The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-05-12
THE REPUBLIC.
WASHIN GTON:
THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 10. 1883
The Local Interest. of washington

The immense expenditure of public appro-
priations which annually takes place in our
city has induced the belief that it has no other
interests thansuch as are connected with obtain
ing contracts, representing claims, or keeping
boarding houses.
The wars for the succession moreover keen
our population in an unsettled condition; men
dislike to purchase real estate upon the uncer-
tain tenure Of salary, which may be storped
for an error Of opinion. Strangers come to
Washington, as they 60 to California-to re-
pair embarrassment, to save by some connexon
with public service enough to settle them
where they may be reinstated in all the rights
of an American citizen. Such persons, with
commendable economy, rent pasteboard houses,
see but little company, prefer cheap market
ing and slop-shop clothes. They properly
avoid interesting themselves in any of those
permanent Improvements upon which the pros.
perity of city depends. In the meantime the
charge Of improvement falls chiefly upon the
property or public spirit of the more permanent
citizens. The effects Of this transient popula
tion is plainly seen after an adjournment of
Congress. Rooms which have rented at
higher rate than an Indiana farm. are offered
in spirit of accommodation, Furnished or
unfinished, with or without board.o Hotels
are empty and under repair, trains of hacks
bask in idleness or follow some fortuitous fune-
raj; wages of all sorts are reduced, and the
whole city exhibits the languor of an indus
trial collapse.
Such irregular employment must affect the
prosperity of the city; for her citizens must,
like the proPrietors of watering place, make
the enhanced charges of the business season
pay for the term of idleness that succeeds.
Hence few persons visit Washington unless
compelled by business, attracted by political
expectations, or SO wealthy that board bills are
a matter of no moment to them. 1t therefore
results that, as no one comes without some
strong personal motive, few remain longer than
their object is determined
1t has been long since demonstrated that
Washington cannot be commercial city. Her
natural position is not so good as that of
Georgetown or Alexandria, and perhaps the
reliance of her population upon federal patron
age and expenditure caused them to look with
indifference upon the slower gains of trade.
Experience proves that cities, like individuals,
when thrown upon their resources, often de-
velop prosperity far in advance of those which
rely upon adventurous or natural advantages.
The experiment of the canal has, so far as
Washington is concerned, proved failure
That portion of it within the city is useless,
except as receptacle for wood scows, dead
cats, and tpsy strangers. For all practical
purposes it had better be raced to sewer and
substituted bys railroad connecting the District
to the daily use of the people, instead of being,
as at present, an impeachment to their intercourse.
The ground, if released to the corporation,
might indemnify the city, in part, for the cost
Gifts construction, or, what is better, for the ex-
pense of filling it up.
But although Washington cannot perhaps
build up commercial interest, she has one of
infinite more profit. She does not deal in
coal or cotton, nor yet in fish or flour,
but she may make honorable and valuable
merchandise of the people who produce
these things. This can be done by Offering to
the transient population of the Union every in
ducement to visit, and to locate themselves
temporarily or permanently here. We reserve
Tor some other occasion any observations upon
the political reimbursement of this District.
We say nothing about the anomaly that the
only people in the Republic deprived of even the
political representation of Indians and negroes,
are those who reside at the seat of the Fed
eral Government. Wewill only say that those
who are so intent upon liberating the slaves of
the District could not object to even consti-
tutlonal amendment necessary to emanclpate
the white people.
But, In this connection, we say that this right
of suffrage and representative eligibility is i'm
portant to the social progress of Washington
and 1t ought, if possible, to be secured. But.
In the meantime, we should offer to the people
DESTROYS to settle here the best hotels and the
cheapest boarding houses, good schools and
spacious churches; in word, every social in
ducement which public spirit and iberality can
present. There is no reason, however, why
Washington and Georgetown should not be-
come the centre of most important mechanical
interest; and any one who looks at the magnifi-
cent falls of the Potomac, the first site selected
for the present Lowell, communicating by
canal with section of country producing pro
visions and staples for the organization of an
unlimited manufacturing interest, and only re-
quiring mere hyphen of railroad to connect it
with the principal markets of the Union, will
see that Washington must furnish the retail
supplies for large consumption, and thus be-
come the centre of large population.
1t has been shown that the proper merchan.
disc of Washington is man; the important OBJ
ject is therefore to show how large permanent
accession to our population shall be obtained
or how such a stream of transient population
shall be conducted to Washington, as that the
average of visitors in the city shall fill the
hotels and boarding houses, employ the hack
men, give the merchants and mechanics, mil
liners, shoe stores, and confectioners, and
| bookstores, and news boys-and above all the
newspapers and printers-an average curren,
patronage sufficient to equalze the business Of
the city and support its population during the
intervals of legislation, without compelling