Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-07
AS C|TY'S ALDERMEN
Senators and Representatives
in Such Capacity.
THINGS TO BE DONE HERE
Increasing Needs Due to Growth Of
the Population.
CLEANER, BETTER STREETS
Policy of Benefit to the Nations
Capital When Adopted by the
National Legislature.
THINGS TO BE DONE HERE
BETTER STREETS

Q
said to Star reporter. IF the inconven-
fence occasioned members OF both houses
of Congress will serve as a reminder that
| there are certain needs of our citizens
which cannot be sighted as in the past.
and that Washington has grown to be
such a large city that the old familiar
pruning hook methods of slashing our
| local appropriations after the fashion OBJ
tanning in small municipalities and villages
must be substituted for a more liberal
policy In line with the times and in keep
ing with our Importance.
Congress is our municipal body, though
our national aldermen delegate the i'm
mediate supervision Of our civic affairs
primarily to the respective committees on
District affairs and later to the commit
tees on appropriations. 1t is nevertheless
chargeable and responsible as a whole for
our local government. Hence. II individual
members of our dual legislative house. A.
they tramped through the mud and miro
of the Union station plaza In attendance
at the present session. bestowed upon u1
as an entirety a thought tending to our
! betterment in general and some Of our
most pressing needs in particular. the de-
lay In providing street-car facilities to the
1 station was not in vain.
Imperative Street improvements.
Every member of both the House OF
Representatives and. the Senate should
read through from the first to the last
word the report Of the District Commits
sioners covering the past fiscal year and
providing the estimates for the ensuing
year. These estimates are based upon
conservative and proper expenditures foe
| a city Of the importance and size OF the
| capital of the nation, and 1t is well with
in the limits of moderation to assert that
| Congress should pass upon these appro.
| ri,ff Ions tao1xr n1 nv
different bureau heads without the elimis
nation of a single dollar therefrom.
THE individual item Of 100000 asked
| by the street department for the repair
and resurfacng Of our streets and road.
ways will serve as an illustration. Thia)
amount, to my mind. is extremely con-.
sentative. and it might we'll have been
made 100000 To curtail in the least
| degree an appropriation of this class
would be little less than an injustice to
our citizens.
"A very extensive area Of our asphalt
street surfaces has bebn Gown from
recollection that the recently removed
| surface from Pennsylvania avenue had
weathered about sixteen winters. Indeed.
| the WORKOUT condition of many of our
| causing our street department of1cials
great concern, as much of II has been
patched and repatched, so that entirely
| new surfaces. cutters and curbing are
absolutely imperative.
improvements Of this kind o.nnot be
made without liberal appropriations be-
cause of the cost and the wide area
| over which these worn-out surface ex-
tend. While our street surfaces as a
| whole, as compared with those OF other
cities, may be said to be in fair con.
dtion, the disintegrating of the old as
phalt. the holes and fluctuations in the
| surface. and the patching are apparent to
| even the casual observer.
Liberal Policy Desired.
'In fact this is a year when Congress
should for once loosen the purse strings.
lay aside the pruning hook. and exhibit
toward US a spirit of liberalIty In con-
sonance with that shown in river and
harbor appropriations. for instance. This
is particularly true since our people are
more than willing to contribute their
share toward the cost, and are insistent
that the element Of parsimony be BAN
ished. and in this are supported by
| united press.
'It seems strange that In a city like
Washington, the nations capital when
| the local authoriti-, insert in their ESTE
mates items for police station houses and
quarters for fire apparatus, the governing
aldermanic body will strike out these
| items in the face Of the statement that
some of these places are unfit for the
uses to which they are put, and have SUBJ
stantiaIly been condemned. It Is not the
wish of our citizens that such conditions
| obtain, but they are powerless to remedy
matters when Congress draws the blue
pencil thorugh the items in question.
THE nation is saved no money by local
cheese pairing in these instances; there 10
no money saved to any one or in any
direction. but there is great deal OF
inconvenience, to say the very least occa-
stoned thereby to our people-inconven.
fence and loss which We would not permit,
nor submit to, were the control of such
matters placed within our own disposal.
Local needs and conditions within our
limits should not be crippled by mistaken
ideas and false economies based upon con-
ditions obtaining in other municipalities
and localities from which our legislators
hail.
"It is unnecessary to specialize the
various items of especial moment to our
comfort and interests. for all are OF more
modest appropriation> of $4,000 which
should be particularized, and 1t Is for
added facilities in keeping our streetA
clean.
Keeping Down the Dust.
'.This item has been incorporated to
meet the complaints made by our citizens
during the past summer because of our
dusty streets. Our streets are dusty for
the very simple reason that Congress has
each year pruned the appropriation for
keeping them clean down to such hmita-
tions that the surfaces could not properly
be cleaned.
''In this city every street should be
swept daily, and yet it would cost but
$4,000 additional to place every street
upon the daily schedule. Under the pres
ent system many of the streets are swept
but tri-weekly. If it is believed that with
about one-half of this moderate sum all
of the more important of our thorough
fares may be placed upon the daily
sweeping schedule. then here is one small
item of vital interest to our people which
should commend itself to the immediate
and favorable attention of the appropria-
tons committee.
1T has been demonstrated that under
the hand cleaning method in practice here
the average surface area allotted to each
cleaner is too large to admit Of proper
handling, and II cannot be expected that
the results we desire may be attained I'M
til this area has been reduced per man.
The appropriation asked for this much
needed Improvement is not large and
should be granted without question.
Under our system of local government
all we can do is to petition our governing
body. while in other municipalities the
peoples needs and requirements may be
presented in the form of demands Our
petition to Congress this year, conse-
quently, should receive at the hands OF
that body more than ordinary care and
attention to the end that complaints may,