Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-04
THE FIGHT WILL GO ON
UNrLINcHINa OPPOSITION 10
RAILWAY SMOKE.
Views Of Southwest Washington Citi-
zens' Association Expressed by
One Of It's Members.

against the locomotive smoke blight will
Der of the Southwest Washington Citizens
Association to Star reporter today. de
spite the temporary setback the measure
has received at this session.
I'm fact it Is our intention to perfect q
more complete organization than we even
now have upon this important local issue.
which is particularly vital to the residents
in tie southwest and the northeast sections
Of the city, and we earnestly hope during
the next session to secure legislation which
will lift the smoke clouds from along the
lines of the steam roads now traversing the
city.
During the debate upon the measure,
however, several facts were brought out
and assertions made which should not be
permitted to pass unchallenged, and / re-
fer more particularly to the statement
made upon the floor of the House that the
passage of the smoke law amendment was
desired in order that the uptown dudes
may walk around without smut upon their
collars
THE perfunctory interest taken in local
affairs of the capital on the part of some
as well as the absence of a geographical
knowledge of our municipal subdivisions on
the part of others. has long been local
fact well understood here, but it has re-
ceived an unusually apt illustration in the
discussion on the proposed extension of the
smoke law when it is asserted that it is the
northwest section which is to derive the
chief benefit from such enactment.
Smoke Nuisance Must Go.
1.-THE residents of that section can now
walk about the streets without smoke par
ticles dropping upon their linen. thanks to
the enforcement of the existing smoke law
in that quarter, but it is toward the lifting
of the heavy pail of smoke that hangs over
the southwest and portions of the north
east. that The Star and the various citizens
associations have directed their efforts to
secure appropriate legislation.
IF members of the House and the Sem
ate would occasionally divert their steps
southwest in the vicinity of Maryland and
Virginia avenues, and AZ and 7th streets,
in future debates on the smoke nuisance in
this city they would never form connec-
ton between uptown dudes and the loco
motive smoke evil. Indeed, if they could be
induced to stand at any one of several
points along the lines of the railroad tracks,
or in the switch yards, their first act upon
reaching home would be to effect change
of linen. and their geographical knowledge
of the city and the relation of it's smoke
centers to other sections would be CORE
spondingly improved.
although the city at large is to be ap-
probably benefited by the elimination. of
the locomotive smoke nuisance from within
its precincts, the legislators at the Capitol
should be made to comprehend that the OBJ
ject of the proposed amendments the WHIP
ing out of the capitals smoke centers to the
end that the smoke blight, like the over
head trolley, may be declared by our resi-
dents to be things of the past, even though
these relics of other days may still be toll
Grated and endured in other less favored
communities from which some of our tran
silent legislators may hail. s,7.- -Hts.s
although it might seem that this was a
self-evident proposition, the remarks made
by the various representatives in debate
prove that it Is not, so far as our legisla-
tive body is concerned. for such remarks as
and absurd, may be found all through the
discussion.
Treat All Sections Alike.
'If line of double tracks paralleled one
of the northwest avenues the remarks of the
representative I have quoted would then be
found to be germane to the proposed
amendment only we all know that if such
were the case, with the black volumes, of
locomotive smoke swayed by the wind, first
in one direction and then in another over
the adjoining houses, the rapidity with
which the locomotive smoke blight would be
discerned by the legislators at either end.
which the necessary legislation against it
would be enacted would, to say the least,
be startling.
|. ut is to give all sections of the city alike
freedom from the smoke blight that the
war upon the locomotive smoke nuisance
was inaugurated, and 1t is upon this prfn-
ciple that our association, and other asso
Citations and forces, are united and are pro-
ceeding. Those of us who live in the south
west, and who are the chief sufferers. can
see no equity in statute which fines a
manufacturer for permitting black smoke
to be emitted from his chimney, yet which
allows scores of locomotives to traverse
miles of streets and through entire sections
of the city, vomiting thick volumes of
black smoke into the atmosphere, the door
yards, windows and homes Of the residents
therein.
ut was to remedy this inequality of the
law, and not to protect the linen of the
residents of any one section of this city,
that the amendment was proposed as the
best expedient to fit existing conditions.
While electriZation will abolish the smoke
nuisance entirely. it Is not impossible to
ameliorate existing abuses in our section
of town by legislative enactment as pro-
posed, and our people in this and other af-
fected neghborhoods may rest assured that
we will in nowise relinquish our efforts in
the future to bring about in the capital this