Evening star., 1938-05-20
WOMEN DEMAND
VOTE IN DISTRICT
AS HEARING ENDS
Mrs. Doyle, President of
School Board, Among
Suffrage Backers.
TRADE BOARD REQUEST
PRESENTED AT HEARING
Grover w. Ayers and Others,
Appearing as individuals,
Voice Opposition.

Hearings on two pending joint reso-
lutions to provide suffrage for the
District of Columbia came to an end
today after organized womanhood
joined with other citizens in an i'm
passioned plea to the House judiciary
Committee for immediate favorable
action on the measures.
Chairman Hatton w. Summers. in
closing the hearings at / o'clock after
three days of testimony, complimented
the parade of witnesses on the fine
presentation" they had made.
The final plea of voteless Wash
ingtonians or the franchise was made
by Paul E. Lesh, a vice chairman of
the Citizens Joint Committee on Ma
tlonal Representation for the District
Of Columbia, who also had made one
of the opening addresses on behalf of
various organized groups.
Jesse c. Suter. another vice chair
man of the Citizens Joint Committee,
joined with Wilbur S. Finch, chair
man of the Citizens Conference on
District Suffrage, III thanking the
Judiciary Committee for its courtesy
and interest" Mrs E. Morgan Pryse
thanked the committee on behalf vi
the opposition.
Mrs. Doyle Makes Plea.
Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle, president
of the Board of Education and vice
chairman of the Citizens' Joint Com
mittee on National Representation for
the District of Columbia, was among
the feminine contingent which made a
stirring plea in behalf of voteIess adults
OF Washington and the younger gen.
GRAFTON which faces the prospect Of
being barred from complete citizenship
The judiciary Committee also heard
urgent statements by Mrs. Harris T.
Baldwin. first vice president, National
League of Women Voters; Mrs. Harvey
w. Wiley, vice chairman of the Citi-
zens' Joint Corlmittee; Mrs. Horace
J. Phelps of the D. c. Federation Of
Women's Clubs: Mrs. Louis Gutenberg,
president of the Voteless D. c. League
of Women Voters, and Mrs. Charles
H. Weston. chairman of the Depart
ment of Government of the Voteless
D. c. League of Women Voters.
Trade Board Makes Request.
Francis G. Addison, jr, president of
the Washington Board Of Trade. sub
mitted to the committee request, on
behalf of the Board of Trade, that the
Constitution be amended to provide
national representation in Congress
and in the electoral college for District
citizens, and to give them proper
recognition in United States courts.
Opposition to suffrage was voiced by
Grover w. Ayres, president Of the Ten
Mile Square Club; Admiral William L.
Rogers of the Dupont Circle Citizens
Association: Alfred D. Calvert, presi-
dent of the Lincoln Park Citizens
Association, and Mrs. Daniel Carroll,
appearing as an individual
Mrs. Doyle was applauded by spec
tators as she completed her impas-
stoned statement urging passage by
Congress of the Capper-Norton and
the Lewis-Randolph joint resolutions
providing for District suffrage.
Children of the District of Colum-
bia,' Mrs. Doyle declared. never see
their parents vote and they cannot
look forward to voting themselves.
Give us the opportunity to train our
children, by example. to be American
citizens in the full sense of the word
Denied Symbol of Liberty.
Mrs. Wiley decried the fact that the
youth of Washington are denied
fundamental symbol of American lib
erty, the ballot" She said she had
Just returned from an extended trip
| abroad, where she had seen many
youths being trained under Dictator
ships
Let me add" Mrs. Wiley said, that
| it would be a refreshing spectacle if
Congress would make it possible in
| Washington to train a new group OF
young people into the ways OF de-
mocracy.'
Mrs. Gutenberg was granted per-
mission by the committee to insert in
the records a sheaf of statements in
dorsing District suffrage, sent to her
by various women's organizations,
most of them affiliated with the Citi-
zens' Joint Committee on National
Representation.
She said Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait.
noted feminist, had expressed regret
that she could not come to the hear
ing and had promised to send the
committee a letter supporting the
cause of suffrage in Washington.
Mrs. Gutenberg also gave the COM
mittee message of Endorsement from
Mrs. ]. Borden Hartman, Democratic
national committeewoman for the Dis
trict, who is on her way to the Amer
ican Legation in Norway.
Mrs. Gutenberg, in summing up her
brief pleas for local votes, asserted that
the arguments which have been made
(See VOTE HEARING, Page A-30