Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-05

| crete or masonry, but that frame build
| ings. very light, we'll ventilated. and SAM
! tary, would serve at once as the temper
airy structures named in the at and for
permanent use.
In May, 1910 tents were put up and
! a stOckade erected on he banks of Oc-
| coquan creek within the limits of the site
purchased. Prisoners were sent down In
| June.
A sawmill was purchased and set up.
| clearing ground begun, and the erection
| Of the buildings on a high elevation near
| the center of the tract was inaugurated.
most of the labor employed being that
| of the prisoners. BY December Is. 1910
| most Of the buildings for male prisoners
| were completed and &C upied April 1.
male prisoners were started and were
ready for occupancy July l. three months
| later.
Roads were built and an excellent wa
plant, was provided, as were also an
! electric light plant, an ice plant and q
brick-making plant. Fire protection and
sewerage systems were installed and q
quarry opened up. Barges were procured
| for water transportation, and several
thousand tons of manure have been
| barged to the site from the District of
| Columbia for the Improvement Of the
| soil.
| A number of buildings remain to be
/ constructed including barn and some
| outbuildings for the farm.
| At the request OF the board of charities
the operations at occoquan have been
| carried on by the Commissioners directly,
| through the Engineer Commissioner and
|. his subordinates, including especially
| Capts. Kelly and Markham the man cipal
architect, the superintendent of the water
| department.. the electrical engineer and
| others.
Expenditures for construction work
amounted to sos. 5s5.12. The buildings
constru ted by the prisoners cost about
cents per cubic foot They are equipped
with electric light. heated by steam. pro-
| vided with hot and cold water and SAM
z! tary plumbing.
The buildings are Of the simplest pos
sible type. long and running north and
south SO that the sun may reach one
side OF the buildings or the other during
| most of the day. A large part of the
sides are glass. which can e thrown
open during the warmer weather, so that
! during most of the year the prisoners,
In effect, sleep out of doors. as they
would do in sanitarium for the tubercu-
losis All of the buildings are kept as
| white as whitewash tan make them and
| IN an absolutely sweet and wholesome
condition. From records kept it Is ap-
| parent that those who pass through this
institution come out in very much i'm
proved physical condition and hardened
| to work.
| The luxuries provided for the prisoners
are inexpensive. consisting of plenty of
| sunshine, fresh air, work and cleanliness
THESE iuxurtes do not tempt men to break
| into jail. are not costly to the community.
| but are reforming and improving in
| fuences.
The brickmaking plant, with a capacity
| OF 10000 bricks per day, the stone quarry
with capacity Of several hundred cubic
yards per day, and farm operations, to-
| gether with the addition, if necessary, OF
some other industry, ought to make this
plant, within two or three years, self
| supporting or better than that.
The workhouse site lies within a mile
| and half of the railroad at Lorton, Va,
and along the navigable water of Deco
guam creek.
Reformatory.
| to against the use Of any appropriation
upon the reformatory site, no work has
been done on this site and no money
| expended. Either this prohibition will
| have to be removed by legislation or a
| new site for reformatory obtained.
Anacostia River and Flats.
The District appropriation act for the
| fiscal year 1912 contained an appropria-
ton of 100000 toward the reclamation
! and development of the Anacostia river
| and flats, from the Anacostia bridge
northeast to the District line, to be ex-
pcuucu uIIucT the SUPERVISION OF the cnloI
| of engineers, United States Army, upon
plans to be prepared under the direction
or and to. be approved by board of
engineers to consist of the Engineer Conn.,
! missioner Of the District of Columbia, the
officer in charge Of public buildings and
grounds and the engineer officer in charge
of the Improvement of the Potomac river.
This board Is at work on plans for the
Improvement and the work will probably
be begun during the present fiscal year.
An additional annrnnrfQfinn nf x1{n nm
will be asked in the estimates of the
Commissioners for the fiscal year 1918
to continue the work Of Improvement.
Appropriations have already been made.
and the work has been in progress for
several years. in dredging and reclaim
ing the flats along that portion of the
Anacostia river from the Potomac river
to the Anacostia bridge. This work is
being done by the United States under
the appropriation for river and harbor
improvements.
In the last annual report of the Com
missioners attention was invited to a re-
port made by Hugh T. Taggart. special
counsel to investigate the title of the
United States to land along the Anacostia
river which report was printed as Senate
document No. 1862, Sixty-first Congress.
second session. This report applied to
the portion of the river not included in
the immediate frontage of the city Of
Washington, and the conclusions reached
by Mr.. Taggart were as follows:
!. That the United States, under the
Constitution and the cession from Mary
land, Is vested, as sovereign, with abso-
lutte title and dominion in and over the
space between high-water mark on each
side of the Anacostia river, and COM
prising the shores and bed Of the stream.
2 That the United states holds such
title and dominion in trust for the pub
lie purposes of navigation and fishery
and for such other purposes as may con-
duce to the general welfare Of the peo-
pie, as to which Congress, as the rep
resentative Of the people. Is the sole
judge.
3. That as against the United States
in the execution of such trusts, riparian
owners are invested with no rights.
4. That so long as the government con-
fines its operations in any scheme OF I'M
provement to the space aforesaid 1t in
ours no liability under the fifth amend
ment to the Constitution, which requires
that private property shall not be taken
for public use without just compensa-
tion," and that land reclaimed through
such Improvement will belong absolutely
to the United States.
The above statement applies to that por-
ton of the river not included in the i'm
mediate frontage OF the city of Washing
ton upon 1T. The special features of that
frontage require separate considera- Ion.
Since then Mr.. Taggartehas made
report on the frontage Of the city Of
wa shington, which was printed as SEN
ate Document No. IL. Sixty-second Con-
gress first session, n synopsis of which
is as follows:
l. BY the cession from Maryland Of
territory for the pei fnanent seat Of the
government Of the United States, title