Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-03
OPPOSE THE OPEN CUT
HoUsEHoLDERs PETITION THE
DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS.
Objection to Proposed Method in Tun-
H. ~
mel Constructions on LIST Street
5c u
Northeast.

A petition is being circulated and
numerously signed by householders upon
LIST street northeast between B and c
streets praying the District Commissioners
not to allow a tunnel by "open cut to be
made in that street for railroad tracks to
connect with the new union depot. Sew
eral reasons against the proposed open-cut
tunnel are set forth in the petition. Among
the first is the assertion that a similar
proposition to employ this method south of
the Capitol was refused.
The tunnel there, it was stated, has pro-
ceeded in the usual way, although the Sec
ton is not thickly populate whereas the
square of the petitioners is almost solidly
built up and seveRal of it's improvements
are new anG good, with a populous court
in the center of the block 1t is also stated
that for the property on the west side of
the street the government has just paid
more than s1S0,OOO.
Continuing, the petition states that the
railroad has bought the property between C
and E streets northeast, and that respecting
the south side of the Capitol, where the
tunnel has been bored through bought
ground. no point was raised that the repre-
SentatiVeS' chamber required a better foun-
cation by aid of the "open cut" for the tun-
mel, the petition continues, has touched the
chambers and continued cylindrically to op-
pos,te the Library of Congress.
Depth of the Cut.
The petition declares further that by al
lowing the open cut the earth on the square
OF the petitioners which is on the brow Of
the Capitol Hill, must be opened from forty
to sixty feet vertically, and remain in that
condition for probably two years; that the
trees, grown for a whole generation, will
have to be destroyed and the uses of the
property of the petitioners indefinitely con-
fiscated. The plea that 'it will be cheaper
for the railroad" the petition declares, is
really the principal argument in favor of
the open-cut method.
The petition presents the following ques-
tons:
would that plea have awaited to build
Howard street. or lay open Market street,
Philadelphia, with timber shores the earth
falling in. as it has done, frequently on the
Washington tunnel line?"
The petition goes on to suggest that
surely Senator Cullom, the author of the
interstate railroad bill, forgot his course
when he recommended that a railroad canal
be put through the best street adjacent to
the Capitol. to strengthen the Senate
chamber foundation
The circumstances, 1t is asserted, have
no relation and will not be connected in
any way like the station under the rep
statement that the proposed plan would
be TO the advantage of the Capitol cham
Der, the petitioners ask, How will it af-
feet our houses and their foundatons?"
The answer The petition continues, SIS
before the three District Commissioners,
who are our only protectors" I'm what
other CITY," the petitioners ask would such
an outrage upon private rights be preached
as here may be contaminated in a moment
by letter from senator to three Dis
trict Commissioners"
The petition also makes objection to what
is termed the coup d'etat method of pre-
cipitating the matter in the final hours of
Congress, not by law, but by letter"
Appeal to Commissioners.
The petitioners also call upon the Com
missioners to remember that they limited
the street railroad through the block of the
petitioners to one track, when it would have
taken two, 1t is asserted, because Of a peti-
ton to the Commissioners. Continuing, it
is stated that before the Senate convened in
December last the temporary track on
North Capitol street to carry dirt had to
be removed as it scared senator's horses
Both the Commissioners and the Sem
ate, therefore," the petition states, ARE on
record as against the greater inconvenience
OF railroad sixty feet below the surface
opening like crater the width of an in
habited street.
In conclusion the petitioners state I'VE
are not informed whether the courts can
enjoin this trespass or not, but if the Com
mlSSlonerS VIII consider our case as their
own we need not be put to expense to test
our rights and make the railroads observe
their original program, to tunnel our street
and not to ditch it,