Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-16
THE AnT|-SMOKE LAW
House Bill Passed by the Senate
Today.
RAILROADS MUST OBEY
Have Plenty of Time Within Which
to Make Preparations.
CREDIT TO MIR. MCFARLAND
For Manner in Which He Presented
Side Of the District in the
Controversy.
CREDIT TO MIR. MCFARLAND

The Senate today passed without amend
ment the House bill providing that the
| railroads coming into the District of Column
bia shall comply with the smoke law after
| passing the District line. This bill was
reported to the Senate yesterday from the
committee on the District of Columbia and
was promptly called up today by Senator
Gallinger and passed without debate. The
purposes Of the bill are thoroughly under
stood by senator's, and it received unani-
nous report from the committee which
thoroughly investigated the matter in
order to determine whether or not it would
be reasonable to require the railroads to
comply with this law.
Nearly every senator is familiar with
the conditions relating to the smoke
nuisance SO far it applies to the rail-
road, as large number of the committee
rooms of the Capitol looking toward the
north and the west give in plain view every
day scene in which black smoke issuing
from locomotives Is the dominant feature.
Inc failure of the railroads to do anything
TO lessen the smoke nuisance has long been
subject for private comment among
senators.
Now that the new union station is nearing
completion being SO near to the great mar
pie buildings that surround t.. plaza of the
Capitol, the subject of this smoke nuisance
Is regarded as of double interest In addi-
tlon to their own observation senators
have had before them during the last sew
eral days reports of the hearings before the
committee on the District of Columbia,
during which hearings representatives of
all the railroads coming into the District
expressed their views on the subject of this
smoke law. They were given the fullest op-
portunty to state the objections they had
to 1t, and in connection with their state
ments the views of Commissioner Macfar-
land on the same subject are given. At all
of these hearings Commissioner Macfarland
lv tha oil
DAY he made brief statement embodying
his reply to the arguments that had been
set forth. These statements were always
forcibly made, and Mr.. Macfarlani Is ac-
corded great deal of credit for the manner
In which he presented the side of the Dis
trict In the controversy it has had with the
railroads over the smoke law
Roads Expected to Comply.
The sentiment is generally expressed
among senators that the railroads will
promptly, and in good faith, proceed to
comply with this smoke law, as all bust
obliged to do. They say that Compliance
with the law has entailed additional ex-
pense on business houses, and If compliance
on the part of the railroads also entails
addltlonal expense, 1t should be met read
lily. Many of them expressed the hope that
the railroads will not undertake to carry
on running fight in the courts against
the enforcement of this smoke law NUT
ting forth claims about the impossibility of
complying with 1t because of any alleged
peculiar conditions that apply to Iocomo-
tives.
During the hearings before the District
committee recently 1t was developed
that the representatives of the great rail-
roads coming into the District have looked
n into the matter Of eliminating the smoke
mat no phase of the question was I'M
familiar to them, and it is hoped by sem
ators that this familiarity with conditions
W of Ina IT,
sentatives of the railroads promptly adopt
a plan by which the law may be COM
piled with, without entailing expense on
the District for years to come through
numerous prosecutions. If identification
is the only method that will prove eff
fective, and the testimony of several rep
resentatives of railroads was to that ef-
feet, senators who take especial interest
in this matter hope that the roads will
promptly equip themselves accordingly.
If they fail to do so and If their expert
ments with hard coal and coke prove inef-
fect1ve, 1t is declared that Congress will at
some future time enforce identification
The railroads, 1t is said, cannot in good part
come back to Congress and claim that they
are forced to adopt electrifcation after
their roadbed has been completed, because
they have the opportunity to do so now
while the work of construction is going on.
In the view of senators the railroads will
not De 1ustlhed IN depending upon vague ex-
pertinent which, 1t was said during the
hearings before the District committee,
are now in progress in order to de-
velop some sort of fuel that will not give
forth dense smoke or cinders. Dependence
on such experiments, it is declared, would
be almost equivalent to depending upon
perfecting flying machine to transport
passenger, in the future instead of pro-
viding ordinary trackage and rolling stock.
They expect the railroads to proceed to
carry out this law in good faith, and friends
ofthe railroads fear that If the role of
thwarting the enforcement of legislation is
nc cd INV tha raiI 40 in mat
will result in a development of hostility
toward railroad corporations in the future.
Goes Into Effect January /, 1908.
The bill, which has now passed the Senate,
has only to be enrolled signed by the Vice
President and by the Speaker of the House
and then sent to the President for his sig
nature. The anti-smoke clause will go into
effect January !, 1905 so that ten full
months will be given to the railroads to
make preparations to comply with the law.
The Senate today also passed Senate bill
1856, authorizing the Baltimore and Wash
ington Transit Company of Maryland to
extend its lines of street railway within
the District of Columbia along the fol-
lowing route: Beginning where Sd street
northwest intersects the present line of the
transit company, thence south on sd street
to Madison street, west on Madison street
to Colorado avenue, southwesterly along
Colorado avenue TO the intersection of 18th
street northwest.
The Senate also passed House bin 235I6,
to provide for the extension of New Hamp-
shire avenue from its present terminus
north of Buchanan street to the District
line. The bill is amended to provide for
street extension of New Hampshire ave-
nue., the DETECTION contemplated in the
highway extension plan being eliminated.
Motion to Reconsider.
About an hour after the Senate passed
House bill 9329, which contained a provision
requiring the railroads to comply with the
smoke law of the District Of Columbia,
Senator Kean of New Jersey moved to re-
consider the vote by which the bill was
passed, and on that motion the bill has
been hung up for the present. The bill will
now remain on the calendar until a mo-
ton is offered to lay Senator Kean's motion
ON the table. This will probably be done
in the near future, but the matter will not
he reached again today, II is believed. In
making this motion Senator Kean made no
explanation a. to his reason for doing 90