Evening star., 1921-03-13


toll tax was
Bridge Lobby Kills charged upon
A. every person
A' using il. Those
, interested in maintaining this private
business in a public utility were
active in preventing any lessening ot
their privilege. The star OF March
I, 1871. says:
Late on Friday night it was noted
| that certain parties interested in the
Aqueduct toll bridge were hanging
about the Senate lobhies. ana a little
| later the object of their mission was
developed when Senator Sawyer of
North Carolina moved to strike out
the appropriation that had passed
the House, and also the Senate COM
mittee. on appropriations, of S60,hoo
to rebuild the wooden bridge at Lit
tie Falls. In support of his motion
Mr.. Sawyer made the astonishing
statement that the bridge accom- :.
modates nobody but Two or three
milk farmers. the people of that
place can get into the city of WASH
ington by the Long bridge, and there
is no more reason for building il than
there is for building up bridge at
Havre de Grace, nor half so much
Whereupon the amendment was
agreed to'-that is to say, the appro-
priation was stricken out.
Senator Sawyer would do wen
hereafter to get his information from
more reliable or less interested
sources. The Chain bridge. instead
of accommodating one or two or
three milk farmers has been the
mode of access for most of the stock
and a large portion of the country
produce that reaches Washington.
The following figures give the travel
over the Chain bridge for the year
ending July /. 1870: Horses and
riders, 52.195: horses and wagons,
3S,400; cattle, 25,550; hogs, 7,5oo;
sheep, 49,275.
when it is remembered that by
preventing the repair of the Chain
bridge all this travel Will be diverted
to the Auueduct (tolD bridge II VIII
be readily seen that the toll bridge
company had sufficient motive for
misleading Senator Sawyer into the
statement that the Chain bridge was
used by only two or three milk
farmers, and that the travel across IL
could be accommodated at the Long
bridge, a dozen miles below.
X X
did not, that the travel across the
Chain bridge could
Aqueduct Bridge not reach Wash
Toll Schedule. practicable cir
cumbendibus Of the Long bridge. but
must cross at the AQueduct bridge,
and must pay the enormous tolls
levied by that company. Does Sena-
tor Sawyer know what those tolls
are? We will tell him, though all
hereabouts who have occasion TO cross
the bridge know to their cost Ihes
are as follows: Every two-horse wae-
on, 25 cents each way, or 90 cents the
trip to market; every four-horse wag-
on, 81 per round trip; cattle, cents
each; foot passengers, cents each
horse and rider, 5 cents each way.
Every wagon-load of vegetables
that comes to Washington across the
Aoueduct bridge has to pay a poll tax
of half a dollar; cattle, sheep ana
hogs coming to our market are taxed
i'm the same proportion. Now, who
pays this? Not the farmer or the
drover. The consumers in Washing
ton pay it: and it is some satisfac..
tion to feel that Senator Sawyer and
other senators who were humbugged
by the toll bridge company will be
blistered with the rest OF us. The
whole transaction simply serves TO
illustrate the manner in which the
interests of this community are In
jured by the various turnpike and
bridge monopolies that are squatted
on all the ma in lines of access to the
city. Congress has now put us in the
way of throwing off the turnpike
incubus on the Maryland side. and ip
is about time some relief was oh
tanned from the kindred nuisance
south and west of the city, especially
when, as in the case of the toll bridge
company, they have the rapacity to
undertake to cripple the only free
bridge across the Potomac from Har-
pers Ferry to Washington"