Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-12
An Outline Of the Work Before the
izt 81
Board Of Trade.
IMPORTANCE OF UNITED ENDEAVOR
What Has Been tT'a6d May Be Ac-
compIished With Congress.
SECRETARY WIGHT'S VIEWS


hours for the convenience Of members, as
well as at the disposal of any charitable
organizations which may desire to use them
for meeting purposes. They reflect in their
rich and tasteful arrangement the prosper
ity of the organization which claims them
as an abiding place. and are becoming
more and more frequented every day they
are open.
. A Star representative visited the rooms
today and chatted with Mr.. John B. Wight,
the secretary of the board of trade. upon
the past work of the organization and what
1t would probably do in the future.
Il hope and believe the board will push
ahead and follow up the good work it be-
gan last fall and in the winter and spring.,
said Mr.. Wight. There was considerable
amount of it left incomplete because the
consideration of the tariff bill prevented
Congress from giving sufficient attention to
local legislation"
What measures do you allude tor" asked
the reporter
Chiefly to the free public library BILL
the bond issue bill to extend the streets
ana sewers and the bill providing for the
erection of a municipal building. The board
can regard its accomplishments in behalf of
legislation. however, with much satisfac-
tlon. 1t succeeded in having passed the
sessment bill, as it is called, providing for
a permanent board of assessors and max
ing satisfactory provision for the revision
OF any errors In the assessments. Then 1t
saved the Potomac flats from threatened
occupancy by railroad, which feel GER
tain would have been only the beginning of
a general devotion of the fats to railroad
purposes. In this way $40 acres of land
Whlch Is now valued at S1,JO0,000 was
saved for its proper purpose of being made
int beautiful park We also prevented
the occupancy of streets by an overhead
trolley railroad, which would have cut off
of he nstx
water front and the flats, and we likewise
prevented the passage of bill which would
have given steam railroad the right to
travel from the Navy Yard tunnel to
Georgetown with grade crossings / think
this was doing pretty well. The board was
also instrumental in having the District
appropriation bill increased, the Senate
having added a half million dollars to it,
and largely helped to secure the passage of
the bill extending Massachusetts avenue"
'- Improving the Fire Service.
What do you Think the future program
will be-" g
Il can only express my own wishes"
responded the secretary, For the coming
season it seems to me, that the board can
do nothing more important than to assist
in securing large appropriations for the
increase of our lire department. The recent
disastrous fires, at which it was necessary
to turn in a general alarm, demonstrated
very clearly the utter dnadequacy of the
as
and county were left exposed, without any
protection, while all the engines were at
one point. This has occurred not only once,
but several tines. 500
why, 1 was recently told by Superin-
tendent Miles of the fire-alarm service that
Notwithstanding thn immense increase of
improvements IN the city and its suburbs
that the facilities in the way of fire-alarm
boxes in the District were virtually no
greater now than they were ten years ago,
although he has made repeated efforts to
secure the means to provide more boxes
OF my own personal knowledge, there are
a number of sections where there Is not
sufficient number of alarm boxes.
1.-The entire department needs thorough
and substantial improvement in the way OF
increased facilities of all sorts, and hope
the board of trade will make a persistent
effort to secure such 4 vitality necessary re-
form. We all know how Jealous the Dis
trict Commissioners and Chief Paris have
been In their efforts to secure the needed
improvements, and the board ought to take
hold and help them carry out their plans
and suggestions.
For the Public Good.
Then there is another thing" continued
Mr. Wight. I'VE are all aware that Con-
gressmen are not much interested In the
District of Columbia as they are in their
own constituents. and District matters
have suffered because sufficient pressure
has not been brought to bear on them to
acouaint them with our interests and neces-
stiles. The board of trade has member
ship of between four and five hundred men,
thoroughly representative of the business
and professional interests of washington.
Such an organization will be pretty apt to
accomplish what 1t pushes for with solid
front; and / believe that with this powerful
influence, which the District has not here
tofore enjoyed, the national legislators will
be brought to a proper recognition of what
Is demanded to preserve and sustain the
welfare of the national capital.
THE welfare of the entire District, it
should be borne in mind, is the sole and
only reason and motive for the existence
of the board, and its influence in behalf of
the District has already been felt in
emphatic manner.
Il hope the board will also vigorously
assist the District Commissioners in Sc
curing the passage of good laws III the
place of those which are now admittedly
defective. There are number of these.
noticeably the law relating to fire escapes,
and the statute under which the health
officer undertook to compel the owners of
old buildings to provide proper sanitary
equipments, such as closets, ana so forth.
Then there is another matter l hope the
board will consider, and that is The build
ing inspectors Office. l saw by The Star
yesterday that Inspector Eltwisle admitted
at the inquest that his force was made
quate to compel the observance of the
building laws.
This is a serious condition of affairs and
should be remedied without delay. Every
made absolutely safe for the purposes which
It is intended for beyond any question of
a doubt. and 1 am of the opinion that the
board of trade will be heartily glad to as
sist in having thee building inspectors Of
flee equipped thoroughly for the important
work 1t was created se perform
In It's Representative Capacity.
1.-The future of the board of trade is des-
tined to be most important when it is re-
garded in connectXonowith the prosperity
of the District" continued Mr.. Wight earn
estly. 1T Is made up yof men from every
section of the cityfandI country, and there
fore is representative in every sense of
the word. 1t will thersfore come to be re-
garded by Congress even more than it is
at present as the. authoritative mouth
piece of all the pe9ple of Washington and
it's views will haS3 Immense influence on
pending legislatonithat may affect the cap
ital. Washington would have gotten
great deal more Necessary legislation in the
past if there had been concerted move
ment among her people in behalf of meas
ures that would benefit the entire. COM
munity.
"'The trouble has always been that the in
terests of individuals have been allowed to
conflict with and antagonize the good Of all
the people. The residents of one section