Evening star., 1939-04-11
Revised Griffenhuqen Plan

Revised Griffenhogen Plan
The revised Griffenhagen recon-
mendations for reorganization of the
District government, rewritten as a
tentative bill for the study of the
Kennedy subcommittee, make certain
concessions rejecting the comment
and suggestions of citizens bodies
and propose other changes which go
farther than might have been an
ticipated in the delegation of powers
to the proposed District Council
the municipal governing body.
The council would be representa-
tive of Washington citizens, whether
appointed by the President or elected.
The choice between the alternative
methods of selection is left, as mat
ter of policy, to Congress. But in
each case council members would be
restricted to Washingtonians of three
years bona fide residence, as in the
case of the Commissioners under the
present system.
Certain concessions are found, in
addition, in the case of citizens
boards, notably the Board of Educa-
ton and the Board of Trustees of the
Public Library. Each of these is given
more effective authority than under
the original draft of the recon-
mendations. But each is deprived of
some of the powers they now possess
and have exercised under the tradi-
tional conception of the semi-inde-
pendence of these two municipal in
stitutions.
In delegation of powers to the Dis
trict Council, the recommendation
60 beyond the ordinance-making so
often discussed and confer upon the
council full powers in local taxa
ton, local appropriations, franchise
granting and "all municipal powers
within and without the territorial
area of the District that may be rea-
sonably necessary and proper for the
government and regulation of its
inhabitants and its local affairs = -"
The delegation of such powers to
the proposed municipal government
does not, of course, deprive Congress
of its exclusive powers" of legisla-
tion and any act of Congress would
supersede the acts of the proposed
iof '1f
gress could change the whole struc-
ture of the proposed municipal gov
ernment at any time Congress chose
to exercise its unquestioned SOW
ereignty.
While the revised recommended
tions, now in tentative legislative
form, will continue to be the subject
for further careful study in and out
of Congress, they pose at least three
questions which might be considered
as fundamental.
l. The proposed municipal gov
ernment, partially f-determining
and representative of local citizens,
would remain under the control of
Congress-, which is probably desir-
able and which at any rate cannot
be avoided. But can the full bene-
fits of local self-government ever
hope to be achieved without the
representation in Congress, the su-
preme legislature, which is the privi-
lege of every other American in the
continental and contiguous United
States except those who live in the
District?
2. Entirely aside from the political
aspects of the Griffenhagen recon-
mendations (Which, of course, are
properly left to Congress) would Dis
trict citizens, given the right to ex-
press themselves, choose the govern
ing machinery proposed by Griffen-
hagen & Associates, which scraps the
commission form of government; or
would they prefer the Prettyman and
other plans which, utilizing the ex-
listing commission system, strengthen
it by new powers and functional
IllS lletu 1Ul W1llCll
has been demonstrated by actual ex-
perience?
3. The Griffenhagen plan borrows
some features of the old Jacobs rec
concentrations and provides for the
arrangement between the District
and Federal agencies of "contractual
services" on cash basis While it
has been shown that the services
rendered the National Government
by the District exceed those rem
dered by the National Government
to the District government, the mu-
nicipal government standing to re-
ceive in cash more than it pays in
the exchange of such services, the
District would be confronted with a
grave threat if this arrangement
were made in lieu of other Federal
payment for maintenance and de-
velopment of the District. No new
organic act for the District can stop
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