Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-03
The senate has asked the District Com

The Senate has asked the District Com
rnissioners for their authority for announc-
ing the unwilling abandonment of some OF
the underground conduits through which
District telegraph and telephone wires run
and the substitution therefor of overhead
lines. The correspondence, which has been
printed in The Star. discloses a condition
OF affairs far from creditable to Congress,
and threatening to the District. 1t will not
be contended that a considerable portion OF
the city should be without direct connec-
ton with police and fire alarm headquaf-
tiers. and 1t ought to be plain to even short
sighted members of a frequently -myopic
legislature that without the appropriation
of the small sum required, and so ofteh
asked for. electrical communication be-
tween the southwestern portion of the city
and the central points named cannot be
kept up through the present Inadequate
conduit. Now the law in effect says, and
wisely. that overhead wires are nuisances
of a dangerous kind, and ON that point
there is absolute accord between the law
and the facts. Public sentiment in the Dis
trict of Columbia is unqualiiedly favorable
TO speedy burial Of every wire, ana hostile
to the erection of a single additional enc,
and there is a statutory provision that will,
within a reasonable time. compel the de-
sired interment. That the District Commits
sioners favor this law is well known, and
in the communication they yesterday made
10 the Senate. is additional evidence of
their desire to do that which the Senate
implicitly finds fault with them for not do
Ing, and which they have not done because
Congress has failed TO provide the nee
essary funds. The Commissioners submit
the facts that no appropriation has been
ground. or sufficient for the reconstruction
of the section of existing unserviceable con-
quit. although the attention of Congress has
repeatedly been called by them to the adj
visibility OF providing for the construction
and maintenance Of an underground mu-
nicipal electric system In view of these
clearly evident conditions. what could be
more inconsistent than the senatorial effort
to convict the Commissioners of an Of
Tending for which the Senate itself itself is
largely responsible? And what sort of a
legislature is it that will compel individuals
TO obey its mandates. yet persist in having
the government of which il Is a part dis
obedient for necessity's or economy's sake?
The maintenance Of the District telegraph,
telephone and fre-alarm system Is of the
utmost importance. Congress declared. in
effect. that the wires necessary to such
system. and all other wires. should go I'M
dsrground. and 1t announced. specifically,
hat once underground, there the wires
should remain, through a prohibition of the
erection Of additional overhead wires, and in
the case Of individuals and private corpora
tons the mandate has properly and profit
ably been enforced. But there has been no
appropriation to defray the expense of
burying the District wires, or to keep in
working order existing conduits. ane unless
such an appropriation is made, the wires
must necessarily remain above ground, or
90 above ground again, or be abandoned.
Congressional inactiOn in this matter really
means retrogression; a retrograde move
ment would be misfortune. The people of
the District do not want this wire put
above ground in violation of public senti-
ment, and of the spirit and probably of the
letter of the law, nor do they want the mu-
nicipal disaster of an abandonment of the
wire The one thing to be done, and it
should be done in a hurry. is to appropriate
the necessary cash to keep the conduit in
working order, and Congress can hardly
refuse to do this when 1t realizes, as 1t
must the untenable position 1t now occu-
pies Every wire in the District of Column
bia should be placed underground, and be-
Ing so placed. should remain there, and the
government should set a good example in
the important matter of obedience to law