Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-12

there was no lack Of positive testimony to
snow that In some parts Of the District In
the high ground the present supply Is de-
cfdedly Inadequate and at times ianger-
ously insufficient. When the House con-
ferees assumed this attitude a proposition
was made that the engineer department. OF
the District government should be called
upon for information, and anticipating such
call. Capt. Burr, Maj. PowelHs assistant
at the District building, went to the Capt.
tol but the House confeTecs refused to
hear him. stating that nothing could change
their decision. but that the aqueduct tun-
Hel amendment must go from the bill.
AT the same time they had been resisting
practically every amendment made by the
Senate with an unusual amount of stub
bornness. and item after item was stricken
from the bill with little no reason, ex-
cept that the House did not propose to
permit the appropriation. This opposition
to amendment 2d, the last in the bill.
Curiously enough the Senate was forced to
recede from both the beginning and the
end.
Compromise Rejected.
Notwithsta nding the declaration of the
House conferees in regard 20 the aqueduct
tunnel. that amendment was retained until
the last conference, it being the hope of the
Senate managers that if the amendment
could not be preserved in its entirety, some
compromise might be reached whereby the
completion of the tunnel should be author
lied and Il part Of the money proposed APP
propr:atei to begin the work. When such
proposition was advanced, the House con-
fereeS rejected 1t promptly, saying that in
the absence of an official inquiry on their
part they would not consent even to an in
direct authorization of the resumption Of
promise to which they would agree that
the bill should be amended by the insertion
OF a substitute paragraph providing for q
St1ll further survey Of the tunnel and the
rnfn fx,,- xl-x.
rect, plan to go over the same ground
that was covered by the expert board pro-
vded for in the last appropriation bill The
Senate cone rejected this idea as use
less and superf1uous plan, in view of the
exhaustive report already on file. They de-
CARED that they would rather leave the
question entirely open than to pass Juch
reproach upon the Secretary of War and
the chief of engineers.
This. however, was the nearest approach
the House conferees ever made to an agree
ment. Toward the end of the conference
they reminded the Senate conferees Of their
declaration at the beginning of the ses-
sions, when they had pronounced against
the aqueduct tunnel. and as there was alb
solutely no sign of kaning on their part,
and as the experience with other items III
the bill had not been encouraging, the Sen
ate conferees finally yielded. with the feel
ing, however. as The Star is now creiibly
informed, and as the remarks of Repre-
sentative Grout in the House Wednesday
clearly indicate, that the completion of the
tunnel and the consequent increase of the
water supply will be authorized in the next
District bill. and that the item for that pur-
pose will be inserted in the bill by the
House committee on appropriations. Ger
tainy. If this is Done the matter will not
be resisted by the Senate or by the con-
fereeS.
Other Disputes Easily Settled.
This controversy settled, the next mat
tiers to come prominently into dispute were
the charities amendments and the items
relating to electric light. The House com
plicate the situation with regard to the
latter by adopting a provision hat
was almost direct legislation in behalf of
certain company. The Senate conferees
could obtain from the Senate itself no
distinct instructions in reference to this
amendment, and the result was that a
compromise was worked out whereby both
the new and the old electric light COM
panies were satisfied and the rights of the
citizens were protected. This was one of
the few satisfactory compromises reached
in conferG1ce. way had been opened to
an agreement on the local charities ques-
ton by action Of the conferees on the
Indian appropriation bill, SO that by stipu-
lating that the specific appropria tons
should not be made beyond the end of the
next fiscal year and by broadening the
powers of the joint commission proposed
by the Senate an agreement was easily at
tanned