Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-30
WORK FOR DISTRICT
What Senator Mcmillan Did
for Washington.
ON LOCAL COMMITTEE
ASSOCIATED WITH MANY I'M
PORTANT UNDERTAKINGS.
Senator Gallinger's Review of Legisla-
ton for the Improvement
of the City.
ON LOCAL COMMITTEE


District committee:
when Mr.. Mcmillan entered the Senate,
at the special session, in the spring of 1889,
1t SO happened that he was assigned to a
place on the committee on the District Of
Columbia. Senator Ingalls, was then chair
man of that committee.
Among the bills first referred to him by
Chairman Ingalls, was one relating to the
terminals of the Baltimore and Potomac
Railroad Company, in which the issue in
volved was the legalzation Of certain sid
ings built by the company to facilitate It's
own business and that of merchants own
ing property along it's lines, the courts
having declared that the right to grant
the use of the streets for such purposes
was in Congress, and not in the local gov
eminent of Washington. incidentally the
occupation of the mall and of certain res
ervations was involved. and the subject
had been before Congress for a number of
years without action. Mr. Mcmillan looked
at the matter from the standpoint of the
commercial development of Washington,
and treated the problem according to what
he conceived to be the practical way of
dealing with it. After a very careful study
of the situation on his part and after re-
peated hearings he was able to carry
through the Senate bill giving to the rail-
road company the right to purchase and
use for freight purposes sufficient amount
q land to relieve the congeSted freight
situation, and at the same time the SdingS
built into railroad and private yards were
legaliZed. During the Fifty-first Congress
the bill passed the House also and became
a law.
Many Important Laws.
During the Fifty-second Congress an
unusually large number of laws of impor-
lance to the District of Columbia were
passed. the record showing that 10 per cent
of the public acts of that Congress were
reported from the District committee, q
proportion which has been maintained to
the present time. Among these laws were
acts to regulate the building of houses on
alleys; for opening and Strengthening Of
alleys: for an inspector of plumbing; 20 in
sure the safety of theaters and other pub
lie buildings: to provide a permanent sys-
tenn of highways in the District of Column
bia outside the cities of Washington and
Georgetown; to regulate the liquor traffic;
to make Saturday afternoon a bank holi-
day; to regulate the practice of dentistry !;
to prevent cruelty to children and to ami
mails; to create a board of children's guar
dians, and to prevent the sale and CARRYING
OF dangerous weapons. The whole number
Of bills and joint resolutions referred to the
committee was 24S. OF this number 12J
were reported favorably, of which sixty
three became laws, fifty mine were reported
adversely, and no action was taken on
sixty-four.
Mr.. Mcmillan found that in the District
of Columbia it had been a practice to Sc
cure charters for street railroads and in
some cases to build the roads and operate
them but for a short time for the purpose of
selling adjacent real estate or else to sell
the charter to non-residents. In vigorous
fashion the committee took up the matter,
bringing a number of roads to terms
through threatened forfeiture of their char
tiers, but in the majority of cases adopting
nrincnle which a I'd a1
TO. of extending existing roads rather than
charterinS new ones, thus providing. far
as possible. for the carriage of passengers
at a single fare. The result Of this policy
was in the end a consolidation of the vari-
Gus roads into two strong companies, which
today probably give the most satisfactory
service at the lowest rate anywhere in the
United States.
War on Overhead Trolleys
"A political change having come over the
Senate in the Fifty-third Congress, Mr.. Har-
ris of Tennessee became the chairman of
the committee. but the strong personal
friendship existing between the two men.
and the fact that political lines were never
drawn in the District committee, did not
materially decrease Mr.. McMillans activi-
ties. II was during this Congress that in
fuences were brought to bear TO establish
the overhead trolley as the motive power
for street railways within the city of Wash
ington. This project met the quiet. unf1inch-
Ing, determined opposition of Mr.. Mcmillan
and the syndicate proposing it finally dis
posed of their railway properties in the Dis
trict of Columbia and expended their activi-
ties in other fields. The question of rapid
transit in the city of Washington how
ever, was a serious one. The Capital Trac-
ton Company and the Columbia Railroad
Company had exchanged horse power for
the cable and had installed perhaps the
finest cable system in the United States
" M fla ell Oy,
the Metropolitan line. because of the null
titude of curves, and there was a prevalent
feeling that in some way electricity was the
coming motive power for street railways.
The storage battery was tried by the Metro
politan and the lexington lines with per-
sistence. but without success. Mr.. McMil-
Ian, who had Witnessed the successful
operation of the underground trolley in
Budapest, insisted that this system was the
one best adapted to the needs of Washing
ton. In the end his idea prevailed, and so
successful has been the operation of the
underground trolley in Washington that
when the opportunity occurred the roads
using the cable were changed into under
ground electric roads. and now all roads
within the limits of the city of Washington,
and the cars OF all suburban roads on en-
tering the city, receive current by means of
a conduit instead of by the overhead wires
which disfigure the streets of almost every
American city.
The Local Charities.
Growing out of his service on the Dis
trict committee came an assignment as
chairman of the joint select committee OF
the two houses 10 investigate the charities
Of the District of Columbia. The join,
committee was made up of three members
Of the Senate committee of the Dis
trict of Columbia and three members OF
the House committee appropriations.
The testimony taken was voluminous. and
the result was substantial reorganization
OF the charity system of the District along
these well-defined lines, based upon re-
port made by experts employed by the COM
mittee (Dr. Hurd, superintendent of Johns
Hopkins University Hospital, and DR..
Chaplin. superintendent Of the Philadelphia
Hospital for the Insane): First, the or
ganization Of board OF charities, appoint
ed by the President of the United States. to
have the general supervision of the char
liable institutions of the District Iof Column
bia, with the power of investigations; Sec
ond, the setting apart Of certain well-es-
tablished hospitals irethe District to take
care OF acute cases for suitable compensa-