OCR Text |
Show TAXED BUT CAN'T VOTE. Citizens of Washington, D. C, are again complaining because they are not permitted to vote, and inasmuch as they pay taxes as other citizens do, there appears to be justice in their complaint. When the District of Columbia was organized in 180O as the seat of government, gov-ernment, it was placed directly under control of congress and no provision was made for the exercise of the franchise fran-chise by its inhabitants, a situation which has since continued. The city of Washington is governed by congress con-gress solely and the people have no voice in the selection of officials placed plac-ed over them. Many persons employed in Washington Wash-ington have their residences in nearby states and these may vote in their respective states, but those who have their homes in the city do not have this privilege. Thus nearly 300,000 persons of voting vot-ing age will have no part in the forthcoming forth-coming presidential election, in spite of the fact that they are keenly interested in-terested in the result. If, as our forefathers declared, "taxation without representation is tyranny," the people of the nation's capital are well within their rights in asking to be enfranchised. |