National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-30
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MODERN WASHLNGTON
That every man. woman and child in tn
country should entertain more or less inter
est in the affairs of the national capital j
natural; but that it should be 30 develope'
as to exhibit feeling Of antagonism to an.
attempt to beautify or improve the city
most remarkable. Twenty years ago, whel
vehicles ffeighted with the hghtest burden
were not infrequently stalled in the mud o
our principal thoroughfares, when gras
grew In all OF our streets, when the slug
gish current of the canal and the odors o
CUTTERS, together with the absence Of proper
sewerage, infected the air we breathed, and
when The guests of prominent hotel wert
poissned by the drainage Of impure sub
stances into the water used by them, it wa!
! common and deserved comment that the
city was disgrace to the nation, Q disgract
to its.permanent residents. and, worse thar
Ill, q plague spot In the atmosphere o
which many bright and leading intellec
had contracted fatal disease. The interes
then betrayed in our affairs waste denounct
the criminal neglect and incompetency o
their administration. 1t is true that many
of the descriptions of our condition at thai
time were based upon the imaginative pow
ers of those who wrote:for too-credulous
public, but they were net always exagser-
ated, and, as we have said, the general con-
domination was roundly deserved. At the
same time, aside from these unhealthy indi
cations, the community was cursed by an
absence of modern conveniences in their
dwellings and Of those public resorts, such
as restaurants and hotels, OF private lodging.
houses, in which even the most ordinary
requirements of cultivated comfort could be
found, everything wore an old-fashioned
air; and the disease Of perpetual stagnation
seemed to have blinded the people to per-
ception of the conveniences and improve.
ments which illustrated the progress of
other municipal communities. The ceilings
of the rooms in majority of our houses,
and notably in our hotels, were oppressively
low, and lack of proper ventilation made
them unfit to be used even in the winter
season. When we happen now to stray
into some of these old apartments and CON-
pare them with the brilliantly Lighted, we'll
ventilated and comfortable abodes prepared
by our later enterprise, We involuntarily
shudder at the thought that human beings
- a. xI.ns~
discomforts, and wonder that the politi-
cal leaders of the day of their supremacy
were able to overcome their physically
Oppressive influences. And there are other
things which we recall with similar feel
ings, not the least among which is the un-
doubted fact that the most attractive places
of public gathering, the places where the
lobby assembled, and where the political
situation was discussed and its ramified
complications oftentimes settled, were the
gambling dens of such notorious profess
SIGNALS as Pendleton and Wirsham. Even
at later day, disappearing, however, with
the advent of the new regime. we may re-
Call the dashing equipage. liveried servants
and blooded horses of another professional
named Hall, as they appeared on our streets,
and remember that in his rooms over his
tables, and under the inspiration of the
lavish flow of his wines. the meetings Of
public men were often productive Of good
or evil for the people. In short the period
before the city became modernized, and
before the spirit of cultivated civilization
swept aside with ruthless hand the barba-
rous and wicked customs Of the arrogant
and slothful domination of the power Of an
extravagant slaveocracy, is replete. with
disgraceful Renaissance, only relieved By
occasional recollections of brighter incidents
always connected with the oaRciAl recep-
tions or innocent entertainments Of people
who were an exception to prevailing infu-
ences. Thus, when we read Of Dolly
Madison " at the White House. and Of nu-
merous other bright lights of the social and
politico-social armament Of :he time. We
may have reason to be proud q shef ex-
ceptional goodness and greatness but the
reoaulR their lives only servesm more closely
to illustrate by comparison the I'D surround
ings under which their attractive and IN
structive brilliaDcy was developed.
Within the last ten yearA however, . mi
rsculous change las bsa e6schd. ,TAe en-
tire architecture of the District ,has been
changed old dwellinp have been Mo1em-
-- ones erected. and = II by magic
the malnEia, the grass In the streets, tie
gutter stencil, and the absence Of sewerage
have vanished. The business manners and
the habits OF thought Of the people have
Aass changed, 20 that with the material net
smorphosis, the substitution Of psvemeafs
for mud, and the enhancement Of the values
of real property. the Objectionable aad dis
sipased features Of society which We 1--we
but family outlined have almost entirely
disappeared. Our streets are pecpled With
new faces, and on every side b 70 Be ~
the evidence of Thrift end consequent pros
perity. The curtain has allen upon u
scenes of on. disgr.ce and hAs risen again
70 discover missionaries. IN IL scsaeg
q which new actors, imbued With pseper
regard for social requirements fgthe haplth
and Ssr the moral psoslseity q - nahoa,
pasy the leading paris. Intellect, reAne.
msnt, aAA cultivation have cowh,nea-vifh
natural attractions 10 hiring .toGpthef IL
best elsnents Of our varied national life.
Never before did Washington embrace Win
in it, popalation, either transient or petne-
nsnt, - many people Of especial distincsiop
% Il does now. AFtisB. Journalists, ga
rnanl,ers of the 1e1itima4e ueofeauaoos A.