Evening star., 1947-01-20
Past Hearings
On ]. {. Vote
lobe Studied
Senote Group Delays
Copper Resolution
To Go Over Record
By Harold B. Rogers

Records of past suffrage hearings
will be studied by members of the
new Senate Judiciary Committee be-
fore they decide what action to take
on the Capper joint resolution on
national representation for the Dis
trict, Chairman Wiley announced
today.
The Wisconsin Senator said the
resolution was discussed by the full
committee in executive session this
morning No hearings are planned
for the time being, he said.
Senator Wiley indicated he had
not made up his mind as to the pro-
cedure which might follow the study.
The committee would decide, he said,
whether further hearings should be
held or report or a conclusion ar
rived at by the committee and
report made to the Senate.
The committee members decided
today, the chairman said, that in
making a study of the Capper reso-
luton they should consider many
angles, not only those presented by
the Capper measure but also the
whole District situation"
Record Provides 'Plenty to Read"
Hearings on the question of suf-
frage for the District, the Wiscon-
sin Senator pointed out, had been
held over about Is years, providing
plenty to read"
The committee can read these
records, he said, with the hope of
forming an opinion as soon as
possible.
On the basis of this plan, he
said, 4 decision on the Capper reso-
luton would "go over to an in
definite date"
The Importance of this measure
in the minds of the committee was
indicated by the fact that 1t was
referred to new special committee
assigned today to consider Consti-
tutional amendments. This COM
mittee consists of Senator Rever-
comb, Republican, of West Virginia
and Senator McCarran, Democrat,
Of Nevada.
The Capper resolution may never
20 to this subcommittee, 1t was
indicated.
The National representation reso-
luton was introduced in the new
Congress by Senator Capper, Re-
publican, of Kansas, longtime cham
pion Of suffrage for the District.
Several Questions Raised.
It provides for an amendment to
the Constitution to empower Con-
gress to grant residents of the Dis
trict vote for president and vice
president of the United States and
representation IN Congress.
The Capper measure, 1t was
learned from a source close to the
committee, already has raised sew
eral questions, In the minds of COM
mittee members. Some of them
feel, it was understood, that the
issue Of National representation ties
in with the question of local suffrage.
No bills have been introduced in
either the Senate or House so far
to provide local suffrage for the
National Capital.
Some members Of the Judiciary
Committee were reported as feeling
that the Capper resolution should be
revised. The nature of the revision.
sought was not disclosed.
The Capper measure now before
the Senate Committee is similar to
the so-called Sumners-Capper reso-
luton which failed of enactment in
the Seventy ninth Congress.
No resolution on national repre-
sentation for the District has been
introduced in the House up to noon
today. ReprjS Sentative Summers,
Democrat, of Texas retired from the
House at the end of the Seventy
ninth Congress. He did not seek re-
election.