Evening star., 1939-10-29
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

ested IN the litigation with the District
District cidad ' ' hr ths' tho e,n svnrareo n
Losesto Court of the United
koilwoys States" reads an editorial
in The Star of October %. 1899, ARE, it
seems. to escape from reimbursing the
District for work done by the latter in
lowering the tracks and paving between
the rails in conformity with the altered
grades in the street Improvements made
between the years 1871 and 1875. They
escape because the guardians of the Dis
tricts interests postponed too long the
bringing Of suit to recover the money
thus expended, the court deciding that
the statute of limitations can be pleaded
against the District as an ordinary mu-
nicipal corporation. The sum paid by
the taxpayers of Washington for the
benefit of the railways in this matter
amounts in the one case in which a de-
cision has been reached to Sl61 622, and
the total amount involved is very large
The taxpayers whose money has fur
nished free cobblestones to the railways
will hope that the corporations may at
least treat these involuntary contribu-
tlons as conscience fund, to be spent
for the public benefit in the increase and
improvement of street railway facilities" +"
The dangerous and unsightly condition
OF the streets in various sections of
Washington brought forth frequent edi-
torial comment in The
Slow Work on Star half a century
W,.., A.;.. ago. The following ap-
pears in the issue of
October %, 1889:
Attention was called in The Star the
other day to the nuisance of the earth
embankments along the line of the new
water main through r street NV,
and especially to the inaccessibility and
unWholeSomeness of Adams School in
consequence. Complaints have multiplied
since then OF malarial trouble, sore
throats, etc, among the children attend
ing that school, which, in all respects
except its surroundings is one of the
finest in the city. The presentation of
the case in these columns has produced
marked effect in squirting the negligent
parties to hasten their work of filling in
the excavation as far as the pipes have
been laid, and removing the surplus
h earth, but that is not all that is needed.
The work of excavation has proceeded
too lar in advance of the work of laying.
The result is that Adams School has had
to give up its exercises today on account
or the raln which, with the streets all
obstructed by mud walls, has caused the
formation of a dirty lake and made it
impossible to get the children into the
school building and out with safety, or
to keep them there with comfort The
warnings of this seasons experience
ought to prevent repetition of it for
the next 20 years.
On october Is, 1889, The Star again
takes up the question of the inconven-
pe. ience and danger Of a like
condition in another part of
Longer the city:
Trop There are in the citv nu-
merous street distractions which are so
dangerous that they may at any moment
SoASC a oCAlOuo dCCAOCIlI, dllU yCG WHICH
do not, perhaps, come precisely within
the purview Of the ordinance governing
heaps of building material or earth from
excavations, so that warning lights are
required to be hung on them at night.
In many parts of the city the asphalt
pavement has been cut away in long mar
row strips to permit access to pipes laid
in the earth underneath. In some cases
the excavations have been only partly
filled in, leaving gaps in which horses
could easily catch their feet and be
thrown. In others the asphalt removed
has been replaced and left protruding in
manner that is liable to cause danger
GUS falls to near-sighted persons, or in
deed to any pedestrian crossing the
street after dark.
"An example of this nuisance which
has been an eyesore and cause of Of
tense in other ways for several months
now Is In Street between Pennsylvania
avenue and the B. & P. railway station
This one is singled out for complaint by
moro citizens than any other, doubtless
becalke Il Ia IN the line of mora travel I"