The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-09-30

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25,

" ASH lNdIoS, OcpI. ~, Aooo.
A refreshing cooluess in the air, in
creased activity about the hotels and
On the streets, the temperance of IA
miliar bnt long absent faces in church
and theatres are indications that the
season at Saratoga. the White Sulphur
and Newport is over, and that the
season at w ashingtOn is about to begin.
When the Capital of the United
States was village, and the govern
ment loose jointed federation, the
season at Washington was synchrO-
nous with the Congressional session.
But now the United States has risen
to the place of primacy among nations,
not as military lower. but in populs-
ton and wealth. The capital has
grown to be great and beautiful city,
and each year the res gestae and res
dietae at Washington, whether social
or political, grows in Importance and
are read with increased interest by an
increased population, the most intelli
gent in the world. What will the
mbined increment, population, in
teIligence, wealth, be in another hun
dred years? The thought is stagger
ing, like the fathomle-s and the in
finite. One hundred years ago we
were an amorphus string of weak sea
coast colonies, roughly estimated at
5 900, 600. Now we have $4,000, 900,
with wealth aud recources incalcula-
BILE, great empire whose eastern and
western boundaries are oceans. Is it
too much to predict that in another
hundred years our northern and south
ern boundaries will be the Arctic
Ocean and the DeLesseps canal? or
shall we say Terra del Fuego for the
southern boundary, with an electric
running from Hudson bay to Cape
Horn? This prospect does not seem
more extravagant than the retrospect
for the last hundred years is wonderful
There is to be centennial, constitu.
tional, and presidential celebration in
Washington in a few years and the
establishment of a permanent expOsi-
ton of the products and resources of
the various States and Territories.
Other cities, of course, are contending
for the honor, and insisting that their
corporation limits shall be the locas of
the National Exposition. But it is
not inter ded to have any more Phila-
delphia provincialism in our National
celebration. The Capital of the United
| States is Washington. French national
celebrations are not held at CherbOurg,
nor British national expositions at
Birmingham. We have no reason to
be ashamed of the national capital, for
| aside from its being the cIeanest aud
most beautiful in the world, it is es.
pecially adapted for pageantry and en-
| tertainment. More people have sisters,
| cousins, aunts. and other relatives in
| Washington than in any other city of
the Union. They are here i'll the pub
lie service from every State and Ter
ritory. The visitor to the Exposition
| will be in direct communication with
| a relative or friend who will entertain
| him or direct him to a place of enter
I Itainment. Half the houses of Wash
ington are boarding houses, and half
the population have been boarding
house keepers. In short, here is a
| bureau of Information and a city of
expansible boarding houses ready to
hand. Washington today can and
does entertain larger trancient pop
ulation than Philadelphia. Then there
is much more that is historic aud
worth seeing in Washington than in
Philadelphia. Besides the building
in which the Continental Congress
was held, and the Liberty Bell, do
not remember anything that a patri-
otic visitor wonld care to see in Phila
delphia. Here are monuments and
colossal statues cOmmemor live of the
illustrious dead and every epoch in
our eventful history. Here are public
buildings, museums, the CorcOran art
gallery, the White House, aud the
Capitol the National Botanical gar
dens, and the agricultural department,
comprising, before dollar has been
expended, such an Exposition as no
other city in this hemisphere could
produce. even at an expense of $2O,-
100000 But perhaps The strongest
claim of Washington is the fact that
here, right in the midst of the city, in
sight of all these commemorative and
architectural monuments, and in easy
walking distance, is a great unOccu-
pied plain of three hundred acres for
the temporary or permanent buildings
of the international Exposition. This
plain is on the banks of the Potomac,
and no exposition in the history of the
world has had site SO perfect aud so
accessible.