Evening star., 1938-01-30
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

The railroad question" was OF acute
interest to Washington fifty years ago
.;,ro,as - The Star of January
WASHINGTON, There is only one
side to the question
whether the B & O. road should be re-
quired to remove its antiquated station
from proximity to the Capitol and to
clear away the surface tracks which dis
figure and endanger the northeastern
section of the city and check improve
ments there. There is also no room for
contention over the question whether the
B. e. P. road should be required to cease
that illegal occupation OF avenues and
reservations for freight and storage pur-
poses which converts its line into an
almost impossible barrier, obstructing
trade and communication between the
main city and the river front and the
greater part of South Washington.
"On these matters 1t seems only neces-
saTy for Congress to devise the best
remedy. to determine whether the Balti-
more e. Ohio shall tunnel under the
northeast section or 60 around it, and
whether the Baltimore e. Potomac shall
pass through the southern section, over
sunken tracks, by one route. or an ele-
waited road by another. But in respect to
the proposed removal Of the Baltimore
& Potomac Sixth street station there
appears to be some ground for a differ
ence Of opinion which obviously exists.
No one can blame the B. & p for wish
ing to retain its convenient location near
the Avenue: that part of the travelling
public which is conscious OF no special
interest in the Capital may also favor the
present site. and the people of the Dis
trict will naturally desire both for sub
urban and general travel as centrally
located stations as the welfare of the
city will permit. But the inconvenience
of the very few minutes extra travel by
street cars involved in withdrawal of
the station from Sixth street and the
Mall to a point near the south line of
the Mall is so slight and the gain so
great to the symmetry of the city's mag
niflcent park and to the picturesque
beauty of the Capitols surroundings that
no loyal citizen Of Washington will hesi-
tate for an instant to sacrifice private to
public considerations and to favor the
removal.
The people Of Washington are not
ungrateful to the Pennsylvania road for
its services in breaking the monopoly of
the Baltimore & Ohio. but 1t has re-
ceived the reward which corporations
appreciate from the hundreds of thou
sands of passengers and pounds of
freight which that good will and a con-
venient temporary station have given it
In preference to its rival. It should now
be willing to pay for what it gets and to
act within the law in this as in other
cities. 1t is unworthy of the high repu-
tation Of the road to sponge upon public
property disf1gure the National Capital
and damage individual citizens in reli-
ance upon the defenseless condition of
the people and the quiescence or acouies-
cence of Congress. All railroad CORPORA
tions are said to get whatever they can
and to hold fast to what they get. With
assurances of its highest consideration
Washington, however, requests the Balti-
more e. Potomac to loosen its grip from
the Mall. and If voluntary release is hope
less, Congress should Immediately as
sumo the unaccustomed role of CORPORA
tton-coercer,"