Evening star., 1923-01-12
URGES SPREADING,
DISTRICT TAX DATA
Mrs. George Kicker Says
People of Nation Should Be
Given All the Facts.

at is up to the residents of the
District of Columbia to educate the
people in the states to a thorough
knowledge OF conditions as they ex-
ist in the District, particularly in re-
gard to the actual amount Of taxes
we pay" said Mrs. George Kicker of
the District League of Women Voters
yesterday afternoon when speaking
before the zonta Club on the subject
of District suffrage in the dining
room of the Mems City Club.
cit is appalling" she continued,
when one realizes how complacently
the people in all the states look upon
the District as their private property
and consider that they are supporting
are even people in the District itself
who do not know that of the total
population of $4,000 people rs per
cent are native American citizens, a
larger proportion than that of many
other large cities in the United
States. Ill admit that / came here
five years ago with the idea that the
states paid for Washington, but now
I know only too well that is not. the
case by any means.
Pay Taxes; Have No Vote.
'grhe District of Columbia pays so
per cent of its own taxes, with not
a single word to say how they shall
be spent. BY this / do not mean the
local taxes, but the federal taxes. The
people of the District pay more taxes
than any one of fifteen states, yet we
have no vote.
when the District was first built,
from 1900 until 1874, We had a voice
in the administration of our own mu-
nicipal government. In 1873 our pres
ent commission form of government
to change that form of government,
although many people have the mis-
taken idea that is what we desire
to accomplish. Many cities are adopt
ing similar form of government. The
only thing we want is a right as citi-
zens of the United States to vote in
Congress, the same as the sane, nor
mal-minded Americans, even those OF
foreign birth, who may have only
been in the country the necessary
five years to obtain citizenship
rights.
Foresaw Million Souls.
= ST don't believe that George Wash
ington or BEnfant thought of the
District of Columbia as a mere gov
ernment reservation when they plan
ned the present city. washington
stated that he believed this city
would have a population of 100000
people in time and would prove a
most important port of entry and
point of transfer for foreign goods to
be distributed throughout the coun-
try.
'As far as illiteracy in the District
is concerned, we have a rate lower
than that of twenty-five other states,
including the states famed for their
educational resources-Massach
and New York. The Districts per-
centage of illiteracy is 40. whereas
the national percentage is 7.7. More
over, the illiteracy of the colored
population is 1875, while in 1871, when
we felt this was the menace that some
people still protest against, the per-
centage of illiteracy among the col
ored population was 7o.5 and the pro-
portion of the colored population to
the white of the District was much
larger.
Women Must Cooperate.
"For the past thirty years I have
fought valiantly in the cause Of suf-'
frage, principally for woman suf-
frage," concluded Mrs. Kicker, 'yet
now I am living in the one spot in
the United States where the inhab-
itants are not citizens, but are peo-
pie without a flag and without
country. / have the greatest con-
f1dence in the ability of the residents
of the District to put through a sat-
isfactory law granting us citizenship
if all of US will cooperate and con-
centrate on one thing and carry the
accurate state of affairs regarding
taxes. etc, to friends in the states SO
as to make them realize what condi
tions here really are"
Nearly the complete membership of
the Zonta Club was present at the
weekly luncheon yesterday, Mrs.
Edith Salisbury, the president, presid-
ing. The club is proud of the fact
that four of it's membership of thirty
business and professional women are
delegates to the Women's Industrial
Conference. They are: Miss Mary
Lindsey, representing the Grace
Dodge Hotel; Miss Jane Bartlett, rep
resenting the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology; Miss Gertrude Boil
ing, representing the national organ
ization of public nursing, and Judge
Kathryn Sellers, representing the
women of the American Bar Associa-
fion.