Evening star., 1939-11-30
Commissioners
StudyViews on
Reorganization
Meet to Crystalline
Opinions on Plan
To Recommend
By DON S. WARREN.

Members of the Board OF Com
missioners today came to grips with
the problem of what ,o recommend
as their personal cnoice in re-
organization, of the municipal gov
ernment, for consideration by Con-
gress at the next session.
With thousands of words of argu-
ments from spokesmen for we'll over
SO organized civic, professional, well
fare and business groups before
them, they met this morning with
members of their Kitchen cabinet"
to begin a review of the whole pic
ture.
How soon they might act on any
of the points at issue was not lndl-
Gated as the session began. Men,
bers of the Commissioners Com
mittee on Reorganization are Ell
wood H. Seal, corporation counsel;
Mai. Daniel j. Donovan. auditor;
Capt H C. Whitehurst director of
highways, and Richmond B. Keech,
vice chairman of the Public Utilities
Commission.
Suffrage Demand Voiced.
Perhaps the most reiterated de-
mand voiced al the three days of
public hearings was for suffrage,
with many calling for an elected
city council which would select a
city manager. There was not a
unanimous declaration on this score,
however, from civic spokesmen, al
though it was predominant.
Aside from this issue, there was
an evident weight of opinion in
favor of retaining the Department
of Vehicles and Traffic as a Sepa-
rate agency; keeping the supervisory
control of municipal hospitals in
the Health Department.; continual
tion Of the Board of Tax Appeals as
now constituted, and substantial
support for freedom of the District
budget estimates from domination
by the Federal Budget Bureau, and
for creation of municipal Depart
ment of Labor
There was considerable opposition
to a suggestion that the Board of
Commissioners be given power to
levy taxes, although support was
given to proposals that other
powers of the Commissioners be
enlarged, which would relieve Con-
gress of the bother of passing on
many minor items
William Mex. Clayton. veteran
civic leader and past president of
the Federation of Citizens Asso-
Citations, who spoke as a representa-
tive of the Brightwood Citizens
Association, gave fortnight support
to the commission form of govern
ment, in staetment near the close
OF yesterdays hearing.
Urges Elective Commissioners.
He urged the Commissioners to
60 to Congress with a proposal to
permit the residents of the Dis
trict to elect the two civilian men,
bers Of the Board of Commissioners.
1--WE of BrightWood," he said, in
dorse the commission form and op-
pose any other form We believe
strongly that the services of officers
Of the Engineer Corps of the Army
should be retained as Engineer Com
missioners. Washington should not
forget that this is the National City.
1t should be remembered also that
the record of the District Govern
ment is unsurpassed in the annals
OF other cities of the country"
Should the plan of electing the
two civilian members fail to prove
satisfactory, Mr. Clayton said the
system easily could be changed back
to the present system. He declared
his group would be willing to pay
$4,000 year for two elected
civilian Commissioners, but not $500
year for appointed civilian Com
missioners.
More blunt opposition to pro-
posals for council-city manager
form OF government came from A..
D. Calvert, spokesman for the Lin
coin Park Citizens Association, who
declared against suffrage as we'll
He charged there was a "shrewdly
organized attempt made at the
hearing to stampede" the Commits
sioners in this regard by "Commu-
nists, masquerading as suffragists."
Mr.. Calvert declared the city
manager plan was "unthinkable ~
He argued that the District was a
Government reservation to all
intents and purposes and should
be governed as SUCH
Hospital Jurisdiction Defended,
Leifur Magnusson. appearing as a
representatives of the Monday Eve
ming Club, spoke briefly for keeping
jurisdiction over the municipal hos
pitfalls in the Health Department,
instead of transferring the control
back to the Board of Public Welfare
He also voiced favor for a city
manager type of government. The
commission form also could be re-
tanned, he said, although the munic-
ipal council was considered the best
background for city manager.
Belford V. Lawson. a spokesman
for the Joint Citizens Committee of
the District, proposed creation of a
criminal division in the law de-
partment to take over prosecutions
of offenses against the District, and
suggested some provision be made
for creation of a behavior clinic in
connection with court procedure. He
suggested also that domestic rela-
tions problems such as requirement
of payment of maintenance sums
for dependents, be placed under the
proposed combination city court
He said he saw no reason for crea-
ton of a new corporation depart
ment and urged that the existing
insurance department be continued
and that its powers be strengthened
George A. Parker, for the Wash
ington Bar Association, urged ap-
proval of the suffrage movement
and opposed any curtailment of the
authority of the recorder of deeds
He objected to the proposals for TAX
ing from this unit the recording of
corporation charters and the record
ing of liens on motor vehicles.