Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-10-18
Largest Circulation in the District
Reading Matter on Every Page.
WASHINGTON CITY:
sA1I RDAY October Is. 1873


Some time SINCE TIE STAR took occasion to
refute the statement of President Eliot, of Hsr-
ward University, in reference to the city OF
Washington. 1t will be remembered that while
attending the recent social science convention
In New England, the subject Of . national uni
versity being under discussion, he asserted that
Washington is a focus of neither foreign COM
merce nor domestic trade; neither manufac-
lures, agriculture, nor mining: neither litera-
ture nor art. The climate of the city is not very
healthy, and the presence of Congress and the
hangerson OF Congress does not make the city
better place of residence for young men at the
forming periodiOf life." The Philadelphia Press
now takes up the cudgels in behalf of Washing
ton, and in a foreble article gives reliable sta
tistics which emphatically disprove Mr.. Eliot's
assertions. Quoting from the census report 1t
shows that Washington possesses 1T libraries
with 900. $50 volumes, and saws that even Cam
bridge should not be too ready to challenge a
comparison az to relative merits Washington
libraries are all of modern growth, and not
largely made up Of the useless spoil of forgotten
tongues or forgotten authors. The four law
libraries contain 81 34S Volumes and more than
are to be found in all the law libraries in Mas
saehusctts, where there are only p .IO5 volumes
In reference to art, says the Press, in proper
ton to its actual wealth and numbers the city
of Washington will be found to have been "a
liberal in its support of art and artists as most
cities of the country. There are some private
galleries of merit and many rare and valuable
works of art in Washington, although Pres
ident Eliot Is apparently as ignorant of their
existence a. the owners are of the exalted mer
its of the beautiful portraits which grace Har-
ward College. As to the architecture of Wash
ington, it is superior to anything in the states,
excepting only and always the State House at
Boston In regard to institutions of learning,
says the Press, there are three colleges in the
District OF COlumbia-never aided by lot
tery-two law and two medical schools and
though none, like Harvard, have been 50 for
tunate as to be endowed with five or six MIL
lions of dollars, they yet cOntrive TO do much
modest and very valuable educational work
Statistic from the ninth census are given to
proven the falsity of the charge that Washing
ton IL unhealthy The percentage of mortality
IN the District Is LIS, or, excluding the coored,
1-55; and in Massachusetts, for the whole state,
1t is LIZ. Therefore, the deaths among 900
persons in Massachusetts are about Is, against
fraction more than Is In the District If the
statistics OF Massachusetts for 1S7l-Cambridge
population, 80 .634, deaths, go; percentage, POI;
Boston, population, %. SIG; deaths 5SSS; per
centage, 2S5-may fairly be compared with the
census of 1870, and those of Cambridge or Bos-
ton presented, there will be found a much larger
ulHeIehce IN FAVOR or Nashington-Or p to Is.
The Pres thinks these rugged facts demolish a
large amount of fine writing, and closes its COM
ments as follows:
when the capital Of our country is uniust!v
assailed, every one has an interest in Us proper
yindicat.on. We merely do our part As a mat
ter OF strict Justice 70 Washington, aud because
the high Official position of the assaiIant en-
Sbled him TO give some character to his attack
but which ought not to shield him from a sulta-
Die reply Would Josiah Quincy, Edward Eve
Tett, or auy other former president of Harvard
have made such an attack on Washington We
think rot. As a rEetOrcian President Eliot is
inquest onahly fine, but in the field of General
walker and OF weil-ascertained facts, his pre-
paratOry training appears to have been lament
ably neglected. Truth, he should have known,
Is much better asserted after il is asceTtained
His forte certainly is not in the discussion of the
comparative health OF cities. Washington with
all Its faults, still lives and does not appear to
have heard Of the poor opinion entertained Of it
at Harvard