Evening star., 1925-04-06
A Citizens Advisory Council.

the suggestion of Col. Bell, TO sound
out community opinion more thor
oughly and Systematically concerning
appropriations and proposed District
legislation before submitting to Con
gress their estimates and recommen
dations is in principle sound and
wholesome and in the public interest
Occasionally in years past the Engi'
neer Commissioner has been accused
OF ignoring community sentiment al
together in performing his important
municipal functions at the National
Capital and has been criticized for
this attitude toward the people of
Washington.
Engineer Commissioner Bell has
never been subject to this reproach
but, on the contrary, has sought
earnestly to ascertain the local
thought and point of view in respect
to important District appropriations
and legislation and has been crafty
ingly considerate in responding, as
far as practicable, to representative
local opinion.
The present civilian Commissioners
have been conspicuous members of
representative local citizens organiza-
tons and are in sympathetic accord
with local public sentiment.
Since it is the voluntary act of the
Commissioners to constitute a citizens
od,riSor,- co,,,r,itraa RI i'll tbar, RI III Sr
decisions concerning their estimates
and their recommendations of wise
District legislation. the Commissioners
are entitled to select for themselves
their advisers in the way which they
consider most effective to bring to
them representative public opinion.
The task which the Commissioners
have imposed in this connection upon
the Federation of Citizens Associa-
iions is a difficult one, and both the
Commissioners and the Federation will
have the sympathetic interest and the
good wishes of the community for
their success in working out a maxi
mum of community benefit in this
connection.
In respect to matters of distinctly
local sectional interest it is clear that
the Commissioners will wisely take
into consideration the advice of each
sectional citizens association concern
ing issues affecting peculiarly the area
which it is recognized as representing.
But the selection of a general repre-
sentative council to advise concerning
District issues of general concern is
not so easy. A thoroughly repre-
sentative council. if without elections
one might be created, would perhaps
be so large as to be unwieldy. An
imperfectly representative council,
omitting large, influential groups of
citizens from representation, would
lose seriously in the weight attaching
TO it's advice or opinion.
When the council o; nine, created
by the federation in pursuance Of the
Commissioners invitation, and repre-
senting collectively white and colored
sectional associations of citizens, be-
gins to function, it will be hampered
in giving quick and positive advice
concerning important new issues by
uneasiness lest the personal opinion
of the individual member of the
council may not be that of the
federation and of the sectional citi-
zens' association for which he speaks.
And on the other hand the Com
missioners or some of them may at
tach Importance to the advice of the
representatives of groups of citizens
council, like the many influential or
CARNATIONS of Washington women, the
Association of Federal Employees, the
central Labor Union. the Board Of
Trade, the Chamber of Commerce, the
Merchants and Manufacturers Asso-
citation, etc, etc, etc.
In organizing the citizens Joint com
mittees on fiscal relations and ma.
tional representation, respectively, for
The purpose of massing organized
Washington behind the demand for
financial and political equity, Wash.
ingtonians learned the great variety
of worthwhile citizens organizations
whose collective opinion was neces
sary to sustain the claim of voicing
even approximately local public senti
ment.
The problem is to constitute coun
ell whose members can confidently
give advice without referring each
new question submitted to them to
the representative bodies which they
themselves represent; and to concen
trate enough representative power
in the council so that the Commits
sioners will be justified in accepting
its advice as fairly representative OF
general community opinion.
The difficulties in the way OF sue
+. cess are not, however, sufficient to
render solution of the problem impos
sible.