Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-22
ONLY ONE OPINION
Representative Business Men Vigor-
ously Oppose Lights on Vehicles.
TEE COMMISSIONERS, TAKE ACTION
The Objectionable Regulation is at
Once Rescinded.
PROCEEDINGS AT HEARING

The District Commissioners today gave
a public hearing on the question of the pro-
posed police regulation requiring lights to
be placed on all motor carriages and We
hicles drawn by draft animals during the
period between an hour after sunset and
an hour before daybreak, provided such
carriages and vehicles move at a rate
faster than a walk. Probably no more rep
resentative gathering of the business men
of the District ever appeared before the
&C mmissioners than was that which today
protested against the enforcement of the
regulation. Another feature of the hear
1rg, remarkable one, in view of the fact
tfat the Commissioners had invited,
through the press, the attendance of not
only those who oppose the regulation, but
also those who are in favor of 1t, was the
absence of those who believe the regula-
ton is a good one and should be- enforced
Not man, woman or child appeared at
tcday's hearing in advocacy of the regula-
ton, or If any did, not one responded when
told that the Commissioners would be
pleased to listen to any one favoring the
regulate n.
Commissioner Ross explained the law, as
now proposed, and said the Commissioners
had invited, through the press, the attend
arce at the hearing of the advocates as
well as Of the opponents of the regulation,
and he stated they would be pleased to
hear first from those who favor its en-
forcement. No one responded to his invita-
ton, and then, when he remarked that
those in opposition would be heard, Mr..
FrGhk B. Noyes stated that at a meeting
recently held a number of the users of
larger vehicles, after fully considering the
question, had unanimously adopted a state
n ent to be presented to the Commission
ers, setting forth the objections to the reg
ulation. This statement, which was pre-
Jared by the following committee, Messrs
Frank =. Noyes, A. NJ. Lothrop, Isadore
Saks John H. Magruder, w. H. Moses and
john L. Newbcld, Mr.. Noyes read.
business Mems Statement.
1t wa, as follows:
'"To the Commissioners of the District of
Columbia:
Representing the owners and users Of
wagons and other vehicles, we earnestly
request that your honorable board rescind
the order requiring all vehicles to have
lights from sunset to sunrise or there
aboutS.
I've know of no public necessity or rea-
son for this regulation. In response 20
request for information respecting such
public necessity or demand we have been
informed by one of the Commissioners
that the records show but one request for
such 4 rule, and this was made incidental
ly in a communication respecting the gen.
eral police regulation of bicycles, the re-
quest being based on the alleged lack of
equity in requiring bicycles to carry lights
while other vehicles were not so compelled.
I'VE do not desire to discuss the necas-
Slty fer the order affecting bicycles, but
we do regard it as essential to our interests
to submit to you that this order is most
injurious to us without being called for in
the slightest degree for the protection CT
the public.
ITO the best of cur knowledge and be-
lief there has never been single accident
in this city Due to the absence Of lights
from vehicles drawn by horses. This ex-
perience runs through period of twenty
years. We are informed that the District
records contain no account Of any accident
due to such a cause.
1T certainly is not seriously claimed that
vehicle drawn by horse can fairly lie
compared to a bicycle, or the same regu;a-
tons applied to them. 1t does not need
argument TO prove that horse by the
preach. a notice much more emphatic dur
ing the night, when the individual sound
carries farther by reason of the absence
Of many noises peculiar to the day.
Make u Suggestion.
1--WE trust also that it is neither claimed
nor admitted by the Commissioners that
the streets of the capital city are so mea-
gerly lighted that a pedestrian hearing
the clatter of an approaching vehicle can
not see which way it is coming. If such a
state of affairs Is alleged the remedy is
1t is also respectfully suggested that from
midnight to daybI eak the streets are de-
serted save for the few ice, bakery and
milk wagons. and there can be no possible
reason for requiring them to carry lights
other than those customarily carried by
delivery wagons for convenience in sorting
goods.
There beiGs, as we believe, no require
ment for the public good for this order
we submit to youI honorable board that
its enforcement will entail an onerous
burden on the owners of such vehicles
particularly those used for commercial pur-
poses. to which they should not be sub
jected save for an undoubted public need
"Equipping the many thousand wagons
and other vehicles Of Washington with
lamps will involve very large expendi-
ture OF money, and more important is the
fact that should the order stand the break
ing Of lamp or the carelessness or neg
lect of driver may and will cause many
violations of the regulation, policemen in
the fuihilment Of their duties will arrest
drivers, leaving our property uncared for
ana the delivery delayed, to the annoyance
and inconvenience of our customers"
Strenuous Objections Urged.
Mr. w. S. Knox. president of the Knox
Express Company, said that as an owner of
heavier vehicles he desired to protest
against the regulation. The streets of the
city, he commended, are SO wide that there
Is never any congestion Of travel, such as
to endanger pedestrians or other vehicles,
and he could therefore see no necessity for
such a regulation.
Mr.. Edward Graves of the Havenner
Bakery Company, speaking for. his COM
pany and other like concerns, said that
their wagons are Out at such an early hour
that the streets are practically deserted.
1t as true they moved faster than a walk.
but because of the deserted condition of tie
streets. he was confident that SO far as
bakers wagons are concerned, the regula-
ticn. IL enforced, would be unnecessary,
and would entail great annoyance and much
expense to their owners, without accom-
phshing any real public good.
Additional Arguments.
Mr.. John H. Magruder said that the reg
uiation would also be a great hardship on
the grocerymen. He referred to an at
tempt made years ago to enforce similar
regulation without success. and called at
tention to the fact that hardly a grocery
wagon is without a light. He said no acct