The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1886-10-09

WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 1886

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 1885.
Special Correspondence to the Echo.
A refreshing GOODNESS in the air, in
creased activity about the hotels anG
on the streets, the temperance Of
familiar but long absent faces in
churches and in theatres are indica
tions that the season at Saratoga, the
White Sulphur, and Newport is over,
and that the season at Washington is
about to begin.
When the Capital of the United
States was a village, and the govern,
ment a loose,jointed federation, the
season al Washington was synchron-
GUS with the Congressional session.
But now the United States has risen
to the place of primacy among nations,
not as a military power, but in popu-
Iation and wealth. The Capital has
grown to be a great and beautiful city,
and each year the res gestg and res
diete at Washington, whether social
or political, grows in importance and
are read with increased interest by an
increased population, the most intelli-
gent iu the world. What will the
combined increment population, wealth,
intelligence, be in another hundred
years The thought is staggering,
like the fathomIess and the infinite.
One hundred years ago we were an
amorphous string of weak sea coast
colonies sroughly estimated at 8, 900, 900.
Now we have 60,00O,00O with wealth
and resources incalculable, great en-
pire whose eastern and western boun,
darics are oceans. Is it too much to
predict that in another hundred years
our northern and southern boundaries
will be the Arctic ocean and the De-
Lesseps canal 7 or shall we say Terra
del Fuego for the southern boundary,
with an electric railway running from
Hudson bay to Cape Horn. This
prospect does not seem more extraVa-
giant than the retrospect for the last
hundred years is wonderful.
There is to be centennial, eonsti-
tutional, and presidential celebration
in Washington in few years and the
establishment OF permanent exposi-
tion 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 locus
of the National Exposition. But it is
not intended to have any more Phila
deIphia proVinoialism in our National
celebration. The Capital of the
United States is Washington. French
national celebrations are not held at
Cherbourg, nor British national expo
sitions at Birmingham. We have no
reason to be ashamed of the national
capital, for, aside from its being the
and most beautiful city IN the
world, 1t is especially adapted for
pageantry and entertainment. More
people have sisters, cousins, aunts and
other relatives in Washington than in
any other city of the union. They
are here in the public service from
every State and Territory. The visi-
tor to the Exposition will be in direct
communication with a relative or
friend who will entertain him or direct
him to a place of entertainment. Half
the houses of Washington are board
ing houses, and half the population
have been boarding house keepers. In
short here is a bureau of information
and city of expanslble boarding
houses ready to hand. Washington
to- day can and does entertain larger
transient population than Philadelphia.
Then there is much more that is his
toric and 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 patriotic visitor would care to see in |
Philadelphia, Here are monuments
and colossal statues commemorative of |
the illustrious dead and of every epoch
in our eyentful history. Here are pub
lie buildings, museums, the Corcoran
Art Gallery, the White House, and
The Capitol the National Botanical
and the Agricultural Depart
nent, comprising, before dollar has
been expended, such an exposition as
10 other city in this hemisphere could
produce, even at an expense of $780,
100000. But perhaps the strongest
.laim of Washington is the fact that
acre, right in the midst of the city, in
light of all these commemorative and
monuments, and in easy
Walking distance, is great unoccu-
oied plain of three hundred acres for
he temporary or permanent buildings
# the international Exposition. This
,lain is on the bands Of the Potomac,
md no exposition in the history of the
world has had site so perfect and SO
,nna,c;blo /