Evening star., 1947-01-09
Suffrage
UrgedbyCapper
And Armstrong
Ask Both National
And LocuI Voice at
AVG Forum Here

Presentation and local self-govern-
ment were voiced last night by two
longtime champions Of District
suffrage at forum in the Interior
Department auditorium, sponsored
by Washington Chapter of the
American Veterans Committee.
The speakers were Senator Cap
per, Republican, Of Kansas, author
Of the resolution for a consti-
tutional amendment to grant ma
tional representation to the Dis
trict, and Kenneth p. Armstrong,
chairman of the Local Suffrage
Committee Of the Central Suffrage
Conference and treasurer of the
Federation of Citizens Associations.
Their talks were followed by
unanimous adoption by the chapter
of resolution asking Congress to
grant the District representation in
Congress and vote in the electoral
college as well as municipal SELF
government.
Scroll Presented to Capper.
The occasion marked the 26th an
niversary Of Senator Capper's first
Introduction in the Senate of ma
tional representation resolution. The
AVG chapter presented him with
a scroll testifying to his persistent
fight to extend the right to vote
to the residents of our Nations
Capital"
Tracing the history of his efforts
to enfranchise Washington, Senator
Capper asserted that national rep
resentation has the best, chance of
passage in all the years Of effort
in its behalf. He chided District
residents, however, for their lack
of fighting spirit" in pressing Con-
gress for a voice In Government.
He said 1t was an outrage" that
the citizens Of the Capital of the
greatest democracy on earth" lack
the right to vote, but added: 'Tf
Congress pulled anything like that
on the State of Kansas I think the
people would be up in arms and
down here demanding a fair deal!"
Jurisdiction Maintained.
Senator Capper pointed out that
his recently introduced measure
provides for an amendment to the
Constitution to enable Congress to
grant the District representation in
the Senate and House and vote
for President and Vice President
ut in nowise infringes on Con-
gress' exclusive Jurisdiction over
the District as the seat Of Govern
ment," he explained. "It merely
provides Congress with the power
to correct fundamental defect
IN the American form of Govern
ment."
Mr.. Armstrong declared the clause
in the Constitution providing that
Congress shall have exclusive juris-
diction over the District should
properly be interpreted only as
excluding other legislative bodies,
such as State Legislatures, from
exercising any control here.
ut does not mean, and the FORE
fathers never intended 1t to mean,
that the people of the District should
not have normal self government, !"
he asserted.
Mr.. Armstrong sketched the evolu-
ton of the present form of District
government, deploring what he
termed thorough suppression" of
the fact that local self-government
and limited congressional represen-
tation existed prior to 1878.
Driven Out by Congress.
Opponents of local suffrage like
to imply that the Districts early
attempts at self-government failed
because of corruption he said.
"The real fact of the matter is
that Congress, by failing to appro-
pirate enough money for the Dis
trict, bankrupted those governments
out of existence"
He declared this ''bankrupting
process" was still going on as evi-
denced by the fact that Congress
current share in District expenses
amounts to only about 10 per cent
of municipal costs when it should
be, by law, SO per cent"
Mr. Armstrong advocated a
council-city manager form of mt
nicipal government for the District,
with the council elected by the
people and, in turn, appointing the
manager.
Albert Philipson, chairman of the
AVG Chapters Subcommittee on
Local Self Government, introduced
the speakers, and Arthur Cox, vice
chairman for committees, presided
over the discussion.