The Washington herald., 1908-01-20
So 10 - Mnshinctnn HeraId-

Special 10 The Washington Herald
Richmond. Va. Jan. l9-The one mo
mentous question before the present gen
eral assembly Of Virginia is the proposi-
tIon TO repeal the old law forbidding the
paTalleling of the Richmond, Fredericks-
burg and Potomac Railway TO Washing
ton.
The fact that the State owns an inter
est in the road is urged as a reason both
for and against the proposed repeal
The state proxies, who vote the stock
of Virginia in the road, and the board Of
sinking fund commissioners. into which
fund the dividends of the state go. are
working to defeat the repeal measure.
ON the other hand, the people generally
demand the repeal, which would mean
better rates and better service from this
city 10 the North.
The public hearing has been fixed for
next Wednesday Al that time the forces
viii all be aligned-the sinking fund COM
missioners and the State proxies and the
railroad interests on the one side. with
the board Of aldermen. Of this city. the
Richmond Chamber of Commerce. the
business interests Of fredericksburg. and
the promoters of the neW,railroad on the
other
Law VIII Be Repealed.
The latter forces will fight for the
straight repeal Of the anti-paraHeIing
law, without any proyiso whatever.
The result is already known, 50 far as
public sentiment is concerned. There is
scarcely any doubt bur that the Rich
mond Fredericksburg and Potomac will
be defeated in the fight and the law for
bidding the paraneling repealed.
The repeal bill. offered in the house on
the opening day of the session conformity
by T. p. Cox, of Richmond and p. O'Con-
nor Goolrick, of Fredericksburg5 has now
been supplemented by a proposed blanket
amendment offered by William D. Evans.
the member from MiddleSey. The pro-
posed amendment reads as follows.
TO repeal section 12 of chapter .. of
an act entitled An act concerning cor
poTati0nS, which became "a law without
the signature of the governor on the 2lst
day OF May, 1903, and which reads as fol-
lows. 70. No railroad company chartered
under this act, or whose charter may be
amended under this act, shall have power
10 build any railroad parallel 90 the line
OF the Richmond, Fredericksburg and
Potomac Railroad be, and the same is
hereby, repealed"
Provided, however, that this act shall
not bc effective but the said section shall
remain In fun force and effect. until
after the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay
Railroad Company, OF some other cor
pOratioH shall have first built and
equipped, and put into operation a line
of railway through the town of Ashland
through the counties Uf King William
King and Queen, and Essex 10 the IoWu
of Iappahauu0ck. I'm the county of rs
sex, or q line of railway from the town
of Ashland. i'm an eaSteTly direction. 10
some point on the Rappahauock River
or Chesapeake Bay"
Would NuIIify Object.
Delegate Cox. who introduced the orig
inal bin asking the repeal of the anti
paralIcling statute. has this to say re-
garding the proposed amendment:
Il shall StrenuOusly oppose it, The
practical result of the proviso would be
% nullfy the effect of the repeal measure
! propose. II would suit the Richmond.
Fredericksburg and Potomac people ex-
actly. I do not mean % imply however.
that Evans has any such sinister pur-
pose.
Evans expressed considerable surprise
when the suggestion was made 10 him
that some might suspect that the Rich
mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac was
behind his proposed amendment. in the
hope of thus embarrassing the Goulds
who desire 10 build the Fredericksburg
and Southern. and thus make "a relay Of
link lines paralleling the Richmond. Fred
crickSburg and Potomac to the North
connecting az Washington with the Wa
bash. also a Gould property, and which
has long desired a Southern outlet
II is interesting in this connection to
note that the Baltimore and Ohio also
proposes TO come into Virginia from
Washington. using the lines of the Rich
mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac. in
which road it owns One-sixth interest.
The announcement has already been made
that regular schedule OF trains over
this line viii be operated bv the BaIti-
more and Ohio. into Richmond. i'm the
early spring, cutting down the time now
consumed in travel between New York and
Richmond by four to five hours.