The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-09-03

A VERY SHABBY OLD HUUSh

The pretentious structure st
| Washington whose WhltepeSS has
for nearly century given TO 1t the
name Of the White House, 10y which
| it is known throughout The civilized
world, is encompaSsed without by
maIarial bIeeZes from the Potomac
flats and poisoned within by venom
Gus gases from imperfectly tapped
sewer connections. To put family
to live in such place is almost as
bad as what was brought 10 light d
few days ago in the lower part of
Walnut street, where several chill
dren had died in one unpleasant
dwelling, owing to the noxiouS
vapOrS they were compelled to in
hale. There is more style about the
White House than in the cheap and
gloomy tenement ;but foul air, " hich
Is no respector of persons, is much
the same in one as in the other.
When the White House was builtiS
was a gorgeous structure for its day.
It's original cost was over quarter Of
million dollars. improvements
and additions have since brought
its cost, with that of the grounds
around it 10 six or sever times that
sum. The house has been repaired
and tinkered and patched and al
tered and mended until it is now
something like an old pair Of boots
which have been half-soled, heeled
and footed a dozen times and badly
need new tops. All that it contains
i'll the line of modern improvements
has been added in such fragmen-
t;try way that it is like patches of
new cloth on an old garment. |
When it was built modern ideas of |
heat and ventilation and water
works were unknown. The Poto- |
mac fiat were not what they are |
now. They have increased in size, |
in fatnesS, and in malarious po-
tency. To stay in the White House |
at night is to risk an attack Of i'll |
ness. AS a residence it is no longer
useful. To expect the Chief Magis-
trate Of the nation to live there is |
absurd and unreasonable. 1t has
long been known that the place is
not desirable to stay in, especially |
in the summer. For years its eccu-
pants have found safety and COM
fort by going just outside of the city |
TO the Soldiers Home. Recent inYes-
legations into the plumbing of the |
- mite House have shown that |
there are some Objectionable feat
ures which would not be allowed to
exist in a third class inn. Nor is |
there any site on the whole twenty
i've acres Of ground in the White
House enclosure on which a resi-
dence for the President and his fam
lily could wisely be erected. Malaria /
from those pestiferous flats poisons
the whole territory. The flats are
growing worse and worse every |
year. 1t is suggested that they be |
drained. The suggestion is as sound |
is it is venerable. To drain the |
ilats decently can only be done by |
filling them up. 1t would take a
dozen years and cost S1.O00,OO0 a
year. Some of these days it will
have to be done. Meantime a new
executive residence is needed.
There are plenty OF places in Wash
ingt0n for it, where the ground is
higher and the air purer. We do
not need such costly building as
kings and emperors are proud to
dwell in. Half a million
would pay for one quite good
The chief magistrate
of this country has a right to
a home. Now he has no house Of
his own to live in, but only some
rooms in an awkward barn Of a
public building. the reStof which is
made up of Offices and is a tramp
ing ground fer the people Of Amer
lea and all the rest of creation who
choose to go there. The President
and his family should have d house
in which he anu they may be as
private as the humblest citizen in
his own three-story brick. 1t is an
evidence of the phenomenal strength
of Mr. Garfield'S constitution that he
has lived for weeks, as he has, in
that old house, breathing the me-
phitic air waited into his bed cham
Der from those YillainouS flats. Mol
wonder he wants to be out. Let US
hope he will soon be able to go
where he can breathe almost any
other atmosphere. One of the first
things Congress should do when it
next assemblies is to decree the cree
ton Of new and decent White
House. 1t will be an appropriate
national Misunderstanding for tile re-
covery Of the Observation-Disclosures
phia Times. l--I-----.-.-..-s.sz,,