Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-08
THE MOUNT VERNON BILL
Senate Allows the Proposed Railroad
With Amendments.
Against the Trolley System-lrOnclad
Prov isiOns to Prevent Its Use In
the Cfty-The Chosen Route.


and Mount Vernon Electric Railway Com
pany to extend its line into the District The
bill was House bill zoos and it Iow goes to
conference between the two houses, and will
probably go to the President for signature
before the end of the week. The bill was
passed without much discussion today. be-
ing brought up from the calendar a little
after l O'Clock on motion of Mr.. Faulkner.
All of the Senate District committee amend
ments, which have been heretofore printed
in The Star. were adopted fr. addition to a
number IF other amendments which were
offered on the floor, all tending to make the
bill ircnclad against the use of the overhead
trolley or of steam pow er in the District
On motion of Mr.. Mcmillan, the starting
Point Of the read near the market was
changed from a point on b street between
9th and TIN streets to a point on the same
street between It'll and Sth block further
vest. '.-.--
He explained that this was necessary be-
cause b street between 9th and 7th is naf-
row and between 7th and Sth is much
broader. The lexington road will have
Its terminus just east of 7th street and 1t
was not thought best Is h;rve two street
railroads ending in the same block In
this section the company was authorized
to use an overhead wire for a distance of
not exceeding 100 feet, commencing at the
extreme southern end Of the ferry Sip at
u,
section was read DIR. Hale. who. is well
known as an antagonist to the overhead
trolley idea, asked to have all that mart of
the bill read again. While this was being
done Mr.. Mcmillan explained the situation
to Mr.. Hale in an undertone but Mr. Hale
was evidently desirous' that all, .tlss"criti-
cisIn5 of the bill should go on record, prob
ably for the edification of the Commission
ers when they shall come to enforce the
act He asked which side OF the river this
overhead line would be on. and Mr.. Faux
ner explained that 1t would be on the
washington hin, side at the extreme end of
wire" he explained the. city at all,
but confines 1T to private property at the
What is the necessity" asked Mr.. Hale.
the District?'
This lIne." replied Mr.. Faulkner. will
run with an overhead wire on the Virginia
shore and with an underground. cable on
this side. 1t will be really necessary to use
the overhead wire at the ferry slip In order
to get the cars of the boat. 1t will be
located entirely on private property. which
is to be bought by the company
Does 1t cross q street?' persisted Mr..
Hale -.
Mr. Faulkner replied in the negative and
then Mr.. Hoar suggested that It might be
better to amend the bill by limiting the use
of the overhead wire to private property to
be secured by the company. Mr.. Faulkner
said that 1t would not be necessary, as both
r.
In drawing up the bill to exclude the over
head wire from the streets of Washington.
The committee Of the District Of Column
bia," said Mr. Hale. ought to resist every
attempt to bring the overhead trolley wire
into the city"
II fully concur with the Senator in that
policy" said Mr.. Faulkner. heartily.
Then MIR. Hale suggested. merely to avoid
any misunderstanding. the Insertion OF an
explanatory phrase in this provision, so that
1t will read as follows: And, for the pur-
pose of connecting. to use an. overhead wire
for a distance of not exceeding 400 feet.
of the Slip" This amendment was agreed to.
,.--- Further Amendments.
Mr. Mcmillan suggested a change in the
next paragraph, which was agreed to. max
ing it read that the company will be SUBJ
jected to the supervision instead of the
approval of the District Commissioners in
it's operations of a transfer boat from the
l4th street terminus to the Virginia Shore
Mr.. Hale's'cont ention to prevent the viola
ton of the spirit of the act was recognized
when the committee agreed to an addi-
tional amendment TO section s. to make its
last clause read as follows: But no over
head wires shall be used or constructed ex-
cept as hereipbefaEe, sRy2vided. epor shall
steam power be used within the limits OF
the city of WASHINGTON"
In section IL Mr.. Mcmillan proposed an
amendment. to make the act fedd: That
the company shall run street railway cars.
propelled by underground cable OF electric
power" instead of may run" This COM
pels the road TO use a cable or electric
system to the exclusion Of horses. Mr..
Hale came to the front again when this
paragraph came into discussion and in
sisted that the word underground should
be inserted before the word electric, so as
to absolutely ,copfine the company ito use
an underground cable or an underground
electric road, This was merely to- drive
the anti-trolley nail still deeper into the
structure of the BILL '--' -
Transfer stations.
Besides being an opponent to the trolley
Mr.. Hale had distinct views on the subject
of passenger houses ard transfer stations.
He evidenced this today by two amend
ments to section II, inserting the words
land transfer stations" after the phrase
shall furnish and maintain passenger
houses A few words later on in the para
graph he proposed the following amend
ment. which was agreed to: But no such
passenger house or transfer station shall
be built upon the public streets or sidewalks
or on public property" As he sat down Mr..
Hale remarked: Il want to do all can to
save the public reservations from these
operations.
Mr. Faulkner explained that section 81 in
the last print of the bill had been left in
inadvertently by the printers, and 1T was
stricken out. 1t related to the. f street
route of the company, which has been
bandoned. ..
The committee struck out section %, which
gave the company the right to. carry par
cells, farm and dairy products in the CITY
Mr.. Hale asked about this omission in con-
nection with the provision to section >,
which is to the effect that the. tracks of the
road shall rot be used for the transporta-
ton of passengers on street railways. He
wanted to know how this effected the Falls
Church and Potomac road, which will con-
meet with the Mount Vernon road
Mr. Mcmillan explained that the object of
the bill is to bring all these suburban lines
into the city and few trunk lines, and
that it was not thought desirable to per-
nit freight cars to be run over city routes
Mr.. Hale asked further questions about. the
location of the market terminus with rela-
ton to the Pennsylvania station. and was
very particular to know whether the Il,
street lines from Is IL to 18th street would
touch the avenue at all Mr.. Faulkner ex-
planned that this would not be the case
that the committee has in contemplation
an ultimate arrangement which will carry
the lith street cars up that street from the
avenue. and will bring the transfer station
of the Washington and Georgetown road
down to the corner of 18th and the avenue
in order to relieve the congestion of 18th
street. 1890. 1000 ''''-'''''"'
This spur of the Mount Vernon road he
said. would be entirely south of the avenue,
and was desirable in order to, bring this
company into close connections with the
avenue line. s
The bill was passed without further
amendment, and on motion of Mr. Faux
ner the Senate insisted upon its amend
ments. and requested q conference with
Mr. Faulkner Mr. Harris and Mr. McNIil-