Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-03-19
A CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF WHAT
THE DEVELOPMENTS AND
LACK OF DEVELOP
MENTS UP TO THIS
DATE MEAN.
The Rotten Zone, The Place For
Investigation Is Probably Wash
ington-B. & o. Books And Bal
timore Will Likely Prove
OF Little Worth.
WHY MR.. HUGH BOND is NOT
CALLED TO THE WITNESS
STAND.
Shall Or Shall Not Committee Live
On.


On.
Ii is not unlikely that the talk now
heard here of selling the States in
terest in the Washington Branch OF
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at q
fair price or at a price definite, is
nothing more or less than a feeler
thrown out to discover public senti-
ment on the matter.
Perhaps there is desire to know if
the people don't think this investiga-
tion uncertain in positive result while
certain in still more positive cost I;
or perhaps aud probably all the rumors
of selling a this. that or the other
price, confusingly alleged to have
eminated from all kinds of sources,
has been the indirect offer of the Bal
timore and Ohio railway to buy and
so close up the wound opened by the
probe, expressed unofficially by mouths
of members OF the committee. But
there must be reason for the b. q
O's. coming forward with a flag of
truce.
For time after the investigation
opened il uuquestionably houndered
or CROPPED for light; as a committee it
is poss bly, still in the dark, or "cold"
IS
game Now some of the members of
the committee think the b. & q. is
beginning to realize that individuals
or sub comm ittees are beginning to
get warn" if not actually "hot" or
"boiling hot " There has been every
indication since the lid was first taEen
off from this whole mattersthat there
is something rotten in the State of
Denmark, but the odor has been
elusive and hard to follow. 1t NAV
not be too much to say that the com
mittee or units on it are beginning to
locate the trouble. According to the
belief Of these gentlemen the rotten
spots are scattered here and there
throughout the rotten zone which is
the city of Washington. They do not
believe the committee as a whole is
anywhere near the trouble in shifting
around Baltimore and the Baltimore
office of the B. & o. andkthe B. & o.
books, which that corporation would
hardly falsify for its own sake.
The tracks of the Pennsylvania rail
road in Washington, on the mall lead.
ing to the Sixth Street Station, are
there only by sutferance. 1t is the
lines of the Pennsylvania which inter
feTes more than anything else with
the great plan for a beautiful Wash
ington, and it was the Pennsylvania
particularly which opposed the beau.
tifying plan. i Will doubtless be re-
membered that when the Mcmillan
Park Commission went abroad a few
years ago to study the lines of the
foreign capitals with a view to profit.
ing by their finest points, that the
members met and had an informal
talk with Alexander j. Cassatt, presi-
dent of the Pennsylvania railroad, if
memory is correct, in Paris. The gist
of his view of the .piaDs was that it
was impossible for the Pennsylania
alone to do anything toward it, but
that if the Pennsylvania and the Bal
timore q Ohio could get together on a
terminal proposition something might
be done, and done with his hearty
support
1t was not long after this time that
the Pennsylvania acquired or finished
the acquisition of 40 per cent. Of the
b. q .. IS stock, and that Mr.. Loree,
third vice president of the Pennsyl.
vania, was chosen president of the
Baltimore 81 Ohio. 1t was not long
after this that all opposition to the
plans for a more beautiful Washington
vanished, suddenly, and that in its
place grew up powerful ally to the
scheme. which helped and fostered it
in every way possible, even to the ex-
tent of inducing Congress to appro-
pirate 81, 500. 000 to reimburse the
Washington Branch of the Baltimore
& Ohio railroad for the right Of way
and other property which it owned in
Washington Now here are some Of
the spots in the presumed rotten zone,
which may upon investigation turn
out to be exceedingly ore indeed
Passing over what disposition the
B. & o. will make of the 81 500, 0O0
which il get appropriated solely on
the basis of Washington Branch re.
linquishings, is matter of some sew
eral million dollars worth of pur-
ohases for tae new facilities, all made,
it is understood, by tho most promi-
nent real estate firm in Washing ton,
which is alleged 10 be Differed or con.
trolled, oil perhaps only closely allied
with the Union Trust and Storage
Company. The Union Trust and
Storage Company, to digress from
the main stem for a moment, is a
big concern which bought land and
built a big Warehouse at a cost of
something like $50, 000 at or near the
tracks of the Metropolitan Branch
by a singular coincidence almost the
only spot in all that~region which
viii be and is being enhanced in
value by the building operations, but
which is hardly effected at all in a
detrimental way by it-fhere is no
heavy filling Immediately all arourd d
ii as there is at q little distance On
one side, and no equally deep cutting
Immediately adjacent. as there is net
far of on the other side. In ether
words in all that district wheIe street
levels are being raised and lowered as
much as 40 feet in some places to ca1ry
tracks in on an upper or a lower Ievel
with heavy cost and inconyeniens se on
abutting property holders, the ware.
| house Of the Union Trust and Storage
| Company seems to have been built on
l a cpot SoIorkad almost at O TiNsro =,