Evening star., 1946-10-30
Letters to The Star
Readers Give Their Views
On District Plebiscite
TO the Editor Of The star:

TO the Editor Of The star:
Asking the questions in the proposed
District plebiscite could be compared
with asking a group Of small children
II they each would like to eat q fiye-
pound box Of candy at once. Nine out
Of ten would say "yes" but the tenth
would probably think OF the results,
such as a stomach ache and say mo"
Some cities are like children that don't
know what's good for them.
LAWRENCE r. HUDSON.
To the Editor Of The star:
In some curious way 1t seems that
the people who are, for some reasons Of
their own. permanent residents Of the
District, feel that they should take
charge of the District, through the vote.
The short and conclusive answer to
that position is that this District is the
Federal home of all the people in the
United States This District was not,
like the various States, created for the
permanent residents thereof 1t was
created solely for the people who would
be concerned with or engaged in mat
ters OF Federal Government. It was to
be place for them to stay in connection
with their work for the Government or
their business Herewith
GEORGE w. WILLIAMS.
To the Editor Of The Star:
In his letter in last Fridays Star,
George Bond Cochran presented 4 sad
prospect for the rest Of the country IN
being deprived of the inestimable bene-
fits of having the control of their local
affairs filtered through the process Of
national election He didn't say whether
he thought the District should partici-
pate in the national elective process
through which the Districts local con-
troll now is filtered. Yet haven't heard
of any community In the States which,
having that boon Of national participa-
ton which the District now seeks, has
expressed any interest in having nom
elective local government modelled as
nearly as may be after the unique situ-
alton Of the District. Perhaps they would
rather bear the Ills they have, or perhaps
they are not aware that Washington
now enjoys the most admirable munich
pal administration in the country"
against which few. II any, complaints
are heard" as Mr. Cochran describes 1t.
Whatever may be ones opinion of the
merits of complaints, or Of the causes
and remedies for the conditions COM
planned of, there certainly have been
many complaints about what the Dis
trict government does or doesn't do
Where has Mr. Cochran been that he
hasn't heard more than few Of these2
Hasn't he heard Of the troubles Of our
welfare and penal institutions, or Of the
health survey Of q few months ago
which, incidentally, included suffrage as
one of Its main recommendations for
getting more adequate health facilities?
More in the limelight right now Is the
postwar recurrence Of efforts to meet
what really has been long time chron-
ic condition-the great backlog of need
ed municipal improvements which Con-
gress has not let us keep reasonably well
up with, even If We spend mostly our
own money for them.
Certainly some Of the handicaps under
which our local officials now labor,
sometimes with serious damage to q
high reputation gained in other posi-
tions. should be remedied. The powers
of the local government should be SUBJ
stantially increased, to relieve Congress
as well as to put the work and the
responsibility in the hands of persons
really familiar with the local situation
and ready to give 1t constant instead
Of sporadic attention.
And it should be added that our last
alleged failure Of elective government,
to which Mr. Cochran referred as run
ming close race for the reputation of
being most inefficient. was over seventy
years ago. and was efficient enough to
get some very important things done
GEORGE w. HODGKINS.
Criticizes Copyright Story