Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-10
SOME OF ITS PROVISIONS
PREVIOUS LAW HELD INVALID
Views of the District Authorities
Communicated In a Letter Ac-
companying the Bill.

After mature elaboration and consulta-
ton of all possible authorities the Commits
sioners yesterday afternoon submitted TO
Congress. with favorable recommendation,
the, draft of n new '.snow law" for the
District of Columbia. The provisions OF
the proposed statute are drastic In that IL
householder or property owner fails to
remove ice or snow from the sidewalk in
front of his property he may be fined or
imprisoned in the workhouse. and In case
of nonresident property owner failing
to have the prescribed work done, the
Commissioners are held responsible for it.
and the cost of labor employed by the gov
eminent is to be assessed against the prop
erty at the rate of 3 cents per lineai foot
front.
In explaining the difficulties encountered
in their efforts to enforce previous snow
laws" and in estimating the cost of the
work if done entirely by the municipality,
the Commissioners, In their letter trans
hitting the proposed bill, said
1.-THE last snow and ice law enacted by
Congress was held invalid by the Court or
Appeals on the ground. broadly speaking,
that it was the duty of the municipality to
remove the snow and ice. After this deci-
sion the Commissioners brought the matter
to the attention of the House committee on
appropriations, and suggested that II the
intent of the court was to be executed in
literal fashion, an appropriation of at least
S100, 600 should be Immediately provided No
appropriation for this purpose was made,
and the Commissioners endeavored to en-
force an old police regulation, simple In It's
form, but which had in the past been ef-
fective.
Views Of the Commissioners.
1.-THE reinforcement of this regulation was
contested in the courts, and while the suit
resulted adversely to the District, the court
made the following declaration:
1--WE are of opinion that as the law now
stands Congress alone. and not the Com
nissioners. have the authority to regulate
the removal of snow and ice from the paved
sidewalks. crossings and other Travelled
spaces of the public highways of the Dis
trict: that, as the law now stands, the duty
is upon the municipality itself to cause such
removal; and that 1t is not competent for
the Commissioners by any regulation what
ever which they may adopt to remove that
burden from themselves as the responsible
agents OF the municipality and impose IL
upon individual citizens
with this intimation, the Commissioners
have the honor to recommend 10 Congress
the enactment of the regulation into law:
Any measure which proposes the removal
Of snow and ice by the municipality with
the cost thereof assessed against abutting
property, presents almost insuperable OBJ :
stacles, owing to the fact that there are
$50 miles of paved sidewalk within the fire
limits of the District of Columbia, equaling
2.904, coo lineal feet.
Estimate Submitted.
''It Is estimated that under ordinary con-
ditions, with average depth of snow OF
six inches and with ridge in the center
of the sidewalk packed down by pedestrians.
one nan could clean thirty feet of walk
and open the gutter in one hour. In an
eight-hour day this would require 12. loo
men and cost at S1.50 each per day, an ag-
gregate of $1s 15O, a sum which would reach
fully $4,000 when tools, supervision OF
gangs, etc. are taken into consideration.
Even IL the cleaning should be performed
by plow, using hand labor to open up house
entrances and crossings, the estimated cost
would be at least 5000 per storm, with
an additional cost, made necessary by the
alternate thawing and freezing afterward
and the consequent need of sprinkling with
ashes. of $500, while the cost of opening
cutters would be $1,000. making a total OF
$4,000 for each storm. equal TO 3k mills
per lineal foot.
I'm addition to this the clerical labor In
volved In keeping books for the assessment
of about ITO 900 pieces of property for the
cost of removal would require a very large
addition to the clerical force of the as
SCISSORS office.
1.-The Commissioners are of the opinion
that the ideal method would be to have the
work performed by the municipality, but, at
the same time, appreciate the impractlca-
bility, If not impossibilty. of securing suffi
cient labor when each emergency arises, the
enormous cost involved and the other diff
culties In the way OF devtsing proper
scheme of assessment and collection Of the
taxes imposed upon the property"
Some Of the Provisions.
Section 1 of the proposed bill provides
that the owner. occupant. agent or man
ager of any building lot of land In the
District of Columbia shall. within the first
four hours of daylight after snow has
sidewalk shall cause the same to be
moved, and In case ice has formed on the
sidewalk shall cause the of be
sprinkled with ashes or some other suitable
substance. A fine of s. or. in default. i'm
prisonment I'm the workhouse for not more
than five days. is provided as punishment
for any violater of the section.
Section relates to failure OF nonresident
owners to obey the law. and pro-
vides that an assessment of 3 cents LSar foot
front shall be made against the property,
to be collected as general taxes in the Dis
trict are collected-and in case the property
happens to be a corner lot additional
three cents per foot depth Of the property
charged against IT.