Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-21
Action of Board Of Trade at Meeting
>Last4ETsg aning.
AMENDED HIGHWAY ACT ADOPTED
Committees Authorized to Coop
crate in BehaIfnSof Measure.
THE MEMBERS PRESENT

| mine what. If any, amendments should be
| made to the highway act of 1893 After
| discussion, the amendments to the highway
law recommended inl the report of the COM
mittee were adopted.
Mr.. Theodore w. Moves, president of the
| board, presided, and Mr. Geo. H. Harries,
the secretary, was in his place.
| The report from the committee, which
was printed in full Up yesterdays Star, was
presented by the chairman of the special
committee, Mr. r. Ross Perry, who before
he had begun to read the printed copy,
which he held in his hand, stated that while
the results arrived at in the report had
been formulated by all the members of the
committee, the work of preparing it had
| fallen upon one member Mr. A. s. Worth
| ington. This required so much time and
research that Mr.. AWorthington's labors
were much appreciated by his associates on
| the committee, and it was the desire that
he should get the credit for it.
The suggestion was made by Mr.. c. c.
| Lancaster that as the report had been
printed and placed in the hands of the
members of the board, it was not necessary
! to take the time to read it, and a summary
of the points by Mr.. Perry would be all
| that would be necessary.
This suggestion took the form Of reso-
| luton, which was adopted.
Epitome of the Report.
Mr.. Perry then went on to speak of the
subject. which was. treated at length in
the report. At the outset he said that
when the ten miles square was thought
| necessary as a seat for the national gov
| eminent the population of the country
was only 100000. Now. with population
| of 70,OOO,OO0 he did not think sixty-four
square miles, the area of the District,
vas any too much. He spoke of the
growth of the suburban settlements about
| the city, which, he said, was not noticed
| until about 1880; that is. its real signiii-
canoe is in the fact that the population
| of the city is going beyond the city bounds.
| These subdivisions of land were made with
out reference to each other or to the plan
| of the city, and the problem is now how
| to deal with them.
Application were made TO Congress from
! time to time for the: Improvement of GER
| tam streets. but the applicants were told
| that this city was not to be extended
piecen cal and in the interests of a few.
| Out of this grew the Highway act of 1893,
which aimed to make the extension of the
| city streets in thes interests of the public
| He said this law dealt with the subdivs-
ions which were made prior to the pass
| sge OF the law of 1ssS.r
Why 1t Was Kxpenxive.
The cause of the great expense in ex-
ecuting the law was the attempt to rectify
| the subdivisions made prior to 1888. and.
| section covered by map No. J. that was
no reflection on those s2rging this law and
| did not do away With, the necessity for
| some action. Mr. Perry said the law of
| 1893 had been fully, sustained by the Unit
| ed States Supreme Court but it was found
between eight and ten millions, and hence
| the Commissioners had agreed upon GER
| tain notifications which would bring down
| the cost to about three tnnilliens of dollars.
d.,1
| stitute plan of the Commissioners be adopt
ed by the board.
| Mr.. Perry then referred in detail to the
| recommendations made in the report of the
| committee, stating the position Of the COM
| mittee.
In conclusion he added that his interest
| was only that of one who had been born
| here and who recolected Washington as a
| mud hole in winter and dust heap in sum-
| mer. Now 1t had become magnificent city.
| This was mainly through the efforts of one
| man, ex-Gov Shepherd. He wanted the
development of the city to be continued on
| the plan which was devised in the begin
| ming, and which has thus far been SO
grandly carried out.
| Mr.. Perry's presentation Of the subject
| was warmly applauded.
| Cloud on Title.
| A resolution was then offered by Mr.. G.
| c. Lancaster which recited that the pro-
| ceedings thus far under the highway act
| had served to cast a cloud upon the title
to land and that such legislation was not
needed, and that therefore the board rec
| ommend the repeal Of the law of 1893 as a
| whole; while favoring the extension of the
main streets and avenues from the city line
| to the District bounds. 1t should not be
| carried out until the money Is appropriated
| to pay for the condemnation and improve
| ment Of such streets, and that one-half OF
| the cost be paid by the District and one
| half by the United States government; also
| stipulating that bonds be issued to meet
| the cost. pr.
| A request was made by Mr.. NJ. M. Par
ker that the recommendations of the re-
port of the committee be read, and they
| were read by the secretary.
| Mr.. Parker then seconded these recon-
| mendations and made the point of order
that the meeting had been called for the
| special purpose of considering this report.
The chair held that Mr.. Lancaster's reso-
luton could be considered as a substitute
| for that offered by the committee.
! Mr.. Lancaster had said previously that
| he had offered his resolution as an indie
| pendent proposition Upon the ruling OF
| the chair on the point of order he proceed
| ed to discuss the subject and said he was
| interested in this matter not only as a
property holder in the suburbs. but as pres
ident of the Northwest Citizens Suburban
| Associations, which, In common with some
| other associations in the suburbs. had
passed similar resolutions to the he
| had offered. He then went on to denounce
one would now acknowledge their connec-
| ton with it. He specially criticised that
feature of the law which placed the entire
| expense on the citizehs of the District He
thought If this was a sample of the inter-
est taken by CongEessi in this city it was
nothing to be proud of. He said there was
some suspicion that thetboard of trade had
something to do with this legislation, and
the reason why SO ,htany people whom. he
said, were lying awake of nights because
| of the threatened confiseation Of their prop
erty under this lawTwere not at this meet
Ing was because thty did not have conf
denee in the boardspf Trade. He referred
to the recent decision i9f the two juries
or condemnation, and said that any law
yer could have said this feature of the law
was tmpracticable. NovH this situation hav-
ing been reached. whatsithousands Of citi-
the law. :.
Suggestion gf amendment.
In speaking Of tina proposition of the
committee to amend the law. he said it
was well known that the best way to null
tfply litigation was by amending laws.
The lawyers would profit. but the people
would pay the bills. He favored starting
Il a