The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-08-04
Removing the Capitol.
From the n. Y. Tribune.1

From the n. Y. Tribune.1
The West has taken up with some
earnestness the project. OF transferring the
National Capital from Washington to the
Mississippi Valley, and strange to say, i;
nearly unanimous in urging the selection o
ST. Louis for the new Seat of government
Chicago makes the nomination, and Oman.
seconds it. Chicago is the yainest place il
the world, and believes herself already tb,
cynosure of the eyes of all mankind, ant
the metropolis of American wealth and en-
terprise. Omaha having come into fine
property very early in life, is naturally in
| hated with extravagant and juvenile am
bition. Yet in tne very handsomest man
ner both yle!d to that most respectable ole
town, st. Louis. Such harmony is touch
ing. Cincinnati, to be sure, makes faint
protests and there is place called Keokuk
which prefers a claim, for some reason
which we do not now remember. CinciD
natl, however, is hardly in earnest, and will
soon fall into line. and keokuk is ruled out
of course, by its preposterous name. We
could not have our National Capital called
keokuk on any account. Fancy hcw NJ
Rouher would feel if Louis Napoleon
should called him into his private cabinet
some day and say, IN. Rouher, l have zap
pointed you Minister Plenipotentiary at
"Keokuk."
There are some considerations which
might induce us to look upon this plan OF
Westward emigration of Congress with
favor, if there were not other considers
tions inducing us to look in an opposite
direction. Washington has no special
recommendations for seat Of government
or indeed for anything else except a
(penitentiary), and on many accounts is
highly Objectionable. 1t is one of the
wickedest places in the world, one of the
muddiest, one of the busiest, one of the
duIIest, and worse than all, it contains the
national collection Of the works of art.
All these are excellent reasons for going
away from it--not to speak of its incon-
venient geographical situation, and of the
important fact that in military point OF
view it is so easy to take and so hard to
hold. Nor need the Government buildings
prove an embarrassment. They might be
taken to pieces aud earted away, stone by
stone, or they might even be moved bodily
across the continent. Chicago, we remem-
Der, was built in a mud hole considerably
below water mark, and after it had grown
to maturity the whole city was raised up in
a mass some eight or ten feet The engi-
neers who could perform this exploit would
make nothing of freighting the Capitol or
the Treasury Building on a big platform
car and wbirling it from the Potomac to
the Mississippi or the Hudson. tg I, < (
The clamor for the change comes, as we
have already said, from the West, and st.
Louis is by general consent the elected city.
St. Louis is very nice place. 1t contains
some esiimable old families who might
teach the congressman manners. But we
fear that the reason why Chicago, and
Hannibal, and Oshkosh, and Prornontory
Station, and the other principal cities OF
the West are SO readyto yield it precedence
in this matter, is that they have no fear
of rivalship in any other. Theoretically, it
is all very well to put Congress out in the
rural districts, and expect honorable mem
bers to grow in virtue by the smell of the
COWS and the new-mown hay, and by con-
tact with bold peasantry, their country 8
pride. Practically however, we know very
we'll that rustic simplicity flies the approach
of legislatures, and unless we can plant
them in busy, prosperous, ready-made city,
they will soon be surrounded by bogus
metropolis Of dram-shops, gambling hells,
claim Offices, and boarding houses. If Con
gress went to ST. Louis, it would have
nothing to do in its hours of ease but stand
on the fevee and watch the shipment Of
breadssuffs. Ifit went to Chicago its sole
amusement would be looking at the lake
tunnel an getting divorced. Cincinnati
has no genteel family amusement except
pork Strengthening, and Oshkosh can only
entertain its guests with statistics of its
own greatness.
1t results, as a matter of course, that
whenever the capitol IS moved, it must be
moved to New Y ork., This city is the
commercial and intellectual centre of the
United States, and is likely always to re-
main so. If the political centre is ever
moved from its present position, it will
inevitable gravitate to the same point, and
any change which carries the Capitol else
where will be but temporary expedient-
We have every means making Congress
comfortable, as well as some facilities for
keeping it Respectable We have good
hotels aud plenty Of them, excellent
theatres, Croton water, the Central Park,
and the Tribune every morning before day
light. Let these considerations be well
weighed, and if the seat of Government is
disturbed at all, we believe every impartial
mind will perceive chat it ought by all
means to be placed here. f,e -. ,-;...