Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-11
IS FOUND INELIGIBLE
Gen. Wilson Retires From Dis
trict Railway Commission.
RULING OF CONTROLLER
Cannot Serve Without Pay or Draw
Two Salaries.
LAW DOESN'T APPLY TO WEST
Failure of the Commission to Meet
Expectations Due to Attitude of
Street Railway Men.
LAW DOESN'T APPLY TO WEST


NJ. Wilson as chairman of the District
electric railway commission and the APP
pointment of Commissioner Henry L. West
| to succeed him, formal announcement will
be made in the next few days by the IN
| terstate commerce commission of Il num-
| Der of recommendations made by the DIS
| trict commission with respect to the local
| street railway situation. and the action
| that will be taken by the interstate com"
merce commission upon these recommen-
| dations.
| 1t was announced al the interstate COM
| merce commission offices this morning
| that several of these recommendations,
which will be backed up by orders from
the interstate commerce commission. are
! important in their nature and deal with
| questions of vital interest to the traction
| interests Of the District of Columbia ana
to their patrons.
Gen. Wilson Found Ineligible.
That there has been a great deal OF
friction attendant upon the affairs of the
District railway commission since It's Gre
alton year ago, and that Gen. wilson
has been far from satisfied with his po-
sition as chairman of the commission, are
we'll known in local street railway cir
cles, but that the condition of 1nenective-
ness in the commission is responsible TOT
Gen. Wilson's retirement Is denied on all
sides The official reason given is that
under the laws forbidding one TO hold
two salaried positions under the govern
ment Gen. Wilson. as retired army of
ticer Is ineligible for service on the Dis
trict railway commission.
The question of his eligibility was put
to the controller OF the Treasury, who,
in passing upon it, held that, since Gen.
| on,,II Ia
as chairman of the commission without
remuneration, he could not serve at all,
inasmuch as he was drawing pay as
retired officer Of the army In passing
upon the question of Commissioner Vest
eligibility TO succeed Gen. Wilson, the
controller classed the District Commits
sioner as municipal officer to whose
service on the railway commission as
government officer there could be no OBJ
lection. In doing this Controller Trace
we'll followed the decision of the Attor-
ney General that officers of the District
of Columbia are municipal officers.
Attitude of Railway Men.
Most of the trouble at the District rail-
way commission has arisen from the at
titude maintained toward it by officials
Of the street railway systems of Wash
| ingtor. In many instances these Of
| ficials have paid little or no attention
to requests for information or for con-
ferences coming from the commission.
| Under the law by which it was created
the commission has no authority to make
demands. 1t is simply an ornate sort Of
| an affair, characterized by officials of the
| interstate commerce commission as an
| advisory committee OF that body,
| whose duties are to find out as much as
| it can about the traction companies Of
| the District.
If the chairman of the District rail-
way commission writes q letter to the
l <.f
pany asking him to call at the offices
of the commission for q nice little talk
or write letter on certain subject
and the traction official throws the let
ter in his waste basket without answer
ing it. which the traction man usually
does the District railway commission
cannot even have the privilege of shaping
the traction man on the wrist All he
, can do is to go and tell the interstate
commerce commission OH him.
Purpose of Railway Commission.
> As originally conceived the District
railway commission was intended to be
a sort Of diplomatic body. 1t was to meet
on the most amicabe terms with the
) traction officials of the city and talk mat
, tiers over for the general delectation of both
sides and the subsequent benefit of that
large and growing section of Washing
tons public which owning neither auto
mobiles nor carriages. must perforce ride
: upon the street cars when it has the
price.
; But for some reason difficult to dis
cover owing TO the reticence on both
. sides, the traction officials have declined
. to diplomatic or fraternize or Lobnob in
any manner with the commission. The
, latter has written letters galore on vari-
Gus traction questions, but the confer
; ences desired by those who had the COM
mission created have. thus far, been at
. tended mostly by the members of the
, commission only.
Taking, as it does, two sides to make
, even a conference. to say nothing Of an
/, argument. the failure OF the traction Of
/, fieials to confer and the inability of the
commission TO force them to do SO have
> combined to defeat, To certain extent
how great VIII not be admitted at the
interstate commerce commission-the pur-
. poses for which the District railway COM
, | mission was created.
, What the Commission Has Done.
However Commissioner Lane of tho in
. terstate commerce commission denied ems
, phatically today that the District railway
commission has accomplished nothing. He
> said that the commission had made some
. interesting and valuable recommends tons
, to the interstate commarce commission
= and furthermore. the latter body was
, going to stand by its advisory commits
: ion.
u What the recommendations are Mr.
Lane declined to make public at this
, ! time He said they would be announced
, officially i'm a few days. but that any idea
!, that the interstate commerce commission
: would not back UP the District electric
, railway commission was erroneous.
Z With regard to reports that traction
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