Evening star., 1926-04-18
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

When the wood block pavement was
lai on Pennsylvania avenue somewhat
more than half cen
Inc avenue tury ago it was re-
pavam.r4 garded as a great i'm
provement. II proved,
however. to he unsatisfactory. and its
replacement was necessary. A bill
was introduced in Congress to this
end The Star of April 10. 1876. has
the following to say about a matter
of Importance in this connection:
'It is not less alarming than sur
prising to see how corporations. and
especially those holding valuable
franchises. are able to control legisla-
ton affecting the public. This is sig
nifcantly illustrated in the relations
of the Washington and Georgetown
Railroad Co. toward the bill propos-
ing to repave Pennsylvan MIA avenue. in
troduced in the Senate few days ago.
AS originally presented, the bill ma med
Gems. Humphreys. Wright and Gill
more a commission authorized to Sc
lect and determine the. best kind Of
pavement, other than wood or stone.
to be used in paving Pennsylvania
avenue and to have the said thorough
fare paved Herewith from the north
west gate of the Capitol to and in
Guiding the crossing Of Fifteenth
street This was all well enough. But
on the 4th instant the bill was re-
ported from the District committee by
Mr.. Dorsey, with the following sug-
gestive amended proviso: That the
said Washington and Georgetown)
railroad company may select the ma
terial with which to pave their tracks
and may pave the space between their
tracks as above set forth.
This amendment practically takes
the whole matter of paving the center
of the Avenue out of the hands of the
very competent commission and leaves
it with the railroad company to say
how it shall be done. or, indeed,
whether il shall he done at all or not.
If the gentlemen named above are
competent authority to determine how
the other part of the Avenue shall be
paved why are they not also compe-
tent to decide how that portion occu-
pied by and between the car tracks
shall be improved and kept in repair?
Is that strip of land. taken from the
public use for the benefit of a private
corpora ton. to be via sacra. above
all laws and municipal regulations?
What divinity hedges about the
property of this corporation that it
should he treated with more conSldera
tion than that owned by other people?
If it may decide how the middle of the
Avenue shall he paved, why not each
landlord or tenant on the street Sc
lect the material and style of pave
ment to he used in front of his par
tjculsr premises? There Is just as
much sense and justice in one PROPOSE
tion as in the other. We trust, there
fore. that the obnoxious amendment
will be struck out before the bill be
comes a law and that the interests OF
the railroad company will be put upon
precisely the same footing as those of
private citizens. granting 1t no un-
usual favors and imposing upon 1t no
UNEQUAL burdens. II 1t cannot submit
to this wholesome requirement, let it
take up it's tracks and leave that part
of the Avenue forever, as 1t will In all
probability have to do at some day In
| the not very remote future"
An Investigation Of District of Co
| lumbia affairs by committee of Con.
l. -. gress was in prog
Plan for District ress 50 years ago,
Government ana ana In sonc1,,c;ont advamss Of
| various proposals were made for re-
organization of the National Capital
r unicipality, which was then passing
through r. series OF changes. One of
InSS0 measures, lIItIOduCCu nN INCpiC"
sentative Hendee of Vermont, was
thus discussed in The Star of April
H., 1876:
ment of the District is apparently the
Morrill, bill of last session greatly cut
down. the fundamental principles of
that bill being retained. and is 'skele
ton framework for a government. II
provides that the District shall become
a department in the government Of the
United States, with a board of general
control at the head. to be composed of
three members. and to be designated
a council: that within this department
there shall be various bureaus, with
board at the head Of each one relat-
ing to the more popular. branches of
local affairs, as of educa ton, health,
police, etc. These boards are to be
uniformly composed of three members.
to be appointed by the council. A due
subordination of all branches to the
executive control is provided for.
There are features we might point
to as Objectionable: for example, the
rate of taxation and the license tax.
the absence of a provision that the
appointees shall be citizens of the Dis
trict. and some others; that such as
occur to us are all of character that
can be amended and modified without
affecting the general features OF the
bill, which It Is thought give promise