Evening star., 1926-03-28
MENACE OF BELT LINE
AND ITS LACK OF NEED
ARE CITED BY ITS FOES

Continued from First Page.)
not heal an who desired. and for that
reason he had asked any one inter
ested TO send briefs. which the com
mittee could read when the bill is
given further confederation.
Briefs already have been filed with
the subcommittee by The Montgomery
County Civic Fedora ion; by r. f. Ply
male on behalf Of fhe citizens Of Ar
lington Coun'y. Va: by Wrisley
Brown. president nf the Potomac
Freight Terminals co. Of this city; by
E0 f. Colladay. on behalf of the Wash
ington Board of Trade. and by Fred
Mckinney, attorney FOR the Pennsyl
vania Railroad. all expressing strong
opposition to the enactment of the
proposed measure into law. and Civ
inc detailed re1s9nS as TO why the
project should nOt lie allowed by the
Federal Legislature
Delivers Br0adside.
I Bond Smith. representing the
Montgomery County Civic Federation
around whose brief the whole cause
}f the opposition was built, though
granted only five minutes, with an
additional five minutes conceded half
by Arthur T.. Seymour of the Wash
ington Chamber Cf Commerce and
Charles J. ColunNGs. secretary of the
Merchants ana Manufacturers Asso-
citation delivered a Droadside against
the bridaa4 project He charged that
the proponents Of the project had
sought to becloud the real issue In the
case by .futilv trgu,ng for It as
great correc'.n" link In the chain OF
L. "a
length into the history of the whole
project, and told of the withdrawal
of the petition befote the Maryland
Public Service Commission after q
united citizeury a~nsc against it.
He told the committee that after a
little advertisement appeared in
county neWSD3prt. IN compliance with
the law. wave after wave OF protest
rolled into the Maryland commits
sions agains. ms projec,, and the
proponents withdrew it.
Now they had come before the
National lEeEislature. seeking TO use
the powerful aid of the Federal Gov
ernment to drive like a steel wedge
into a community a project that these
people do not want and is not needed.
He charged that the belt line had not
held an orEaniza ton meeting since
il slipped its charter through the
corporation commission of Virginia,
and added that if they had the records
of the Virginia commission do not
show it, He told the committee that
It is not an operating road, that 1t has
no railroad. no terminals, no ware
houses or any other property of any
kind except this naked franchise from
Virginia.
Railroads Opposed.
The committee was told by Mr..
Smith that the big railroads enter
ing, delivering and passing freight
into and through Washington do not
want it. as there Is no need for it,
and pointed out that they had in
formed him that when additional ter
minal faCiliJles We're needed by the
National Capital they would be pro
vided and tnat the railroads affected
were in a financial position to provide
them promptly. He filed with the
committee letters from the presidents
of the railroads entering the Capital
City to bear out his statements.
The railroad bridge now crossing
the Potomac which the proponents
alleged Nas Tho bottle neck now con-
gesting rairoal -ran1c. Is ample to
handle the present traffic. ard he told
the conlniltra 10: il was being used
at only N1 e., fs..''ltf now.
The shi9go,. aIj handlers of 10 per
cent of icg,. hiie food products in
Washingtcn UE1 would he aided If
anything b. h@ proposed project are
solidly again j., he continued. and
the Nationa: 5S~lCiation Of Comnis-
sion Merchants Ead adopted a resolu
ton agaips. H.. He challenged the
proponents - produce any evidence Of
any kind from my responsible rail
road TO SHOW ti,al there was need
Cor the bridge as Nas claimed by them
in their opening statements to the
committee.
Position Of Congress
Aside f.0m The question OF need
from a national defense viewpoint or
any standpoint which had been ar
gued in its favor, he told the commit
tee that Congress would be entirely
inconsistent If 1t approved such a
project IN the fare OF action which il
had taken in the past Of providing
ample funds for the Identification and
improvement Of the Capital City, with
the idea OF making it the outstanding
world capital in The matter of beauty.
TO build a bvll line around the Capt.
tai City, he continued. would be to per
nit this organization TO do indirectly
what it could no do directly 1t
would surround the Capital City wi, h
a great industrial area of the kind not
permitted within lis boundaries. and
in territory t. wien the Capital
City is expanding now, because. in it's
growth, il must necessarily go into
fields beyond lis boundaries as the
Federal Citv and seaj e government
Seymour tsslils Bill.
a vehement attaci. was delivered
against he measure by Arthur L.
Seymour. sGcrt AIRY of the Washing
ton Chamber uG t'CMn.erce. and on be-
hair OF that o.; lie said the cham
Der by unanimuus action had eX-
pressed is opposition TO the measure.
The re3} interests that must be con
sidered are the Capital City interests.
By the Is atlshment Of this belt line,
which would come as a follower Of
the approval OF the bridge project, he
said he pictured Massachusetts, ave
nue., running through one of the most
beautiful residential areas of the Cap
ltal City, as a. great trucking lane en-
tirely out OF step with the plans for
Identification.
The business men and the citizens
Of Washington, he said. represented in
his organization are endeavoring to
make the National Capital the most
beautiful and the most attractive from
Gn.~T 4 -