Amount of fortification appropriation acts for the fiscal years 1877 to 1908, inclusive. • Exclusive of allotments from the $50,000,000 war fund. $2, 210, 055 2, 427, 004 1,904, 557 7,377, 888 9, 517, 141 a 8,674, 898 9, 377, 494 4,909, 902 7,383, 628 7, 364, 011 7,298, 955 7, 188, 416 7,518, 192 6, 747, 893 5,053, 993 6, 898, 011 ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF PRIVATE HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. APRIL 6, 1908.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. GALLINGER, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 17305.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17305) to regulate the establishment and maintenance of private hospitals and asylums in the District of Columbia, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass. The necessity for the proposed legislation is set forth in the report of the Committee on the District of Columbia of the House of Representatives, which your committee adopt, and which is as follows: The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17305) to regulate the establishment and maintenance of private hospitals and asylums in the District of Columbia, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to render more complete and effective certain provisions relative to private hospitals contained in a proviso to the act of March 2, 1895, making appropriations for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia. This legislation was recommended by the Commissioners of the District in the following letter: OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Washington, February 15, 1908. SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to transmit herewith a draft of "A bill to regulate the establishment and maintenance of private hospitals and asylums in the District of Columbia," and recommend its early enact ment. The act making appropriations to provide for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia approved March 2, 1895, provides, among other things, as follows: "Provided, That hereafter no other building for use as a public or private hospital for contagious diseases shall be erected in the District of Columbia within three hundred feet of any building owned by a private individual or any other party than the one erecting the building. All private hospitals in the District of Columbia shall be required to secure a permit from the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and said hospitals shall be at all times subject to inspection by the health officer of said District or his deputy, and any person or persons refusing to permit such inspection shall each be subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars for each of such refusals." It will be observed that although the Commissioners are directed by the above legislation to require all private hospitals in the District of Columbia to obtain permits, yet no means are provided to enable the Commis ioners to do so, nor are any conditions specified as necessarily precedent to the issue of a permit. Moreover, no provision is made for the revocation of such permits as may be issued. In the judgment of the Commissioners, this legislation in its present form fails to accomplish the purpose for which it was obviously designed, and therefore should be repealed or be so amended as to make it efficient. If the inclosed draft of bill should be enacted, it will bring private hospitals and asylums in this city under the supervision and control of the Commissioners, as it was apparently the intention of Congress to do when it adopted the proviso set forth above. HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia. Very respectfully, Hon. S. W. SMITH, Chairman Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives. This measure is in line with advanced legislation in most of the States of the Union. TO FACILITATE USE FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES OF SQUARE 328 IN WASHINGTON, D. C. APRIL 6, 1908.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. LONG, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 5429.] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 5429) "to facilitate the use for manufacturing purposes of square numbered three hundred and twenty-eight, in the city of Washington, as authorized in the act of Congress of February first, nineteen hundred and seven," having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass when amended as follows: Page 2, line 3, after the word "square," strike out the remainder of the bill and insert in lieu thereof the following: Provided, That for purposes of said overhead track no present grades of Twelfth street shall be disturbed, and that overhead track shall have a clearance of at least fourteen feet above the curb of said street: And provided further, That the overhead track and the conduit and pipes hereby authorized shall be located as may be directed by said Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and be laid and maintained under their inspection in such locations as they may prescribe, and the cost of such inspection and of replacing the pavements, curbs, and sidewalks disturbed by said work shall be paid by the parties to whom the permits shall be granted. SEC. 2. That Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act. The Washington Market Company, which now owns square 328, intends either directly, or through its agents, to build upon said square a large cold-storage warehouse to be immediately available and especially to be available if the plan proposed in Senate bill 122 of the present Congress for having no buildings on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue is carried out, including the destruction of the company's market buildings. On the west side of this square 328 is a large area owned by the Southern Railway Company and now occupied by its tracks. It is proposed to have one of these tracks extended across Twelfth street overhead into the square. There would seem to be no possible objection to allowing this track to be thus constructed, as the place is solely a business section. In the production of ice and artificial refrigeration there is need for large quantities of water to flow over the cooling condensers. For this purpose the water of the Potomac River can be used instead of aqueduct water. Square 328 is about 300 feet from the Potomac, and a pipe from the square under Twelfth street and under the water front can reach the harbor by going about 400 feet. There is no possible objection to allowing this pipe to be laid for the purpose of obtaining the water. The bill, as amended, has the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, as will appear by the following letter: OFFICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to submit the following on Senate bill 5429, Sixtieth Congress, first session, "To facilitate the use for manufacturing purposes of square numbered three hundred and twenty-eight in the city of Washington, as authorized in the act of Congress of February first, nineteen hundred and seven," which you submitted to them for examination and report touching the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage. The purport of this bill is to permit of the construction of a siding from the railroad yards west of Twelfth street, across Twelfth street into square 328, which is bounded by Twelfth, Eleventh, E, and F streets SW., and further, to authorize the Washington Market Company, which was authorized by act of February 1. 1907, to procure, by purchase or lease, all or a part of the said square and to conduct thereon a cold-storage business and manufacture ice, to lay a conduit and pipe from this square across and under Water street, in order to pump water directly from the Potomac River for use in the said square. The Commissioners can see no objection to the construction of this crossing, except at grade, nor to the laying of the pipe for the purpose of obtaining the water, providing the same can be done without expense to the District. This section is a business section. The railroad occupies the entire two squares to the west of Twelfth street for railroad purposes, and, providing the bill be amended to provide for the construction of an overhead structure with the usual clearance, the Commissioners would recommend favorable action on this bill. An amended form of bill is inclosed. Very respectfully, Hon. J. H. GALLINGER, HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, President Board of Commissioners District of Columbia. Chairman Committee on District of Columbia, United States Senate. |