Evening star., 1936-06-24

million men and women of the District
gladly will drop their valiant fight for
equal rights. Look this broad land of
ours completely over and you will find
nothing that strikes more viciously at
the precepts Of American government.
Stand Up and Demand Rights.
You see now why we no longer plead.
You see and understand now why We
stand up and demand our right to be
represented in the Congress of the
United States. Taxation without rep
resentation was tyranny in ITS.
1t still is.
In America the vote is withheld from
idiots, criminals, tramps and beggars.
Is it fair, then, to class with this mot
ley array a District wherein illit-
eracy, for instance, has been reduced
to the infinitesimal figure of a little
over l per cent? States and cities
whose illiteracy rate runs as high as
five to ten times as much as the Dis
trict's are sending their spokesmen 10
Congress whose doors are barred to
those Americans whose only crime was
to have been born, or adopted by, the
most beautiful Capital in the world.
Public school attendance of children
in Washington came to almost SO per
cent, while the average for the United
States was slightly over 95 per cent in
1880. Only Albany, N. Y, in the East
approaches the Districts never-ending
right to bring the light of education
to the masses. The native or con-
verted Washingtonian, who is classed
at polling time with the basest ele-
mentS in the land, is in truth more
qualified to vote with dignity and I'M
derstanding than the product of any
other region in America. Your Wash
ingtonian perpetually lives in an at
mosphere that qualities him to speak
with intelligence on the needs of the
Nation. He. who is held speechless by
an outdated law. stands at what
amounts to the cross roads Of America.
Washington is the pulse of the coun-
try's public opinion. The disenfran-
chised natives, for instance, buy more
newspapers than % of the States and
more periodicals than AZ Of the States.
Only Three Factors.
There are really only three factors
to be considered in deciding on whether
community is qualified to exercise
the privilege of the vote. First: Educa-
ton and experience of the citizens
that is, have they the ability to use
suffrage reasonably well? Second: Size
and population of the community-is
it of sufficient importance to warrant
representation? Third: Wealth and
income of the community-has it the
means to pay its fair share of the cost
of government?
To reiterate our compelling figures
the District of Columbia bows to no
city and certainly no State in the mat
ter of learning. AS for the second con-
dition, it houses more people than any
of eight States and has greater popu-
lation now than any State had save
Oklahoma had when admitted to the
Union and, thirdly, 1t not only pays
more national taxes than any one of
% of the States, but pays more ma
tional taxes alone than the amount
which the combined 13 original States
so adamantly refused to pay to Eng
land. The total wealth of the District
of Columbia is 1880, 100000. That
figure is as great as the total wealth
of eight States-combined
Only the cities of New York, Phila-
Io1,,hio fyhinono pafroit orl
geles exceed its $1,250,000, 900 realty
assessments.
Do Not Ask Full Right.
We do not even ask for our full right.
District of Columbians are content
with their tri-cornered type of city
government, three presidentially ap-
pointed men under whom come all Dis
trict agencies. But we do want, and
know we are fitted for, voice in ma
tional affairs in our country. We hold,
and always will, that depriving us of
the right to send our representatives
to the Capitol makes of the word
democracy" nothing short of a hollow
mockery. There is no capital in the
civilized world where qualified citizens
have been forced to remain politically
buried by general denial of the fran
chise.
The right Of community to select
men and women to speak its mind in
Congress is the prime principle of
Democratic government. If, as our
forefathers believed, this Government
must derive its just power from the
consent of the governed, then a half
million vital and intelligent citizens
living in the District of Columbia are
not Americans. Their consent has
never been asked. wish very sincerely
that you might trade places with me
for day. It is my privilege to serve
the District in an official capacity that