Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-15
THE BOARD OF TRADE.
Many Matters Considered at the Meeting
Last Evening.

Many Matters Considered at the Meeting
Last Evening.
| THE PLAN OF APPOINTING COMMISSION TO SELECT
POST OFFICE SITE TO BE REcoMMENDED-
| VARIOUS QUESTIONS RELATING TO RAILROADS Dis
| ctssED-HARBoR AND STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
meeting of the board Of directors OF the
local board of trade was held last night in the
board room in the Glover building Consider
| able business was transacted and healthy de-
| gree OF enthusiasm was developed. President
Parker announced that since the last meeting
he had been endeavoring to get the members
to pay their dues and fees for the first year and
had succeeded to the extent of 14l members.
1t was remarkable. he added, that the majority
Of those who had not paid up were on the most
important committees aud they would proba-
| bly, pay very soon.
The treasurer, Mr.. Warner, said that after
comforting with several members he had de-
| cided tU recommend the appointment OF Mr..
Walter J. Willard as assistant treasurer OF the
| board, and upon a vote of the board of direct
| ors he was unanimously elected and made an
informal report of the condition of the finances,
| showing that the whole amount received to
| date was 34,89O Mr.. Parker tbereupon re-
marked that if the board had $40 600 i'll the treas
ury it should be happy, and he had no doubt
that that amount would be forthcoming by the
| next meeting. He had notified the chairman
Of the House District committee of the organi-
| cation of the board and he had expressed him
| self as be ing very much gratitied that such a
body had beeI formed. The interview was al
together satisfactory. He read letter from
Senator ingalls,, chairman of the Senate Dis
trlct committee, In reply to one from him notl-
Tying him OF the organization, In which the
Senator said that the District of Columbia was
to be congratulated upon the possession of an
organization of her leading business men, dedi-
| Gated to the welfare of the national capital ir-
respective Of factions and party. and that the
Senate committee on the District of Columbia
would gladly cooperate with the board of trade
IN all efforts to secure good government and
advance the interests of Washington.
RAILROAD MATTERS.
Upon the call of committees Mr.. Warner,
from the committee on railroads, reported that
they had approved the bill for the extension of
the lexington road He reported to the board
a resolution. which had received the sanction
OF the committee. providing that it be the policy
OF the board to require that all railroads that
may hereafter enter the city shall come in
either above or below the street grade; also
that all existing roads shall be compelled to
alter their grades to conform to this rule.
This resolution was adopted by the board. A
large number of railroad bills that have been
introduced in Congress were read by their
titles and referred to the committee, and Mr..
Warner remarked that if all those bills should
become laws Washington would have an
abundance of railroad facilities. rN -s'Gr
THE FREIGHT BLOCKADE.
MIR. Wimsatt from the committee ON trans
portation, reported that there had been no
regular meeting of that committee, but that
the members had been individually interesting
themselves ill the matter of the freight block
AIDE. He understood that the Baltimore and
Dnf
all the land they can between Virginia avenue
and u street and y street and Is street. The
Baltimore and Potomac, he said. is doing some-
what better ill the way of freight transporta-
ton, but the baltimore and Ohio is not doing
any better at all. 1t now takes from thirty to
forty-fve days to get lumber here from West
Virginia.
MIR. Warner put in the remark that if the
people of this city expect to get any favors
from the railroad companies they must prepare
to get them by main force. The interview
that the railroad committee had with the COM
pany representatives had shown that. The
members OF that committee, he said. were sur
prlsed by the lack of frankness and candor on
the part OF the railroad men, who had said that
the people OF Washington had very little to
pect from them for two reasons; the first being
that they had been fighting them and the
second that railroad property had not paid
here.
A couple of bills were referred to the COM
mittee on taxation and assessment, of which
MIR. H. Willard is chairman.
ANEW POST OFFICE.
Mr.. Somerville, from the committee on pub
lie buildings, reported that they had met fire.
quenty and had decided to recommend the
erection of one building at a time, and to push
for that building with all their might. They
had selected the post office to begin on, and
had concluded that it were better not to select
a site, but to recommend the appointment of
commission to condemn a site sufficiently large
to accommodate a building that will do for the
postal needs Of Washington for fifty years to
come. whole square. He went on to say that
he had statistics to show that there no city in
the country that has as heavy mail matter as
this. and the facilities do not begin to compare
with those of any small town. The report Of
the committee was adopted.
Mr.. Warner called the attention of the board
to the fact that they had just done what both
Houses Of Congress have said representative
body of District citizens could not do-agree to
refer the question OF post Office site to a COM
mission.
STREET IMPROVEMENTS
From the committee OH streets and avenues
Mr. Truesdell reported that at a recent meeting
it was decided to recommend to the board to
ask Congress to appropriate money enough to
improve all the streets that were submitted in
the report of the District Commissioners The
schedule contained IL that report had been ap-
propriated for only in part by the House and
nothing new was added there, while a number
of streets recommended by the Commissioners
had been omitted from the bill. The COM
mittee had decided to recommend, first. that
the whole schedule be provided for in the
Senate and to show that there are quite a num-
Der of streets in the District that should be i'm
proved, at the same time submitting to the
subcommittee of the Senate an additional
schedule of streets, which would involve the
appropriation of several handred thousand
dollars. The committee had thought that the
District might anticipate something-might
borrow, at a low rate of interest. money enough
to improve the most important streets, both IN
and out of the city. The committe will have a
hearing before the House committee during
the coming week. - o. -
The House bill introduced by Mr.. McComas
to regulate the foreclosure of mortgages in the
District was read and Mr.. Parker explained that
1t was the same bill that had been introduced
at every session for several years, its intent
being to do away with our present system of
deeds of trust, which had always worked very
satisfactorily. The bill had been referred to a
special committee consisting of Messrs. Britton,
Wilson and Parker, but no action had been
taken on it. Mr.. Ross said that he understood
that there is a decidedly adverse opinion upon
the bill in the House committee and he thought
that there was do danger Of its passage
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.