, 1870-05-18
THE CAPITAL QUESTION AGAIN.

The attempt of the Washingtonians to
assure the pemhnence Of the location of
the National Capital on the Potomac, by
spending more national money on that city
IN building new State Department and
enlarging the grounds, has again brought
the capital question before the public We
should ourselves have been content, after
the formidable demonstration made by the
convention held to consider this question
at St Louis last summer, to await the
taking of the CENSUS Of 1870, and the re-
adjustment Of representation which will
follow d With TINT censua, the centre OF
population and Of political power swings
westward from point near Pittsburgh or
Wheeling nearly to Indianapolis Almost
every Legislature, commercial convention.
or other public body which has recently
: met IN the States Of the Mississippi Valley
has reiterated the demand made by the St.
Louis Convention. The nlipois Consdtu-
hona Convention, the most representative
body ever assembled in or State for any
State purpose, renewed che same demand
unanimously. Public opinion has been
resy gradually but su,ely maturing upon this
question md it's drift is increasingly in
one direction che Eastern and North
eastern press h4ve admitted that every 1ea-
son is aeains4 the continuance of the capi-
tai where Is IL, except the fact that some
money has been expended upon the present
location, two-thnds Of it In government
buildings and grounds, and one-third Of it
in trying to build up city around them.
Eastern and Central statesmen had con-
ceded that ths removal of the capital is
only question of time. With this degree
of progress re were content. The holders |
of Washington real estate, however, have
been uneasy, and, believing that no future
Congress would be as favorable for them as
the present, they ask appropriations of q
million or two as security that the capital
shall not be removed Such an appzopria-
ton has passed the SENATE which, under
the precedents Of the present session,
amounts to proof that it Will not pass the
House. This action brings the capital
question again before the country in the
form of a call for another convention to be-
held at Cincinnati The New York Ifl-
dune, in publishing this call, says:
a1f the American people, for reasons sattslac-
1o1y to themsetEes prefer different location for
ccrtained and respected. The question has been
oaEas 70 oe Iq q sn e., AMI ni,; 1
after miluon be spent y public grounds and uuL
Ha4 T. p94s y1St rSat snrn sendituTsa soad be-
Ia. order TO strengthen sae atg1ment
psblic MONEY s expended on me present
carlsai Let ns arst decide that tae capital Is Or
to our fnoTiedgc: And now that our westward
1ss xn6.1 @eed seeme % ss9 tsed
!he NO GTande .ad end Gila, 4 seems a. that ne
eain or ioassd WheTe @ Il Il nov l. Wa respect IS
lully suggest thai Song1sss suthorze the Presi--
waole % tcld s snd d report @ what action wonld most
1onduee to the national Eeli-oe'ng."
Mr Greeley IS better ACQUAINTED, socially
md geographically, by study and BY travel,
with the whole country, than, perhaps any
'thsr man on the Atlantic coast BESIDES
coming several tunes INTO tne western
States, he Was among the earliest OF the
Eastern tourists to make the overland route
nd to take an observing survey OF the
,,reat interior Ierr7foI1es ana tne faeane
'tates- He has obtained, therefore, that
knowledge of the country, in1ts geograh-
al extent, which can only be obtained by
1ayel. He has discovered that no feature
# the country, however important, is so 1
,reat as the whole country, and that the
reatest thing about the country is its .iu-
measurable future cou,pared with its Limit
d present Ii
Wa are not surn,;sed. tberefora that Mr. /
sreelev is unable to blink this o,nest;on .
star- II, a easier -str1e of men vhose ranra ,
e rision has never oone hevond their M
;va ,illaoe e4cent when. nv the aid Of a ,
leeninp coach, fhey went to bed ut home I
nd invoke IN the city of Washington. I
Tn This new call emauatine, apparently, /
D equal degrees, from St. Louis, Cincinna- +