Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-27
UP TO DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Evidence of Violations Said to Be in
His Hands.
LAW PLAIN ON THE SUBJECT
Commissioners Seek a Ruling to De-
eide Whether or Not It Is
Dead Letter.


torney Baker to show whether recent
legislation affecting the street railways
Of Washington is to be dead letter or
not. The District electric railway COM
mission at its brief session Yesterday aft
ernoon devoted Its time almost eXclu-
sively to the discussion of plans to secure
the prosecution of the street railway COM
panies for overcrowding their cars, or
some definite action to determine whether
or not its labors in the future are TO
count for naught
With the expenditure OF considerable
labor and money, evidence was gathered
by the District commission which
seemed to show clear cases of violation
of the law In relation to the overcrowd-
ing of street cars. This evidence, after
some correspondence between the Dis
trict commission and its creator, the in
terstate commerce commission, and per-
sonal conferences between the members
of each of those bodies. was submitted
to District Attorney Baker with the re-
quest that the companies found at fault
be prosecuted I'm the Police Court, pro-
vided by section II of the act of May ~.
i&S. Time passed. and. no action having
neen taken In the matter, a conmunica-
ton was addressed to the district attor-
ney by the District commission, which
elicted the reply that all the papers 10
the case had been referred to the De-
partment of Justice for instructions.
since tnen matters have been suspended.
Commissioners in Conference.
After the meeting of the District COM
mission yesterday afternoon, Commission
er Henry L. West, its chairman. and
Commissioner Thomas W. Smith. the re-
naming member, called up Commissioner
Lane OF the interstate commerce COM
mission, who. with Commissioner Clark.
has control Of matters affecting the street
railways of the District. While none of
he
to what occurred at the conference. it Is
known that Commissioner Lane shortly
afterward called at the Department OF
Justice on another matter and incidental
ly took up the street railway prosecu-
lions with that department. He was adj
vised that letter of instructions had
been sent the district attorney. and an
nounced that he expected no further de-
lay In the institution of the court pro-
ceedings.
Commissioner West said this morning
that the District Commissioners had no
desire to prosecute or to prosecute the
street railway companies unless the law
required action on their part.
There Is a law on the statute books"
he said, which requires all the street
railway companies In the District to sup
ply and operate sufficient number of
cars, clean, sanitary and In good pair
with proper and safe power. equipment.
appliances and service. comfortable and
convenient. and so forth, without crowd
ing said cars. The District commission
wants to ascertain whether or not this
law Is dead letter. Section "a of the
act which makes these requirements pro-
vides that prosecutions for violations OF
any Of the provisions of this act shall bc
on information of the interstate COM
merce commission. filed in the Police
Court by or on behalf of the commission.
The Evidence Furnished.
THE interstate commerce commission
has already authorized both the District
commission and the district attorney to
file informations I'm its name. We have
furnished the evidence of what We con-
slider serious violation of the law on the
part Of the railway companies, and we
are anxious that the matter shall be
brought into court, that there may be
judicial determination as to the sufficiency
OF the law, as we'll as to its several pro-
visions. This evidence was sent to the
district attorney many weeks ago. and
there the matter has stopped.
1T seems up to the district attorney
now to bring matters to a focus. We
have no disposition whatever to criticise
the district attorney, or. indeed. any one.
in the premises. We simply want to know
whether or not the law which is on the
statute books is a dead letter OF effective
to accomplish the purpose designed ny
Congress in passing It,"
Commissioner West said there was no
friction, nothing personal. in fact. be-
tween the District commission and the
district attorney or the railway COM
panies. and he deplored any insinuation
to that effect. The District commission
was created for a business purpose" he
said land it Is endeavoring to perform
it's duties as required by the law or the
instructions of the interstate commerce
commission it's creator"
The district attorney is not disposed
to talk upon the subject.
Minor Complaints Heard.
The only other matters that came be-
fore the District commission at its ses-
sion yesterday afternoon were few COM
plants against the pay-as-you-enter cars
and complaint about the issue of trans
fers.
Commissioner West said that Secretary
Eddy had prepared a report of his In
vestigations concerning the new cars. but
II was not presented to the session yes
terday because of the other more im-
portant question which occupied the time.
FUNERAL Of JOSEPH (. BRIDGE