The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-03
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
BY JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, April 2-Note to mldwestern
and western farmers: That grasshopper bloc
in the senate certainly is doing yeoman serv.
ice in your behalf. In true hopper fashion. it
gave the house economy bloc a 81 600, 900 KICK
in the seat of the pants.
That sent me skittering around to the de-
partment Of agriculture to find out what it's
all about and, if what 1 hear is true. that
boot may have a back-hreaking kickback.
It's this way: When the present fiscal-year
deficiency appropriation bill came up in the
house, the economy bloc allotted s. 1000, 900 for
grasshopper determination. That made the SEN
ate hopper bloc hopping mad and they raised
it 50, 1000, 900.
The catch, as I understand it, is that now
the bill, back in conference, will be subject
to some delay. And by the time it gets COM
promised in conference and back to both floors
and past the President, those leetle fellers may
be big ones. And what have you got then?
A crop loss, ranging anywhere from $50, 600, 900
into nine big figures!
If you want to put the heat on, you better
hurry. You know how and where.
The agriculture department tells me the
grasshopper census is almost complete and
will be announced soon if funds don't run out
completely. Some of the boys over there say
that it looks like last years prediction, which
did not pan out, will be justified this year:
The biggest hopper crop since the humming
'Nineties.
Question: What city of 600, 900 in this great
democracy doesn't have the privilege of voting
on anything?
Answer: Washington, D. c.
That's exactly how it is. Inhabitants of
Washington, where there is more politics than
in any other city in the world; where the ma.
tons democratic principles supposedly are
most deeply rooted; where there are more cleo.
tive officials per square inch than anywhere
else; can't even get a squint at the inside
of a voting booth.
The perennial battle to obtain suffrage for
the District Of Columbia is now at fever heat.
civic organizations and individuals
are lined up pro. Oddly enough, equally high.
minded citizens are lined up con.
A great many active scrappers get pretty
heated about it, feeling that the district should
have it's two senators, a couple of representa-.
tives, and the privilege of city self-government.
Opponents are less active but pretty numer-
GUS. They feel that Washington is one of the
best and cleanest governed cities in the coun-
try and that granting suffrage to the district
would merely open it to all the graft and cor.
ruption which has, at times, beset nearly every
sizeable city in the land.
Besides, a great many Washington residents
some who have been here as much as 20
years-maintain voting domiciles in other
states and mail their votes home when nation.
al elections come around. That gives them
SoAA0 poAAIANoA weight l1om d. COuSrGSSlOudI
and they feel that is sufficient to
keep congress in line so far as their local
is concerned.
The district is governed by a commission,
of three members appointed by the
Bosh house and senate have District
Of Columbia committees who recommend the
measures which govern and provide revenue
for the district. Opponents of district suffrage
say it's a system that can't be beat.
Note to the Duke Of Saxe-Coburg: On your
recent visit, you threw one German agency
a veritable other.
Loyal Nazis that they are, they were in a
sweat for fear you would 60 home and tell
the folks that they were very careless in Sc
Letting their neighbours.
That day when you visited their offices,
maybe you didn't notice the six-foottwo men,
Der OF the staff who stood against the glass
door of the office next to theirs. He
stood there when you entered; stood there
when you left and gave that Hell Hitler sa.
each time.
When he moved, he disclosed the cause of
their shame, for written across the glass was
the name of their non-Aryan neighbor: Isaac
Aaronsky.