Evening star., 1939-02-19
Rough Water Ahead
For Griffenhagen Plan.

The present indications are
that the plans for a reorgani-
zation of the government for the
District of Columbia, contained
in the Griffenhagen report, will
encounter considerable opposi-
ton from the civic forces. In
the first place, it is seen that an
effort to inject the local suffrage
issue into the consideration of
the plans may bring about con-
troversy which will block the
matter completely This appears
to be recognized by Representa-
tive Kennedy. chairman of the
subcommittee to which the plan
has been referred He has an
nounced his desire to avoid the
raising of the suffrage question
even though he is an acknoWl-
edged supporter of local suffrage.
The proposal of the plan to
abolish the control of the schools
and libraries by boards of local
citizens and the absence of any
residential qualifications being
prescribed for the proposed coun-
Gil, the administrator. the sew
eral directors and the personnel
would, to all intents and pur-
poses, be creating a Federal
agency to govern the District.
This agency would be in many
ways similar to a Federal depart
ment except that its head would
not be in the Presidents cabinet.
A study of the report and the
plan impresses civic leaders that
there is much merit in many of
the proposed consultations and
changes in the business setup.
There is, however, a growing and
militant opposition to some of
the organization features which,
1t is expected, will form serious
obstacles to favorable action by
Congress unless radical modifica-
tlons are made.
The resignation from the Board
of Education of Henry I. Quinn
for the avowed purpose of fight
ing the proposal to change COM
pletely the control of the public
schools is fair sample of the
opposition which is being crys-
tallized. Mr.. Quinn has been a
hard worker on the Board of
Education and has earned his
spurs as a civic fighter of ability
and persistence. He played a
prominent part in saving the
Board of Education from extinc-
ton several years ago and is re-
garded as a trained veteran who
Is familiar with the education
problem and has the courage to
lead in the impending contest.
The numerous reorganization
plans OF the past few years have
never reached the stage of seri-
Gus discussion by a committee of
Congress. In some of the civic
groups there is a desire that the
pending plan may be used as a
basis for careful discussion and
study and that it may be whipped
into such shape as to be accept
able as an improvement over the
present setup. The outcome would
be expected to be a local govern
ment much improved in efficiency
and economy with resulting saw
lngs to the taxpayer, even though
by no means ideal from a local
control standpoint.
With such an improved busi-
ness organization, with the reten-
ton OF the citizen control over the
schools and libraries and a home
rule. District Offices filled by Dis
trict people. it is difficult for some
to see any impairment of the
pending campaigns for both local
suffrage and national representa-
ton. To change such a modern
lied local government to one with
elective officers would be a COM
paratively simple process and
give a far greater assurance of
success than if attempted In one
stroke