No. 1419.

1st Session.

WASHINGTON AND WESTERN MARYLAND RAILROAD COMPANY.

MAY 25, 1906.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. MORRELL, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12086.]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12086) to amend an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Washington and Western Maryland Railroad Company," report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass when amended as follows:

Page 5, line 22, strike out the period after the word "granted" and insert a colon, and add the following:

Provided further, That the location, plans, and elevation of said railroad for crossing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal shall be approved by the trustees of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal before the commencement of any work on the property of the said canal company.

Page 11, line 19, strike out the words "three years" and insert the words "eighteen months."

Page 11, line 20, insert before the word "and" the following: "the work to commence within sixty days."

The object of the proposed legislation is to enable the Washington and Western Maryland Railroad Company, in the construction of its road, to cross at the point designated in the bill from the south to the north side of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, it having been found impossible to construct the same on the south side west of the point indicated in the bill.

All of the right of way on the north side called for by the proposed legislation has been acquired by the company, and the route indicated in the bill has the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The crossing of the canal and the river road has been approved also by the War Department.

The same amendment changing the route has been favorably reported by this committee in past Congresses, and a bill identical in language with the one herewith reported was passed by the House during the

Fifty-eighth Congress, on February 13, 1905, but was not acted upon in the Senate owing to the rush of business incident to the closing days

of the session.

The existing charter is only changed to the extent of making the crossing referred to, and of giving eighteen months more time for the completion of the road, and the work of construction must commence within sixty days from the passage of the act.

The construction of the Washington and Western Maryland Railroad is greatly desired by the citizens of Georgetown because it will give to Georgetown steam-railway freight facilities.

The Washington and Western Maryland Road connects at the Aqueduct Bridge with the Georgetown Barge, Dock, Elevator, and Railway on the east, and at the Maryland line with the Southern Metropolitan, which runs from the Potomac to the Metropolitan Branch near Kensington, and these connections make a loop in Georgetown, giving the facilities so much desired.

The proposed legislation has the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, as will be seen by the following communication:

OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

Washington, January 25, 1906. SIR: The Commissioners have the honor to make the following response to your reference to them of H. R. 12086 of the present session, "To amend an act entitled 'An act to incorporate the Washington and Western Maryland Railroad Company."

A map is transmitted herewith, showing in solid red lines the route of this railroad which is authorized by an act of Congress approved March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 874), and in broken red lines the route proposed in this amendment.

It will be seen that the original route follows the southern bank of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from the District line to the Aqueduct Bridge over the Potomac River, where it would make a junction with the tracks of the Georgetown Barge, Dock and Elevator Company, which run from that point to Rock Creek.

The amendment proposes a route on the opposite side of the canal, just north of the Canal road, with a crossing of the road and canal at a point just east of the Chain Bridge. This would cross a public road very much used by the people of Virginia in coming into Washington by vehicle, over which the amendment proposes a bridge sufficient to provide a roadway of 50 feet.

The original charter of the road required that the road should be completed within three years from the date of the passage of the act, i. e., March 2, 1889. Some plans were submitted and grades approved within a year or two after the date named, but no construction work has been done.

The Commissioners see no objection to either the original route or the one proposed by this amendment.

Very respectfully,

Hon. J. W. BABCOCK,

HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND,

President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia.

Chairman Committee on District of Columbia, House of Representatives.

DAMAGES DUE TO CONSTRUCTION OF UNION STATION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MAY 25, 1906.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SAMUEL W. SMITH, from the Committee on the District of
Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 14511.]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14511) amendatory of an act entitled "An act to provide for payment of damages on account of changes of grade due to the construction of the Union Station, District of Columbia," approved April 22, 1904, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass when amended as follows:

Page 3, line 5, insert after the word "employed" the following: such compensation as shall be determined upon by the supreme court of the District of Columbia as equitable and commensurate with the services rendered, not exceeding.

Section 7 of the existing law provides that the members of the commission appointed to appraise the damages and also the jurors shall receive $5 per day for their services when actually employed. The amendment recommended by your committee, if adopted, will permit the supreme court of the District of Columbia to fix the compensation of the members of the commission at a sum not exceeding $10 per day. The duties of the members of this commission are to adjust the claims of property holders who may have been damaged by reason of the changes of grade due to the construction of the Union Station, and it is believed that these men should be compensated according to the important work they are called upon to perform

Section 7 of the existing law is as follows:

SEC. 7. That the members of said commission and the jurors summoned by the marshal under the provisions of this act shall receive for their services, when actually employed, the sum of five dollars a day. A sufficient sum to pay the compensation and expenses of said commission and the compensation of said jurors and the amount of such appraisements or awards of damages is hereby appropriated out of the revenues of the District of Columbia, and fifty per centum thereof shall be refunded to said District of Columbia by the United States.

Section 5 of the existing law, which is also amended by the proposed legislation, is as follows:

SEC. 5. That if any of the parties interested, their personal representatives, or the guardians ad litem who may be appointed for any such parties who may be under legal disability, or the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall be dissatisfied with any appraisement of said commission, the court shall, on the motion of the party so dissatisfied, direct the United States marshal to summon a jury of seven disinterested men, not related to any person in interest, to meet and view the property alleged to have been damaged as aforesaid, giving the parties interested at least six days' notice of the time and place of meeting. The said marshal shall summon a jury and administer an oath to them that they will, without favor or partiality to anyone, to the best of their judgment, appraise and determine the amount of damages to which each owner of any such property so affected by change of grade may be entitled, and in every appraisement of damages the commission, or jury, as the case may be, shall take into consideration any benefits that may have accrued to any such property by reason of the location of said terminal station in proximity to the property alleged to have been damaged.

The necessity for the proposed amendment to section 5 is fully explained in the following letter from the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, at whose instance this measure was prepared and introduced:

OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

Washington, February 6, 1906.

DEAR SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to inclose herewith a draft of a bill to amend the act of Congress providing for the payment of damages on account of changes of grade due to the construction of the Union Station and to recommend its enactment.

Under date of November 23, 1905, they forwarded to you a draft of a bill recommending a change in section 7 of this act. The change recommended was simply increasing the per diem compensation of the commission, or jury, in these grade damage cases from $5 to $10 a day each, it being apparent that the services of men competent to act in this capacity are worth at least $10 per day, and that if the services of such men are secured the resulting advantage to the District would be greater. Hearings on these grade damage cases have been in progress for about a month, and have developed the fact that a further modification of this act is desirable. The draft inclosed is intended to secure such modification.

It proposes to amend section 5 of the bill so as to require the commission or jury passing on the damages to take into consideration not only the benefits that may accrue by reason of the establishment of the Union Station, but also of the elimination of grade crossings in this vicinity on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The language of the present act in regard to benefits is as follows:

"Benefits and advantages that may have accrued to any such property by reason of the location of said terminal station in proximity to the property alleged to have been damaged."

The change recommended is to strike out these words and insert in lieu thereof the following:

"All benefits and advantages that may have accrued to such property by reason of the elimination of grade crossings, the establishment of the Union Railroad Station and terminals, and all works, buildings, and improvements authorized by the act of Congress approved February twelfth, nineteen hundred and one, entitled 'An act to provide for elimination of certain grade crossings of railroads in the District of Columbia, to require and authorize the construction of new terminals and tracks for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in the city of Washington, and for other purposes,' and the act of Congress approved February twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and three, entitled 'An act to provide for a Union Railroad Station in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.'

The Commissioners believe that it was the intention of Congress that the commission or jury should take into account not only the benefits accruing to the property on account of the location of the station proper, which extends from Massachusetts avenue to L street, but to also take into consideration any benefits to the property of any construction authorized under the Union Station act and the act providing for eliminating grade crossings on this line.

Legislation providing for damages to private property for changes in grades of streets is unusual in this jurisdiction, as ordinarily the common law applies and this makes no allowances for damages for such changes. On account of the abnormal

changes necessary for the Union Station, however, it was provided under the act authorizing this change that grade damages should be given, but it would seem proper that any benefits accruing to the property from this new construction should. be considered to offset either wholly or in part the damages. The benefits to property may be as great from some of the other constructions in connection with the Union Station proper, as, for example, the freight depot or the abolition of grade crossings, as would from the construction of the station itself, and it would therefore seem proper, and also more fully carry out the intention of Congress, that all of these constructions should be taken into consideration by the commission, or jury, when passing on the question of benefits.

As above stated, the present legislation directs the commission, or jury, to take into consideration only benefits accruing by reason of the location of the terminal station in proximity to property alleged to have been damaged, and it is believed from recent awards which have been made, that the jury is not taking into consideration the benefits derived from other structures being built in connection with the elimination of grade crossings and the establishment of the station. It is in order to require that all benefits to be derived from the improvements should be taken into consideration by the commission, or jury, that the proposed amendment is submitted. The draft also includes the amendment to section 7 of the act, which the Commissioners requested be made in their letter November 23, 1905.

The Commissioners therefore respectfully request the withdrawal of the draft of bill forwarded with their letter of November 23, 1905, and the subsitution of the inclosed draft of bill therefor. Early action in this matter is desired in order that the District may have the benefit of this legislation in the grade damage cases which are now under consideration.

Very respectfully,

Hon. J. W. BABCOCK,

HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND,

President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia.

Chairman Committee on the District of Columbia,

House of Representatives