Evening star., 1949-07-15
Hays Is Questioned
On Home Rule by
House Committee
CONTINUED From First Page.)

OF working out nome rule mere
we are giving government by the
consent of the governed in the
National Capital"
Sees Intangible Value.
Home rule, the witness said
will not necessarily give you bet
ter government. but there is a
value in government by consent
Of the governed that cannot be
measured" He brought out also
that the people of London and
Paris and other capitals are not
deprived of self government.
Representative league. Demo-
crat, of Texas asked him if home
rule could be granted without
changing the Constitution. Mr.
Hays replied that James Madison
, had said so in his Federalist
papers.
When the Texan asked if the
District belonged solely" to the
people of the District, Mr.. Hays
said it did not. but argued later
that he saw no bar in this tc
letting District residents in theil
Government.
Representative Abernet h y
launched his attack by bringing
out that the measure of home
rule that might be extended tt
District people could not be as
great as that of the people in
other cities-because the Consti-
tuition gives exclusive legislative
control over the District to Con-
greSS.
Sees Practical Difficulties.
When Mr.. Hays agreed to this
and contended that "as much
home rule as possible" should be
granted. Mr.. Abernethy retorted
That's easy to say. but difficult
to do."
Mr.. Abernethy argued it woulc
be necessary to strike from the
Constitution the section giving
Congress exclusive control, and
the witness replied that the COM
mittee would be justified on start
ing to work on such an amend
ment IF the committee finds that
is necessary"
Calling the proposed council a
proxy council" and insisting that
home rule under pending bills
would be only synthetic" Mr..
Abernethy declared:
Here you have a bill of 119
pages proposing the election of a
city council that can do what?-
pass something and hope that
Congress will approve it.
IF the councilmen are not
straw men down there, then I
don't know what they would be. F."
Sees Promises Worse Than Own.
Mr.. Abernethy said there would
be big campaigns" by candidates
for the council land they will
make promises. like we do, and
their promises will be worse than
ours" The result of council
actions, Mr.. Abernethy argued
wsuld be to add an additional step
to, the present legislative process
ION District matters. - =
Council legislative proposals, he
said, would not be law but would
merely be proposals submitted to
Congress. Every resident of the
District, he said, now has the same
right to submit proposed bills to
any member Of Congress.
This system won't relieve any
committee of Congress of one
minute of it's work and the coun-
Gil may send up so many bills that
committee members never would
have time to read them" Mr..
Abernethy said.
Replying to an Abernethy
charge that home rule govern
ment would be more expensive,
Mr.. Hays declared, If the prin-
ciple is just and right, what it
would cost is a secondary consid-
Grafton"
Central Labor Union Heard.
Strong support for home rule
was voiced by c. F. Preller, presi-
dent of the Central Labor Union
of the AFL, who said the union
had been advocating suffrage here
for so years.
Delegates to the CLU. represent
ing affiliated locals having more
than 100000 District members,
have formally indorsed the Ke-
fauver bill, Mr.. Preller reported.
1--WE believe it will go long
way toward lifting the barrier Of
second class citizenship to which
residents of the District have been
relegated," he said. -..-
Some groups say that home
rule cannot be successful without
national representation. We dis
agree strongly with this view. Ma
tional representation will require
several years to enact and ratify
under the most favorable condi-
tions. Give us home rule now and
national representation will come
later"
Representation Favored.
Reporting the results Of the poll
of the Junior Chamber OF Com
merce, Mr.. Matthews said: From
the results, it may be concluded
that the membership of the Junior
chamber primarily and over
whelmingly desire national repre-
sentation.
Secondly. if home rule is to be
granted to the District, national
representation should precede or
accompany the adoption Of any
home rule form of government.