Evening star., 1896-01-14
Sewers and street Extension.

In 1894 the Board of Trade endorsed, not
the details of bond bill, but the general
proposition of bond issue of limited and
specified amount to complete tine proposed
comprehensive sewerage system and for
urban and suburban street extension and
Improvement, stipulating that proportion-
ate contribution by the national govern
ment toward all Of these improvements
without exception is vital feature of the
proposed legislation There Is no indica-
tion whatsoever of a change of mind on
the part of the Board in respect to the sc-
ton then taken. Apparently all of the i'm
provements then indorsed are still viewed
as public necessities, and a bond issue is
still considered under existing conditions
as the wisest, justest and most economical
method Of meeting the expense involved
In improvements of this character.
In the interval, however between the
date of this action and the present through
the operations of the highway extension
act certain facts and certain indications
have developed, and some new issues have
arisen. As the proposed extension has
taken practical. definite shape the question
has been raised whether the expense in
yolved in carrying the highway law into
effect will not be far greater than was
originally anticipated, justifying perhaps q
fresh consideration of the subject of street
extension appropriations. Moreover the
suburban property owners affected by the
laws operations have vigorously COM
planned that the effect of the highway act
as 1t is worded, construed and applied Is to
throw all suburban lines into confusion for
an indefinite period, and to render such
property almost unstable and valueless as
security for loans. and they plead for re-
aipfv hv
prompt legislative action, making or re-
fusing to make the appropriations for the
various extensions.
1t Is clearly necessary for intelligent con-
sfderation and action in the matter 10 have
reasonably accurate approximate esti-
mate of the Gust of the extensions, and 1t
Is natural to presume that the Commis-
sioners have caused such a detailed esti-
mate to be made. II not, this work should
be performed Immediately and in such a
manner as will inspire full confidence in
the results reached.
If the amount necessary to carry into
effect street extension on the comprehen-
slve scale proposed turns out to be greater
than Congress thinks 1t wise and advisable
to permit the District TO expend this
particular improvement, then tine highway
act should be so amended that the degree
and kind of extension which Congress will
approve may be carried out, and that such
suburban property as will not be affected
by the revised extension may be relieved
from the incubus of the existing highway
law.
The street extension act is clothed with
TO special sanctity. AS The Star has in
sisted from the day of it's enactment, not
one cent should be expended in conformity
rr-fth tic hoe haar,
amended, directly Or indirectly, so that the
United States shall, In accordance with the
letter and spirit of the act of rs, pay it's
just proportion of tEis contemplated mu-
Licipal expense of the Federal District
The bond bill in effect amends this pro-
vision of the highway act, and the Board
of Trade in its resolutions of 1894 empha-
sized as essential this an endment. The Com
missioners have already secured amenda-
tory legislation of still another provision
of this act, and it will rot be at all strange
IL other defects develop, as its provisions
come to be tested, which will call for
amendments. There is nothing in the
record Of the Board OF Trade which will
prevent it in consistency from urging and
supporting any changes whatsoever in the
highway act of which facts, new and old,
conTincingly demonstrate the wisdom.
The Board of Trade may perhaps be eX-
pected at it's Friday meeting to reaffirm it's
general Endorsement of public projects which
involve the welfare of both present and fu-
tGre Washington. and in which the interests
of the community as whole are deeply in
volved, and at the same time to give due
consideration to the alleged unjust harsh
ness Of the highway act as practically ap-
piled in the cases of suburban citizens, and
to suggest perhaps the supplementary legis-
lative action which justice may seem to re-
quire- Wise. harmonious action of this
general character would be the natural out
come of the discussion.