Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-24
THE BILL WENT OVER.
n. Action Taken Yesterday on the
Railroad Question.
SOME AMENDMENTS AonrEp TO WITHOUT oBJrc-
TIoS-sPEEcHEs FoR AND AGAINST THE MEAS
U~RE-cHAIRNAS eRour ExPLAISs u-soxr
STRONG PorSra.

II eIkON0 fOlST6
After consuming all of the District day the
Atkinson bill for the benefit Of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad failed TO come to q vote in the
House yesterday. Three of the days set aside
by the rules for the consideration Of District
business have now been consumed in the con-
sideration Of this bill. and it is still uncertain
how much more time it will take. An amend
ment to the first section. to which there was no
objection, striking out the following line in the
first section: And the use and maintenance OF
its shops, stations and other structures now
erected thereon is hereby legalized and con-
hrmed." was adopted. with an amendment pro-
viding that Congress might at any time revoke
the authority given for the sidings. etc.
Mr.. Hemphill offered a substitute for the
nrst section, which provides for the
removal OF the tracks from 9Th street
north OF Virginia avenue. and the removal OF
the depot back 500 feet 10 the junction of yir-
ginia and Maryland avenues.
Upon this Mr.. Atkinson raised a point OF
order that 1t was not germane to the subject.
ana the chair sustained the point
After that an attempt was made 20 have the
Dll This falling, an adjourn.
ment was taken, as il was too late for ANYTHING
to be done.
MR.. eRoUT's EXPLANATION
After THE Stars report closed yesterday the
house went again into the m of the
whole with debate limited to thirty minutes on
a side. Mr.. Grout consumed the first twenty
minutes In a clear statement of the little that
was proper In the bill, and of the many obiec-
tons to Its principal features He said there
was one little kernel in the bill providing for a
freight depot that deserved favorable consid-
eration, out that while that was the case there
were many other things in the bill that were
wrong rauically wrong, which the
mouse ought never TO approve and never
would approve IL members rightly mn
derstood the provisions. He said that the first
section was wrong. and was not made right by
the amendment Mr.. Atkinson had offered strlk-
ing out shops, stations, &C.. from the paragraph
leSalizlng the sidings. He though the COM
pany should be given the right to condemn
within the city limits the location being speci-
hed) land for a freight station.
CRossIsG PUBLIC RESERVATIONS.
but why3' Gen. Grout asked, should we
not legalize these sidings and turnouts? l will
tell you why, and the House will understand
the reason instantly. There are now tracks
across several reservations without any sort of
authority of law. From one to four tracks run
across reservations ia, lis. 24I and 3O7, beside
tracks that occupy the streets / have
spoken OF. They run acosss little triangular
reservations In one way and another. 1 can
not now give a better location of these little
Reservations than TO give their numbers and
say that the tracks which cross them are other
.han the main track which runs up the street.
The main track has a right to be there. That
Is a privilege granted under the charter. That
Is their right. But the bill when amended as
proposed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania
would still legallze all these sidings and turn
outs, but IT is clear that such as cross these
little reservations should not be approved. and
thus do We see that the g~entleman's amend
ment is as sagacious as the bill itself. for il
only strikes out shops, stations and other
strnnfnrDg arHatnA rh.r.n,H II
know that there are any; there may be some.
out nave no personal knowledge of it-but is
careful TO leave the section SO that il le~galiZes
all these illegal sidings and turnouts. i.
But they should not have these side tracks
through our public streets. seven or eight.
trenchlng on the sidewalks. occupying M TO a
narrow limit all OF the street. as l think. in Nir-
GINA avenue, where my eye rested on it the
other day would not be quite sure of the
avenue. but that was the condition. Now. they
nave no business doing that: they are not en-
Titled to that occupancy; they have no right to
II under their charter. They have simply done
II without authority. The people are entitled
to the occupancy of the streets, with. PERTAINS.
the passage of a single track through it: but in
place OF that the streets are filled with sidinps.
which are kept for empty cars. where they
back In their cars and unload them. and In
some instances where they make up trains, AS /
am told. This should not be allowed.
1.-The railroad company should go outside of
- wy hmiec, iduu Is cheap. where the
people do not want to occupy the line of the
road with their places of business. and where
the rallroad company can go without inter
ruptlon, transact its business. put down its
sidings, make up Its trains, store its empty
cars and transact Its business without interior
ing with the public. That should be done.
They have done it in part. but they should be
required to do II altogether. As trains are
made up there for the north all they would
nave 70 do would be to quietly draw the train
Ihrough the city on a single track, and it would
not then require the occupancy OF all the
streets on the line OF its track for the transac-
ton OF this kind Of business, which should be
Kept outside the city limits. = . .
Il say before We grant these privileges
10 TINS railroad company We should have
a time nxed when they shall get off the public
property with their station and railroad tracks
which now cut public park in the heart of the
city In two pieces, and which they have occu-
pied Tor eighteen years without price as a free
gift from the government. They should set
their station back to the very place where NV
the original charter it was to be placed. which
they thought was a good place then. The
friends of the road say il is not a good Mace
now. They thought it was a good place then
and Its charter provided for its location there"
Mr.. GRosvESoR's DEFENSE OF THE BILL.
Mr.. Grosvenor spoke in defense of the bill
He said that the bill granted TO the companv
exactly what every railroad company in Ohio
has. There was nothing new in the bill: moth
ing that was not granted to railroads by the
organic law of nearly every state in the Union
He called attention to the value of propertv
IN this city. and added: There must either he
manufacturing industries introduced i'm the
city OF Washington and made profitable within
the next five years or there must be a collanse
OF the values of these properties such as we |
nave never seen outside of one of the naner
towns of the far southwest So / undertake 70
say at this time that a railroad that is HANDLING |
three-quarters OF a million car loads of freight
IN tins city of Washington. either coming in or |
going through every year, ought not to be linn |
tied by anything short of its actual necessities ]
for the corporation in the way Of property for
Its necessary uses"
Mr.. ATKINsoS's ARGUMENT.
Mr.. Atkinson, speaking in favor of the bill.
referred to the statement Of President Roberts
that the sidings were not necessary for the
through traffic, and said that this statement
was mad0 in 1887, and while true then was not
true under the present conditions of trade. He /
presented a letter from President Roberts upon
the subject. Mr.. Atkinson said that the growth
OF the passenger business in the past sixteen
years had been such as to more than treble the
facilities needed outside of the passenger sta
ton for storing, cleaning and repairing the
cars needed for the passenger service. MIR.
also gave figures respecting the in
crease OF the freight business.
In order to enable the company to handle
this increased business. he said, it is proposed
In the fourth section of this bill that thew shall
be permitted to buy additional squares for the
transaction OF freight business. That is all