The Washington herald., 1906-12-17
RAILROAD SMOKE NUISANCE.

| am surprised that the Commissioners
should be at all surprised at the refusal
of the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad companies TO comply with
their request TO abolish the intolera0le
smoke nuisance they create by the adop-
tion of electric locomotives within the
District
I should suppose that the legislation
adopted by Congress under which the
present operations are being carried on.
and which compels the District TO pay
these two companies s3eO0,oO0 and all the
cost of the damages to the abuttirg
property. &c, would have shown them
that the railroad companies do as they
please in the District, as they have ever
since they were permitted TO enter it.
When the Pennsylvania company got In
by a very sharp trick. and the bill for
the location Of it's present passenger
station on the Mall was pending, Senator
Morrill, opposed its being permitted 10
cross It with locomotives because Of the
danger and nuisance they would be. He
fought It until II o'clock at night, and
vote after vote was taken on the amend
ments he offered. resulting every time in
vote of Is or Is TO 2O-odd. as I recall
it, in favor of the company. Finally,
he arose. and holding up a bundle Of
amendments he had prepared, he said:
MI President, had intended TO offer,
if necessary. all these amendments, but
I find that it is useless. / know that
President Scott is in the lobby anxiously
awaiting our decision, and, therefore. /
Will make no further opposition" where
upon the bill was passed. H then arose,
and said: MIR. President. I move that a
committee Of three be appointed TO wait
on the Hon. President Scott and see what
further orders he has for the United
States Senate"
He had a correct idea Of the power and
influence that the railroad companies had,
and still have In Congress. He had his
remarks erased, so they do not appear
in the Record, though they were actually
made. and were published in the morning
paper at the time.
President Cassatt. IN his reply. says
that they will use electric locomotives 81
their tunnels at New York because of
the impracticability OF venUilating the
tunnels. Why not here as well as there?
have not heard Of their suggesting amy
scheme for venulating the tunnel here.
Any one who rides through their tunnels
at Baltimore can have no doubt as 10 the
necessity for ventilatlng tunnels every
where.
He further says that the use Of electric
locomotives at terminals is in the expert
mental stage, and yet he says they have
been adopted by the New York Central
and by a railroad in oris for use in their
tunnels, and We have not heard of failure
in either case.
Then. again, he says the public would
object to the delay OF the few minutes
required TO make the change from a
steam to an electric motor, and that Il
would interfere with the high speed they
promise 20 make between Washington
and New York
In view of the fact, as stated by the
press, that owing 10 high speed and
carelessness we have had within the past
six or eight months the terrible slaughter
and roasting alive Of large number OF
human beings near Harrisburg. tie crush
ing and burning to death Of forty on the
Denver and Colorado. the cremation of
fifty and eighty-five others injured on
the Baltimore and Ohio ia Indiana. zen
killed and many injured on the Penn
sylvania road near Chicago. three killed
and thirty-nine injured on the Pennsyl-
vania near Long Branch, and the killing
and roasting OF seven and the injuring
Of seven more on the Southern road with
In the past week. can assure President
Cassatt that the public is far more inter
ested in safety and freedom from smOth-
ering and poisonous smoke and gases IN
the tunnels than in the three 10 five
minutes delay about which he talks. Of
the 99S4 persons killed. and the 1921
injured on the railroads in the United
States in 1904. by far the greater number
We're the victims OF high speed, reckless
ness, and carelessness.
His appeal TO US. not 20 impose this
burden on the railroads on the ground Of
their generosity in building their new sta
ton, is decidedly cool. in view of the fact
that in no other city. at home or abroad
have the citizens been made 10 contribute
to the building Of stations for the sole
use Of the railroads; and In none have
they been compelled 10 contribute so
largely for the abolition Of grade cross
ines.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company
spent 100000 TO get through Baltimore
and the Reading spent $60J0.o00 to get into
Philadelphia. and neither city paid any
thing, except perhaps some incidental eX-
peuses, as we have 70 do here, In addition
10 the 100000 paid these two companies
the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and
Ohio.
When in 1875 our citizens committee Of
100 appealed to Congress to abolish the
grade crossings !, as a member of the
railroad committee. wrote to the mayors
OF every city where the abolition of grade
crossings was being done or had been
provided for including Rochester. Jersey
City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Balti-
more. for information on the subject. In
reply the mayor Of Rochester said the
city stood no part of the expense, and
Mayor HOOs, of Jersey City, informed me
that "the railroad corporations had been
compelled TO elevate their tracks 10 abol-
ISL grade crossings, and that the Pennsyi-
vania road elevated its tracks at its own
expense; that nine grade crossings were
abolished and that the city assumed no
responsibility"
The mayor of Chicago referred my in
quiry to the chief Of engineers. who wrote
me that the city paid no part Of the cost
except some incidental expenses, and that
the railroad companies had expended S20,-
CO., coo on the work. The report of the de-
partment of public works of Chicago for
1898 stated that during the preceding six
years there had been 200.4s miles of tracks
raised and 5767 miles depressed. leaving
143 miles to be elevated under the ordi-
nances. covering IS grade crossings. And
within the past week the papers contained
the statement that one of the roads is
now required to raise some of its tracks
at a cost of S2O00.000 Compare that with
what the Pennsylvania road has done
here at the National Capital. and 1t seems
g nh
ing a fine station for their own use, has
but little ground for boasting Of what
that company has done for the citizens OF
Washington