The Sunday herald., 1886-10-24

| "ulust 10 10 TAX the people OF the city 10
convert into city lots the forests and fsrtrs
across Rock Creek. The Improvement
though one which must come In time, is not
now pressing, nor will there lie any inoon.
venience fe,t, except by the speculative in
terests involved, IL II should be deferred for
I'VE or even ten years. II the Commission
ers have money for opening up such streets
1t ought to be equitsbly expended in the DIFF.
ferent sections, and not be used In bulk for
the development OF the property of few
wealthy speculstors in suburban estates.
The northwestern section Of the city has al.
ways had the lions share of improvements,
and tits time such long continued favoritism
were stopped. There are miles of unpaved
streets, thickly built up with houses, which
have been waiting their turn for years.
| What surplus may be left after providing
for those objects of expenditure, like the
schools, which cannot wait, ought to be spent
where the Taxpayers are living, and not out
in the country. The Star is absolutely right
in its position that the entire cost of i'm.
provements like this Massachusetts-a avenue
extension ought to be paid by the property
which they benefit, and that such schemes
ought to wait until the law can be changed
so that damages and benefits may be equi-
tably assessed.
The dedication Of the colossal Statue Of
Liberty in New York Harbor marks an event
Of no common kind in other respects, and
in one respect unexampled. There is no
previous instance, that we can recall, of such
gift by the people of one country TO the
people of another. Great monuments are
usually erected by nation within its own
borders, in glorifcation of its own deeds or
great men, and in the majority Of cases gov
ernmental action is required, generally
prompted by some enlightened despot" in
authority. Into this case none of these ele.
ments enter. 1t will hereafter he quoted
as an instance of the generosity and enthu.
siasm of the French that they sent this
great work far beyond their boundaries,
to the other side of the world, and it is
one of the unique events that mark the his.
tory Of the United States to have inspired
the making of such gift. That there were
some minor notes Of disoord both about the
presentation and the reception of the statue
1t was only natural to expect when such vast
numbers of people were concerned on each
side. These can readily be forgotten in fix.
ing the attention on the sublimity of the
idea, one of the kind of which the French
seem to be peculiarly capable, aud which
sometimes draws the sneers OF more prosaic
nationalities. 1t is almost impossible not to
be warmed by the glow of an ardor which car
ries into effect scheme of such mag
nitude. 1t Is easy to say that IL
was originally prompted by the am
bitlon of the sculptor whose fame
1t will preserve, but what other people
would have responded to the prompting as
unsel6shly as the French have done Long
may the statue stand to mark the wonderful
and electric action and reaction of thought
between France and the United States, which
has brought them to the proud position of
the leading republics OF the world. From
France our sages gathered their ideas of
Democratic equality and fraternity, which
saved us from imitation of English aristo-
cratic notions. From the United States
France is slowly learning that reverence for
established law and precedent without which
the largest liberty for the individual cannot
exist. Every citizen of both republics should
enter heartily into the sentiment of the
great ceremony of next Thursday, only re-
GREETING that it cannot be made still more
magnificent and ADEQUATE TO the event