from Sixteenth street to the park. Sixteenth street will be the boulevard connecting the White House with the park, and will form eventually the principal entrance to the park. The valley of Piney Branch is very beautiful, and as it leads directly to the park from Sixteenth street, is considered of great importance as a park approach. The purchase of the proposed parkway at the present time can be made at a more reasonable figure than if left to some future date, even a few years, as no doubt the building of the Fourteenth street car line, which will take place as soon as the present grading of Fourteenth street, now in progress, is completed, will increase the values in this section of the District. The estimated cost of the land to be condemned is not over $2,500 an acre. As the bill is drawn it gives the Commissioners authority to purchase the necessary land if they can do so at a satisfactory price, otherwise to condemn it. Provision is made that one-half of the cost of the land shall be paid by the United States and one-half by the District of Columbia. The Commissioners invite attention to the fact that this is not a street-extension measure such as those which have passed Congress and which it seems the policy of Congress to require should be paid entirely from the revenues of the District of Columbia, but is an extension of the limits of Rock Creek Park, which was purchased a number of years ago and paid for, one-half by the United States and one-half by the District of Columbia. The Commissioners also invite attention to the maps showing the proposed purchase which were forwarded to your committee at the last session of Congress. The area between green lines shown on this map contains about 25 acres and the one between red lines contains about 17 acres. The Commissioners prefer the larger area. Very respectfully, Hon. J. W. BABCOCK, HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, President of the Board of Commissioners Chairman of Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives. O CONGRESS WIDENING COLUMBIA ROAD EAST OF SIXTEENTH STREET. DECEMBER 14, 1906.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. SIMS, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 68.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 68) for the widening of a section of Columbia road east of Sixteenth street, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass when amended as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following: That, under and in accordance with the provisions of sections four hundred and ninety-one a to four hundred and ninety-one n, both inclusive, of subchapter one of chapter fifteen of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia, within thirty days after the passage of this act the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed to institute in the supreme court of the District of Columbia a proceeding in rem to condemn the land that may be necessary to widen Columbia road between the east side of Sixteenth street extended and the western limit of the subdivision of the north grounds of Columbia College to a total width of sixty feet, concentric with the present improved roadway on such street. SEC. 2. That assessments shall be made by the jury as benefits, as contemplated in section four hundred and ninety-one g of the subchapter of the code hereinbefore referred to: Provided, That at least one-half of the amount found to be due and awarded as damages, plus the cost and expenses of the proceedings, shall be assessed by the said jury as benefits. SEC. 3. That the sum of three hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of the revenues of the District of Columbia, to provide the necessary funds for the costs and expenses of the condemnation proceedings taken pursuant hereto, to be repaid to the District of Columbia from the assessment for benefits when the same are collected, and a sufficient sum to pay the amounts of all judgments and awards is hereby appropriated out of the revenues of the District of Columbia. The amendment recommended by your committee, in the nature of a substitute for the Senate bill, is for the purpose of bringing the proposed legislation in harmony with sections 491a to 491ň of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia, these sections regulating the proceedings for the condemnation of land for streets. Provision has been made in section 2 of the substitute recommended by your committee so that at least one-half of the amount found to be due and awarded as damages, together with the costs and expenses of the condemnation proceedings, shall be assessed as benefits on adjacent property that will derive an advantage from this improvement. It is believed that the general public is as much interested in the widening of Columbia road as the immediate property holders; hence the above provision. This measure was prepared by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia and introduced at their request, as will be seen by the following letter, in which the necessity for this improvement is fully explained: OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Washington, November 22, 1905. DEAR SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to forward herewith a bill for the widening of a section of Columbia road east of Sixteenth street, also a plat showing in red the proposed widening, with the recommendation that the bill be enacted. The bill was introduced at the last session of Congress as H. R. No. 18328, but failed of passage. It was not initiated by the Commissioners, but they made a favorable report thereon. The Commissioners believe, however, that the matter is one of such wide public interest that it should be passed at as early a date as practicable. At present Columbia road between the limits of the proposed widening, a distance of about 450 feet, is but 33 feet wide. The portion of the road east of these limits is 60 feet wide, and the portion west is 100 feet wide. The present roadway along the portion proposed to be widened is paved with a width of 30 feet, but what sidewalk exists there is almost entirely on private property. Columbia road is an important highway, and the benefits to be derived from the proposed extension are of a public nature as well as an improvement to the surrounding property. The estimated cost of the widening is $14,000. The bill provides that at least one half of the amount of damages awarded shall be assessed as benefits on the adjacent property and the other half to be borne as general taxation. The reason for this provision is, as stated, that the public is as much interested in the extension as the immediate property owners. Very respectfully, HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia. Hon. J. H. GALLINGER, Chairman of Committee on District of Columbia, O United States Senate. CONGRESS, CONGRESS, NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE. DECEMBER 14, 1906.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. TAYLOR, of Ohio, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 6364.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6364) to incorporate the National Child Labor Committee, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass when amended as follows: Page 2, line 3, insert after the words "United States " the following: "and of the District of Columbia." This is an act to incorporate the National Child Labor Committee. The purpose of this organization is not in any way to engage in profitable enterprises, but it proposes to— Promote the welfare of society with respect to the employment of children in gainful occupations; to investigate and report the facts concerning child labor; to raise the standard of parental responsibility with respect to the employment of children; to assist in protecting children by suitable legislation against premature or otherwise injurious employment, and to thus aid in securing for them an opportunity for elementary education and physical development sufficient for the demands of citizenship and the requirements of industrial efficiency; to aid in promoting the enforcement of laws relating to child labor; to coordinate, unify, and supplement the work of State or local child labor committees, and encourage the formation of such committees where they do not exist. This committee, now an unincorporated body, was first organized at a meeting held in Carnegie Hall in April, 1904. Representatives were invited from all parts of the country, special attention being paid to practical social workers in education, philanthropy, and charity, and those persons to whom the evils of child labor had become a serious subject. This meeting resulted in the formation of the national committee with a membership of 28, residents of 11 States. The committee as now constituted is composed of 48 members, representatives of 16 States, and an associate membership composed of over 1.500 persons, representing nearly every State and Territory in the Union. HR-59-2-Vol 1-8 |