Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-12-21
~THE sTRoNGEsr raINQ IN
We SHlNGTON


quickly Congress; many viii insist that It must
be the lobby, and many will feel certain that It
Is the board of pubic works. But when the
whole round has been run of government iniu-
ences, Of ring power. of party authority, and
local machinery. every one will have failed in
this competitive examination who has not an
swered Riker's ridge.
When Congress is not in session. and general
ly when it Is, the president, dsubtiess, this
greater than president excepted, exerts the
greatest power. The majority Of the majority
wait upon his will his measures have the prefer.
ence on the ttoor, and in committee rooms, and
In the departments, and over the vast machin-
cry Of patronage his will Is practically Law. And
yet even q President can be reached, If he goes
very far wrong, by the ropular Will, and Com
gress can restrain hin chooses whenever it
Is here. But the carriss IS OF the President rat
tie, and reel, and bang against and over Riker's
ridge, and he 10 as powerless to remove the OBJ
stacle az the drivers of the butcher carts who
suffer with him. 1t runs along the whole front
of the White House, and all who enter, and all
who leave it, be they high or low, be they pri
vate citizens in humble buggies, or foreign min-
isters In grand equipages with lveried wants,
or the equally stylish establishments of senators
dence OF the value OF sybsidies Granted ONE and
all crash over ii as best they may. from the
smooth and beautiful drive on one side, to the
same pleasant surface on the other.
The lobby draws its millions for railroads and
steamship lines; 1t dictates whether navies shall
be built in the public yards, where costly and
adeqU ate machinery lies idle, or in private shops
hundred millions for Cuba rs lightly as 1t orders
dinners for Congressman; and It speaks with a
confidence that is altogether magnificent of
Pan1g ns na IN , i9to ine nsessnry ana paying
lines of the land; it does these and hundreds of
similar things, but its power is limited, and its
strength curbed. The lobby frequently fails;
but Riker's ridge, over which all of its members
who are rich enough to ride swear bitterly day
by day, remains In all its hideeus length and
proportions, to mock at all the weakness which
the nation has gathered in its capital.
The board Of public works approaches nearest
TO having unlimited power. 1t stands next In
the order OIL influence below Riker's ridge. 1t
has within year transformed the Capital from
quagmire, in one part, and desert aftel desert
OF wide; dirty street surfaces in another, to
splendid drives of wood, or asphalt, lined with
parks, and everywhere adorned with shade
capital. 1t has accomplished all this by power
many Will say by arbitrary power-but Ii is
done, and well done. 1t has raised millions by
the vote OF the people, and could have raised It
without the vote OF single property owner. 1t
has cut down grades of block after block, till
the owners are obliged to 90 up stairs to enter
their cellars. 1t has filled up other blocks the
process Is reversed, and the Inhabitants descend
from the pavements to their parlors. 1t has
compelled the owners of novels to lay service
pipes fOT gas and water, and sewer connections
from the street to the inside line of the pave
msnt, at cost greater than the houses them
selves-and all this whether gas and water and
inside sewerage were used at all. IL has cut
down miles OF old shade trees because they hap
pened to stand in the way of widening streets
or were over the line OF q projected sewer. 1t
has left whole sections without gas or water for
weeks and weeks while its filings and dwellings
were in progress. 1t has filled up portions Of
Georgetown till they appear like q town two
thirds buried by earthquake or volcano, and
cut down other portions until the inh abitsnts
can only reach their fresides by the appli ances
OF well ordered hook and ladder company. 1t
has filled up mile OF canal which did not be-
long to it-for which every one Is thankful. 1t
has even removed mile OF railroad track, and
by SO doing broken the only all rail connection
between the north and the south, except by
detour of one hundred and fifty-eight miles
through the mountain region OF Virg mia. All
these things it has done, with consent, or with
out il, with the favor Of the courts, or in spite
of the courts. But when il struck Riker's ridge
this power all vanished, and the board folded
its hands at the bidding of a master. There
was little squirming, and few childish at
tempts at resistance, but Riker sat down on
them and forced them into admission.
The courts were invoked, and issued their
mandates, but Riker laughed in their faces and
the mandates OF the supreme court Of the Dis
trict of Columbia, which alone can cite Cabinet
officers before it, became of no more conse-
quence than the decisions of a crowd of boot
blacks upon the proper price of putty.
The Secretary of the Interior, who, under the
law, has power enough to remove this greatest
nuisance in the capital, for once, at least, found
himself powerless, and the ridge remained a
relic OF barbarism in the midst of splendid i'm
provements. And SO the board of public works,
the supreme court Of the District tue Secretary
of the Interior, were AL snubbed and defeated.
The people were and are all on the side OF the
board, OF the courts, and OF the secretary. The
press OF the District was and Is united against
the proprietors of the ridge, and yet the latter
have conquered every element OF power that
exists In Washington, and to-day stand as the
exponent OF that which Is greatest in authority
in the capital of the nation.
And now it Is time to tell the reader what Ri
ker's ridge is-this power that nothing, as yet,
in Washington has been able to overthrow
Pennsylvania avenue, as most know, runs
from Georgetown, past the War, and Navy, and
the new State department, on by the White
House, and Treasury, and the beautiful grounds
around them BY the office
the Capitol gate, around all the grounds and
parks OF Capitol hill, and eastward OF toward
the navy yard.
cared-for cobble pavement, only exceeded in all
that was uncomfortable by the old corduroy
roads Of the west. Now, from Georgetown to
its eastern limit, it is one OF the most magnifi
cent drives In the Union, and its surface rs like
q clean floor from one extremity to the other
except as Riker's ridge, some fifteen or eighteen
feet wide, runs lengthwise through the center Of
II from one side Of Washington to the other.
Through this beautiful avenue, i'm which the
nation has an interest, and OF which ii may now
be proud, the Washington and Georgetown
street railroad company chartered by Congress-,
has double line of track.
10
supposed that the law was 80 drawn as to COM
pei this company to pave between its rails, and
between the two tracks also, with the material
used upon the surface adjacent. But some
technicality has afforded the company an OBJ
portunity to defy all power, and continue 10
disfgure, and in great degree ruin the main
thoroughfare of the capital. With smooth as
phalt on each side of 1t for miles. and wood
along the rest, 1t runs on q rough rude buap-
ling, and horribly uneven surface of the old
eobble stone, saved, and probably stolen, from
the debris removed to make way for improve
ment.
When carriages driving on the avenue unex.
pectedly cross Ii. children, and women and
middle aged nervous gentlemen who are pas
sengers start with fright, and those of stouter
nerves recall the story Of that universal desruc-
ton which came In moment to the horse
shay. An unlocked for crossing of your dri yer
at night brings back, for the instant, the start
hing experiences OF an express train flying the
track.
Over this line the company that owns It drag
ricKety, dirty, verm:n-infested cars, at painful
expense to under-fed and over worked horses,
and over worked and under-paid drivers and
conductors. One Mr.. Riker Is president of this
company, and hence the name OF the ridge. He
issues dead-head tickets to members of Con-
gress and In this, 1t Is believed, resides the Sc
cret of his power.
Such is the story of Riker's ridge, the only
uncontrolled and uncomfortable power in Wash.
ington. H,VB
warm Stables vs.. Blankets
The health Of horse, like that OF a man, de-
ponds very much upon q natural system Of life
Artificial systems req uire don BILE the care and