Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-19
WHAT OFFICIALS SAID
New Station to Be a Gener-
GUS Gift to the People.
NO HINT OF REPAYMENT
Statements to the Senate District
Committee.
BOAST OF PUBLIC SPIRIT
Contrast With Announced Intention
to Tax the Public for the Cost
Of the Union Station.

of Columbia are pointed to as evidence
that the construction of the new union
station and other railroad terminal faciii-
ties was regarded as q railroad enter
prise. and a part of the systems COM
ing into the District, and was at that time
not looked upon as an independent move
ment which would have to be paid for by
special charges upon the public, such as
have been suggested.
| These statements were made by Mr.
Samuel Rea, third vice president of the
Pennsylvania railroad. and by Mr. Hugh
l.. Bond, tr., second vice president of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, when the
proposition to have the railroads use cleo
| trio motors to draw their trains within
| the District was under consideration by
the committee. The officials of the rail-
roads objected to this proposition, and all
they said tended to show that they re-
garded the creation of the terminal ia
cilities as an enterprise which would be
| very costly to them, and that they were
acting In a spirit of public enterprise.
! 1helr Joint EFFORT for union station was
referred to as an enlargement Of their
! former plans for separate stations, which
1t was said they would have preferred
| had It not been for the consideration Of
| the peculiar needs Of the capital.
| A Unique Proposition.
| In view Of these considerations their
| proposition to place a specific tax upon
| the public is regarded as unique. The
| statements Of these officials show that
the terminal facilities here are not to be
| compared with the terminal facilities in
| Baltimore, as the two enterprises were
undertaken upon entirely different plans
| In the case Of the Baltimore terminal
| the extra charge is made for passengers
! fv,1
| charge Is to be made for the privilege
| OF leaving the trains of the companies
after the passenger reaches his destina-
| ton. The charge for through passengers
| might be justified, because 1t represents
| the cost Of passing from one part of the
| city to another, and in the absence of the
| facilities the passenger would have to
| find some other means of transportation
| from one station to another. In that case
| the terminal facilities would save cab
| hire and the transfer of baggage. There
\ Is no similarity between such a case and
! the. proposition to tax travellers for the
privilege of leaving train in the beauti-
| full union station that Is now nearing
completion In this city, great credit for
providing which has been taken by the
railroad companies 1t Is claimed that If
the railroad companies wish to launch an
| Independent corporation saddled with
these terminal facilities, and demand that
they be relieved in whole or in part from
| eral government and the District of CO.
| lumbia should each be reimbursed in
| whole OF in part for the large investment
| of about So, 600 900 In this enterprise II
| the railroad companies are to be relieved
OF the burden they took upon themselves
| It IS declared that 1t Is only just that the
same principle should be applied to the
| government and Its contribution.
| Vice President Bond of the Baltimore
| and Ohio railroad when before the COM
mt m q a q OF tay al n1
ing that the Pennsylvania and the Balti-
| more and Ohio were to share in the re-
sponsibility for providing these terminal
facilities.
Provision Made by Congress.
when the union station project was
adopted by the act of February %, 19OS,'
he said. '+that act provided that the ter
minal company should do the work in
the interests of both the Baltimore and
Ohio and the Baltimore and Potomac, or
the Philadelphia. Baltimore and Washing
ton roads, practically in the interest OF
all other companies authorized to come
into. the District by Congress. who were
to pay their pro rata for the use, and it
provided that the Baltimore and Ohio
should turn over one-half of the stock Of
the terminal company to the Philadel-
phia, Baltimore and Washington and that
then the work should go on as a joint
work.
Every statement that was made by
these officials was such as to indicate
clearly that the terminal company was
merely a creature of the railroads to
be utilized as a means for an equitable
division of the expense of providing the
terminal facilities. Nothing was said to
| even suggest that that company was to
draw It's support from the public by
means of a special tax.
officials Took Great Credit.
| These officials in their testimony fire.
quently took great credit for the build
| ing of the terminal facilities as a matter
of public spirit. Mr.. Bond declared that
| this plan originated not in any private
interests OF the road. but in the same
spirit which governed this whole improve
ment-a spirit of providing ample facili-
ties for the government, and providing
them In a way that would be slightly"
Again. Mr.. Bond, in protesting against
the Identification of the roads, said: we
expenditures these railroads have made.
In addition to the expenditures that Mr..
Rea has called your attention to, the Bal
timore and Ohio has had to abandon its
old freight terminals and build new
freight terminals, at an expenditure of
about 81 600, co., so after the expenditures
that these railroads have made it is not
fair and just to punish them by INJECTING
unnecessary cost in the operation Of their
roads,
Protest Against Further Burdens.
Mr.. Rea, third vice president of the
Pennsylvania railroad was equally clear
| in taking credit for the generosity of the
railroads in providing the terminal facil-
tiles, and nothing that he said could In
the remotest way be interpreted as sug-
costing that the public was to be called
upon to carry the burden OF the union
station. He hoped Congress would not in
sist upon the identification Of the roads,
and hoped that they will not seek to i'm
pose any further burdens than have al
ready been voluntarily assumed for the
credit of the country by the railroads con-
cerned."
Il hope he said, that may be al
! lowed to add that we think the Commits
| sioners and the public should give us
credit in providing this magnificent sta
| ton for the capital Of the nation at a
cost far greater than we would have been
| justified in mourning II we had dealt
| with the matter from a purely busine So
| standpoint, and that they will not seek to
| impose any further burdens than have
| already been voluntarily assumed for the
| credit of the country by the railroads
| concerned.
THE railroads entering the District of
| Columbia from the south already feel
| that they will be heavily burdened to
meet the charges that may be made for
the use by them of the new passenger