Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1914-03-11
Residents Of Alexandra County Meet
J and Adopt Resolutions
1@.4 $500,
of Protest

part Of the county to the Dfstr'ctt5setifi
Columbia. ~ 23
II The protest is contained in a reso-
luton: adopted at the last meeting OF
the association, censuring CongresE
for mis'laanagement Of District If
fairs, accusing District authorities o.
showing no consideration to residents
of Washington, and citing long list
of reasons why citizens of Alexan~
dria county woul3 suffer if forced to
live under the laws of the District.
In the resolution it is asserted that
President Wilson and Congress have
been misled into the erroneous bellef
that a majority of citizens of the coun-
ty want it coded to the District. a
recent poll, the resolution declares,
shows the citizens are two to one
against incorporating a part of the
county in the District.
The association, composed of some
,of the most prominent citizens OF the
county, declares in the resolution that
eve believe the best interests Of the
county lay in the maintenance OF the
county in its present status and not N
its incorporation in the District FOR
the following reasons:
"The people of the District are
bur'ened with foolish and childish
regulations in great number. Un er
one regulation every man, woman and
child in the District is law-breaEer
| because the law says no persons shall
Lcross a street except at street corn
ers. The Commissioners once request
ed Congress to prohibit kite-flying IN
the District.
"Strict building laws prevent res
Iidents from building the kind of homes
they want. Drastic smoke laws that
would prove onerous to manufactur-
ing interests of Alexandria county arc
in effect. Strict building regulations
require employment of high-priced ar
tisans at prohib:tive prices for COM
paratively simple work.
"Distr;ct authorities are out of
touch and sympathy with citizens o!
i the District Numerous burdensome
relations have antagoniZed the clti
zenship and ten cree to break down
respect for law and stifle civic spirit.
Three weeks ago District citizens
were warned to carefully lock win
j dows and doors at night because
/ crime prevalence. At that time tier;
were no prisoners in jail in Fairfax
or Prince William county and only
seven in Alexandria county and no re"
criminal indictments were returned.
Under present conditions residents
of the county are citizens, have
vote, and some say in their own al
! fairs. This has attracted' citizen.
! ship that means more than any avian
tage resulting from a return to tn
District.
| mo one ever got anything IN tho
! District without paying for it, &nc
there is no reason to believe the citi-
zens of the county, would fare any
better if the change in government
were made. One of the most energetic
/ residents of Washington denouncns
| the system of lard condemnation in
the District, said he knew of cases
| where land had been condemned, costs
assessed and collected and no i'm
| provements mae in five years. He
said if the commissioners spent the
next twenty-five years without con-
demning another piece of ground they
| could hardly put streets now existing
| only on paper in proper condition
Assuming that the Federal govern
merit will pay one-half of improve
| ments. all improvements are upon
such scale and contracted for at
such a high cost that the resultant
assessment upon property IN what
now is the county would be more than
lit the county made all reasonable I'M
provements itself
at took an act of Congress to
prevent the establishment of re-
formatory near Mount Vernon. Since
the penal institutions of the District
already have been locates. in Virginia,
other penal institutions might be To-
Gated upon the Virginia side of the
{river.
''The present separate seat law Tor
white and coloreh persons would ioI
be operative if the county were under
District law.
"Authorities of the District do NOT
show proper consideration for the
citizenship. : When citizens asked 10
i;be heard before water rates we're
raised, the citizens were told II was
none of their business. ..
,t,.t, - /-b-,l un,,a Po1d Ana