Evening star., 1918-06-09
FIFTY YEARS AGO In THE STAR

upon Congress and how much upon
our city.
"Our market sheds. squatted down
upon the leading street Of the city.
astound them. II re-
M.,L.< cl.as quires another long
story to explain to
ana Canal. them how the city es-
sayed. years ago. to build a creditable
market house: had plans by Ciuss and
the edifice partly erected. when Con-
gress, In its inscrutable wisdom. put
stop to the work. but has never to
this day found time to settle the
question definitely whether the pres
market, and II not. where 1t shall be
placed. In the meantime the con-
tractors for the erection OF the mar
ket house have sued the corporation
for damages and got them The cor
poration has sold the material for
what ii could get and the market
sheds continue to disgrace Pennsylva-
"we do not invite attention to our
canal, but inquisitive visitors VIII oc-
casionally get peep or smell AZ ~
Here. too, we have the old story OF di-
vided responsibility, the city failing to
deal with the nuisance in any ehectuai
way and Congress failing to give even
the requisite authority for IT. Our EisH
ors. who see in the list OF congressionai
committees some appointed especially
10 tie charge Of District interests, In
auirs II they do nothing for US and are
surprised to learn that the District COM
mittees are frequently unable TO report
important District measures Tor an en-
tire session. through the precedence
given by the rules TO national business.
Ehouid the chairman succeed In report
ing a District bill. II It happens to IN
voive the slightest debate its further
consideration Ia postponed and that Is
the last Of i. And II Distriet measure !.
gets through one house OF Congress II
s,taYsds a much better chance OF being
struck by lightning than to make lis
| way through the other House the same
Congress.
'.But whatever our visitors see. or fall
to see, they never miss giving surprised
attention to our hogs They
HoSx NJ see them In droves at every
turn, roofing, squealing, wal
AIge. lowing. gruntins. repulsive.
althy, loathsome, unwholesome, de-
testable, aboninable, and inquire in won
der II the city Of Washington is one vast
hog pasture Where. they say. Is the
police, or 10 this another case OF congres-
| lsional-corporation- divided responsible
| lity?' We have to tell them that Congress
wipes its hands of the hogs. They are
the wards of the city. The corporation
/ of Washington has full authority over
the hogs 1t is rather wonder. TO De
sure, that Congress has not been asked
| to yoke them or put silver rings IN tne.r
snouts, but that has not been Thought
of yet The city regulates the hogs.
makes laws prohibiting them running At
large, and makes yet other laws abolish-
| ing the laws, amendatory OF the laws
prohibiting them from running At large
| The police say they can't make head
| or tail of the law as II stands II Is
certainly disagreeable to execute as II
requires the policemen to catch the noss,
which is not a pleasant thing Tor our
smartly dressed 'Metropol!tans to do:
Supt, Richards asked councils to amend
| the law or to declare what they meant
] II to mean; but the hog owners have
! votes. and so the democratic counctlmen
( and the republican councilmen and the
! radical councilmen and the conserya-
| tive councilmen and all the other coun-
cilmen thought it best not agitate the
hog question. Now that the electlon is
! over, perhaps, the city fathers Will take
! courage and deal with the hogs IL Is
possible they may. but very likely they
won't. Probably the conventions meet
| ing here next year will hnd the hogs
! still roofing"