Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-17
WESTINGHOUSE
NEW GOVERNMENT
NOW FUNCT|ON|NC
Districts Triple Interest and
Zero Participation in No.
vember Elections.
OUR UNIQUE RELATION
TO INCOMING CONGRESS
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.
THEODORE w. MOVES.

are now fully functionirg.
The people of the District of Column
bia greet the new Government, which
the November elections set up, with
triple interest and enthusiasm. BY the
people of the United States Gncluding
the people of the DISTRICT. new Ma
tional Government is welcomed. But
the people of the District greet also a
new State government ESQ far as they
have any and a new Municipal gov
4 eminent.
For Congress is not only the Dis
trict's National Legislature, but its
State Legislature. and its voting Munich
pal Legislature; that is, its aldermen
and common council.
The President is not only the Wash
ingtonian's National Executive. but his
State Executive-in effect, the Governor
Of the District of Columbia--and his
municipal executive, the mayor of the
City of Washington with veto power.
The President is to us Three gentle
men at once" like Cerberus, as char
acterized by Mrs. Malaprop.
Triple Interest and Zero Participation.
Thus the Americans in the District
have a threefold concern In the ma
tional elections and in the new Govern
ment, as compared with the single con-
Germ of other Americans. While they
are thus three times as greatly inter-
ested in these elections and in the re-
sulting new Government as other Amer
leans they are the only Americans in
the continental and contiguous United
States who do not participate as voters
in these elections, and who are not
represented in the new Government.
Germ in these elections and the new
Government are accompanied by a
minimum, an absolute zero, of participa-
ton in them.
The political change of hast November
was. so far as other Americans are
concerned, conducted Economically
by themselves and for themselves.
November's triple change was, as
far as the unrepresented District is
concerned, conducted arbitrarily, des-
politically and in un-American fashion,
without participation in the over
! turning of their governments by the
been no consent of the governed on
the part OF the District, either to
a change of government or to the
original government, which has been
superseded.
| But generalities make no impress
| sion. Put in abstract terms. dis
examinations against Washingtonians
arouse little sympathy. Let us ap-
ply some of the determinations against
the Americans of the District to the
citizens of other and smaller Amer
lean communities in order that the
grievances of the Capitals resident
may be appreciated specifically by the
citizens of these other communities
thus invited to put yourself in his
place."
Put Yourself in His Place.
Suppose the Nation should say to
Vermont, or Delaware, or New Mexico,
or Arizona, or Nevada, or Wyoming. or
Idaho, or New Hampshire, or Utah
(Which all have smaller populations
than the District of Columbia, accord
ing to the census estimates of 1929:
ITO meet an alleged national necessity
or to avoid an imagined national peril
you must lose the right to vote for your
State government, your National Gov
eminent, your municipal governments.
Your governor must be chosen by all
other Americans except yourselves in
voting for President. Your State Legis-
lature must be chosen for you by others
in voting for Congress. You shall no
longer be represented In Senate and
House, though they not only remain
your National Legislature but have be-
come also your State and municipal
Legislature.
You must no longer participate In
making your own laws, either ma
tional, state or municipal. You are no
longer permitted to tax yourselves
for state or municipal purposes, or
n participate on representative princi-
piles in national taxation. You must
no longer raise and spend your tax
money as you please. but it is to be
collected and spent for you by an alien
body in which you are not represented"
National Loss and Injury.
What weakening in the. forces of
American craftsmanship would result
If these states, smaller than the Dis
trict, were subjected to the same vital
determinations today that slur and
iniure the District!
In this contingency we should be re-
ouired to eliminate Senators Borah and
Thomas and Representatives French
and Smith of Idaho. Senators Warren
and Kendrick and Representative Win
ter of Wyoming. Senators Smoot and
King and Representatives Cotton and
Leatherwood of Utah, Senators Moses
and Keyes and Representatives Hale
and Watson of New Hampshire, Sena-
tors Greene and Dale and Represent
ativeS Brigham and Gibson of Vermont,
Senators Bayard and Hastings and Rep
resentative Houston of Delaware, Sena-
fnrC RroftnYS ond av1I
resentative Morrow of New Mexico.
Senator's Ashurst and Hayden and Rep
resentative Douglas of Arizona and
Senators Pittman and Oddie and Rep
resentative Arentz of Nevada.
This list OF statesmen of today sup
piled by States of smaller population
than the District emphasizes strikingly
the fact that possession of the power,
which national representation gives, be-
slows prestige and influence in the Ma
tlonal councils upon the small States,
while lack of it paralyzes the District
in its fight for financial equity. for ex-
ample, and exposes its humiliating inn
potency in other battles for Justice.
How much greater strength for every
good end would Washington possess If
it had, for example, Warren, to rep
resent it and fight for it, or Borah
or Smoot or King, or a Bayard, or q
Moses. or a Keyes; or of the past
Salisbury, Gallinger or an Edmunds
And yet some men suggest that the
power that comes from national repre-
sentation is negligible. worthless, not to
be desired.
No Way to Differentiate.
What Is there that these commune
ties could say to differentiate them
selves from the District in respect to
these determinations? Suppose they
said: THE District is the seat of
national government, by traditional
policy under the exclusive legislative
control of Congress representing the
nation, and this wise and necessary
relation OF Capital and Nation should
not be destroyed or disturbed" The
response to this suggestion is obvious.