Evening star., 1898-11-23
The End of n Long Fight.

Work has at last been actually begun,
after years of delay, on the underground
electric equipment of the lexington street
railway line, now the City and Suburban.
The breaking of ground for this project
marks the present week as notable in street
railway annals in the District of Columbia,
the end of the long and at times uncer-
tain contest for satisfactory rapid transit
at the capital. This event is the more in
teresting because of the fact that it was
the lexington company which represented
the most persistent determination on the
part of the trolley YDartisans to force the
overhead method upon the city. The Met
ropolitan sought to secure trolley privi-
leges. by a futile demonstration of the stor-
age battery and by pleading financial in
ability to install the conduit system. But
the fight waged by it was never taken as
seriously as was that so continuously con-
Quoted by the lexington corporation,
hich, as is we'll known, was then the
Washington representative Of the great
trolley syndicate which had secured grip
en- Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities
of the north. Washington was chosen for
this determined onslaught for two reasons.
One reason was that the syndicate operat-
ing this and other lines desired to complete
the chain of troliey-ridden cities extending
southwark from Jersey City. Another rea-
son that the opposition of Washington
to the overhead system was injuring the
prestige OF that method and encouragin
the people and the councils of other COM
munities to hold out against the encrOach-
ments of the syndicate. 1t was felt that if
Washington surrendered to the demand for
trolley legislation. reinforced as it was by
the shrewd road-wrecking enterprises of
the operating agents and the resultant dis
comfort of the citizens, the last barrier to
the complete domination Of the rapid tran
sit urban field throughout the east would
be removed. 1t was worth far more to the
fighting syndicate to win this campaign
than was represented in the profits or
losses of the lexington line That road
was but the entering wedge. Fortunately,
the people of Washington endured the
hardships of atrociOuS car service patiently.
relying upon the steadfast cooperation of
those senators and representatives in Con-
gress who believed then as they still be-
lieve that the national capital is entitled to
the very best in every municipal equipment.
The victory won by gradual repuses
of the trolley syndicate's efforts and by the
relentless forcing of the single issue which
compelled the corporation either to equip
It's UnS WIN the CONDUIT system or 10 go
out OF business. The chronology of the
fight briefly outlined. may be of interest at
this stage of the case. The lexington road
was chartered June 10, 1888, privileged to
use horse, cable or electric power without
restriction as to the overhead method of
using the last-named. The company adopted
the trolley, but by the act of April 80, 1890
the privilege which had been assumed by
10 was r6a tn ha ha nd b,
July 1, 1893. The act of February 13, 1893
extended the trolley privilege two years
Just prior 20 the expiration of this term an
effort to secure further extension failed
and July /, 1885, a bitter fight began in
court on the part of the company to retain
the overhead wire privilege, despite the
| plain letter of the law. The court finally
| decreed August that the poles and wires
were Illegal and September III they were
| removed Then began the period of recon-
| struction, marked by the insolvency of the
| old corporation, feeble effort to secure an
| alr-motor equipment, the purchase of the
| property by reorganizing syndicate which
| recognized the futility of further struggles
| for the unattainable trolley, and at last by
| the beginning of the equipment with the
| conduit system, which is now under way.
| Thus the fight in fact has lasted for ten
years. for it was virtually begun with the
! chartering of the road, and was not ended
| until the physical evidences of an honest
| determination to abide by the decision of
mechanical progress began to accumulate
| The Star mas been gratified to have had a
| chance at all stages of the campaign to aid
| in the cause, and now that the victory is at
| hand it congratulates the community upon
| its stubborn resistance and the good fruits
which have been secured