ings, and so forth. I did have political affiliation, but I came over here shortly after that.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the line drawn between the parties in the city government over there?

Mr. LEVERTON. Yes, sir.

Senator BURTON. Partisan government.

Mr. LEVERTON. I believe we will get just what you gentlemen feel is best for us, and with the statement you have made here, I feel sure you will do whatever is right.

May the Lord bless you in your deliberations and considerations of this vital question. I know you will do whatever you think best.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. We need your prayers, I will tell you that.

Mr. LEVERTON. Thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. Is Mr. Fulton R. Gordon here?

STATEMENT OF FULTON R. GORDON, REAL-ESTATE OPERATOR, WASHINGTON, D. C.

The CHAIRMAN. For the record, please state your name, address, and official position, Mr. Gordon.

Mr. GORDON. My name is Fulton R. Gordon, real-estate operator, 1427 I Street NW. I build towns around Washington.

Senator McCarran, I just introduce myself by saying I was born a pioneer, and could not help it.

The CHAIRMAN. Pioneer in what?

Mr. GORDON. Pioneer in everything I do. I am a pioneer right now in what I have to tell you.

When I started in business here, you were a school boy out in Reno, and your distinguished associate was not born by 2 years, and Henry Ford was working at a dollar and a half a day for Tom Edison, a great electrician.

I did not come in contact with civic consciousness then, although I was putting milk in the White House; and later on I became a realestate operator.

Then I was suddenly in touch with the Commissioners.

The CHAIRMAN. We are going to put milk all over the earth now, you know. You should have stayed in business.

Mr. GORDON. Well, I put an awful lot of milk in there, and helped a lot of them in the milk business. And you did not see any strikes in the milk business in those days, and there would not be any strikes between capital and labor now if they followed the natural laws and gave the workingman a correct interest in earnings; to let them earn it. I used it in my business. I built Chevy Chase, and I could not have done it without that; in other words, the natural laws are the only laws that are any good.

In fact, if we could run our country with the Ten Commandments and only have man-made laws to inspire and enlighten people to follow those Ten Commandments, we would not be in this war.

And if we had that leadership all over the world, then this world would be a heaven on earth instead of, like it is, a hell on earth.

Now, in dealing with the Commissioners, let me say this: Of course, building streets on my property, I always came in contact with the

Engineer Commissioner. It has been greatly to our benefit that we have had a West Point-trained Army engineer, General Kutz. This is his third term. He is 73 years old.

Now, that brings this point up about the bill. This bill says that you can become a Commissioner if you are 25 years of age. The only objection to that is a man does not know how to govern his own self at 25. The age of our Commissioners averages about 63 or 64, and in more than half a century in dealing with our Commissioners, I could not point my finger at any mistakes of any consequence that they ever made.

They are cooperative. They are helpful. I never asked a favor of them in my life. They asked me favors, and I have granted them, like dumping dirt, or removing dirt, for instance.

Take Guy Mason. I have known him for 30 years; one of our most reliable attorneys. I met him on the street after he was appointed. I always called him "Guy," so I said, "Do I have to call you Mr. Commissioner when the President is around?" "No," he said, "just call me Guy."

I wish I had brought along a couple of pictures of Guy Mason helping me to sell Liberty bonds in the First World War. I drove my car on the sidewalk on F Street, and he would get up there and make speeches. He could make speeches like dynamite.

Then we have Commissioner Young, a distinguished journalist. In other words, there is the precedent of seeking the man for the office instead of the man seeking office.

Now, I am not criticizing this bill here, except to speak what I think is true. A young man, 25 years of age, can get a thousand signatures, and he is eligible. Well, what do you want of men for Commissioners and Presidents, Members of the Senate and House? We never ought to elect a man for Commissioner or Member of the Senate or House, really, until he has served at least 60 years in the university of hard knocks and practical experience. That is the finest school in the world.

He should be the outstanding man in his District. He should know his own self better than anybody in the District. His health should be as good or better than anybody in the District.

We do not want sick men. A man cannot run a District when he is sick. He has to run his profession or business better than anybody else in the District.

Abe Lincoln once said: "None are more to be trusted than those grown up in poverty."

We do not want rich men's sons. If you want to take a ride, come with me around Washington, and I can show you mausoleum after mausoleum; I can show you great big palatial homes unoccupied except maybe by the Government or somebody else, or they died in an insane asylum, digging their graves at an early age. We want boys that can stand up under the strain.

If the world leadership today, every nation in the world, was governed as well as General Kutz-this Army engineer from West Point-and Guy Mason and Mr. Young govern our District, we would not be in this war. They would not do anything to create war. There is an invisible leadership.

I want to speak a word for George Washington. He has never been set right.

The CHAIRMAN. Who is that?

Mr. GORDON. George Washington-if you will allow me, sir.

When England was going to invade our country, the big men of our Nation had an interview with him and talked to him. They said, "The only plan in the world to save us is to find a man; the greatest soldier in our country."

And they went to George Washington. He had been the soldierly type. Now, no man should solicit for public office; he should be sought after. But the men that we really want generally do not want the office.

And when they insisted, George Washington took command of our forces. He had been on the battlefield 7 years, and he left 30,000 letters in which he said it; he said there was not a day on the battlefield he did not have a problem he could not solve, but that Unseen Hand, that Invisible Force, gave him strength to solve it correctly, for 7 years. He admitted that man's mind alone was only capable of guiding a man as to his routine affairs of life.

You know how to put on your pants and take them off, and all those things, and eat your breakfast; but when you have the serious things to consider, for we all come from that same Invisible Father, He will guide you.

And that was his strength.

Then, when the war was over, he was exhausted. And they wanted him for President, and he begged them off, saying, "No," he said, "you have been good to me." And you know the story.

Well, after 7 years on the battlefield and 8 years in the White House, he said there was never a day on the battlefield or in the White House that he did not have a problem that he could not solve, but for that Invisible Guide.

Now, if we had that leadership all over the world, then this world would be a heaven on earth instead of a hell on earth.

Some papers, I believe, quoted the fact that some 30,000,000, if I remember the figure, have been killed or died of broken hearts because of bad leadership.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, your discussion is very interesting, but there are many to be heard, and I wish you would kindly get to your point. Mr. GORDON. Yes, sir. Now, as to voting, I am violently opposed to us voting for this reason: The voting organization of our country is the weakest organization we have.

Our strongest organization is our Army and the Navy.
Now, take our voting organization.

I have two books home in my room. I looked at one very recently. I reckon one weighs 15 pounds and the other one pretty near that much, containing a history of 36 Presidential campaigns.

You read one book without naming it of one of the parties and you would think then if you voted for that party you would be running the country. You read the other book and then you think you would be running the country. In other words, your vote does not count.

Now, if we organize our voters to use the ballot as God Almighty prescribed you should use your ballot instead of how the political machine says you should use it, then we can put the type of men in power, and then I am in favor of voting. But up to that time I am very much opposed to voting.

Senator BURTON. You do not object to the people of the United States electing the President, do you?

Mr. GORDON. We do not elect him, because you put up one machine candidate and then elect him through the electors. I do not call that an election; no, sir.

Senator BURTON. You are not suggesting changing our Constitution, though, are you?

Mr. GORDON. NO; but I am suggesting that we train our voters to use the ballot so that the voters themselves can have a committee to find these big men that I was talking about and run them for President. You will find that type of man never wants to be President, but if he is properly approached he will take it.

I have in mind a man that makes $50,000,000 a year. It is not the money he makes, so much, but it is the great organization he has to build up.

Now, what temptation would it be for him to get there with all those problems, at $75,000 a year? The office must suit the man.

That is enough, gentlemen.

The CHAIRMAN. All right; thank you very much.

I believe Mr. Hatmaker is next.

STATEMENT OF DONALD B. HATMAKER, WASHINGTON, D. C.

The CHAIRMAN. Please state your full name, address, and organization that you represent.

Mr. HATMAKER. My name is Donald Burgoine Hatmaker. I live at 3601 Warder Street NW., Washington, D. C.

The CHAIRMAN. And what, if any group, do you represent?

Mr. HATMAKER. I am a member of several organizations, Senator, but appear as a citizen of the District and country.

The CHAIRMAN. You appear for yourself?

Mr. HATMAKER. As to my background, I was a resident of the city of Chicago for some 25 years, having been born in the Middle West. I have been a resident of this District for the past 2 years, during which time I have been serving as an attorney with the Office of Price Administration.

I am a member of no political party.

I was active in civic affairs in Chicago, and here, which I now consider my home.

Do you wish me to talk on the technical features of the bill, Senator? The CHAIRMAN. I have no direction at all. I understood you wanted to be heard.

Mr. HATMAKER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is entirely a matter for you to decide.

Mr. HATMAKER. All right, sir.

I would like to say a few words, then, with reference to the known. technical features of this bill, speaking as a citizen.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

Mr. HATMAKER. At home, in Chicago, I was active with the Young People's Organization. I consider myself a young man, although I am over 38, but I am happy to say the marines are waving at me, and I expect to become an officer in a very short while.

At home the political machines in the past have been a bad feature, which everybody knows. However, I found that for a citizen

the right to vote, the right to take an interest in political affairs, was a privilege and a duty, and I miss that in this community.

I have also lived in New York City and took no political interest there. I was a member of the fireguard auxiliary. Here I am a deputy air raid warden in the Parkview area. I am safety patrol chairman, and some other things.

But, speaking as a citizen, as a future soldier, as I see the relevancy of it, I feel like the gentleman who spoke here, that the boys should have a vote. But I do not regard that as a material issue.

Speaking as to this specific bill under consideration and as a citizen and a member of no organization, a man who desires to make this community his home-and I have a wife and two children-I think this bill has some very desirable features.

May I go on, Senator?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; just go right along.

Mr. HATMAKER. The first feature that I would say is desirable, as I read it, is that it is a nonpartisan bill, similar to our aldermanic campaigns in Chicago.

The second feature I see is that which one of the gentleman mentioned, age. I think that a citizen who is entitled to vote, is entitled to participate in his community elections. I think a higher age, as set forth in our Constitution, may be required of Commissioners. I am not qualified to pass on that.

However, to make the general feature short, I feel that the people I have associated with here very fine people, and a lot of them natives of this city and District, are opposed to this bill.

I figure that there are two reasons they are opposed to it. First, I think that they feel the minorities might get control of the District, which I think is possible, for the reason that so many people like myself, who come here with the Government, would consider this Government not their home, but would preserve their voting residence outside of this District; consequently, I think the minority question in this area would probably carry very great weight. I still would not deprive any citizen of this country of the right to vote for that reason.

I think I am not qualified to speak as to the conditions here in the District. I would say this, knowing what I do of Chicago and our administration, with all the calumnies and exaggerated criticism about Chicago, and much of it justified, that our civic conditions in Chicago compare most favorably with the District.

Speaking as to the technical features of the bill and considering another aspect that might be bad is that I do not favor, as the bill does, the use of the word "ward."

Of course, maybe at home that had a bad significance, but there would be a possibility that in this community political factions of some strength would arise. I am looking at the bad side of it. There might be machines, and in that event we would be faced with having to counteract that situation.

As a consequence, I do not like the name "ward."

I was head of the Joint Civic Anti-vote Fraud Committee of Chicago, and we had difficulty with chain voting and those things, which they do not know about in the District, I guess.

One of the provisions in this bill, Mr. Senator and gentlemen of this committee, is that you just have to live in the District a certain period.