Evening star., 1937-01-01
Head of House Committee
Predicts Passage of Bene.
ficial Measures.
"RED RIDER" REPEAL
LEADS HER FORECASTS
Also Expects Congress to Give At.
tention to National Repre-.
sentation for Capital.
BY JAMES E. CHINN.

Optimistically, Chairman Norton Of
the House District Committee pre-
diets that the Seventy-fifth Congress
will give Washington "a square deal"
I'm not a crystal gazer or a for
tune teller" she said, but I'm con-
f1dent the new Congress is going to
give the Nations Capital the legisla-
tion and the funds it needs to en-
hance its beauty and make 1t model
for the Nation"
As far as the legislative angle is
concerned, Mrs. Norton has many
ambitious plans-plans designed to
give the District many of the i'm
provements for which 1t has been
fighting for years.
First. Mrs. Norton expects the new
Congress to repeal the so-called red
rider" to the 1886 District appropria-
ton act which will restore academic
freedom to the class rooms of the
public schools.
Plea for District Suffrage.
Second, she believes an attentive
ear will be turned toward the plea for
national representation for the dis
franchised residents of the District.
Third, she feels that Congress will
increase the Federal payment toward
District expenses and definitely settle
the perennial controversy over the
fiscal relations problem between the
Federal and District governments.
Fourth. Mrs. Norton is hopeful Of
final solution of the 10-year old mu-
nicipal airport controversy.
Fifth, she expects Congress to enact
legislation humanizing juvenile court
procedure, as well as legislation
giving the Metropolitan Police De-
partment the authority it has asked
to break up the so-called numbers
racket"
Mrs Norton pointed out that under
her plan to abolish standing sub
committees in the new Congress. Dis
trict legislation will be expedited and
the situation which existed during the
last Congress will be eliminated.
Work Of Last Session.
Altogether, only % regular Dis
trict bills went through the House
and Senate in the last session of the
Seventy-fourth Congress, compared
with 81 at the first session." said
Mrs. Norton. by comparison, the
initial session did a far better job,
not only in the number of bills passed,
but in the quality of the legislation
as well.
TO the first session must 60 credit
for passing such important measures
as the financial responsibility law for
motorists. a modern divorce law and
the social security act. All the second
session has to look back on in the
way Of outstanding and important
District legislation is the act creating
a special commission to select a site
for the long-proposed municipal air.
port. a bill authorizing merger of the
Washington and Georgetown Gas
Light Companies and an amendment
to the traffic act giving the Commits
sioners authority to revoke the per-
mits Of nonresident drivers who vio-
late District traffic regulations"
Mrs. Norton explained that the
House was largely to blame for the
comparatively poor showing of the
second session. Six so-called Dis
trict days." she said, were lost for one
reason or another. And three more
were virtually wasted by a filibuster
over the Ellenbogen rent control bill
which was finally killed by a House
vote.
Battles Over Sisson Bill.
The Ellenbogen bill was not alone
as fight provoker," said Mrs Nortor
For sheer bitterness and duration.
battles over the Sisson bill to repeal
the red rider were in class by them
selves"
Mrs. Norton also pointed out it took
three and half months to get the
1887 District appropriation bill out of
Congress and on President Roosevelt's IS
desk because Of the old controversy
over the amount of the Federal obli-
cation toward District expenses. As
the bill finally emerged, however, it
represented, she said, one of the most
important in recent years, despite The
fact that the amount of the Federal
lump sum payment was trimmed to
$4,000, 900.
But coupled with that low
amount" said Mrs. Norton, was tile
guarantee of a study by an impartial
commission of fiscal relations between
the Federal and District governments,
which may end the controversy over
the Federal payment"
Mrs. Norton declared the record of
the first session with respect to pro-
duction and quality of District legisla-
ton likewise was true with respect to
the production Of sensationalism.
"The District Committee in the first
session." she said, made newspaper
headlines with its crime investigation
and airport hearings. The second ses-
sion produced only one major inquiry
the one that a special subcommittee
of the District Committee made of the
traf1ic situation"
Mrs. Roosevelt
Joins New York
Newspaper Guild
BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, January 1.-The
First Lady is a member of the