Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-23
THE DISTRICT BILL
ONLY TWO ITEMS
YET TO BE DETERMINED.

There was another conference this morn
ing by representatives Of the Senate and
House on the District Of Columbia appro-
priation BILL There were present Senators
Gallinger. Warren and Tillman and Repre-
sentatives Gillette, Gardiner and Burleson.
As has been stated nearly every senate
amendment had been decided upon prior to
the meeting today, leaving practically two
items, that concerning the report to be
made annually by the Washington Gas
Light Company and the width Of streets to
be paved in the future. The Senate con-
ferees agreed upon a more extensive form
of annual report to be made by the gas
light company, although 1t is not exactly
in the form of the proposed report as pre-
scented by the House conferees q couple of
days ago AS agreed upon this annual re-
port Is to contain a detailed statement of
the condition of the business Of the COM
pany for the year ending December 81, that
report to state the actual cost Of the prop
erty used In it's business, the amount paid
on its capital stock, its Indebtedness, the
cost of materials and the amount of gas
manufactured and sold and the average
price per thousand cubic feet received.
Thre are other items to be reported upon,
such as the amount Of depreciation, amount
paid for betterments out Of the earnings
and from other sources and the amount of
dividends. The surplus Is to be stated also.
The amendment was originally put In by
Senator La Toilette and provided for COM
piete annual reports, but did not specify
the nature of the reports as the amendment
which has been agreed upon. The precise
form of this amendment will be drawn up
and ready for the conferees' inspection
Monday morning.
Narrowing the Roadways
The other subject of disagreement which
has now practically been arranged by the
conferees relates to the proposed narrowing
of the roadway of streets to be paved with
asphalt and appropriation carried by this
bill. This matter became quite complicated
because In making their estimates the COM
missioners forwarded in appendix a list of
streets to be paved from bulk appropriation
for different sections Of lie city, and this
list gave the width of the roadway to be
paved, although there was nothing to indi-
cate whether the proposed width was equal
to the former width of these streets or not.
comparison, however, showed that these
streets had been reduced I'm width and the
passage of the appropriation bill with its
reference to the proposed street widths
would have made legally effective the action
of the engineer department. in reducing the
street width.
The conferees have gone into this matter
very thoroughly and the result Is that the
Senate is not inclined to make concessions
on any further narrowing of roadways. In
some cases. however, the Commissioners
have adopted narrower roadway and have
actually laid pavements according to such
plans. In instances in which this has been
done several squares of a street it is likely
that the Senate conferees will concede that
the balance of such streets shall be paved
to conform with work already done. Other
wise work that has been performed would
have to be torn up and done over again.
But IT is likely that the conferees will
adopt an amendment to the bill which will
provide in clear language that no more ac-
ton in the matter of making roadways
narrower shall be taken.