Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-23

Elsewhere IN The Star a communication
IL printed which discusses the Mcmillan
street railway bill. recently published in The
Star, and condemns Ii as free street rail-
way measure. II the bin Ia susceptible of
the construction placed upon 1t by our cor
respondent, The Star is opposed to II, but
consideration Of all parts Of this somewhat
involved and confused proposition causes
The Star to interpret 1t as a clog upon the
apprehended wholesale surrender of our
streets to tramways rather than as a pro-
ject to facilitate this surrender. At present
in order to obtain possession of a street for
railway purposes only the consent of Con-
gress is necessary. Under this bill such
consent Is still apparently a requisite. The
Commissioners are to be authorized to grant
permission to construct such railroad upon
such terms as the Congress of the
United States may see 1T to prescribe" and
the railroad is authorized to use streets.
avenues, etc, provided 1.-The consent also of
Congress be. after the passage of this act
nrst obtained" This consent Of Congress
Is to expire IL within one year after 1t Is
granted. the consent Of the other necessary
parties Is not obtained. The consent is to
the use Of specified streets. and not q gen.
eral consent, for 1t is construed as the as
sent Of the United States as a property own
er to railroad construction upon or bounding
on the streets. parks, ETC., which are pro-
posed for its consideration as specially de-
sirable for such use. The bill seems to re-
quire that after this consent of Congress
has been obtained. which Is all that is now
necessary, the railroad shall also secure the
consent 'of a majority in interest of the
owners Of the property upon the streets in
which the road Is to be constructed" or
in,
one-half In value Of the property bounded
on" or as a substitute for this consent of
property owners, the consent of a commits
sion, appointed upon application by the gen.
eral term of the Supreme Court Of the Dis
trict Of Columbia, its findings to be confirm
ed by the Supreme Court. And 1T appears
by the last section of the bill that after the
consent of Congress and OF the property
owners or commission has been obtained.
the Commissioners of the District as a con-
dition of their consent to the use OF any
street for this purpose, must provide that
the right, franchise or privilege of using
said street shall be sold at public auction
to the bidder who will agree to give the
largest percentage per annum of the gross
receipts Of said company or corporation.
with adequate security, as herein provided,
for the fulhllment of said agreement and
IOr the commencement ana completion or
such road according to the plan or plans
and on the route or routes fixed for its con-
structIon within the time or times desig-
mated" According to The Stars reading
of the measure all that anyone needs to do
to take advantage of this free street rail-
way bill and to build road upon your
street or mine is to get % the consent of
Congress, C2) the consent of property owners
or court-appointed commission, approved by
the court. and 80 the consent of the Com
missioners, which is to be obtained only
after outbidding everyone else at a public
auction Of the privilege of using the street.
There are other limitations and restrictions
upon the efforts of corporations and indi-
viduals to seize the public highways, but
those above not furnish the most serious
obstacles. The Star sees nothing in the bill
to alarm the citizen and property owner
The line of the bill which recites that the
court-appointed commission is to determine
where" such road ought to be constructed
is seen from the context to be clearly a mis-
print for whether such road ought to be
constructed.