Evening star., 1934-12-17
FEDERAL PARKWAY
HELD MENACED BY
v|RG|N|A'S CLAIM
Justice Department Gives
Commission Information
in Boundary Dispute.
MILLIONS IN PROPERTY
is INVOLVED IN CASE
U. S. Attorneys Declare High
Water Mark Is Line and Cite
Supreme Court Ruling.

Plans of the Federal Government
for creation of national parkway
along the Virginia shore of the
Potomac River would be menaced
if the Virginia District of Columbia
Boundary Commission were to accept
Virginia's contention that the D. c.
Va. boundary is the low-water mark
on the Virginia side of the river,
the Department of Justice informed
the commission today.
In a lengthy brief filed in reply
to arguments made to the commits
sion by counsel for Virginia, Henry
H. Classic and G. A. Iverson, special
assistants to the Attorney General,
reiterated the Governments claim
that the boundary is the high-water
mark as it existed when the area
now occupied by Washington Airport
was under water.
Millions Involved in Dispute.
Millions of dollars in property
rights are involved in the dispute
under consideration by the commits
sion, members of which are Charles
H. Brough, William C. Cloth and
Malcolm S. McConihe
The Federal attorneys pointed out
that the act providing for a George
Washington memorial highway on the
Virginia siaore of the Potomac River
recognizes the high-water mark
boundary. 1t was upon the theory that
the United States owns the land to
the high-water mark that Congress
dedicated the shore for park pur-
poses, the commission was told.
Large sums of money have been
in development and Identification of
the Virginia shore" the Government
stated, eliminating in a program
whose purpose it has been to beautify
and make more desirable the environs
of the Capital City of the Nation.
This program started in the re-
moval of miasmic fats threatening the
health of the inhabitants of the city
and creating in their place beautiful
parks and Fairgrounds
Protection Held Essential.
"The protection of the Virginia
shore opposite the city Of Washing
ton against any use which might mar
or bedaub the picture is as essential
as the protection of the water front Of
Washington.
'It would be surprising to learn that
the Commonwealth of Virginia fails
to share in the pride which the Gen.
eral Government has in preserving and
promoting the beauty of the river and
preventing the intrusion of unsightly
and ugly structures.
Should the contentious of the
Commonwealth of Virginia be carried
out, the result would be a distinct
menace to the program. A line laid
down at low water mark on that shore
and extended at places through the
river, from headland to headland,
would make the program abortive. Z"
The counsel for the Government
asserted that the commission has
authority only to find" the actual
boundary as it exists and to mark it
by monumentS-nott to set up arbi-
trarily a new boundary to meet new
conditions.
Court Decision Cited.
Virginia, it was declared, cannot
escape recognition of the fact that
the Supreme Court of the United
States has ruled that the entire bed
of the Potomac River, opposite the
City of Washington, is held by the
United States in absolute sovereign
dominion and control. and that the
high-water line of 1871 has been
declared to be the boundary between
Virginia and the District"
THE whole argument of the Vir-
vinia counsel" the Federal attorneys
said, lis shot through with the notion
that interstate boundaries are sub
ject to change for the advantage or
convenience of private parties. This
is singular fallacy. So is the no
tion that they are changed by the
way in which private parties may
choose to convey their lands"
None of the reclaimed area in
Reaches Run, outside of the Rich
mond turnpike and the railroad ease
ments, has been in existence long
enough to warrant the application of
"the doctrine of prescription" the
Government alleged.