Evening star., 1934-12-30
Mr.. Prettyman's Bill.


briefly summarizes the provisions of
his proposed bill as designed to ac-
complish the three-fold purpose of
clarifying the powers already possessed
by the Commissioners, of specifically
adding to such powers and of making
''the Commissioners in fact the gov
ernmental executives of the District" I"
The bill is presumably an amplifled
version of the King bill, introduced in
the past session of Congress, to
broaden the powers of the Commits
sioners.
Enlargement of the powers Of the
Commissioners in connection with mu-
nicipal ordinance and regulation is a
matter usually associated with the
time-wasting legislative processes now
necessary to accomplish, through acts
Of Congress, what many believe should
be done by the Board of Commission
ers. The relatively trivial District
legislation which Congress must pass
in every session has been a matter of
criticism, and even ridicule, for many
years. 1t has been the hope of men,
bers Of Congress, as well as officials
of the District, that Congress might
delegate more quasi-legislative powers
to the Commissioners, thus relieving
Congress of trivial detail.
But there is question of the extent
to which Congress may delegate pow
ers which, under the Constitution,
are exclusively reserved to itself. This
complicates task which many might
conceive as being a matter of COM
paratively simple legislation. There
are decisions which still remain un-
reversed in the courts sharply limit
ing the power of Congress to delegate
legislative functions, and there may
be difficulty in drawing a line be-
tween the delegation of legislative
power and the delegation of power of
municipal regulation. AS for the
latter, there is little doubt that such
delegation must be definite and
specific. 1t would be by all means
advisable, with or without the new
legislation, to have instituted a test
case N the local courts which might
be carried to the United States Su-
preme Court, the result of which
would be to produce q clear under
standing of where the delegating pow
ers Of Congress in the District end
under the Constitution. The opinion
has been expressed by leaders of the
local bar that in a test case the
Supreme Court would find that Con-
gress has broader powers of delega-
ton than were admitted by the old
decisions.
The bills other objective would be
to enlarge the power of the Comnis-
sioners over certain boards, such as
the Board of Education and the
Board Of Public Welfare, by giving the
Commissioners authority to direct or
prohibit" action by any official, COM
mittee, commission, board or agency
financed in whole or in part from
District revenues, whenever in their
judgment such direction or prohibi-
ton is advisable in the public interest"
Mr.. Prettyman contends that such
power might be seldom, if ever, used,
and that the Commissioners would
continue present boards as admins
trative agencies "in control of their
respective fields" But it is of course
idle to maintain that power impor-
tant enough TO be sought would not
be used, or that, shorn Of powers they
now possess, the boards would in
reality continue "in control of their
respective fields"
The Commissioners would be in
control. And, aside from the ques-
ton whether the Commissioners
would ever be given veto or other
power over such agencies as the Ma
tional Capital Park and Planning
Commission or the National Geological
Park-both of which are mainly sup
ported by District revenues, appointed
members of the commission being
selected by the President and the
Board OF Regents of the Smith
sonian being selected by Congress
with the approval of the Presi-
dent-the whole, broad policy of
control by citizens boards in the
District is involved. 1t is impossible
to have your cake and eat it too. It
is impossible to continue the demon
strably beneficial control by citizens
boards in the District, on the one
hand, and on the other to delegate
powers of direction and prohibition
over them to tine Commissioners.
Citizens boards are more essential in
Washington than anywhere else In
q community without representation
in its government, municipal or ma
tional, it is essential that every con-
ceivable method should be employed
of interesting the community in its own
affairs and of fostering public spirit
and civic loyalty by giving the people
a maximum of indirect participation
through these citizens boards and
otherwise in their own municipal gov
ernment. To take away the partial
independence possessed by these
boards now might be to destroy them,
or to relegate them merely to the posi-
ton Of advisory bodies, with no real re-
sponsibility-for Mr.. Prettyman ex-
plains that the responsibility would