Evening star., 1938-12-23
Randolph Seeks
CommitteeWith
City Viewpoint
Home-RuIe' Friend
Accepts Post as
D. 6. Chairman
By JAMES E. CHINN.

With Representative Jennings
Randolph, Democrat of West Vir-
ginia, at the helm of the District
Committee, House leaders planned
today to reorganize the membership
and strengthen it with men who
have metropolitan viewpoint of
how the capital city of the nation
should be operated.
Long an advocate of both "home
rule" and national representation
for the disfranchised residents of
the District, Mr.. Randolph i'm
pressed on House leaders before
taking the Craftsmanship that, pend
Ing the grant of the franchise, the
District Committee should at least
be more responsive than in the past
to the wishes of the voteless tax
payers.
Reorganization of the committee
will start soon after the new Con-
gress convenes January 3. There
are already seven vacancies due to
the November general election and
prior designations. Several of the
members who were reelected are
seeking assignments on other COM
mittees, and if they are successful,
nearly one-half of the committee
; membership will be new in the COM
Ing session.
Urges Municipal Experience.
All that Mr.. Randolph has re-
quested is that these vacancies, if
possible, be filled with new members
who have had some experience with
the problems of municipality.
Representative Randolph decided
late yesterday to accept the District
committee Craftsmanship after Rep
resentative Ambrose j. Kennedy,
Democrat of Maryland who was
entitled to it by virtue of seniority.
turned it down. The craftsmanship
vacancy was due to defeat in the
November election of Representative
Vincent L. Palmisano, Democrat
of Maryland.
To become head of the District
committee, Mr.. Kennedy would have
been forced to give up the chair
manship of the more important
Claims Committee, as House rules
forbid member from heading two
committees.
Although Representative Kennedy
told The Star several weeks ago it
was not his inclination" to take
the District committee chairman
ship, he did not reach a final de-
cision until after a conference yes
terday with Mr.. Randolph. and
Speaker Bankhead.
Take Views To Speaker.
For nearly an hour Mr.. Kennedy
and Mr.. Randolph discussed the
Craftsmanship question. But before
either would make a formal an
nouncement Of their respective
plans they sought the approval of
the speaker.
While turning down the chairman
ship, Mr.. Kennedy intends to re-
main on the committee to handle
District government reorganization
legislation in the new Congress. Mr..
Randolph said he would apoint Mr..
Kennedy chairman of special sub
committee on reorganization.
4 The reorganization legislation is
now being drawn up by a Chicago
firm of municipal engineers headed
by E. o. Griffenhagen, which made
an exhaustive study of the present
District government administrative
set-up during the summer. This
survey was financed by a congress
sional appropriation for which Mr..
Kennedy was largely responsible.
He believes reorganization will in
crease efficiency at the District
Building and at the same time save
taxpayers thousands of dollars a
year.
Mr.. Randolph. who will take over
Craftsmanship of the committee as
soon as Congress convenes, has been
an active member of the District
group ever since he was elected six
years ago.
Headed investigations.
Aside from sponsoring many bills
designed to improve conditions in
the District, he headed special sub
committees that investigated crime
conditions several years ago, and
more recently the ownership of the
Capital Transit Co.
Representative Randolph is one
OF the younger mebers of the House.
He will not be 81 until March 8,
next year. Before starting politi-
cal career he was a newspaper re-
porter in West Virginia, and headed
the department of public speaking
and Journalism of Davis -Elkins Col
lege. where he also was director of
athletics.
His chief legislative contribution
Tor the benefit of the District in the
last Congress was a resolution which