Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-26
JUSTICE FOR DISTRICT
SEEN In VOTE PROPOSAL
Constitutional Amendment Giving Resi-
dents Rights Equal to Others Should
Be Backed by All Is Claim.
BY c. s. THOMAS.
Former u 5. Senator from Colorado.


hearty and unanimous approval
of those at all familiar with the con-
ditions demanding its speedy considera-
ton. Their status in our scheme of
government is anomalous. They are
neither citizens nor subjects, but clothed
with some of the attributes of both.
They are burdened with the obliga-
tions of the latter, and denied the en-
ioyment of many of the essential privi-
leges of the former. Such has been
their political condition since the seat
of government was established 129 years
ago. and such must it continue to be
until the relief which they crave and
to which they are entitled by every
principle of justice and of free govern
ment has been vouchsafed them.
Washington became the Capital of
the United States on June Is, 1900. At
that time the population of the Dis
chiefly of those living in Alexandra
and Georgetown. The Congress, by
Section 8, Article 1 of the Constitu-
ton, was vested with power to exercise
exclusive legislation in all cases what
ever over it and this it will continue
to do regardless of the fate of the pro-
posed amendment which is entirely
consistent with it.
Regarded as Unimportant.
The trainers of the Constitution were
evidently too much concerned with their
graver duties to give heed to the local
political needs of community not then
even in embryo. 1t merely provided for
such a community whose site 1t did
not establish. but fixed no period of
time in which it should be selected.
1t would be coded by the ratifying
States or some of them and accepted
by Congress. Sometime in the near or
remoter future jurisdiction over 1t
would be exercised when. as and u
these events TRANSFERRED The details OF
Mr.. Madison's journal of the sessions
of the convention give scant space to
discussion of the subject, doubtless be-
cause it was regarded as comparatively
unimportant detail.
Mr. Pinckney offered an instruction
to the committee for the establishment
of national government ito receive
clause or clauses for preventing the seat
of the national government being 10
Gated in the same city or town with the
seat of government of any State longer
than until the necessary public build
ings can be erected"
Mr.. Mason on July IS favored the
motion as necessary TO the avoidance OF
disputes concerning jurisdiction and an
intermixture of the two legislatures.
Gouverneur Morris approved the idea
but feared that such a clause would
make enemies of New York and Phila-
delphia, which desired the seat of gov
eminent, and Mr.. Williamson feared
the idea might stir the passions of men
against the system. Mr.. Butler advo-
Gated fixing by the Constitution of a
central place for the seat of govern
ment. On August II, Mr.. King criti-
Ching proposed resolution authoriz-
ing the two houses to adjourn to new
place, said that mutability of place had
dishonored the Federal Government and
would require as strong a cure as could
be devised. Madison concurred. Nor
ris proposed an amendment which Mr..
Spaight said would fix the seat of gov
eminent permanently at New York, es-
pecially if the President should h. a
Northern man. This covers all debate
concerning the subject, and on Sep
TENDER 5 the committee reported the
section as it appears in the Constitu-
ton.
States Jealous.
It was of course. obvious to the
members of the convention that the
States were extremely jealous each of
its own sovereignty. The smaller States
were openly distrustful of the larger
ones, and these Of each other. All of
them grudgingly and reluctantly sur
rendered to the general government the
powers essential to its maintenance.
Therefore, it was apprehended that in
whatever State the National Capital
might be located. conflicts with its gov
eminent and possibly with the munich
pality housing it were apprehended, to
say nothing of complications which
might involve the relations of that
State with other Commonwealths. The
national seat of government must.
therefore. be politically external to all
the States. wherever located.
But no time was wasted by the
trainers of the Constitution upon the
political status of residents of the
District. Its locus was not of i'm
mediate Importance. although States
and sections we're in early competition
for it. When finally selected the site
was sparsely inhabited. These we're
doubtless long unconcerned as to Dis
tict affairs present or prospective. The
growth of the population was sluggish
for many years In 1860 it numbered ,
$4,000 people. Prior to the Civil War
the District possessed no particular at
traction for permanent residents. 1t
was the Nations political center and
nothing more. Its population was
chiefly identified with the Government
in some capacity and most of it re-
garded Washington as its transient
home. Not until the Civil War was
ended and the work of civic improve !
ment under way did the community
begin to display that spirit of progress !
which has transformed it into the /
splendid metropolis of today.
folt11li,,0 fathers tiSinned SIInh |
expansion of a seat Of Government not !,
then located Nor could they foresee |
other mighty changes in our many-sided |
activities through whose agencies the |
Nation now covers a continent. with a |
population of 100000, linked to-
gether more closely than the peoples of |
their day numbering less than per /
cent of its present volume and scat
tered along the Atlantic seaboard. The !
flexibilitv of the Charter which they !
framed has enabled their posterity to
adapt its spirit to these new conditions
as they have arisen, and we will con-
front only problems of detail in adapt
ing our methods of government to the
crying needs of the people OF the
Capital City. whose boundaries have
become coterminous with those of the
District. The community now embraces
a permanent and rapidly increasing
population of over $4,000. This was
exceeded only by Virginia in 1870. The
total population of the country in that
year, including the territories of Maine,
Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee, was
3 ,932214. or a little more than seven
times that of Washington today. The
wealth of the District in 1928 was about
81 TO- 100000, a sum in excess of the
total wealth of the Union in 1887.
These figures both as to wealth and
numbers will probably double by 1850.
Has not this mighty community. having
,aif in, affairs |