Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-17

lexington and Soldiers Home.
Senate bill 721, in relation to the Eek
inSton and Soldiers Home Railway Gem
pany, was the next bill called for discus
sion. The opposition to the bill was open
ed by Mr. A. X. Server of the North Capt.
toll and lexington Citizens Association,
who read the following protest from the
association
The North Capitol and lexington Citi-
Zens Association of the District of CClum-
bia respectfully protests against the grant
ing, at this time, of any further extensions
or other privileges to the lexington and
Soldiers Home Railway Company, for the
following reasons: In that part of the
District served by the New York avenue
branch of this road most of the residents
own their homes. 1t has been asserted that
this is more largely true of that section
than or any other portion of the city or
suburbs The reason is found in the in
oucements offered to home seekers Every
advantage in the way of location and sur
rouhdlngs is offered there at a moderate
inquire: Consequently, both the improved
ana the unimproved property is held OF
as speculative venture. but perma-
heht' substantial investment and the i'm
proVements have been voluntarily made by
the property owners, with little or no eX-
penSe TO the District treasury.
because OF the permanent character of
tne investments those who have spent
tnelf means in beautifying and deyeIuping
TINS section certainly have the right TO de-
niaho tnat any street car company securing
franchise for that locality shall be com
PEELED to give service ADEQUATE 10 ne
commodate all reasonable needs aud re-
quiremehts. In return for the privileges
gratultously granted, the public has tie
right to expect from the railway coE:pany
a Well-balanced schedule frequent cars.
rapid transportation. courteous treatment
OF patrons, and a service as convenient and
wei adapted to the wants of those served
kanJl n wit n
ment and management.
Promises Broken.
The lexington and Soldiers Home Rail-
way Company. through its officers and rep
resentatives has from the inception of the
present management made continual prom
ises that the horse-car service, when il has
maintained over nearly all its lines, would
be succeeded by some kind of satisfactory
transit. These repeated promises have been
made only to be broken. and the company
has not shown one single honest effort to
accomplish any permanent Improvement in
its service. 1t has adopted an entirely I'm
necessary transfer system, which compeIs
the use OF three cars to traverse the short
distance of two and one-half miles, from
r street northeast to 18th and q streets
northwest. No systematic effort is made
TO secure close connections at transfer
points, and the passengers must wait eX-
already crowded picks them up and
carries them to the next point, where the
experience Is repeated The delays caused
by the transfers, the change of horses
along the route, and the condition of the
poor animals. make the time consumed TO
reach any point this line unreasonabiy
long. and obige the patrons of the road 10
either abandon ii altogether for walking
or to waste a great amount of valuable
time in being slowly dragged over its
weary length. The cars drawn by the
horses We're built for electric motor cars,
and are entirely too heavy for the present
use. The hest that can he said of the ser
vice is that il is about what should he eX-
pected from disjointed and anomalous
system.
NO attempt has been made to operate the
North Capitol street line, except that por-
ton above New York avenue. a single car
is used there. which runs at irregular in
tervalS from am to pm. The company
disclaims all responsibility for this service,
asserting that the lessee. who is operating
the road under its charter. ard is employing
public streets for experimental service. must
be held accountable In fact the entire road
is apparently conducted an experiment,
in the interest of inventors of street car pro-
pulsion. There seems to have been no eff
for: on the part of the present management
to observe the acts Of Congress or the ordi-
nances Of the Commissioners. but rather a
total disregard of each and every kind of
official authority. even OF the ajesty of the
courts of justice.
Result of Poor Service.
The effect of such service has been to
otstruct the development of this section
and impede its prosperity and Improvement.
Less taxes are paid, fewer sales of property
are made, and those at much lower prices
rents have been reduced: ii is more difficult
TO obtain tenants: those who come remove
more frequently than heretofore; many
houses once occupied now stand empty, and
every business interest of the section has
been materially damaged. because of the
Wretched car service received from this COM
pany. Such a pre- udice has thus been Gre
ated against this section that years of the
best car service obtainabe will be required
to eradicate it.
For these reasons we ask that no ex-
tensions or other privileges he recommended
or granted 20 this, the lexington and Sol
dierS' Home Railway Company. until it has
demonstrated its Willingness and ability to
own and operate a street car line in thu,
capital city of the nation ny an actual equip
ment and operation of its existing lines. with
some modern rapid transit system. whose
efficiency has already been satisfactorily
proven by actual service
Other Objections.
Mr.. Serren called attention to the
Wretched transfer service of the lexington
road. and said during January he kept a
record of the time 1t took him to go to
18th and q streets. The quickest time
he made was thirty-two minutes, and the
longest time was something in excess of
fifty minutes. He referred TO the lack of
protection offered by the road at its trans
fer points, not only exposing them to the
weather but also 10 the dangers of rob-
berry.
Mr.. VIM. G. Henderson, president of the
association. followed. He said the COM
pany had done nothing in the shape of
affording accommodations for the support
the citizens had given it. So the road
it had proven its ability to run what it
had. The association did not oppose the
extensions generally, but did not think
the extensions should be granted until the
Commissioners at least had sufficient evil
dence that the company was willing to
keep some OF its promises. He referred
to the transfer points along the road,
Which he characterized outrageous, ey-
posing the wives and children of the
patrons of the road to the dangers of as
sault and the inclemency of the weather
The people in lexington and that neigh
borhood, by reason of the bad service of
the lexington road, We're seriously con-
te:nplating the ACCESSIBILITY of establishing
a herdic line. The patronage of the Eek
ngton road was bad, he knew, but it was
because of the service The people would
not patronize a poor service. Let the
road better itself and there would be no
question about the people supporting it.
Out 18th Street.