Evening star., 1944-07-21
Plank
For DC. Voted
By Democrats
Approval Is Given
After HiIdreth Leeds
lust-Minute Fiqht
BY WILL p. KENNEDY,
Star staff CORRESPONDENT

SsA& 0tHAl OOTIcSpOnQeut
CHICAGO, July 2l.-The Demo.
cratic party for the second time has
declared in its platform that it ia
vors granting suffrage to the resi-
dents Of the District of Columbia.
A plank by the Platform Commit
tee and approved last night by the
convention after a persistent fight
waged by Melvin D. Hildreth, Dis
trict member of the Platform Com
mittee, declares:
We favor the extension of the
right OF suffrage to the people of the
District of Columbia.
The plank was drafted as part of
a general declaration dealing with
the problems of the several terri
tories, but the platform would have
been sent to the convention floor
without it had it not been for an
eleventh-hour drive, engineered by
Mr.. Hildreth, District delegates
agreed.
No Mention Of District.
When the drafting subcommittee
of IL laid its report before the full
Platform Committee YESTERDAY
morning, Mr.. Hildreth saw that the
drafters, in their efforts to reduce
the platform to postcard size" had
omitted any reference to the Dis
trlct. the territories or insular pos
sessions.
He Immediately asked Representa-
tive Mccormack of Massachusetts,
Platform Committee chairman, if
1T would be in order to name a SUBJ
committee to make recommenda-
tions dealing with the District and
the territories. Mr. Mccormack
agreed and named Mr.. Mildreth
chairman and Stanley j. Nichols of
Alaska, Judge William r. Heen of
Hawaii and Frank Antonsanki of
Puerto Rico to serve with him.
Alter rejecting a recommendation
by the Puerto Rican delegate that
the plank provide commonwealth
status and a plebiscite for Puerto
Rico. the subcommittee ran into op-
position on the full committee
Senator Green of Rhode Island and
Miss Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of
the mint, argued against a suffrage
plank.
After another huddle, the SUBJ
committee returned, only to find a
sharp contest in progress over the
Women's rights plank. It was at
that point that Mr.. Mccormack
again stepped in He sidetracked
the equal rights fight and obtained
iuil committee approval of the suf-
frage plank.
Mccormack. Randolph Praised.
District delegates were high in
their praise of Mr.. Mccormack,
Chairman Randolph of the House
District Committee, who came here
to present the suffrage
plank to the committee; Senators
of Wyoming, McCarran
OF Nevada. Truman of Missouri.
Hatch OF New Mexico and Pepper
OF Florida, and Representatives
Mary T. Norton of New JERSEY and
DAlesandro of Maryland. all of
whom aided in getting the plank
approved.
A similar plank was adopted at
the 1910 Democratic convention.
Mr.. Hildreth, in arguing the Dis
trlcts cause before the committee
pointed out that even l43 years ago
washington residents were bemoan-
ing their prospective disenfranchise-
ment and exclusion from participa-
ton in national elections. He QUOT
ed from a pamphlet concerning the
government of the Territory of
Columbia" published in 1901 by A.
B Woodward, as follows:
This body of people is as much
entitled to the enjoyment of the
rights of citizenship as any other
part OF the people of the United
States. There can exist no necessity
for their ACKNOWLEDGMENT, no
necessity for them to repose on the
mere generosity of their country
men to be protected from TYRANNY.
to mere spontaneous attention for
tne regulation of their interests.
Ihey are entitled to a participation
IN the general councils on the prin-
clples OF equity and reciprocity"
emphasizing that "the people of
the District have been fighting for
principle for nearly a century and
a half" Mr.. Hildreth pointed out
that only in the last four years has
great national political party come
TO their support by declaration in
the party platform.
Strong Effort Needed,
Mr.. Hildreth declared an intensive
and persistent effort must now he
made to win national representation
After nearly $50 years of serving
an ideal we are at last approach
ing the Climax" he said. If there
Is anything to the truism that per-
severance conquers, here is a definite
example. 1t means that to succeed
IN this matter we cannot accept the
first Mo-
If we had agreed to the report
OF the subcommittee on platform
there would have been no plank for
the District in the platform and the
gain made four years ago would
have been lost. But we fought for
and compelled the addition of this
plank during the morning hours
For the first time in history we have
national convention repeating a
recommendation for suffrage for the
District. We must now take full ad-
vantage OF that repetition, and we
have most certainly earned the right
to demand that platform pledge be
translated into action.
The war has highlighted the
tragic injustice Of depriving our
fighting youths of the right to ex-
press themselves at the polls. If it
is wrong to keep the Southern Negro
or the Southern poor white from
voting, although we demand that
they serve in the armed forces, it is
just as wrong to deny the youth in
the District ulo corvoc L., <I,o ,,.,,. =