Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-11
BAD PfAVE NE N rs.
How Some Stress Railways Treatthe
IAN.
Hay CROPS MfHE City STREETS
Cracked Asph1t aid MosnGzanite
Block beEommon.
CAPTAIN BEACH's REMEDY

CAPTAIN BEACH'S REMEDY
AS adruie' there, are very few points Of
resemblance between those things densa by
public corporations and the things
the sc quasi-pubiic corporations ought TO
90. washington has had many. .unsa It's
factory experiences with its street railway
companies. and 1t Is likely to have many
more, SO .ong as there are large leopholes
In TIE statutes. One Of the duties Of a
street railroad company is to:skeep its
tracks in good shape, and to see to It that
the paving between the tracks and without
the tracks to the extent of two feet out
side Of each outer rail is in; the best of
condition. s~s. -,
In that portion OF the act of June II,
1873, dealing with the laying Of pavements
1t Is expressly set forth that II any street
railway company shall neglect or refuse to
perform the work required by this act, said
pavement shall be laid between the tracks
and exterior: thereto of such railway by
the District of Columbia. And if such COM
pany shall fail or refuse to pay the sun:
Que them In respect of the work done by OIL
under the orders of the proper officials eff
said District, in such cases of neglect or
REFUSAL OF SUCH railway company to per
form the work required Of the aforesaid,
the commissioners OF the District of Co.
lumbia shall issue certificates of indebted
ness against the property, real or personal,
OF such railway company. which certificate
shall bear interest at the rate of 10 per
cent per. annum until paid, and which, until
they are paid shall remain and be lien
upon the property on or against which
Trey are issued, together with the fran
chise OF said company. And IL the said
certificates are not paid within one year.
m G of fha ri nf
Columbia may proceed to sell the property
against which they are issued, or so much
thereof as may be necessary to pay the
amount due, such sale to first be duly adj
Vert1Sed daily for one week in some news
paper published in the city of Washingt on,
and to be at public auction to the highest
bidder"
With such legislation as that in existence
1t would seem to be easy enough to keep in
good repair all street paving for which the
railroad companies may cpossibly be held
responsible. The authorities do not have
very much trouble with some of the COM
panies, but they have so much trouble
with others that the situation average
up just about as it does, in many other
cities.
ThesPrinsiple Offenders.
Locally. the principal offenders. are the
Belt and lexington companies; Siamese
twin corporations NOW in the hands of a
receiver, who watches with great fidelity
over What he believes ito be- the interests of
those who own a majority OF stock in. the
two roads. The nondfton of the street
paving in the Vicinity of 1.-THE Eckngton's
tracks Is very much better now than. it was
some little time ago. Prompted, possibly,
by desire to please the Commissioners
the receiver consented to4tha disbursement
of small sum of money by means of
which few of Fahe worst features were
eliminated. But as a rule the desires of
al off
are the petitions of plain, ordinary, IN
Official citizens, who occasionally get into
the game because they, ara ashamed of
paving conditionsdn prominent PLACES. In
pigeon hole in the-dask Of a wellskn own
Dis trict official rest large number of pa
pers in which are recorded the efforts of
the District government to bring about
some sort of bettermants along the Belt
and lexington line. AS general thing
the applications of the authorities are
wholly dsregarded by the receiver One of
the standing jokes OF the District building
is an apparently well-foundsd rumor that
the receiver, when asked to make certain
paving repairs n places where the holes
were really dangerous, said that there
wasn't any use of his making repairs; all
he had to do was to keep still md then the
district would do the work. Whether he
said this oronot is a matter. Iof very little
consequence; it expresses precisely what
he does, and that is the main point
How the Recefvershfp Works.
To enforce the paving law on the Belt
and lexington companies Is practically i'm
possible SO long as the receivership exists
Litigation with all its intricacies is about
all that the holders of certificate of in
debtedness could reasonably look forward
to. If his certificate had to do with the
Belt and lexington companies. AS a
matter of fact the District government
could not, even If it did the repairs, find
the people who would be willing to accept
the certificates. There is one poor unfor-
tunate man, who Is operating under an old
contract, who may be compelled to take
them If the Commissioners so elect But
the Commissioners are altogether unwfl-
ling to impose burdensome and unnagotia-
bic certificates upon an innocent man,
whose only trouble is to be found in the
fact that his contract antedates the wreck
ing of the Belt company.
Careful inspection CT the street paving
between and Immediately adjacent to street
railway tracks reveals condition far
from creditable to the city itself, and al
together discredtable to the companies
whose selfishness or carelessness is SO
manifest.
The Neglected Relt Line.
Worst of all is the paving along the Belt
line. If the material is cobble stone then
there is the most shameful irregularty of
surface; large holes abound, while of paw
ing eccentricities there does not seem to be
any end. In some places the District gov
ernmert-having due regard for the lives
and limbs of people who do not happen to
be in Belt line cars-has filled up some of
the bigger holes with gravel. But in the
great majority Of instances no attempt has
been made to put the paving in even fairly
decent condition. Where the surface is as
phalt it Is cracked and Clipped and most
irregular. Where the pavement is of gran
lite block, there the blocks are worn until
1lxy
The paving is invariably worse at cross
ings; just precisely where it should be at
its best. It may be possible to discover a
reasonably fair stretch of paving some
the stretch is noelikefy to be more than
twenty or thirty Yards long, and any en-
deavor to discover al duplicate of il vii!
surely fail. To geo down to details in de-
it is enough 20 says that the paving is
wholly had and altoRetner UNWORTHY of