Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-19
Gen. WILSON PRfS|DES
New President of Washington
Board of Trade.
HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Reports of Committees Read and
Business Quickly Dispatched.
HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT
Impression That Typhoid Fever Had
Been Epidemic Corrected-Co-
caine Sales Condemned.
HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT

ton business men greeted Gen. John M.
| Wilson when he called the members of the
Board of Trade to order for the first meet
ing of that organization in the new year
and the first of his administration as presi-
dent at the New Willard Hotel last night.
The new president inaugurated his rule
over the board by putting through the bus
mess of the evening in a manner which
demonstrated it's wisdom in It's choice of pre-
siding officer. No delays or pauses were
permitted, and every report on the program
was made and considered with celebrity of
action and attention to detail that is char
acteristic of the board of trade. Not for
one moment was the interest of the men,
bers allowed to flag
1t was after 8 O'Clock when Gen Wilson
| called the meeting to order and proceeded
with business. Before announcing the first
| report of the evening Gen. Wilson took oc-
casion to thank the members of the board
Tor the honor they had bestowed upon him
In electfng him president Of the organiza-
ton
General Wilson's Address
i was taught early in life never to
shirk duty" he said, land while I did
not seek this Office and did try to evade the
CALI when 1 became convinced that you
gentlemen wanted me put aside personal
interests and accepted. 1 have been asked
by my friends of the press what my policy
| Is to be. l don't like the word policy. 1
had three insurance policies. In one I lost
4 all L had paid; in another the company
| cheated me out of half, and the other can
not be realized until die. Therefore. policy
| Is bad word with me- l have no policy.
My platform is that which makes for the
progress, welfare and advancement of the
| District of Columbia and | hope to work
hard for that. There is plenty for the Board
of Trade to do. Take the water question.
Several years ago L urged upon Congress
| the necessity of building another conduit
to bring water into the District of Column
bia. 1 wonder if any of you gentlemen
realize what would happen if anything
went wrong with the conduit now in use?
You would practically be without a drop
| of water for at least six days. That con-
duit was all right when it was built. But
| it was built a long time ago. The conduit
has a capacity of 10000, 900 gallons of water
per day, and one day last winter, when
the householders permitted their faucets
| to run for fear of freezing. the consumption
was 10000 900 gallons. In time Washing
ton will far outgrow its present population
and water system.
Senator Elkins has predicted that in
| twenty-five years 1t will have a million
| people. The growth of the city will be to
| the north. Gentlemen. see that there are
| parks in the new sections. See that the
remainder of the city is fitted out the
old section ISL with breathing spaces for
| the people. Then there is the question of
water transportation. The channels of
New York, New Orleans and St Louis have
been improved or are being improved. We
! need more than eighteen feet of water in
1 the potomac. L simply mention these
things because they are things that ought
| to be attended to- Yes. gentlemen. there
are many things for the Board of Trade
to do. and with your help we will try to do
| them.
History of the District.
| General Wilson called upon Mr.. Thomas
P. Morgan. chairman of the committee on
history of the District of Columbia, to
make a report of progress. In doing so,
| f0plr Sin TO
the enterprise Of the board in its encour-
agement of the effort to have high-ciass
| history OF the District prepared Mr.. Nor
| gan said that UP to date there had been
| ceived $50 subscriptions to the work, and
while that was encouraging 1t was far
short of the number necessary in order to
make the work a success. Mr. Morgan
| called upon Mr.. Charles E. Kern, also a
| member Of the committee. to make a state
ment of the progress that had been made.
Bridges and College Athletics
Mr.. Frank Hume then presented the re-
port of the committee on bridges. He re-
ferred to the work that had been done In
| Rock Creek valley and In other parts of
| the District In building structures over the
! streams and gulleys and spoke OF the pas
| sage of the Memorial bridge bill by the
| Senate. He concluded his report by pre-
senting resolution authorizing the COM
| mittee on bridges to urge upon the Com
| mlSsiOnerS or Congress the enactment of
some regulation or legislation that would
insure the continuance of the use of the
Long bridge until such time as the ap-
proaches to the new Highway bridge are
finished The resolution adopted.
Mr.. William H. Singleton presented two
reports of the committee on universities.
The first report concerned the progress of
colleges and universities in the District and
the second dealt with college athletics. Mr..
Singleton made short explanation OF the
second report.
The plan suggested by the committee was
primarily the prohibition of participation
| in any sports of students who had been
attending courses at the universities less
| than a year. Such a regulation has been
adopted in several universities, Mr.. Single
ton added. Both reports of the committee
were adopted.
No Typhoid Epidemic.
DR.. D. Percy Hicklng presented the re-
port of the committee public health
The formal report was presented and adopt
ed without being read, each member
had been provided with printed copies of
this and the other formal reports present.
ed. and was familiar with their contents.
But DIR. Kicking presented a supple
mentary report and statement that was
heard with more than usual interest He
stated he desired to correct the impress
sion that had been created that the Dis
| trict suffered from epidemic of typhoid
| fever. Such a statement was without foun-
| dation OF fact, DR.. Kicking declared. The
. | report of the health officer showed that
there were 139 deaths from typhoid fever
| during the year, one less than the year
before, and much less than the average
| number for the last ten years.
Growth of Cocaine Habit.
Mr. Robert L. Stone called the attention
| of the board to the growth and spread OF
: the cocaine habit among the people. and he
believed this was due. to large extent, to
the ease with which the drug could be- OBJ
tanned.
1 The report on streets was presented by
/ | Mr.. William G.. Henderson and, after dis
cussion and explanation, in which Mr..
Thomas w. Smith and DR.. A. p. Pardon
participated. was adopted. Mr.. NJ. l. Wei
Ter presented the report of the committee
, on river and harbor Improvement. He
called attention to the paragraph in the
report that referred to- the probable pur-
chase by the government of the property
| lying on the shores of the Eastern branch
hat ff,x11 and fha