the legislation without
which a special session of the Con-
gress would have been likely. II not
essential
I'm this condition of congestion sew
eral more or less important proposals
of legislation affecting the District of
tion. among which were the follow
ing: The insurance bill. the street
railway consolidation bill. the gaso-
line tax bill and the school teachers
pay bill.
Entitled to Consideration.
81 do not pretend to say that all or
these proposals should have been en-
acted into law, but il time had suf-
ficed they were entitled to considera-
tion. The only one of these bills
with regard to which there was any
general public agitation was the
teachers pay bill, and one time ana
another those who were insistent
upon the immediate consideration OF
this bill caused enough time to be
lost through roll calls to have suftieed
for the consideration Of all the Dis
trict legislation. The arguments and
efforts that were made on behalf OF
this pay bill illustrate the need OF
some body. voluntary or otherwise.
composed Of or representing the peo-
pie of the District as whole, to pass
were urging the legislation had no
clear idea what the bill provided.
While there was much opposition In
the Congress and in Washington 10
opposition was curiously lacking in
medium to advertise It's views.
Perhaps the fact that the federal
government pays a large proportion
Of the expenses Of the District has
parent fact that large proposed ex-
penditures are not carefully scru-
tinized by the body Of the citizens.
'The bill in question provided.
among other things. for very con-
center activities which have no essen
tial relation to the work of the
schools. The fact that the measure
entailed an additional immediate eX
penditure of several hundred thou
sand dollars and an eventual addi-
tional expenditure of approximately
100000 does not seem to have re-
ceived very much consideration. IN
doubtedly there should be a carefully
considered readjustment of the pay
Of the educational forces Of the Dis
trict, but very liberal provision could
be made with much less expenditure
than is proposed in the bill that failed"