Evening star., 1938-04-27
Suffrage
CONTINUED From Elrst Paoe

N>oAieAtAotd L Jill dSt.D
out the greatest possible vote" Satur.
day
Theodore Grape, president of ths
federation, declared its members were
in the fight to the hilt."
At the Central High School voting
station, arrangements have been made
to provide braille or oral ballot fol-
the blind.
Radio appeal to Washingtonians tc
turn out and vote was delivered last
night by Arthur Bernstein. represent
Ing the District Organizing Committee
United Federal Workers of America
affiliated with the c. l. o.
Mr.. Bernstein fatty denied that
voting in the Saturday referendum
would impair the right of Washing
tonians to vote in their home State.
In answer to questions raised by
Federal workers." declared Mr.. Bern
stein. I want to emphasize that par
ticipation in this referendum will in
no way affect the job status of civil
service employees Let me repeat, par
tlcipation In this referendum will in
no way affect your civil service status.
Suffrage in the District of Column
bia will in no way affect anv en-
ploye's status under the civil service
apportionment law. Voting for off,
GERS OF the city government of the
District will not necessarily impair
your right to vote in your home
State"
Charging that Congress paws too
little attention to District affairs to
vote intelligently on local problems,
Mr.. Bernstein pointed to the fact that
with the floor of the Senate almost
aoandoned-that body bv a vote of
to 0 decided in less than five minutes
to impose gross sales tax on the
residents of this city"
When the House District Commit
tee was confronted with raising addi-
tlonal revenue" he said, "it invited
local citizens to come and express
thelr views. Every witness, but one,
who appeared before the committee
to testify concerning the gross sales
tax which is being peddled under the
name OF business privilege tax
condemned its inequity and urged its
repeal. The committee, after months
OF careful study, unanimously recon-
mended progressive income tax
based on ability to pay.
what happened? Although for
more than two hours there were only
about so members of Congress on the
moor, listening to the debate, and
most of these appeared favorable to
the recommendation of the committee
when the roll call was taken, the
vote was found to be 1913 against and
81 for the income tax. Nearly 200
legislators who had not heard one
word Of the debate came swarming on
the floor to strike out the heart of the
tax bill"
Mr.. Bernstein charged that here
"both Federal workers and workers in
private Industry are left helpless, caught
between an executive branch which is
not responsible to us and a Legislature
which is haraSsed and burdened by
national matters and has not time to
be bothered by u.s." He pointed to the
public health system in the Capital
suffering from generation of neg
lect," to the District tax system which
he charged was completely regres-
sive."
This means, he explained, that
every tax in the District imposes q
proportionately heavier burden on per-
sons of low income than on person:
with high income"
This is taxation based not on
ability" he said, but on inability to
pay"
Inadequate housing and sanitary
regulations" he declared, have helped
to blacken the picture"
The speaker urged Washingtonians
to vote yes" on both questions Satur-
day. The questions are:
do you want the right to vote fol
officers of your own city government
in the District of Columbia?
do you want the right to vote fol
President and for members of Con.
gress from the District of Columbian