Evening star., 1946-11-12
Letters to The Star
Wants Next Plebiscits 10 Be
Strictly Official
To the uditor 81 The star:

To the nditor 81 The star:
I would suggest rather different
application Of the idea underlying your
editorial, why Not Make 1t Ofacial?"
In The star Of November 4, wherever
there Is any reasonable doubt about the
prevailing sentiments OF District resi-
dents. any further polling should be
carried out under ofncial auspices 30
that the most adequate arrangements
can b. made for securing smooth oper-
alton and = large turnout. The show
ing Of civic participation in both Of our
plebiscitcs Of 1888 and 1916 certainly
was good enough to justify Congress
in giving oficial sponsorship to the
means Of finding out whatever else it
may want to know in this field.
Yet when 81 per cent Of nearly ITO 900
people confirm the earlier verdict Of
over 10000 people. see no need for
new and more ofiicial vote on the gen.
eral proposition Of national represen-
tation for the District. The next thing
We need in voting on this subject is in
the Capitol, where Congress needs to
overcome Its inertia and straighten out
Its disagreements which hitherto have
blocked any vote on the floor Of either
house. There might be q later stage
In which Congress would want to poll
the District on more specific propo-
sition. whether Of the proposed consti-
tutional amendment or OF legislation
after the amendment has actually en-
abled Congress to give us national rep
resentation; but such q poll Is not an
immediate concern.
The next local plebiscite, to be made
oficial, should be to clear up the ques-
tion Of local self-government. The 10
per cent vote In favor Of local suffrage
would count - rather decisive ma
jority In ordinary election situations and
the strength and even sometimes We
hemence Of the opposition are counter
balanced in one important respect.
Many Of the mo" voters, In stating the
reasons for their vote. Indicated de-
sire for local self-government II prac-
ticahle, but were apprehensiye that it
would or could not be obtained without
serious drawbacks arising from the local
situation or inferred from the bad repu-
tation Of municipal politics in. some
other places. Some mo" voters even
expressed themselves as merely unwilI-
ing to giye what they regarded as q
blank-chetk approval Of local suffrage
in the very broad terms of the plebis-
cite question. without more specification
OF what setup Of elective government
would be provided.
The vote on this issue therefore was
combination of q mandate and q
challenge to work out the best possible
plan for local Nseif-government for the
District and to let the question be
argued further on the basis of such q
particular proposal, as to whether its
net results would be on the yes. or
mo" side IN the opinions Of local resi-
dents and OF Congress. Such plan, or
various competing plans could be
worked out unoficially by interested
groups. but 1t would be much better
to have the planning, rs well as the
referendum on the resulting plan, un-
der official auspices. Such procedure
was contemplated by bills before Con-
gress few months ago-the McCarran
charter commission bill. and also the
original draft OF the congressional
streamlinins bill. Prompt action Of this
sort should be, and presumably win be,
pressed when the new Congress con-
venes In January. The 10 per cent
yes voters In the plebiscite, and their
numerous skeptical sshow me" oppon-
ents, should unite in urging Congress
to make 1t Official" on this basis.
GEORGE W. HoDGKINs.