The Washington herald., 1908-04-21

BY. vote Of 2l7 10 1, the House yester-
day decided to insist upon its amend
ments to the Union Station trackage bill.
Another conference with the Senate was
ordered. and Speaker Cannon appointed
Representatives Smith. Campbell, and
Sims as oonferees. Representative Will
lam Bill Suffer- the original and untam-
able hlIbuster, cast the one dissenting
vote,
During the course OF the debate on the
motion Of Aiy. Smith-each side being al
lowed twenty minutes-R Representative
Thetus Wnlrette Sims, of Tennessee. took
occasion to rap William Loeb, jr., sec
retary to President Roosevelt, and d
Senator Of the United States, not named,
but who is obviously Mr.. Newlands. of
Nevada
The amendments 10 which the Senate
objected In particular, but 10 which the
House conferees must adhere, in com
pliance with their instructions. are those
providing for universal transfers; provid-
ing for some sort of supervisory jurisdic-
tion-yested in the Commissioners
for certain arrangement Of tracks about
the station plaza.
This insistence upon the part Of the
House viii mean. possibly that the
Union Station trackage oil viii not be-
COME law during this session of Congress,
as it IS understood that the Senate Dis
trict Committee is unalterahly opposed to
the very amendments upon which the
conferees from the House must insist.
i'm 0F
brought about under a suspension Of the
rules. Representative Smith moving that
the House suspend the rules and TASK
for a conference with the Senate, and
direct the Speaker to appoint the man
ayers" on the Union Station trackage
bin.
Smith Explains Position.
In explaining the disagreement between
the House and Senate conferees Mr..
Smith said, in part:
THE Senate agrees with the House
that the trackage down New Jersey ave
rue is preferable to that down North
Capitol street, and also that the cross
town service is better legislation than
that contained In the Senate bill
The Senate insists upon their pTop0-
sition for tracks in front Of the Union
Station which, to make 1t clear TO every
member Of the House. are just double the
number of those on Pennsylvania avenue
They insist also on either side of the
Plaza that there should be the same num-
Der OF tracks that there are upon Penn
sylvania avenue and also down Delaware
avenue.
''fhe House proposition was 20 have In
front of the Union Station the same mum
Der of tracks that are upon Pennsylvania
avenue. take the tracks from the side
OF the Plaza on the one side and let
them come up on what is called a new
street. and upon the east side upon First
street. The Senate insists that II We are
10 have universal transfers the passenger
in every case shall pay an additional .
cents, both upon the proposition If you
purchase six tickets for a quarter and
desire a transfer that you shall pay an
additional cents, or if you pay a
straight scent fare, that you shall pay
an additional 2 cents Tor a transfer.
The third proposition upon which we
differ is the question Of supervision"
An Embarrassing Service.
Mr.. sims, who followed Mr.. Smith, said
in part;
IT there Is a more embarrassing service
in this House than the service on the
District Committee I do not know what
it is. and especially when you come to
deal with the public service franchise
corporations. The people Of this District
are Well to do, and many Of them are
the owners Of the stock. You meet them
everywhere. They are nice people. There
- no reflection to be made upon them,
they have a pride and interest to
~
bulOr three months or more we have
sertdered this bin, the House Committee
the House confeTees, after a vote in
tco fdouse that was unanimous What is
tart difference? The material differences
ar two What are they2 The demand
or le part of the House for free trans
fe1 for the passengers. The other is
ths the railway companies Of the Dis
tric. OF Columbia shall be subjected 70
q reasonably just but mandatory control
lodged somewhere. in somebody capabIe
of exercising II. The bin says the Com
missiOneTs Of the District Of Columbia
because they are the local board so to
speak. They are. as il were. the mayor
the executive officers of the District.
But when these gentlemen representing
these companies come before the commit
tee they say that they have no objection
10 the present Commissioners. they are
opposed to lodging a power ia the Commis-
sioners that requires expert knowledge.
Another Proposition.
Then the proposition is made to let
the Interstate Commerce Commission
have these powers Itself. which they are
claiming 70 be altogether too great to be
controlled by the District Commissioners
who have control Of everything else. We
say We viii give it to those who control
2z6.oo0 miles Of steam railways; but they
do not want the language of the bin. We
insist on giving It to them.
Now they absolutely refuse to remove
al trouble in the way of the conferees
BY coming up like patriots and SAYING
We viii give you a free transfer and we
do not object to control because we do
not expect TO do anything wrong.
Now. how embarrassing It is when
Congress, OF a committee Of Congress.
even the present Committee of Conference
Of both Houses, have to consider matters
pertaining to lhe fTanehised eorporatIons
here whose emoluments grow out of
grants Of legislation, 70 find high officials
of this government stockholders In these
very corporations. It IS very embarrass-
ing. It is not unlawful for them TO hold
these stocks. It is not unlawful for
member Of the House or a member of
the Senate to be a stockholder in the
franchised corporations here; but it is ex-
eeedingly embarrassing.
What do I find. reading over this list
Of stockholders here? In the CAPITAL
Traction Company ono Senator stands
there with over a thousand shares in his
name. These are reports made to Con
gress. am telling no secret and dis
closing nothing that you cannot know.