Evening star., 1948-05-11
Home Rule
(Coptip,Ied From First Pbp

imported mere lOI FOtliiS pul pooCo,
he added.
The Mississippian said there were
"a lot of organizations here whose
members are so red that if you look
them in the face you couldn't tell
the difference between them and
| the SUM-
Chairman Dirksen of the House
District Committee, which favorably
reported the bill by a 14-to-8 vote,
told the Rules Committee Mr.. Aber-
nethy had "over-simplified' the pic
ture and asserted there was good
answer" to every question raised.
Abernethy Doesn't Object.
AS the committee recessed for q
few minutes at noon, Rules Commit
tee Chairman Allen said he would
like to see the bill go to the House
for action, since the District unit
had labored on the bill for a year
He asked Mr.. Abernethy if he
would object to that and the
Mississippian. with some hesitation,
said: Il don't know that I would
object"
The dual voting provision, which
would permit persons resident here
for a year to vote in District elec-
ton of city councilmen and school
board members, even though they
maintained legal domicile in their
home States, again came under at
tack.
Representative Cox, Democrat, of
Georgia, member of the Rules Com
mittee, declared it was sort of
bait designed to fool somebody"
Mr.. Abernethy, among other ar
guments, contended: that the Dis
trict Committee had exceeded its
jurisdiction by treating with ques-
tions belonging to other House
groups; that the legislative pro-
pcsal provisions for the council
would slow down rather than relieve
the work of House members; that
the elected city government plan
would prove more costly; that
neither the District Committeeman
nor the people of the District know
what's in this bill"; and that if the
councils handling of Civil Service
matters proved unsatisfactory, the
Civil Service Commission could
srtike all District employees off the
Civil Service rolls.
Smith Gets Explanations.
Representative Smith, Democrat,
of Virginia insisted at the opening
of the hearing on technical eXplana-
tions of numerous sections of the
bill which change House rules in
connection with the proposed Gre
alton of joint District Committee
in Congress. Lewis Deschler, House
parliamentarian, was called to the
session to explain some of these
The opponents gained some help
from Representative SABBATH of IL
linois, ranking minority member of
the Rules Committee, and Repre-
sentative Riley. Republican, of Ok
lahoma. These and some other
members displayed concern over
some of the bills provisions.
Davis Sees Threat to Security.
Representative Davis, Democrat,
Of Georgia warned that the home
rule bill would ''jeopardize the Sc
curity of the United States Gov
ernment." He charged that a one
year residence qualification for vot-
ers could easily be turned to ad-
vantage by Communists and their
sympathizers in efforts to gain con-
troll of the city government.
Representative Harris, Democrat,
of Arkansas termed the measure
''unWise and wholly impractical"
He said it would be ridiculous" to
imagine that the proposed city coun-
Gil in recommending legislation
could tell Congress what it could
consider and what it must not con-
sider' He favored national repre-
Sentation for the District by con-
stitutional amendment to give the
city a voting member of Congress.