Evening star., 1948-02-03
Home Rule
Continued From First Page)

keep pace with changed conditions
AS to the, couneil-manager plan
Mr.. Stone said it conforms with
the dominant trend in American
municipal government and has be.
hind it the successful experience o1
hundreds of cities, large and small
Mr.. Fowler. drew challenges from
the committee and groans from the
audience in his attack on the sut-
frage section.
Two Little Authority Seen.
He said the Commissioners hao
protested that the plan would give
the council too much power but
that his own conclusion was the
council would have so little power
"as to make the whole idea Of home
rule mockery."
''It is the traditional heritage OF
every American to have the right
of suffrage" Mr.. Fowler declared
"but, unless we can have all the
rights, 1. personally. would want
none offered here This may be a
SOD, in letting us vote for council
men, but what we want is the full
rights"
Mr.. Auchincloss broke in to say
he was touching on the question OF
representation in Congress for the
District, which was beyond the
Jurisdiction of the District commit.
tees. He pointedly directed the
witness to confine his remarks tt
the scope of the charter bill.
Mr.. Fowler then protested tina
there was state of apathy" abou
the subject in the District "becaus'
when we ask for bread we are Of
fered a stone"
He noted that any member o.
Congress, under the charter plan
would retain his present right te
introduce any bill on any subject
at any time and that these might
be enacted by Congress with OF
without consideration of the wishes
of District people.
I'm such a situation as this, I ask
you where is the some rule?"
Seeks Utopia, Ball Says.
Senator Ball, Republican, of Min
nesota, co-chairman of the joint
group, protested that Mr.. Fowler
wanted ito achieve Utopia in one
jump-and things don't work out
that way"
Senator Ball provoked applause
from the audience when he de-
clared, The way to achieve your
objectives is to start with what you
can get"
Mr.. Fowler responded, "If the
people get this, and if they were
satisfied with 1t, they still would be
in shackles."
Senator Ball retorted that the
only way to change this picture, re-
ferring to District representation in
Congress, was to change the Con-
stitution.
"We have been asking that for
years" said Mr.. Fowler, and ma
tional political parties have called
for it in planks in their party plat
forms"
"A lot of objectives are stated In
party platform plankS that are MOI
achieved" Senator Ball replied.
Criticizes Present Setup.
The Senator then declared you dc
a lot of Dragging about the wonder
full government you have here, but
have sat in hearings on this gov
ernment and don't think It's se
perfect
Referring to the Senate commit.
tees investigation of police last sum.
mer, Senator Ball said, If thost
disclosures had been made in any
other city in the country. where
the people have a vote. it woulc
have meant the end of the admin
istration in power, 1t would have
meant just that" His reference
was to protest over the alleged hid.
ing" by police of crime complaints
The Senate District Committe,
asked for $25, 900 investigation o.
police administrations here but ths
Senate to date has taken no action
Because OF many changes made In