Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-18
TO the Editor Of The EVENING STAR:

IL EiBnt tnat we sn0Qld nave H. i am IN FAVOR
OF 1t because the people want it and because il
Is great public necessity, which will conduce
to the beauty of the city and the health and
enjoyment Of the people. II would seem as
though what the people want and are willing
to pay for they ought to be allowed to have.
Over twenty years ago we thought we were
sure OF the park. believe every committee of
both houses Of Congress to whom the matter
has been referred has reported favorably, and
yet so great is the rush of business the bill can
never be got through both houses at one ses-
sion. Every years delay adds to the amount
that will be required to buy these lands. Twenty
years ago it could have been bought for an av-
erage of about 300 per acre; now it will cost
many times that 1t is said by some that the
land is held by speculators who want to unload.
Well. let them unload No harm can result to
the District so long as they unload into the
hands of men sworn to take the land at fair
market value. There is no better time to buy
than when men want to sell. Ten minutes if
there be no objection, will be all the time il
houses of Congress-. Then why cannot we have
at this session what everybody, in and out OF
Congress, wants?
PARK FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.
The people are not opposed to parks for the
benefit Of all the people. While welcoming i'm
provements, they object to the unfair discrim-
inatiOn that has been going on here for many
years, by which, while the people of the GEN.
trail and eastern sections Of the city have been
deprived Of needed improvements they have
been taxed to pay for improvements on streets
not built upon in other sections. They would
like to see the boulders on Az street. on which
there are two churches, taken up and replaced
by smooth asphalt pavement. They would
like to see the wretched WORKOUT foot-pave-
ments in the center of the city put in order
before any more costly pavements are laid on
streets where nobody resides. But. while TAX
ing this stand. they are all, as far as know. in
favor of at once securing the Rock creek val
ley for park for all the people.
Parks, like other modern improvements, are
OF RECENT DATE.
Sixty years ago there was not a sewer a sys-
tenn of water worksa gas plant, or public park
on the American continent, and but few in the
world. The telegraph was not invented and
railroads and steamboats, were in their infancy.
The nearest approach to a park was Boston
Common, with its historical frog pond. i re-
member Boston when its streets were paved
with cObble stones and lighted with whale oil.
1t had no water works and no sewers. The
people had to depend upon pumps for water,
and its Brighton artillery was a terror at
night Then 1t took three months to carry
mans thoughts from New York to London.
Now they are carried in three seconds
London CROPPED its way through the darkness
of one thousand years by the dim light of tai
low candles, huddled in narrow streets behind
q high wall. without sewer or park. To
Henry the VIII is due the credit of securing
THE FIRST PARK FOR LONDON
by retaining wild marsh of ninety acres, one
mile west of 1.-The city, on which he built St.
James palace. The old idea was when q town
was laid out to surxpund it by wall instead of
pleasant parks. enNosing as much land as it
was thought the city would ever occupy In
sailing along the shores of the Mediterranean
one will see at this day old towns surrounded
with high walls, built 1000 years ago. The wall
built by the Romans around London, in the
fourth century, was three miles in circumfer-
ence. Beyond those limits they thought the
city could never grow. In protecting them
selves by this wall from enemies, real and
fancied. from without, the people became the
prey of a more deadly enemy within the shape
of disease engendered by surface drainage
poor water, close quarters, and filthy
habits. Every thirty years London was
visited the city Between the fourteenth. and
seventeenth centuries eliminating in the great
plague of 1864, which carried off over so. 900
people. Then followed the great fire of 1866
which laid in ruins 400 streets and deprived
100000 people of their homes. Decimated by
pestilenee and purified by FIRE, London rose
from its ashes in 1867 wiser if not a better
city. IL was rebuilt on a broader SCALE The
old Roman walls gradually erumbled away and
London began to expand. New parks were Sc
cured from time to time until there is a chain
of parks extending from st. James palace to
the Kensington gardens, forming a drive over
miles in length. The west end of this park
which two hundred years ago was miles in
the country, Is to-day surrounded by popula-
ton greater than that of the District of Column
bia. When London began to provide parks for
the people it began TO grow rapidly. 1t has
added more to its population during the reign
of Victoria than in all its previous history ex-
tending back 10 the beginning of the Christian
growth of 10000 year, or 100000 in fifty
years? answer modern improvements" de-
rived from
GOOD DRAINAGE. GOOD WATER, AND NUMEROUS
PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE.
London has the finest system of drainage in
the world, by which its sewage is taken up
and deposited in the Thames, twelve miles be-
lov the city. 1t now has its st. James park.
its Green park. its Hyde park, its Kensington
gardens. Its Regent park with its Geological
gardens, Its Primrose hill. its kensington park
its Finsbury park, its Southwark park, its great
Richmond park, its Victoria park, its Battersea
park. its Hampton Court park, its Crystal Pal
ace with its wonderful fountains and cascades
its Horticultural gardens its Botanical gardens,
and its beautiful Kew gardens, besides hun
dreds Of squares adorned with flowers green
grass and shrubbery, and is continually adding
new parks.
The British Islands do not contain as many
square miles as the territory Of Dakota. and
not half as many as the state of Texas, and yet
their capital contains more acreage of parks
than all the parks of the principal cities Of this
country, while the capital OF the United States
contains no parks at all.
EXCEPT THE PEW ACRES
that compose the mall and the grounds OF
the Soldiers Home, which belong to the
soldiers Of the regular army
The question is asked how long London will
continue to grow. Its population in 1861 was
2.S0S, 81. In 1871. 1881, s04 In 1893. AGA
900, and must now be considerable over 5,OOO-
600. II will be seen that the greatest increase
was during the eight years from 1871 to 1889
when Ii was ,5l2, 1876, 126,0l6 per year. an
increase every year nearly equal to the DO pu-
lation of the state of Delaware Multip ly
Washington by twenty and We have Londo n.
IL contains more population than the six Ne W
England states with all their cities
People are accustomed to say that London
has about reached the limit of It's growth and
cannot possibly become much larger. This is
an error. No city can grow without a cause.
Remove the cause and the city will stop grow
ing
LONDON Is THE woRLD's GREAT ''cLEARIyo
HOUSE."
the center of exchange for money and thought.
and while it occupies that position, and the
world continues to grow in wealth and popula-
ton, just so long London will continue to grow.