Evening star., 1934-11-18
Civic Problems, Civic Bodies
General approval Greets Commissioner Proposal
for Modified Municipal Center at This Time.
Vigilance Committees Handicapped BY Name.


most interesting actions on this
matter. While approving the
action Of the federation and the
appointment of committees in
other sections, 1t does not approve
such committee in that area be-
cause of the absence of need and
the ample police protection in
Park View.
District People
For District Offices.
n UMORS persist that present
X District officials are to be
replaced with political ap-
pointees from the States. This
has prompted the Society Of Ma
tives of the District of Columbia
to reiterate its traditional stand
that District Offices should be
filled by bona fide residents Of the
District. The present health Of
f1cer, DR.. William c. Fowler, a
native Washingtonian, retires this
month and there are indications
that the Office will go to an out
slider. 1t has been said that there
appears to be no one in the Dis
trict competent to fill the job.
DR.. Fowler's predecessor, DR..
Woodward, also native, was rec
ognized as so competent health
officer as to be given a much better
position in a larger city. A COM
munity which has produced such
medical and public health talent
as the late DR.. Bailey Ashford
and others who might be men,
toned Is suspected by many Of
our civic leaders as able To pro-
duce as competent a man as Is
to be found elsewhere.
These rImors also cover the di-
rector Of vehicles and traffic and
the director of public Fairgrounds.
The incumbent in the first Office
was brought here from Pennsyl-
vania because of his established
reputation as traffic expert. It
may be that no serious objection
should be raised II he should be
supplanted by another outsider of
a supposedly different political
faith. In this connection there
have been heard suggestions that
the political faith of director Of
traffic can have no possible con-
nection with the large number of
fatal traffic accidents.
The third officer, BY rumor
slated to be supplanted by an out
sider, Is Washington woman, a
product Of our public schools, a re-
spected and eficient high school
teacher and school of1cial before
her appointment at the head Of
the Playground Department. Her
duties are purely local and with
our local children and young
people. Just why she should be
replaced for political reasons in q
voteless and unrepresented COM
munity Is not clear to many Of the
citizens groups interested in such
recreation activities.
Contained in the additional
views Of Senator John D. Works Of
California In the report of the
Joint Select Committee Of Con-
gress on Fiscal Relations in 1915,
Is a paragraph Of real interest in
connection with the threatened i'm
portation Of official talent from the
States. 1t is as follows: There
are a number of officers appointed
by the President and the Commits
sioners of the District whose du-
ties are confined TO local affairs.
1t has been the custom to select
for these offices men from the
States. This, in my Judgment,
should not be allowed No man
from California or Massachusetts
or North Carolina or any other
State should be appointed to an
Office, the duties Of which are con-
fined to the District of Columbia
and It's affairs. Such officers
should be appointed from the Dis
trict."
Those who might claim this to
be Republican doctrine are re-
minded that the few times the Dis
trict of Columbia has been men,
toned In the national Democratic
platform the language on this same
subject has been almost identical
with the utterance of Senator
Works. Local Democrats have re-
Gently been heard to affirm this as
sound doctrine, as have also other
local people who persist In calling
themselves Republicans.