Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-11-25
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1872,

constantly employed With something useful,
mischief will be the inevitable result, and the
old ryhme. declares that the Evil One can al
ways find work for idle hands As 1.-THE child
is father to the man, We suppose we ought
not TO be surprised when we find that the re-
marks above mentioned apply as we'll to men
as to boys, but we do confess to not little as
constituent that there should be restless peo
pie among Us who have CHANGED to hit, In their
reckless desire for agitation, upon so perniclous
u scheme as the retrocesSon Of Alexandria to
the District of Columbia. That any citizen Of
this grand old Commonwealth, be he white or
black, can so far forget himself as to wish to
despoi the mother who bore him; that any
man who calls himsclfa Eirginian, can DELHI
cra.ey turn his back upon her glorious past,
and cut himself off from all association with
her destinicS, even for some pecuniary benefit,
we cannot understand When hard necessity
casts the lot of true Nirglnian in distant
State, he still looks back with longing love to
his dear old mother, and hopes to lay his body
in her soil and minge his dust with that Of
his friends and kindred. The very slaves who
gained freedom by escaping beyond her bord
crs, found it the wish Of their lives to see her
shores again, and when they could tread her
soil as freemen, they came in crowds to claim
her citizenship. Is it strange, then, that this
movement should astonish US?
The sale Of his birthright by Esau, has been
looked upon, by all generations, as most
shameful transaction; but Esau got the price
of his dishonor in hand; he eat his mess Of pot
tage Our Esaus have no such excuse; they
propose to sell their brthright on credit, to
trade their glorious name Of Eirgnian for the
foolish expectation that something will turn
up They talk in glowing language Of zen
ergy'' and enterprise, : and 'go-ahead-a-tive-
ness, to arise from the success of their scheme,
as if the history Of the past were blottcd out
from memory forever, and men were fools, to
take their assurances Of what would happen as
prophecies, when all experience teaches that it
is bnt the wish which SIS father to the
thought To those who remember our exis-
tcnce in the District Of Columbia, it is unneces
sary to say word; "erpntcntta docet;' but to
the young men who have grown up since lS47:
to the strangers who have made their homes
with US during the last quarter Of century,
and who may be deceived by gttering promi-
ses few words may not be out OF place:
First, then, as to population. In $780, we
had ., 746 inhabitants, which we had increased
by 1870 to 4,97l. We had then, certainly,
Furnishing town. In 1900, we went into the
District Of Columbia, and by 1910, our pros
perity was so far checked that We had gained
only 2,25G in ten years, against 1926 in the
preceding decade The blighting influence of
Congressional neglect was now plany.to be seen;
by 1920, We gained only 997; by 1880, only IS;
By 1910, only 1876; and by 1850 but 1886; in the
whole forty years not half the gain We had
made in the ten preceding our change of jurs-
diction. But, might not this falling off have
arisen from other causes? Let US continue our
examination of the census and see !: In 1877,
we were retroccded to Virginia, and as soon as
the policy of the State in our regard had had
time to operate we began to increase on the
old scale, for in 1860 we counted II POO, and
in 1870 Notwithstanding the calamities of the
decade, 1851, gain in twenty years Of up
wards of thousand more than we had made
during the whole fifty Of our immediate con-
nexion with the Federal government Since
1870, the number Of persons between five and
twenty one is shown by the school census of
July last to have increased S7S. which supposes
total increase in population of nearly four
thousand
What have we gained in other respects?
road, now we have four; we had, then, two
banks, now we have three; we had then one
public school, we have now SIXTEEN the idea
of street railroad would then have consigned
its projectors to the lunatic asylum, now prepa-
rations are being made for laying the rails on
King street. Let man who has not seen
our princip pal thoroughfares since 1917, walk
through them now, and he will scarcely rccog-
nize the old landmarks, to so great an extent
have the one and two story frames been re-
placed by tall and substantial brick edi6ces.
Since lS47 ten churches have been built as
many as we had in all before that time, while
two Of those then standing have been so altered
and improved that no stranger would suppose
any part of the old ones to be included in them.
Is all this an evidence Of decay? Does it
prove us to be ''mummies' or fossils ?" HAY
ing thus shown what we have gained by our
return to our old mother, let US briefly inquire
what we arc likely to gain land lose) by aban-
doning her. In the FIRST place, we are told that
we would be relieved of our city debt, and of
our share Of the State debt Grant this and
what do we gain ? A share in the debt of the
District of Columbia, comprising the old debts
of Washington and Georgetown, largely in
creased and rapidly increasing. We may per-
haps have some fine school houses, like the one
we see not far from the depot, when We 60 to