The Washington herald., 1921-04-13
CAR Line MERGER
LEADS DISTRICT
Bills In SENATE
Redistribution, Lincoln
And Lee Bridge and
Streets Featured.

Nearly a score of District bills
were among 573 measures intro
duced in the Senate yesterday, SEN
ators Ball, Sterling, King, Freling-
huysen, Harrison, Capper. McKellar,
Kenyon and Jones, of Washington.
contributing to the deluge.
Among them was a bill providing
for the merger of all the street car
lines in Washington. including the
Georgetown & Tennallytown, City
and Suburban and Washington and
Rockville lines with the Capital
Traction and the Washington Rail-
way and Electric companies.
Senator King, of Utah, handed in
bill authorizing the construction
of the Lincoln-and-Lee bridge
across the Potomac River from b
street northwest, to the Arlington
gates. =
A bill to establish an office Of
accounts and estimates and provide
an annual budget was among sew
eral measures looking to better
business methods in the govern
ment departments. 1t was intro
duced by Senator King.
Wants 1Jim Crow Rules.
Senator Harrison. Of Mississippi,
introduced a bill to regulate street
railways to provide equal and sep
arate accommodations for white and
colored passengers.
Senator Capper, of Kansas and
Senator Poindexter, of Washington,
introduced bills providing for the
election of delegates from the Dis
trict of Columbia to the House of
Representatives. The measures
were similar in many respects, two
delegates being asked. Senator
Capper's measure proposes the cleo
tion of board of commissioners
consisting of four members and an
army engineer and fixing the SAL
aries at $4,000.
Senator Ball. chairman of the
District Committee, introduced
measures providing for the widen
ing of First street northeast. link
ing the old Civil War forts with a
parkway, providing for the pay
ment of claims on building and
labor.N charging the municipal
courts, regulating the loaning of
money son securities and register
ing persons selling securities and
amending the District code so as
to curb the carrying of firearms.
decentralization Bill Presented.
Senator Sterling's reclassifcation
bill was presented, and Senator
Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, in
troduced a bill establishing in the
District of Columbia a government
bureau of supply and providing
other features. For consolidating
the offices of register and receiver
of the District land offices in GER
tain cases and transferring claims
for War Risk compensation from
the Treasury to the Interior De-
partment Senator McCumber intro
uced two measures, while Senator
Kenyon, of Iowa, introduced his
bill providing for the establishment
of a Department of Public Welfare.
Senator Mcclellan introduced two
bills providing for the retirement
of civil service employees and re-
lief of employees of the govern
ment eligible for retirement.
A bill to regulate marine insur-
ance in the District as a model for
other States, was introduced by SEN
ator Jones, by whom the fifty-fifty
fiscal and the car merger bills were
introduced.
Senator Mclean, of Connecticut,
offered a bill permitting the heads
of government departments to par
tieipate in Senate debates.
Features of Merger Bill.
The car merger bill provides for
q tax on the net operating income
of the Washington Railway and
Electric and the Capital Traction
companies, pending the consolida-
tion of the various lines, fixing July
I, 1922, as the time limit. Under
this plan the Potomac Electric
Power Company could be absorbed
by the Washington Railway and
Electric of which it is a subsidiary,
as the initiatory step in the general
consolidation Earnings of the COM
panies in excess of z per cent are
to be taxed as per cent.