Evening star., 1941-01-24

oSlldGOl 1tCyllOlQo SllUWu
A f1orid-faced man lay in bed at
Naval Hospital today and declared
that the right to vote in the District
should be made a clean-cut issue
and should be provided through an
act of Congress.
He said he saw no reason for
beating around the bush about a
question as serious as taxation
without representation. He added
that he though the Federal Govern
ment was paying too little toward
the expense of the area 1t is using
as capital.
This, in effect, was the statement
of Senator Reynolds of North Caro-
lima. who yesterday accepted the
post of chairman of the Senate Dis
trict Committee. He spoke from the
bed in which he has been confined
with influenza for the last week.
Calls Traffic First Problem.
He said Washington's first prob
lem is the traffic toll and that, next
in Importance to this comes the
need for stadium.
THE idea of the Capital of our
country with 100000 population
and no stadium!" he deplored.
The sandy-haired Senator, whose
hobby is travel and whose daily
routine calls for Is minutes of set
ting-up exercises, is serious about
the next task that has been laid
upon his shoulders and considers it
an important post, mainly because it
has to do exclusively with the Dis
trict Of Columbia. He said the trou-
BILE with District problems Is that In
the past there has been "too much
conversation and too little action"
washington is an important CITY,"
he continued. 1T is the seat of our
National Government and it de-
serves serius thought. 1t is a center
of great significance nationally and
should be made the model for the
rest of the Nation
Seeks to Give Full Time.
Admitting that he never had had
experience with municipal organi-
zation before, he said the question
that gave him greatest worry on the
start was whether he would have
time to give the post all the consid-
Grafton it deserved.
The people of the District of
Columbia want action he said. "It
is my plan to get together with the
business and civic interests and to
get our minds set on one thing.
After we get that across, we can
start on others"
In addition to the traffic prob
lens and plans for a stadium, Sem
ator Reynolds talked of proposal
that Washington be made the tour
ist city of the world. He considers
this particularly vital because of
the points of interest the Capital
has to offer and because the tourist
business now ranks with the five
leading industries.
If he had his way he would make
it a requisite that all high school
pupils financially able to do so
should visit both their State and
National Capital before they are
graduated.
ITO increase her tourist travel,
Washington should encourage bet
ter roads leading into the CITY," he
said. "but once we get people here,
we don't want to kill them. WASH
ington has a definite obligation to
the rest of the country"
Hands OF" Patronage.
Senator Reynolds promised to be
impartial on all matters until they
have been threshed out in hear
ings. He said he would keep espe-
cially clear of the task of giving out
jobs, all of which he said should 60
to natives or bona f1de residents of
the District.
"I will have nothing to do with
patronage and will recommend no
one for job," he said. ITO use my
influence in this way will be the
easiest method by which to get my
self in jam and, as a result OF 1t,
I will be able to accomplish moth
ing"
All matters, he advised, should be
debated first in hearings among
business and civic groups and then
should be brought to the Capitol
in concrete form. This routine, he
assured, will be the best way in
which the public can accomplish an
objective.
He said this applied particularly
to the perennial fight of District
residents to obtain the right to vote.
They should bring the matter
to a head, decide what representa-
ton they want and then come to the
Capitol and demand it. If you fight
for everything, you get nothing.
Fight first for something on which
to build and then expand"
Urges Long Range Planning.
Senator Reynolds is worried about
the real estate situation in the Dis
trict of Columbia. He said there
should be some long-range planning
at present to keep Washington from
becoming "the ghost city of America"