Evening star., 1926-10-07
Philadelphia and Washington.

IN MS inspiring address yesterday
1T II. Sesquicentennial, where the
District of Columbia shared the day
with South Carolina as guests of the
exhibition Dr. William Mather
Lewis. president of George Wash
tngton University. voiced the appeal
OF the citizens of the National Capt.
tai for the right of the franchise in
terms which should awaken a
sympathetic response throughout the
country. Describing this community
as typically American, as progress
sfye as rapidly developing, as in all
respects devoted to the fundamentals
Of American Government, he asked
of his hearers support of the Dis
tricts claim for the right Of national
representation in Congress and in the
electoral college. He offered an
argument for that long denied en-
reimbursement that cannot be coun-
tered, for there is no logical or effec-
tive rejoinder to the plea that half
million Americans living at the
full American citizenship.
appropriately linking together the
cities of Washington and Phila-
delphia, DR.. Lewis called attention to
the fact that it was from the latter
that the Government moved when
the new Federal center on the banks
OF the Potomac was established
under the Constitution. It NAV
appropriately be asked whether Phil
adelphia fully appreciates the fact
that it might itself have been dis
franchised if the Government had
not changed its seat. Would it have
tolerated the deprival of the suffrage?
The District of Columbia was a
"created' Federal territory. It did.
not exist when the Constitution
makers came to the point of desig-
mating the location of the Capital. II
was constituted out of portions of
Maryland and Virginia, the selcc-
tlon of the site being a compromise
hetwee" contending sectional interests.
There were two small communities
here then and they were merged and
with some additional area became
the District Of Columbia. Nobody
then thought of the question of
Federal enfranchisement. The resi-
dents Of the already existing cities
elected their municipal officers, as did
those Of the newly created CITY of
washington. 1t was not until later
mat it was realized that no rro-
vision had been made for the ma
tional representation of the inhabi-
tantS OF the one hundred square
miles.
Had Philadelphia been continued
aS the seat of Government. would it
nave been deprived of the vote and
the right of representation in the
w-making and the executive-choos-
ing bodies? Would an area Of nom
citizenship have been defined. cutting
II off from the State of which it
was, as it is today. the metropolis?
'an it be conceived that a proposal
to do So would have been affirmed
by the people of that community?
Would they have chosen the rank of
National Capital in exchange for the
priceless right of representation?
There was no occasion for the
denial of national rights to the resi-
dents of the District of Columbia
at the time that it was created
There has never been occasion for
this anomaly of disfranchised, un-
represented community merely be-
,ause it has been designated as the
scat of Government. There is TODAY
20 reason for the refusal to extend
-NmHrican rights to the permanent
dWellers here, other than the reason
far inertia and long continued error,
" h:ch is no reason whatever
Philadelphia. having escaped this
fate through the loss of the seat of
Government more than a century
tad third ago. should deeply
syrapathiz with Washington today
j. its plea for final and fun Anne ri
tni12 ,ion. 1t should regard Wash
stons plight as that which might
ave ! cen its own. had the Constitu-
N makers chosen it .'ather than
: slCs on the Potomac shores, and
'ecIo1 20 exclude its residents from
rl&a which the instrument they
fraHle1 was designed to guarantee
al Americans.