Evening star., 1908-01-28
MORE CARS FOR THE PEOPLE
ADDITIONAL STREET RAILWAY
ACCOMMODATIONS URGED.
Mr.. Hepburn Would Lodge in Hands
of the Commissioners More Au-
thority Over Street Railways.

| Shortly before the adjournment of the
| House late yesterday afternoon Repre-
| sentative Hepburn OF Iowa. who had
| previously made bitter attack on the
| management and operation Of the local
street railway companies. offered an
] amendment to the temporary trackaEe
bill. which had been under consideration
by the House. making It compulsory for
the local traction companies to furnish a
sufficient number of cars TO insure COM
Portable and convenient rccommodations
for all passengers and giving the Com
missioners authority to regulate the num-
bcr of cars ard the schedule of operation.
! NJ. Hepburns amendment provides
fine OF 81 600 for each onense.
In his remarks upon the temporary
trackage bill Mr.. Hepburn took violent
exception tn the statement made by one
railroad officer before the District com
inlttee that one reason for the crowdins
OF cars was The desire on the part of citi-
zens of Washington 10 cheat the company
ou, of the legal fare.
Excuses for Crowding Cars.
This railroad officer. said Mr.. Hep.
burn. gave two excuses for the crowding
OF the cars. One was that the people of
| this District dishonesty crowded the cars
in order that they might have free rides;
| that car might be approaching empty
and they would not take that. but would
! crowd into the already overcrowded car
with the expectation that they would he
| overlooked by the conductor. Der;sivc
| laushter.) That was questioned by the
| gentleman from Tennessee. Mr. Sims.
| This railroad official reiterated tha: state
ment, and again the gentleman from Ten
| nessee called his attention to tho serious
| character of the charge he was making
! against the people of the District. He
| then modified the statement by saying
| tnat some of the people did. giving the
committee to understand that The crowd
| ing was by the dishonest people who
| patronized his road in this city.
lie gave as another excuse that the
| numerous was that there was a regula-
| ton by the District Commissioners
forbiddng cars running closer than
2Go feet: that in their anxiety to pro-
III se the comfort of passengers they were
often compelled to violate that regulation
If You make the computation You will find
there are 500 feet between trains. and on
the Washington Railway and Electric
Company's lines you will find the cars are
more than 1.GO0 feet apart-or nearly a
quarter of mile.
Compulsion the One Recourse
You see what paltry excuses are made
loL see the unwilingness there is to
go to tile additional expense of more
cars and more motormen and more con-
ductors in order that the people NAV
nave more comfort and approach nearer
10 the realization of their rights. | say
TO You that no Improvement will be had
tnat You do not cOerce from these COM
panies. And. looking at my experience
of more than twenty years in this House.
no advance will he made excapt as YOU
coerce it from the committees the
District of Columbia of the tao houses
make the assertion here that every
advance. every step in progress: that ba 5
been made in the transporta ton of pas
sensers in this city has been forced from
reluctant management: and if you give
them what they want. they know how
TO tEwart your purposes in securing what
the people want
Mr.. Hepburn announced that he was
utterly opposed TO giving the local trac-
ton companies >any new facilities until
wholesome provisions of law to compel
az least an approach to a decent OBJ
scrvance of obligations could be engraft-
ed upon the same legislation
MI. Hepburn told of having had an
argument with an officer of one OF the
local street railways about the number
OF cars that passed the Peace monument
both ways.
Il asked the question:" said Mr. Hep
burn. IF he meant to tell me that I2O
OF his trains passed that point In the
same direction each hour. He said yes
eE:phatlcally. there was no doubt about
!; that. going either way on this road. in
the vicinity of the monument 10 cars
passed each way within the hour. / sent
my clerk the next day to make count
or every car that passed in each Girec-
tion-those going toward the depot. those
going toward the navy yard and those
going around the loop. lie did it. giving
the time when each car passed him. and
instead of there being 10. there were
seventy going one way and sixty-three
the other in the hour from 4:sO to 80
pm. the time specified by the gentle
man.