Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-02
JESSE: STANDS FIRM
AGAINST CITY PLAN
Flooded With Messages Fa-
voring Arlington Incorpora-
ton, He Declines to Yield.
BY REX COLLIER,
staff Correspondent of The Star

| III KEN NULtAlEh,
STAFF Correspondent of The Star.
| RICHMOND. Va. April 2.-Witl
| the controversial Arlington City in
| corporation bill finally in the hand
! of the House of Delegates. following
/ its unanimous passage by the Senate
| yesterday afternoon, civic interests o
| Arlington County have begun con
! certed drive. but with little hope o
| preventing the measure from careen
| ing to defeat in the lower house.
BY wire, telephone and letter came
a swelling tide of public pressur,
i from the northern end of the State il
F, all effort To convince Arlington
! County's delegate in the House
Charles r. Jesse. that he should with
draw his announced opposition to the
bill.
Delegate Jesse. however, is obdurate
to the nth degree. He indicated this
fact in a curt telegram which he sent
yesterday afternoon to G. r. Ahalt
president of the Arlington County
Chamber of Commerce. In response
to a telegram from Mr.. Ahalt advising
him of steadily rising tide Of pub
lie sentiment in favor of the referen
dunn measure" Delegate Jesse an
nounced firmly and positively that he
was unqualitiedly opposed to the bill
and would do all in his power TO kill
it in the House.
Amendment Is Provided.
Jesse also received yesterday anoth
err letter from the Arlington County
Civic Fedora ton reiterating that the
federation was very DESTROYS of OBJ
tanning authority for an election on
the Incorporation question from the
special session of the General AS
sembly, due to end next week. The
letter was signed by Robert e. Ply
male, president of the federation. A
second letter, from Milford Wits
secretary of the Chamber of Com
merce, urged the delegate to support
the bill
The city bill. as it passed the Senate
yesterday afternoon, contained an
amendment providing that the pro
posed referendum on incorporation be
not held prior to January /. 1928. Al
the same time, Senator Frank H.. Ball
author of the bill, issued a statement
indicating that the reason for this
amendment was to take the bill out OF
the realm of politics. He deprecated
any movement designed to make the
bill a political issue, and announced
that personally he was not in favor
of incorporation of the county at the
present time. The real issue, he de-
clared. was whether or not the people
should have a right to vote on the
subject.
Must Convince Jesse.
The bill now is before the House
committee on counties, cities and
towns. Unless the unforeseen happens,
it is not likely to leave the purview
of this committee, as the opposition
of Arlington County's delegate is all
that the committee needs to influence
it in deciding against it.
Reports were current here today,
however, that a delegation of civic
leaders of Arlington County will ask
to be heard before the committee on
Monday The sole hope of such a
delegation, however, lies in convincing
Delegate Jesse that he is in the
wrong, 1t Is declared.
In addition to passing the city bill
and two Arlington County loan meas
ures, the Senate yesterday approved
an amendment to existing statutes
giving the county the same rights OF
franchise I'm connection with use Of
public property by public service
corporations as are now afforded
cities and towns of the common
wealth. The measure would enable
the board of supervisors TO exercise
certain control over all public util'
tiles using the highways, parks,
bridges or other public properties In
the county. Senator Ball regards this
amendment as a necessary safeguard
to public lands. in view of the ra pid
DEVELOPMENT and extension of public
utilities.
Passes F'iremen's Bill.
The House also joined in the Ar
i.ngton County movement. as mem
hers of the Legislature have facetious-
ly referred to the flood of bills from
that county, and adopted yesterday
afternoon the Ball bill for relief OF
volunteer firemen injured In line OF
duty. As ii passed the Senate the
bill extended this relief to volunteers
of Arlington, Fairfax and Prince VII
liam Counties and the City Of Alex
andria. but the House struck out
Fairfax and Prince William Coun.
ties. The corrected bill must be re
turned to the Senate for further APP
prevail Monday Under this piece
of legislation the volunteer fire fight
ers of Arlington County and Alexan
dria will be financially protected in
total disability or serious injury
Families of any firemen killed while on
duty at fire. or while en- route to
or from one. will receive from the
county 81, 500. Totally disabled fire
men will receive like amount, and
those injured will have their hospital
bills taken care of.
The loan bills. one authorizing the
school board TO borrow $4,000 with
which to prevent the county schools
from closing on May /. and the other
enabling the board of supervisors to
borrow 100000 for installation OF
fire hydrants and payment Of interest
charges on the water bonds, were
sent to the House and referred to the
committee on counties, cities and
towns.
An effort of Delegate Fl. carlton
Hanes of Fairfax County to have the
special session enact legislation pro
viding for election OF county school
boards by the people has been frus
trated because of the special rule
adopted requiring approval of three
fourths OF the delegates for introduc
ton of such measure. Delegate
Hanes announced today that he had
found 1t impossible to obtain this
sanction at the present short session
He will revive his efforts at the nexi
session, he said.
Ball Issues Statement.
After passage yesterday of the cits
bill Senator Ball issued the following
statement:
THE referendum bill submitting tt
the people of Arlington County tht
question of incorporation is recog
milton of the right of selfdetermina
| ton of local government and politica
affairs which has long been accorded
the thickly settled portions of The