Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-19

Confidence Report on the Atkinson BIN d
the House.

IT LEADS 10 A LIVELY DxBArE-cHAnnAx
| aRoCT ArTLY SAYS II GIVES EVERYTHING TO
THE RAILROAD; NOTHING 10 TIE pxopIx"-
OTHER SPEAKERS.
During the morning hour in the House today
Mr. Atkinson called up the conference report
| on the famed Atkinson Pennsylvania railroad
bill. Once more the House had the pleasure Of
listening to the provisions Of this much-dis-
cussed measure. The conference report as
already stated in THE STAR, reports the bill as
passed by the House with two amendments
one striking out the provision for a COM
mission to inquire into the subject of the
railroad tracks and report in the future. and the
other adding the Senate clause providing that
nothing in the act shall be considered as per-
pesnating the present station site OF the Penn
syivania railroad. The report also sets AZ
street as the western limit ON Virginia avenue
of the sidings, &c.
As soon as the reading of the report had been
finished Mr.. Enloe raised the point of consider
| alton, and on the question the yeas and nays
were ordered.
On the question of consideration the vote was
ayes, 13l; noes. IS. The report was therefore
taken up, and Mr.. Atkinson demanded the pre-
vlous question.
Mr.. Circuit; Springer and Hemphin objected
strongly to this.
THE VOTE ON THE PREVIOUS QUESTION.
A roll call was ordered on the question and
the railroad was knocked out on the first round,
the vote standing-ayes, 106; noes, 1l3.
The vote on the previous question in detail
was as follows: Ayes-Adams, Allen mich.
Atkinson CPa.), Atkinson (W Va). Baker,
BANKS, bartine, Bayne. Belden, Belknap,
Bingham ~ blount, Brewer, Brosius, Buchanan
IN. ~, Burrows. Gambler, Gambler, Cannon,
Caswell. Cheatham, Clark (Wyo.). Cothran,
Craig, Culbertson CTex). Culbertson pa },
Cutcheon. Dalzell, Darlington, Dorsey, Dun
nell; Dunphy. Farquhar, Funston, Gear, Gift
Heard. Henderson. Henderson, Henderson,
Lee, Maish, McAdoo, McDuffie, Mckinley,
Miles, Motiitt, Montgomery, Morey, Morse,
M4dd, Mutchler. Niedringhaus, Mute, Oates,
Osborne, Ovens (Ohiol, Payne, Perkins, Perry,
Post, Pugsley, Quackenbush, Haines, Ran
Rowell, Scranton. scull, sherman,
Smith, Smith, stone(Ky). Stone pa }, struble,
send, vaux. Wade, Wallace, Wallace, Wheeler,
Wickham. Williams (Ohio), Wilson (Ky.), Will
son (W.Va.), Yartlley. Yoder; total, log.
Noes-Abbott, Anderson, Allen Miss },
Arnold, Barnes. Hggs, blanchard, Boothman,
shire, brewer, ]. b. Brown, Drummer, Buch-
anan (Va). Burton, Bynum, Carter. Caruth,
Cheadie Chapman. Clancy. Clarke (AE.) J. Cobb,
Coleman, Council, Covert, Crisp, Dickerson,
Dinglcy. Dolliver, Dunphy, Edinunds, Ellis,
Enloe. Evans, Finley. Fithian. Flick. Foreman.
Forney Geissenhainor, Gest. Goodnight, Circuit,
Hangen, Hemphill, Herbert. Hill, Hol-
man, Hooker, Houk, Kelley, Ken-
nedy, klgore, Lacey, Laidiaw, Lane,
Lanham. Lawler, Laws Lester (Ga). Lind,
Lodge. Mansur, Martin, Martin, Mcclellan.
McComas. McKenna. Alillken. Mills. Moore
(N.H.), Moore (re&as). Par rett, Paynter. Peel,
Pennington, Pierce, Quinn. Reed Qowa), Rich
ardson, Robertson. Rogers Russell, Sayrcs,
seacy. Shively. Smyser. Spinola. Springer,
J. ID. Taylor, Thomas, Tracey. Tucker, Turner
(u.:.), Vandevcr. Waldill. Washington. Wheeler
(Ali.), Whitelaw. Wike. Wiley, Williams-l13.
MR.. CIRCUIT AGAINST THE REPORT.
The previous question not having been or
dered, Mr. Grout took the floor. He said the
conference report had stricken out the propo-
sition which caused the bill to pass the House
namely the clause providing for
a commission. Mr.. Grout sketched the legis-
latiye history Of the bill in support of his
statement The commissions proposal had
been signed by majority of the District COM
mittee and the House had then agreed to the
bill.
EVERYTHING TO THE RAILROAD; NOTHING TO
THE PEOPLE.
He was surprised that demand for the pre-
vious question had been made without any ex-
PLANTATION of why everything WAS given to the
railroad and nothing to the people. The bill
gave unlimited and unrestricted grants to the
road. 1t leaves the company undsturbed in
their occupation Of parks, streets and reserva-
TONS
MIR, outhwaite asked if the grants we're not
worth ss10,0O0,0 900
Nj Heard became excited at this point and
said the bill did not confirm the road in any,
thing.
Mr.. Grout said it left the company undis-
turbed in everything they possessed. Nothing
was said In the bill as to any recOmpense to the
government for the occupation of the parks
and now when the House had inserted feeble
clause in the interests Of the people the con-
ference committee stamped it out. The
report Patted the road on the
back and said, don't be afraid, nobody shall
watch yon." The conference report should be
rel cted and the conference committee given
instructions.
Thirteen thousand citizens had petitioned
against this bill, said Mr.. Grout, and he read
the petition which many citizens cut from
The STAR and signed.
DEFENDING THE CONFERENCE REPORT.
Mr.. Atkinson defended the conference report.
He said the House conferees had succeeded in
having the House bill retained with very few
amendments. This bill had been debated to
greater length than any bill ever reported from
the District committee. The provisions were
absolutely necessary to the railroad
IN its capacity as public carrier. The COM
mission should have jurisdiction over both
railroads. and not only should it have jurisdic-
ton over the existing roads, but over all
other roads applying for admission to the CITY,
The trouble about the commission clause in this
bill was that it too narrow in its applica-
tim. 1t was opposed by the Senators for this
reason.
The only thing the commission could do
under such limited jurisdiction would be to
annoy the Pennsylvania railroad. The propO-
sition, Mr.. Atkinson said, came for a sinking of
the tracks. This was met by
COUNTER PROPOSITION,
coming from the army engineer in charge of
the Potomac flats improvement, for the raising
of the Long bridge fifteen feet. He said he
had it from the District Commissioners that if
the bridge raised fifteen feet the tracks
could not be sunk.
Mr. Atkinson said that the demand for the
passage of this bill came not from the Pennsyl-
vania railroad. but from the people of this Dis
trict, who had petitioned Congress for its pass
age.
HOW MUCH PER HEAD?
Mr.. Milliken asked how much per head the
road paid for the signatures to the petition.
Mr.. Atkinson said he knew of no payment for
signatures He disputed Mr.. CIRCUITS state
nent "a To the mOrtnlity nv reason Of the