Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-07
Tho Commissioners Jurisdiction.

When Congress passed the acts relating
to the abolition of grade crossings In this city
and the supplemental act providing for a
union OF the terminals it was currently be-
-lleved Ina the District and apparently In Con-
gress that the supervision over the detailed
plans relegated to tie District Commission
yers carried an actual and not merely nomi-
nal authority. From the outset however. the
railroad companies have shown no DISPOSE
,tion to admit the Commissioners full juris-
diction In the premises. The plans for the
station building itself were not submitted to
1.-The Commissioners until after the latter
had called the attention of the railroad
company to the publication of newspaper
account of the letting of the contract for
the construction In granite. The railroad
company promptly denied this report and
ultimately submitted the plans. which. after
considerable delay incident to an investiga-
tion by the Commissioners into the charac-
ter Of the proposed materials. were approx
ed. Thus the issue to the extent of the
Commissioners Jurisdiction not then
decided. the company's propositions were
ultimately indo-sed. But the railroad COM
epanys representatives were disposed to
question the right of the Commissioners
to disapprove the plans on the score of ma
terials. Now the controversy is resumed
over the question of the precise manner in
which the subways of the terminal system
shall be constructed and lined and the
port already printed in The Star that the
railroad intends to carry the case to court
If the Commissioners do not yield in this
respect threatens a delay in the construc-
ton work.
This controversy is deplorable and should
be settled quickly by amicable adjustment
II possible. or by the decision of the courts
otherwise. 1t is eminently desirable that
the construction work should be pressed to
a speedy finish, for the process of change
is more or less demoralzing to the city's
business interests and the improvements
are urgently needed both by the community
and the railroads But the citizens of the
lDistrict do not subscribe to the view of the
frailroad authorities that this haste shall be
made at the sacrifice of the supervisory
rights of the Commissioners. The prevail
ing opinion here is that Congress intended
that the Commissioners should exercise a
specific affirmativ and negative jurisdiction
over the plans, bounded only by the broad
outlines laid down in the acts themselves
and the legal rights of the companies. al
ready acquired or definitely conferred by
those statutes. The railroad contention in
this controversy, IL adopted as the guiding
! principle, would reduce the Commissioners
/ to the position of mere figure heads in the
: case. their authority limited to the signing
of their names upon the plans spread before
them. 81.
1t seems wholly proper for the Commits
ssioners TO establish certain standards of con-
suuction in acting upon submitted plans
and to require the railroad companies to
live up to them. This proposition does not
signify that the corporations. if left to their
own devices. will necessarily do dangerously
cheap work. They may be relied upon to
sprotect their own interests. But it is
fair assumption that where their own re-
iquirements cease and those of the public
begin their disposition is to neglect the
latter. and it seems to be the manifest in
itention of Congress that the Commission
ers should exercise a supervisory jurisdic-
ton to prevent just this resulting condition.
If the railroad authorities had established
at the outset their doctrine of total immu-
nifty from any genuine supervisory author
ity of the Commissioners they might have
adopted and used brick or sandstone as the
material of the station building. if they so
desired. The Commissioners requirements
In the matter of the subways. far
they have been published, reflect nothing
but a reasonable spirit of protection to the
public welfare. Their purpose evidently is
to prevent the imposition of nuisances upon
the community in lieu of the grade cross
ings which this work is to eliminate.
Washington should have a modern rail-
road terminal. and such a result is most
surely possible when the railroad eompa-
MES and the Commissioners work in har-
mony. The trainers of the acts of Congress
seem to have conceived tie possibility that
the situation might lead to a deadlock be-
tween railroad and community interests
and hence the relegation to the Commits
sioners OF the power of approval and dis
approval