Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-07

| est Of all parties concerned. the Commits
| occupants Of the Anacostia River wafer
front. and the title and rights Of the public
| concerned. should be authoritatively settled
| at the earliest practicable day.
James Creek Canal. emptying into the
| Eastern Branch of the Potomac River i'm
| mediately south Of the Capitol grounds. has
been frequently called to the attention of
| Congress with a view Of obtaining legisla-
| ton to remedy the existing conditions. TITS
canal. which is an open tide-water sewer.
| has been continuously, for many years, a
menace to the public health. as well as
| source Of danger to life. Almost annually
there have been cases Of death by acci-
dental drowning on account of Its want of
protection; two actions for damages against
the District because Of such drownings are
| now pending. The public space bordering
the canal. being parts Of the adjoining and
intersecting streets and avenues, were &C.
| cCpled Tor business purposes by persons
| who. In some cases. refused to pay any
rent or to recognize any municipal control.
BY its act Of July 1, 1902. Congress appro-
| priated $1,000 to enable the Commissioners
TO build fence along the banks, and au-
thorized them to lease for commercial pur-
| poses the public space bordering on the
canal for periods not exceeding one year.
| Acting under this authority the Commits
siioners have leased all Of said space. This
!ong-delayed legislation respecting The
| Us Creek Canal appears to have been
effective
Attention is called to the urgent necessity
| of making effective the provisions of the
| law regulating the sale of intoxicating
liquors to minoSs The act should either be
the subject should be speedily enacted by
Congress in order to remedy serious de-
| fects.
| interpretations Under the Code.
A large number of interpretations have
been made under the code of law of the
District of Columbia since this became pos
sible on the LIST of July, 1902. of enterprises
promoted by persons outside of the District
| Of Columbia. They have awaited them
selves of the broad and general terms of
| the code and of the fact that 1t imposes no
| tax or fee for such Incorporation, except
| the very small charge for recording the
| papers by the recorder of deeds to incOr-
| porate concerns for all kinds of purposes
| and in the aggregate with nominal CAPT.
| tai of over a billion dollars. From the 1st
| of January until the list of December 1903.
| the number of interpretations recorded In
| the office of the recorder of deeds was SIG,
and the aggregate capital authorized by
| the interpretations made up to the LIST OF
| October was 81 ,1OO,O 600. If such taxes or
| fees are imposed in States where such
| interpretations can be made had been au-
| thorized by the code, a large revenue would
have been derived by the District from
| these interpretations. 1t is recommended
| that Congress consider an amendment to
| the code which will meet the necessities Of
| this case
Automobile Regulations.
Regulations governing the operation OF
| automobiles were adopted by the Commits
soners on May Z. 1908. and became effect
| i've on August 20. This action was In har-
| mony with the course pursued by nearly
every other municipality in the United
States. and was rendered necessary by the
| numerous accidents due to the use of au-
| tomObleS and the impossibility OF Identify
| Ing machines whose operators violated the
| regulations respecting speed. The regula-
| lions were framed with a twofold object,
namely. the Identification Of each automo-
bile by a number and the examination and
| licensing Of each automobile operator. 80
as to assure the public that each machine
| Is under the control of a competent per-
| son. A number of automobilists contested
| the regulations on the ground that they
were unjust and unreasonable; but the mat
| ter being taken into the courts, the regula-
tons were sustained in every detail. There
| ance with the regulations, and the wisdom
| Of their enactment has been fully demon
| strated.
Street Cleaning.
| During the fiscal year 1903. 500, or, sO5
| square yards of paved streets and avenues
| were cleaned by hand under the direct SUI
| pervision of the Commissioners at a total
| cost of SOL, 1908, as against 575.992, 800
| square yards at cost of $40, 704. 46 for the
| previous year. The decrease of 52915, 115
| square yards was due to the fact that 1t
| was necessary to suspend work for thirty
| days during the last six months Of the
| fiscal year, and also in March. 1903, to dis
pense with the services Of 10 of the hand
laborers in order to avoid a deficiency
There was an increase of $11, 478.32 in the
cost, owing to the increase in the laborers'
wages from $1.25 to $1.5O per diem, which
went into effect on July 1. 1902. The cost
per thousand square yards for the past
year Ico vas ia cents, as against 1874 cents
In 1902 This increase Of cents per thou
sands square yards was due to the increase
In the laborers' pay. as noted above.
Details Of Service.
For the fiscal year ended June 30 1903
there were cleaned by machine 232 $50 72S
square yards Of paved streets and avenues
at total cost of $41.s29.62 This was an
increase Of 24S67.540 square yards in the
area cleaned over the previous year, al
though work was performed on less num-
Der of days, for the reason that it became
necessary to suspend operations for thirty
days during the last half Of the fiscal year
In order not to create q deficiency. The area
cleaned daily during the past year was
1.OO.OOO square yards, as against 600 600
| square yards in 1902 This increase in area
was due in part to the 8 per cent increase
in newly paved streets and avenues. and
also to the addition to the schedules Of the
100000 square yards which had been cleaned
by the 10 hand laborers whose services
were dispensed with in March last. During
the fiscal year 1904 1t Is calculated that the
area cleaned by machine will reach 100 900
square yards daily, due to the addition Of
newly paved streets and avenues. The total
cost of this work for the past year was
SAL, s29.62. as against $SZ355.OS The in
crease of $4.47454 was due solely to the in
creased area cleaned, the contract rate
was 1S cents per thousand square yards for
both years. Had it not been for the neces-
sity of suspending work for thirty days DUR
ing the last half of the year, the area
cleaned and the cost would have been cor
respondingly greater.
On June 80 last the three-year contract for
machine cleaning expired In the early
part of that month specifications for a new
contract were prepared and bids advertised
for. These specifications provided for clean
Ing the paved streets and avenues by ma
chine sweeping or flushing. the area by the
latter method to approximate % 600, 600
square yards per annum. Three bids were
received. the lowest being 16 1916, cents per
LOCO square yards for both sweeping and
flushing for period Of three years. begin
ming Julv 1909 and fhfc ooo,tas