Evening star., 1918-04-01

Continued from First PaSe.l -,
er1nie.t to regulate sueh use In the
pnblic Interest.
! The corporations have ciamored tnaI
iownership and control are inseparable,
that the government should not exer-
else control unless 1t acquires owner
ship. but this argument has been prop.
terly disregarded. 1t has been held fnat
/ the rights, powers and privileges given
to common carrier corporation by the
public furnish tie necessary considera.
tien for the retention by the public OF
1 a certain control of the corporations
which 1t has created and in enect en-
ldowed. This conclusion applies both to
steam railways and to tramways ana
to national, state and municipal con-
ltrol. The Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion regulates common carriers pe-
tween the states with wholesome re-
suits. beneficial TO everybody. II checks
ifnonopoiistic favoritism and discrfmina-
, tien on one side and drastic granger
anti-railread legislation on the ether.
So In municipalities and states In legis-
lative action on street railway iran
ehIses the same sound principle mas
been recognized and applied:
| The specific project of municipal ewn-
ership OF washington street railways.
proposed by the House District COM
| f1ittee bill, will not, 1t fs believed. on
thoughtful consideration appeal as
| necessary or wise to the local eom-
! mun1ty, or TO congress dS VA5itaiS
legislature. in spite OF the tendency q
popular thought and impulse toward
the radical, the drastic and the revo.
| iutionary in legislation, and In spite OF
| the irritation and resentment produced
by almost intolerable conditions OF
street railway service.
| The bill reported by the House Dis
| trict committee proposes in nutshell
that the District taxpayers shall incur
la heavy bonded debt OF many millions
In order to bay the local street rail-
ways, that the United states shall re-
pudiate all responsibility for this debt,
abroEating I'm respect to 1t the half-and-
half provision of the act OF 1873, and
that the District taxpayers as the sole
\ owners of the roads shall turn over
! their management and control abs0-
lutely to the District Comhissioners.
omeaals who are xespensible to thena
In no respect WHATEVER, ana In whose
selection they have ne voice.
No Heavy Local Bonded Debt.
! t1) The District taxpayers should not
be burdened with heavy bonded dsbt
for this purpose. Congress Is tradi-
tionally hostile to bonded debt, or any
kind of debt for the District.
Not step should be taken in the
direction of enacting this proposition
into law unless and until It is directed
by the referendum vote OF the District
taxpayers. Since the nation repudiates
ali responsibility for this debt, the
national legislature should repudiate
and refuse to accept the responsibility
of imposing the debt upon somebody
else. Those who are to be burdened
with this debt-and they alone-should
decide whether they wish to incur It..
Should the District taxpayers wish to
shoulder the burden Of such debt in
Congress has for years beeh denouncing
debt and especially bonded debt with
out discrimination as the essence OF
evil. The District has been admon-
stinctive repugnance. The District has
been refused permission to bond itself
IN order that great permanent pubic
improvements. wisely developing the
It's material prosperity might be
hastened to completion and to q be-
ginning Of their full usefulness: and
in ofder that the cost OF these im-
ity shares. might be borne In part, un-
der i bond Issue and sinking fund
Arrangement by posterity. For many
years the District earnestly urged a
Of dollars to carry out quickly a most
attractive, impressive and benefit
promising series Of projects Of public
improvemefits--but all In vain. This
aversion to the very. words debt" and
community by some Of the Commits
sioners or the past as well as by Con-
gress until 1t passed the bounds OF
reason and became an obsession. The
bonded debt, which represented the
Herculean labor of turning old wash
ington upside down and Of building up
the new Washington, was far less than
that now proposed to buy some street rail-
ways, which until recently have been
reasonably well run, and which. If they
misbehave. can be disciplined into
equitable treatment Of the public by
| the Public Utilities Commission.
No Reputation Of Organic Act.
ca If the District is to incur any great
| bonded debt for capital development it
should be in accordance with the half
and-half provision of the act OF 1873.
The committee bill violates this legis-
| lative principle
| The bankrupting debt Of the seventies
| was shared hx tha Cuitad States gov