Evening star., 1922-08-03
PRECEDENT CITED
ON D. c. REVENUES
DR.. William Tinda|| Recalls
Payment for Lydecker Tun-
mel With Treasury Surplus.
HAS MODERN PARALLEL
District Should Get s., 900, 900 Now
Available, Oldest Inhabitants
Are Informed.

Available, Oldest Inhabitants !
Are Informed.
Congress nearly thirty years ago
recognized the right of the District
of Columbia to surplus city revenues
which accumulate in the Treasury,
DIR. William Tindall, authority on the
history of Washington, told the As
sociation of Oldest Inhabitants at
their meeting in Union Engine House
last night.
DIR. Tindalrs recollection has a par
ticular significance 4. this time. since
a joint committee OF the Senate and
House is soon to decide whether the
lve-milliOn-dollar surplus now In
the Treasury belongs to the local
government. Here is the veteran city
officials story of how the precedent
was established:
About 1882 the United States
Treasury, under authority of Con-
gress, advanced the money needed to
construct the Lydecker tunnel, which
carries the city's water supply from
the conduit at Georgetown 10 the nj
t-ation plant.
The amount advanced was to have
been repaid with per cent interest in
twenty-five annual installments en-
tirely out of water rents.
I'm 1894 thirteen OF the installments
had been met out of water rents,
when Congress ordered that the bal
ance of s735,364.73 should be paid out
of surplus District revenues which
at that time had accumulated"
RetrOcession OF Alexandra.
John Clagett Proctor started
another interesting discussion when
he read a paper on the reasons why
the town and county of Alexandra
retroceded t, the state of Virginia in
cession to the meager financial as
sistance which the National Capital
received at that time from the fed
eral government.
Matthew TrimbIe questioned the
legality of the action of Congress in
enacting the law which permitted
Alexandria to return to Virginia. He
voiced the hope that some day the
boundary Of the District of Columbia
would be extended to its original
limits.
Mr Trimble contended that II the
Congress of 1S46 had the right to
release that part of the District
which came from Virginia any fu-
ture legislative body could restore the
remainder of the city to Maryland
and there would be no National Cap
ital.
James F. Duhamel suggested to
Acting President Henry L. Bryan
ton, which is filled with hundreds or
relics and records Of old Washington.
be thrown open for inspection by the
general public for week this fall or
winter. Mr.. Bryan commended the
suggestion and said it would be con-
sidered later.
Joseph I. Keefer presented to the
association part of the bannister OF
Clean Drinking Manor. an old resi-
dence in Chevy Chase, Nd, where, 1t
is said, George Washington spent the
night following the Indian battle In
which Gen. Braddock was killed.
Martin Wiegand and Edward NJ.
Shirley were elected to membership.
The paper presented by Mr.. Proctor
on the retrocession Of Alexandra read,
in part. as follows.
For a third of century OF the
federal money spent In Alexandria
was for the erection Of a jail in con-
nection with the court, which was
federal as well as local, while during
that same period not a dollar had
been spent in Georgetown, and. 1t Is
ceiyed was from the money expended
upon public buildings which was
usually spent here. and from such
other money as was received by resi-,
dents for salaries and the like, and
the use Of the few improved streets
made so by Congress strictly for its
own use and benefit.
Building Of Aqueduct Bridge.
with Alexandria, the breaking
point came in 1846, after 1t had be-
come completely showed under with
debt, due to it's investments in the
Alexandria portion of the Chesapeake
and Ohio canal. This was. in part,
due to an error In estimating Tor the
which was originally to have been
of wooden piers at a cost
of 100000, the change to masonry
adding ss50.000 more:
1T is said that Congress encour-
pour the golden results Of the west
ern trade into District Golfers, but
which was not completed. SO far as
Alexandria was concerned, for twelve
years and after much difficult en-
gineering work. not PARALLEL In this
country, and, up to that time prob
ably not equaled in any other: The
piers were set on bare rock and were
of solid masonry, formed of blocks of
very large stones from the Falls quar-
ries, laid in water cement.
"It may be interesting to note that
these piers were constructed by the
building Of vast cofferdams, about
eighty feet long and nearly thirty
feet wide. shutting out a depth of
water of about eighteen feet. Below
this was more than seventeen feet
of mud, SO that the construction was
begun at depth of thirty-seven feet
below the surface of the water. So
careful were the preparations that
the rocky bottom was laid bare the
whole extent Of the area inclosed. and
even swept clean and dry with brooms.
"The Alexandria portion of the
canal was completed in December,
1S43, but owing to work being
stopped on the canal near Cumber-
land, the money invested by Alexan-
dria was unproductive, and as Con-
gress had already contributed to the
enterprise, and as no assistance could
be looked for from that source, aid
was sought from the legislature Of
Virginia, and there Alexandria met
with a warm welcome, resulting in
an appeal to that state for it's read
mission. This Virginia agreed to,
and Congress passed a law restoring
Alexandria county to Virginia The
population Of Alexandria in 1910 was
8,459, and the vote on retrocession
was 1853 for and 222 against. And
so you see, II the federal government
had treated Alexandria with q little
bit more of Iiberality and justice,
there never would have been any re-
PROCESSION Of that county to Virginia"