Evening star., 1951-02-20
stitute "a threat Of a substantial
increase in taxes" on real estate.

stitute "a threat OF a substantial
increase in taxes" on real estate.
Neely Demands Answer.
Senator Nicely broke in sharply
to demand to know whether the
Commissioners "are for this bill
or against it,
When Mr.. West said the Com
missioners were presenting sug-
gested changes in the bill, Senator
Nicely demanded to know when
the Commissioners had acted. MI.
West replied they had met at 8
pm. yesterday in the Office Of
Commissioner John Russell
Young. .-...
Answering other questions from
Senator Nicely. he said all three
Commissioners were present, that
the session lasted about an hour
and that more time was not re-
quired because their present re-
port was a modification of one
they made last year on the Klein
home-rule bill in the House. The
Klein bill. he said, was word for
word" the same as the Kefauver-
Taft bill.
Senator Case, Republican, Of
South Dakota said he was con-
sidering a bill to provide for the
election of an advisory council
to the Board of Commissioners.
Platform Planks in Record.
Under his questioning, Mr.. West
said he was extremely doubtful
of the constitutionality of a pro-
vision of the Kefauver-Taft bill
which would give the Speaker of
the House and the president of
the Senate power to approve a
legislative proposal of the City
Council during recess of Con-
gress.
Senator Neely read into the rec
ord the District suffrage planks
that were written into the 1948
Democratic and Republican Party
platforms. He noted that the
Democrat Party had approved
such planks in it's platforms since
1896, and the Republican Party
since 1912.
eve have been very derelict in
fulfilling our party promises" "
Senator Neely said. These hear
ings are an effort to redeem those
promises of the two parties"
Applause greeted declaration
by Melvin D. Hildreth, Democratic
national committeeman for the
District, that like most vital ques-
tions," the struggle for restoration
of voting rights in the District
will never cease until victory is
gained"
He commented that Americans
protest the abolition of demo-
cratic rights in Russia's satellite
nations, but that it would 'be with
much more grace" if Americans
could say they had restored demo-
cratic rights to the people of the
District.
Provisions Criticized.
Senator Smith asked Mr.. Hill
dreth why in view of the pledges
of both parties the home rule bill
had not been passed. The witness
replied the reason was the House
never had been given a chance to
vote on a holne-rule bill.
Senator Smith said "then it
seems we ought to go to the House
side and work on them"
Senator Nicely said 'unfortu-
nately, there is nothing a Senator
can do about that"
Philip Graham, publisher of the
Washington Post, indorsing the
bill, said it was refreshing to hear
a declaration for home rule COM
ing from a man designated for a
place on the Board of Commits
sioners. He noted that Mr.. Dono-
hue in this regard was willing to
work himself out of a job
Notes Truman and Taft Support.
Mr.. Graham commented also
that the pending bill had biparti-
san support and noted that it was
one of the few measures enthusi-
astically supported by both Presi-
dent Truman and Senator Taft.
'"This is one way to get unity"
he suggested.
b