Evening star., 1934-02-11
CITY GOVERNMENT
HAND|CAPS SHOWN.
Commissioners Seek to End
Curious Limitations on
Their Powers.

favorable report on the King bill to
widen the powers of the District
Commissioners last week served once
more to call attention to the many
things that the heads of the local
government are not able to do.
The Commissioners, contrary to
the practice in any other city, have
no control over the city's purse
strings, beyond the very limited func-
ton of recommending expenditures
to the Federal Bureau of the Budget.
But this important function is not
included in the long line of embar-
RAISING limitations on their powers
which the Commissioners are try
ing to abolish. Some of the things
which they may not do seem to
border on the fantastic. For instance,
they have no power to grant to the
family or descendants of a person
who has died of communicable dis
ease the right to remove the body
from a District graveyard to one
somewhere else.
They have not even power to say
what time of day street lights shall
be turned of. or what time of night
they shall be turned on. Even if the
sun stopped shining for a month, they
could not extend the hours of illumi-
nation of the street lights. That Is
all regulated by act of Congress. In
the graveyard case, even where the
deceased has been buried hundred
years, it still takes an act of Congress
TO move him.
Report Outlines Limitations.
Some of these curious limitations
were outlined in a report on the King
bill by former Assistant Corporation
Counsel Francis E. Stephens. Mr..
Stephens, in his report, recounts the
adventures of the Commissioners in
trying to revoke the license of a
plumber who had many times violated
sections Of the plumbing code. He
took his case to the courts, and there
It was held that since the act giving
them authority to license plumbers
said nothing about taking the license
away, the Commissioners were power
less.
Summing this up, Mr. Stephens re-
marked tersely: "A lawyer, a doctor,
veterinarian, dentist. etc, may have
q license revoked under the proper
circumstances, but the plumber stands
IS grand exception"
The case of the plumber was Sc
lected as offering a clue to the source
of most Of the Commissioners diff
Guilty. The courts construe very mar
DWly any grant of power to the
Commissioners, whom they regard as
. purely administrative body.
Power Held Administrative.
"The court (of appeals) frequently
held" Mr.. Stephens wrote, that the
Commissioners were merely admins
trative officers Of the District and
that the municipality possessed no
powers that had not been granted in
express terms, and derived no author
ity from implications.
Although Congress has frequently
conferred powers on the Commission
ers. the grants have been in isolated
and specific instances, and there has
never been an attempt to grant broad
general powers covering all fields,
such as those granted to the Cen
oral Assembly in the act of 1870. A
chronological list of the powers shows,
tor some now forgotten reason, that
the powers granted started off with
the power to regulate pawnbrokers
(of whom there is none now doing
business in the DISTRICT, junk dealers
and second hand dealers. 1t even
took special act of Congress to en-
power the Commissioners to prohibit
dogs from roaming at large upon the
streets, and accordingly such an act
was passed
1t may seem incredible, but it was
not until 1919 that the Commissioners
we're given power to establish fees
oor inspection of fire escapes and ele-
Nators. A previous attempt to do
this without the protection of a spe-
Cial act of Congress had been de-
elared invalid in the courts.
Further Difficulties.
Aside from the strict construction
Of delegated powers. the Commis-
sioners frequently are blocked by the
fact that Congress, from time to time,
enters special field of regulation and
passes an act of Its own to regulate
the subject directly. Then the courts
will not allow any regulations by the
SfOutlllloolOIlClS VII GllC ouUJCtG
How far this may go is shown by
Mr.. Stephens citation Of case where
It was held the Commissioners had
no power to pass regulations providing
for removal of snow or ice from side
walks because Congress had already
passed an act on the subject, although
the courts had in three separate cases
held the act of Congress invalid.
To remedy the situation the King
bill proposes to give the Commissioners
power to adopt municipal regulations
upon any subject within the District
of Columbia to the extent that power
to make such regulations may, con-
sistently with the Constitution OF the
United States, be delegated to the
Commissioners" Then it gives the
Commissioners power to prescribe rea-
sonable punishments and finally pro-
vides that the Commissioners may
adopt regulations on subjects already
covered by act of Congress, so long
as the regulations and the acts do not
conflict.