Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1867-01-14
THE ATTEMPT TO DEFEAT THE METRoPOL-
1TAN RAILROAD BILL


II 10 well known that the animus of the
inteil'GeReer in its warfare upon the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Is personal, and that re-
gard for the interests OF this community has
nothing whatever to do with it. The private
disappointments of the Inteiiigenccr must be
bitter, indeed, when causing them 10 90 the
length OF opposing measure or such import
ance 10 the welfare of this District as the con.
structIon of the Metropolitan Railroad, sim.
ply because the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company are to be the builders OF the road.
For months that paper has snarled against the
mans gers Of that road for not commencing the
work, alleging rnsincerity on their part, and
that they did not intend to build IT. Now tina,
the company have made all their surveys and
preparations, and announce their readiness to
commence the work and push il rapidly for-
ward to completion. the Inteligencer turns
around, Offering the most rabid opposition TO
the Improvement. and it is placed in the awk
ward dilemma of not being able to offer q
word In defence of its regeneration.
Its attempt 1t answering our article Of SAT-
uTday. in which we exposed the in fl uences NJ
work to defeat the railroad bill, is q mortify.
ing failure for that paper. Not an allegation
or argument advanced by us has il attempted
to meet, but il flies the track, and deals ont a
string of irrelevant commonplaces in regard
TO the Baltimore and Potomac railroad Now
we favor all efforts at improved railroad com
nunications with washington-Metrope
Air Line, Baltimore and Potomac Point Look.
out and all; but we object to the InteHi1encer's
bringing in its private grIefs against the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad to defeat the Metro
politan railroad, in the construction of which
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company is
but indirectly interested, hile II is OF the great
est importance 10 the people of this District
This great beIefit is now within our reach
Shall we grasp IL, and put ourselves in a way
OF entering upon career of unparalleled bus
mess activity, or shall we allew a ring of in.
terested Spectators to deprive us of the boon
If the bill Is passed, the railroad company
will put one thousand laborers, mainly of our
own citizens, Immediately al work at this end
OF the route, and will commence running cars
TO Rockville and beyond fast as thesroad rs
completed The expenditure OF the lsrge sum
OF three m illons of dollars within the space or
lorty miles from this city, cannot fail to
quicken every pulse of business here. These
are but the minor an d immediate benefits To he
derived from the construction of the road. Its
permanent BENEFITS TO the District are incalcu-
liable. Shall its cons truction be entered upon
or shall IL be defeated for the benefit OF the
Spectators,
The fnaiiigencer disingenuously attempts to
convey the idea that ''the United States Senate
has set on feot an Investigation As TO the legali
ty and policy of the ordi nance which was
adopted by TIE First Branch Of the City Conn.
ellis on Monday evening last" All the founda
ton for this allegation is that Senator Ramsey
introduced simple resolution of inouiry
which was referred to the District Committee
and rests there. Senator r. says that he knows
nothing whatever OF ths merits Of the aues.
lion, but introduced the resolution as a matter
OF courtesy at the request Of an indiv idual who
handed i, to him. 1t is not difficult to guess
who that individual is. We presume that
membe OF Congress will not be in hurry 10
interfere to compel the railroad company to
drop them when they come to Washington on
the outskirts OF the city, for the benefit Of our
haekmen, or to compel all other visitors to
Washington to pay unwilling tribute to our
Jshus.