Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-29
President of Society of Ma
tives Says Civic Bodies Are
Not Chasing WiII-o'- the Wisp.
Overwhelming SUPPORT
EXPECTED FROM STATES
Aims Of Representation Movement
Not Statehood, Speaker
Declares.

Washington's responsible civic and
business interests present united array
in support of the movement for ma
tional representation for the District
of Columbia, Fred A. Emery, president
of the Society of Natives in the Dis
trict, stressed in an address on "Civic
responsibilities of WaShingtonians," de-
livered last night over Station WMAL
1.-THE great civic organizations of
Washington back of this movement are
not chasing a will-o'-the- wisp," he
said. They are enthusiastic about its
ultimate success"
Mr.. Emery expressed the belief that
when the issue involving national rep
resentation is presented finally TO the
States, with a clear understanding of
all the facts, there will be an over
whelming response.
Have Signed Petition.
Supported also by the Republican
and Democratic national committee
men, he pointed out, the organizations
back of the Citizens Joint Committee
for National Representation have
signed a petition to Congress.
They do not ask for statehood, nor
self-government, nor any change in the
form of the municipal government of
the District of Columbia" he said.
"All they ask is that Congress sub
NIT to the States for ratification a pro-
posed amendment to the Federal Con-
Stitution to authorize Congress to grant
to the District of Columbia the right to
be represented in the two houses of
Congress, the Electoral College, and to
have the same right as to suing and
being sued in Federal courts outside of
the District that the citizens of. the
States have"
Washington's plight is unique, Mr..
Emery said. 1T apparently means
contributed in national taxes more than
Is States have paid into the Federal
Treasury" he added. "Washingtonians
paid 1t, but were vouchsafed no part in
determining the amount and kind of
these taxes or how these taxes paid BY
them should be expended. Their civic
response to every constructive under
taking, national or local, If not un-
paralleled in proportion, is at least un-
surpassed anywhere else in America"
Sponsors of Movement.
Out of this denial of the rights of
citizenship In the face of obligations
imposed and gladly accepted, Mr.. Emery
pointed out, has evolved the increasing
movement tor national representation
for the District of Columbia, under the
leadership OF the Citizens Joint Com
mittee.
The movement is now sponsored, "
he explained, by the Washington Board
Of Trade, the Washington Chamber of
Commerce, the Merchants & Manufac-
turers' Association, the Federation of
Citizens Associations, the Society of
Natives in the District of Columbia,
the Association of Oldest Inhabitants
and a large number of other organiza-
tons constituting the organized citizen
ship of the District of Columbia"
Mr.. Emery declared that out in the
States, however, are found people every
where who cannot understand why
Washingtonians, Shouldering all the OBJ
legations placed on the rest of the
people, have neither voice nor vote in
Congress.
Humiliating to Many.
1T surprises strangers" he said. ut
humiliates nearly half a million people
as patriotic as any group of citizens in
all the history of this country"
Washington's plight Mr. Emery
traced back TO the revolutionary days of
1888, when a group of the Continental
Army, almost desperate, marched into
Philadelphia to demand from the Con-
tinental Congress the pay due them.
That incident, he said built up that
fear which led to the deletion of Amer
icanism in the progressive City of
Washington.