Evening star., 1924-11-01
VOTING DAY CALLED
HUM|L|AT|NG IN DC.
Trade Board Committee De-
mands Right of Suffrage
for People Here.

" me milllonS o. Americans
throughout the United States will be
exercising the highest right and
power of American sovereignty" No
Tember 4, the people of the District
will once more have their political
impotence emphasized to them. il was
pointed out in the report of the COM
mittee On national representation for
the District of Columbia. of th-
Washington Board of Trade, which
met yesterday under the chairman
ship Of Theodore W. Noyes.
The report declares that while eleC-
tion day will be d day of pride to al.
other Americans 20 the Americans o.
the District it will be a day of humil
iation
Protest against having merely TO
obey the laws passed without a voice
in their creation is expressed and a
part in the making of laws - dc
manded in the report. which Jeciares
the situation national, not "A loca'.
shame.
Day of Humiliation.
The text Of the report is as follow
This is presidential election ycar
and the day is at hand when the mi
lions of qualified americans. castir@
their ballots at the polls. exercise tn"
highest right and power Of America
sovereignty.
"On election day the Americans -
the District of Columbia feel mos
keenly their lack of power to eXeT-
else the political sovereignty which
belongs to theSn and attaches inseps
rably to them as Americans. To all
other Americans November IS
day of nationah inspiration and "a
triotic pride. Tb the un- -Americanized
Americans of Washington, the day 's
one of huniIiatjdn
I'VE protest THAT our sole functio"
in relation to thA national laws is I"
obey. We demand a part In makine
the laws which Ne must obey
We protest thaA in relation to na :
tional taxes our sale function is I"
pay We demand that We have son''-
thing TO say. like othSr national tax
payers. concerning thE amount an
kind Of taxes We shall<pay ano ih'
the tax money shall be Spent.
Demand Voice in Govern mcnt.
we protest that in relation Io NJ
tionaI war our sole funJtion i /"
fight in obedience to co{nmandN v e
demand voice like otTr Americ=s
in the councils which dEte rhine peah.
or war. and reprcsentkt ktion in the Gov
eminent which reQu<eS us TO fight, t.
bleed and perhaps no die.
We emphasi7&his protest and this
just demand at "a. time when the pco-
pie of the NATION. our fellow Ameri
cans. are enjoying the distinctive
basic rights 81 the American citizen
which they Seny to US.
They shafe with US the shame o.
non-represeafative un-American Gov
ernment at/the heart of the great rep
resentativef Republic. An evil condition
maintaiped by the Nation at the Ma
tons Capital is rightly viewed as typi-
cal ag1d characteristic. The shame l.
natiofhai. not local.
hMtocratic non-reprcsentativc Coz
ernnent in the only American territory
governed exclusively by the Nation.
brands the Nation itself distinctly and
indelibly as American. As Is the
Nations CITY SO is the Nation. The
Capital is the Nations heart If The
Republic is tainted with un-American-
ism at its heart, the whole of the body
politics is thus tainted
The air is full of denunciation of
the evil of ncn-voting and of appeals
to potential voters not 10 fail TO go 10
the polls to meet this highest of civic
obligations.
DO not our fellow Americans recoc
nze the gross inconsistency of calling
upon all who are qualified to vote a.
high civic duty and at the same time
of preventing the highly qualified
Americans of the National Capita
community from voting at nationa!
elections?
is it not As unpa triotic to bar other
Americans from voting as il is to ah-
stain from casting ones own vote? Let
every voter on November answer TO
his own conscience whether his obliga-
tion to vote to exercise his own rigi-
and power of American sovereignty is
not coupled with another obligation
that of removing obstacles to the en-
Joyment of this right and power from
the path of other equally qualified
Americans.
The national representation which
We demand from the voters of the Re
public WILL when granted. clothe the
NaShingtonian with a vital America
privilege to which he is undeniab1y i'll
equity entitled: will cleanse him OF the
stain of n-AmeriCanlSm. and. curing
his political impotency. will arm him
with certain power. 1t will also re
lieve the Nation of the shame of un-
Americanism at its heart and of i'm
potency TO cure this evil"