Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-14
GAS BILL GOES OVER
Was Urged in the Senate by Nh. Faulkner,
but Objection Was Made.
Other Local Bills FavorabIy Acted ON
After the River and HarbOr
Bill Passed.

The Senate passed the river and harbor
kill yesterday afternoon at $50 o'clock, after
a debate lasting many days. The yeas and
nays were demanded on the passage OF the
bill. a very unusual proceeding in finally dis
posing Of an appropriation bill, and the vote
resulted: Yeas. 81; nays, 8.
The negative votes were cast by
Senator'S Bate, Chiffon. Harris, Hill. Smith
and Villas. democrats; Brown, repub-
lean. and Allen and Kyle, populsts The
Senate then devoted itself to the considera-
ton of bills on the calendar. and several
measures were finally disposed Of including
a number relating to the District of Colum n
bia. The House bill 6s.3, defining the stand
and shape and size for dry measure, was
passed, after being amended so as to provide
that the penalty for short weights on po-
tatoes shall only apply when potatoes are
sold by weight" This was done at the in
stance of Mr.. Kyle, who at first OBJ
]ected to the bill, because without such
provision. the measure will prohibit country
people from selling potatoes upon the street
The House bill to establish harbar regula-
tons in the District was passed just ii
came to the Senate from the House and now
goes TO the Pre- sident.
Water Main Reassessments.
The Senate bill to authorize the reassess-
ment of water main taxes In the District
" DIS pdSStu, WIFI the amendments aQOpIeu
by the District committee. AS it was passed
1t provides that the Commissioners be au-
thorized to reassess property for water
main taxes in all cases where the original
assess mentS have been quashed or set aside
because they are authenticated by the wrong
officials This includes the large number of
cases that fall under what IL known as the
Burgdorf decision, which quashed assess
mentS, because they were approved by the
Commissioners. acting, as they supposed, as
the legal successors to water registrar"
an official whose functions were superseded
several years ago The bill as IL was
originally drawn and introduced, gave the
Commissioners authority to reaSsesS in cases
that may hereafter be decided. but the bill
was recently amended by the District COM
mittee so as to give them retroactive power
in the premises. The bill as IL passed also
restricts the assessment for water main pur
poses on agricultural land or unsubdivided
land IN the suburbs not held for business
purposes
The House bill to permit the Pintsch
Comprising Company 10 lay pipes in Ger
tain streets IN this city, and House bill pro-
N!GlnS Tor the drainage OF lots in the Dis
trict, We're also read in the form in which
they came from the House. was the
House bill relating TO the sale of unclaimed
freight, baggage, etc. House bill Gl12 au-
thoriZing the sale of the title of the United
States in lot }, square lib, in this city, 10
Frank ID. Orme, to which Mr.. Allen OBJ
Jected the other day, was passed without
anne ndinent and without a division.
The Gas Bill Goes Over.
The bill regulating the price of gas in the
District, Il. r. 1894, was reached in its
order. and objection was promptly made
by Mr.. Plat to its present consideration.
Mr.. Faulkner appealed to have this bill
Immediately considered and declared that
the citizens associations" through their
officers, had called on him earlier in the
day and appealed to him TO try and get the
not the bill to which Mr.. Call objected.
and Mr.. Faulkner admitted that Mr.. Call
had objected TO the bill when ne, Mr.. Faux
Ter, absent. He said that citizens of
the District who have been fighting the gas
company for years had only few hours
ago urged him to get the bill through the
Senate.
How about Mr.. Dodge?" asked Mr..
George.
Il have heard of Mr.. Dodge on the gas
subject for eight years" said Mr.. Faux
ner.
He sent me some very important sta
tistics," replied Mr.. George. which / should
like to spread before the Senate"
''Of course responded Mr. Faulkner, eff
Senators think they are representing the
citizens and do not want the bill to pass
will not insist"
There will certainly be a great deal of
discussion in regard to the BILL" INTERCEPTED
Mr.. Kyle. The people of the District of
Columbia want 81 gas. This bill provides
for gas the first year at S1.15 and then a
fall to sl.10 and sl.O5, covering a period of
five years.
This closed the discussion, as Mr. Platt
insisted upon his objection and the bill
vent over