Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-26
HUMILIATION DAY.
PROTEST FOR D. c.
Plea for Voice in National
Elections Made in Two
Radio Addresses.

Theodore w. Noyes, chairman of the
citizens Joint committee on District of
! Columbia national representation last
evening at pm. broadcast over Sta
ton WRC the National Capitals pro-
test against Acknowledgement as pre-
liminary to Washingtons observances
of election day, November g. as Day
of Humiliation" At $50 o'clock Paul
E. Lesh broadcast an address on the
same subject from Station WMAL.
| In his statement of the Districts
| claim for enfranchisement, Mr.. NoyeS
noted that the observance of election
| day as an occasion Of mourning and
humiliation is planned to remind
Washingtonians that they alone of the
| Americans of the continental United
| States are deprived of the right to say
who shall be next President and Vice
! President. He drew a contrast between
| the endeavorS to arouse the enfran-
chised citizens to exercise the right and
| duty Of the ballot and the neglect of
the more than half million Washing
tonians who, qualified in all respects
and meeting all national obligations, are
denied participation in the national
referendum.
Quotes President Coolidge.
President Coolidge" said Mr.. Noyes,
has rightly denounced the voluntary
| and chronic stay-at-homes as abdicat-
ing their sovereignty. Do not those
who refuse to restore to the Washing
| t" mans the sovereignty of which they
have been deprived offend as distinctly
as those who thus abdicate?"
The inconsistency in denouncing one
set of people for failing to vote and at
the same time preventing another
group from voting springs naturally,
said the speaker, from a gross basic
| inconsistency between American prac-
tice in the District of Columbia and
American fundamental principles
Declared to Bear u. S. Burdens.
Mr.. Noyes In his radio address re-
viewed the manner in which the resi-
dents of the District are compelled to
bear all the national burdens of citizens,
while being inconsistency denied the
corresponding rights and privileges
(which In genuine representative
| government are with national obliga-
tions inseparably welded" The Ameri-
cans of the District, he said, bear all
national burdens, but are denied vital
national rights.
Should not the Nation insist" asked
| Chairman NoyeS, lin accordance with
| the spirit of the times and in its own
vital interest, that there shall no longer
exist at the very heart of the body
polite this foul abcess of non-Ameri-
canism, with its threat of blood-poison-
ing? A constitutional amendment is now
pending which enables Congress to cure
this evil condition. Will not every red
blooded American who hears me to-
night petition and demand that this
! toY11ady ha n,Ifck1v orrlfad0 Will not
the people of the United States repond
so vigorously to the Districts appeal
that long before the next presidential
election this unjust and hurtful dis
elimination shall be removed"
Cites Move in Congress.
Declaring that mo other self-govern-
ing nation finds it necessary to main
tain a tyranny at the heart Of the ma
tion," Mr.. Lesh, in launching his plea,
] explained that there was pending In
/ Congress q proposed amendment to the
| Constitution which would enable Con-
| gresS to give to residents Of the District
the status Of citizens Of State for the
! purpose Of representation in the Con-
gress and among the electors Of Presi-
dent and Vice President" ~
/ Mr.. Lesh emphasized the argument
|
| Just as Inych tyranny In 1923 as it was
! in 1776 and it should not be difficult
today to establish the principle" He
went at length into statistics showing
the size of this city and its contribu-
ton to the support Of the Federal Gov
eminent.
I'VE are not only the only political
subdivision in the United States which
is denied representation in national
elections" declared the speaker, but
practically the only such territory in
the world"
"If the question is asked, why the
principle Of self-government In nation
al affairs, applied to the balance of
continental United States. should be
applied to the District Of Columbia,
wrong. The appropriate question is
why not? What reasons are there
against it?"
Then 1t usually occurs to some one
to ask why If the District of Colum-
bia should be represented In the coun-
| ellis Of the Nation, was 1t not so pro-
vided from the beginning and in the
Constitution.
an the beginning, so to speak, that
Is, at the time the District Of Columbia
was carved out Of Maryland and Vir-
ginia, there were comparatively no resi-
dents of this District. It was not until
about 1870 that the population of the
District was as large as that Of con-
gressional district. Until then, we were
not numerically entitled to represent
| theory that United States Senators were
the ambassadors of the States, and they
were elected by the State Legislatures.
We had no legislature. and therefore no
machinery to elect a Senator Now, by
amendment Of the Constitution, Sem
ators are elected by the people. It Is
| therefore now but was not until re-
Gently practicable to elect Senators
here.
Uncertainty at First.
Furthermore, when the Constitution
was adopted, 1t was uncertain that the
District would be as large as 1t is. The
provision was not more than 10 miles
square Under this provision an area
Of one mile square in which to place the
Capitol and Executive Mansion and
house the Supreme Court might have
been set up.
ut is not surprising, therefore, that
the trainers of the Constitution, con-
cerned as they were with the solution
Of problems Of practical Importance at
that time, failed to provide for that
| future time when the District of
Columbia should be a political subdi-
vision containing more people than any
one of the seven of the sovereign States
of the United States and when, by
changes in the other machinery of our
Government, 1t should become as easy
and convenient and logical to elect Rep
resentatives and Senator's Of the people
| In the District of Columbia as for the
people In the several States. The debates
and other utterances and writings of the
| trainers of the Constitution have been
most carefully searched during the sew
| eral years that our proposal has been
| pending. and 1t can now be said that
| there was not a svllahle uttered nv any