Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-02

concerning the underground trolley in
Budapest it in effect compelled the use
of that system in Washington, with the
| result that it is now in successful opera
| ton throughout practically the entire ur-
! ban area
A comparison of past and present con
| ditions affecting Washington's railways
and tramways will bring even to the
Washingtonian keener realization OF
what has been accomplished in beneficial
development by the government
! In 1SSS I said in The Star of the sftua-
ton in Washington:
An urgent grievance Of the present
which grows more unbearable year after
year with the attempts at growth of the
sections of the city specially injured is
that which arises from the conduct of
the railroads entering Washington Their
illegal occupations of streets and reserv-
ations and the damage and Disagreement
which they unnecessarily infiict are
. known to every reader of The Star.
These evils have been exposed In vain for
years to the Congress of the United
States. The Senate District committee
has recently decided to ignore them alto
sether. 1t Is not at all CONCERNED to dis
cover that with certain tracks in part
illegal the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
disffgures, obstructs and endapgers one
whole section of the city. and the Balti-
more and Potomac road another. 1t
reads with Indifference the long list of
persons killed or wounded AT the single
piece of Illegal tracks known as the Bal
timore and Ohio ". Ii hears only with
amusement that in the long strip OF land
over which the Baltimore and Potomac
road is permitted by grace of Congress to
rule with absolute power the people of
South Washington find for most of the
time an impossible obstruction to travel
and traffic, and. il entrance may be Sc
cured, a. dangerous mantrap. 1t knows
perfectly well. too. that in no city of the
world except in that one whose interests
are. in part confded to its vigilant pro-
lection would the present condition of
affairs be endured for a day Yet the
regulation of the railroads is matter to
be postponed indefinitely. A wise
and statesmanlike plan of regulating the
steam railroads of the city will be devised
and enforced which shall clear away sur
face tracks. check the illegal acts of
these squatters upon government proper
ty. free the public reservations and re-
lieve two sections of the city from a bur
den which throttles like the old man of
the sea upon the shoulders of Sindbad.
In connection with the broad plan of
renledying railroad evils which will place
a Union station at the nearest point to
the business center of the city that can
be reached by tunneling or with small in
jury to public and private interests a
comprehensive system of local rapid
transit by electric or cable railways will
be provided which shall give all parts of
the District quick and easy access to
such station or stations. 1t is evident
that in the improved street railways of
the future horses must give way to more
rapid and less Objectionable motors. that
grooved rails must take the place of the
present denominations. and that the fran
chiSeS to these corporations, no longer
gifts must become source of public
revenue outside of that which is de-
rived from them through just taxation
of their. tangible property'
Ten years later GS9S) | said as presi-
dent of the Board of Trade:
The present terminal conditions of our
local roads are injurious and disgraceful
TO the capital of the American republic
The stations, compared with similar
structures in Europe. are inadequate in
size, awkwardly arranged and ugly. Both
roads sustain a series of death-trap grade
crossings. at which losses of life and in
juries to men periodically occur and
which cause financial loss to the city
through the obstruction to traffic and
travel which occurs at them.
When the local roads have built here
European stations, covering large area
of ground-lofty. imposing and orna-
mental structures. perhaps with fine mod
ern hotels in the upper stories. as IN Lon
don: when they have abolished their local
grade crossings and run rapid. noiseless
trains over a Berlin viaduct or a sirder
tunnel i'll their course through the city,
and when both cross the Potomac to
southern connections on handsome and
substantial bridges. not dams. not only
will the attractiveness. safety and ma