Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-28

on the suburban rJsds bffore they were
taken charge Of by his company. Not a
cent dividend had been received by the
made an enormous Investment
.,,nr me stronger companies he said. have
ganixations to the end that a fair
sne1see .t Of prosperity be ultimately
there necessarily e1isded a great deal
OF delay IN the important matter Of corpor-
ate recompense. And. now when there is
dividend. the holder Of nur securities finds
himself an object Of assault at a point
where he should need no defense
A.. IN every sense the community has been
roads owned them, fine millions spent in re-
VINO owned them, the millions spent in re-
construction were diJbursed in the city, the
c C,I.ssrment IN equipment and operation Gin
transfer system) contributed beyond ma
eeriaI calculation to the public comfort,
convenience and rapid transit.
Now to the bill itself:
The Present Bill.
When the Great Falls and Old Dominion
Railroad Company asked for the right to
cross the Potomac on the Aqueduct bridge
there was no objection, That suburban
nnes-real or contemplated-should connect
cicsely with city lines is fair proposition.
dor py such conjunction, when 1t becomes
~ "a, me pubic Is served without injury
~ any interests. but when as in the meas
ure under discussion, the suburban com
pany seeks authority TO construct and
o " ira city iine-va1ueless of itself, but
ted e mn maze oe vaiuable by thu free and unlim
requeSt Is selfish. unreasonable and not in
accord with the best public policy.
ROAD h some s future time-when the Virginia
loau mas gone through the deliberate pro-
cesses u grading, construction and settle
neHt-tnere may cross the Potomac the in
IeQuent cars Of The Old Dominion and
Gr S: Falls railroad That the schedule
Wiii involve close Roadway Is impossible
IN business sense, for the region through
"nlch runs the projected line is but sparseiy
settied and will not be otherwise for many
years; an average of one car an hour dur
ing tne greater portion of the year will
more than take care Of the traffic between
Rossiyn and Great Falls That an indie
pendent line will be needed to take care of
that traffic would be an absurd contention.
At the north end of the Auueduct bridge is
the half-million-dollar station built by tn.
Capital Traction Company for the pur. lose
OF accommodating suburban lines, and
equipped with all the facilities for handling
All the passengers electric railroads in
nCrthern virginia are ever likely to turn
over to the District of Columbia Transfer
Oh passengers would take place within the
structure and under the Best possible con-
ditions.
To Parallel Existing Lines.
III, however. there is serious considera-
ton OF the idea that an urban dog is to be
ntted to suburban tail, it may be here
ADVISABLE to mention the proposed route
IN so 1ar as it parallels existing lines:
wh'ch II does east of the great union sta
uon ABOUT to be constructed on Massachu-
sets avenue. The proposition is to build
on north E and F streets and MARYLAND
avenue to and beyond 10Th and H streets
northeast. The line of our Columbia di-
city and Suburban railway are on north
c and D streets, while our F street line
runs out East Capitol street, thus affording
most ample accommodations to the north
eastern section Surely there will be little
consideration for such an attempt to injure
properties that havehhad so much of diff
Guilty in establishing Themselves The City
ana suburban construction was pushed
eastward far in advance Of any reasonable
necessity; it has made available what had
long been regarded as oneoof the most I'M
prontable and unpromising of localities, and
IN the doing of that great and compare
lively thankless task has achieved a re-
ownership. ofe@ a
Now that there is promise of profit in
the northeast the struggling company is
threatened with a rival whose financial
condition will not be incumbent with the
great burdens consequent upon the pion-
eering and Observation-Disclosures so
heavy that years of success will be needed
to wipe out the floating debt incurred
wholly in efforts to meet congressional and
public demands for reconstruction and re-
equipment. The unfairness of requiring ex-
pensive installation and then permitting
the financially adventurous to parallel with
tracks that would be absolutely valueless,
even in the promoters calculations, did not
not figure on securing the dishonest absur
dity of free reciprocal transfers, must be
instantly apparent to every thinking per-
son. ,..H
During the course of this hearing refer
ence has been made to the profitable out
look enjoyed by the Great Falls and Old
Dominion Company. Such a reference could
not possibly have been made by anyone
who knows anything of construction and
operation. Eliminate the real estate fea-
ture and make impossible any operation as
to consolidation and you take away every
charm this measure has in the eyes of
those who are responsible for it's being.
THE Washington and Georgetown Com
pany built horse-car line In the heart of
the city and borrowed money for ten years
with which to pay for horse feed. The
Metropolitan Company-collecting a 7-cent
fare-did the same thing for as long a
period. Since then line after line has come
into existence only to go through similar
experiences, and the more remote the line,
geographically, the longer the period of
inability to meet from earnings the daily
demands for wages and material.
Yet this Unexplained to run through a
sparsely populated region in Virginia and
hopeful that It may be permitted to install
the most expensive OF railroad construc-
ton on a cross-town street remote from the
business center.is to be profitable from
the moment when it's rolling stock begins to
carry passengers What an evident abb
surdity!''
What the Proposed Company Wants.
What the Great Falls and Old Dominion
Railroad Company wants, he said. is city
line with reciprocal transfer privileges with
the lines of all existing companies to make
it profitable.
THAT means" he said, twelve additional
transfer points on the lines owned and con-
trolled by the Washington Railway and
Electric Company 1t means 2 1-12 cents
per passenger for US instead of an already
too low rate of 1-6 cents.
During the year 1903 we carried on all
our lines within the District more than
100000 passengers. OF these less than
100000 gave cash or ticket fares; the
remaining 100000 rode on free transfers.
The arithmetic involved is simple and
shows that we received less than 3 cents for
each passenger; to be exact it was .O2977