Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-10
ut will be plainly the wiser policy of til

government 10 undertake the whole thing
Its action will be urhampered, and the exhi
bition will be all the better if it has entire con
troll The bill laid before Congress yesterda,
places the matter just where il belongs-in the
hands Of directors appc nted by the President
The sl5.OOoOOO required for the purposes OF the
exhibition It Is proposed to raise by an issue Of
District of Columbia bonds. The amount il
not excessive, worlds fairs being expensive
things nowadays. We are at a loss, however
to conceive why more than one-fifth of that
sum should, In any view Of the matter, be raj ed
by local taxation IL Is quite likely thai the
holding of the exhibition IN the District would
increase its ta- able basis to extent to justify
/. Ia &c bond issue, but if the enterprise is to
be regarded as a national one it should Oe at
the national cost. The national basis, we in
sist. is the only fit and proper one. The Sc
lection of Washington Is opposed by special
interests elsewhere, but with proper efforts
on the part of our people the exhibition will
be held where it ought to be. Washington will
satisfy the south and the whole Atlantic coast
except New York. As for the west it would
prefer Washington to any 9th Eastern city"
Baltimore Sun.
The views of the sun are sound. The exposi-
ton should be given by the nation and not by
any city, and il the nation is the host it should
pay the amount of any deficit The contention
Of the capital is that if the nation undertakes
the worlds fair it will be held most appropri-
ately. most economically and most successfully
within its limits; that, indeed, there are in
superable obstacles to the holding Of a ma
tional affair Of the kind elsewhere than in this
spot Of territory under national jurisdiction.
II the exposition is to be the nations Washing
ton should not be required to mortgage itself
for fifteen millions OF dollars to pay the ex-
penses of national affair, to erect buildings
upon government land, thus making them the
property of the government, and to be ex-
pended by agents Of the nation over whom it
has no control II the exposition is not to be
the nations Washington does not want to be
the site. 1t is not making a bid Of fifteen
millions in the exposition auction to secure
the fair as a local concern in competition with
the rich commercial cities, which are bidding
for it from this point of view. The bill naming
Washington as the site, upon which the Sun
comments, is inconsistent in that its first provi-
sions make the exposition national and the
last provision treats it as local in the import
ant feature Of expense-paying. There is no
legal assurance furnished by the bill tina. the
nation will meet even one-haf Of the cost of
the exposition by paying this proportion of the
bond-issue. The offer of this bill on behalf of
the District to supply fteen million dollars to
be expended by agents Of the government in
holding an exposition at the capital should be
accepted only when the nation finds itself
wiling to give such an exposition but unwilling
to pay the cost; in other words, never.
The Vice President of the United States as a
Washington builder. finds himself victim of
the outrageous building lien-law of the District
An attempt was made before the last Congress
and will be continued before the present Con-
gress to secure an amendment of the law requir-
ing the material man to give to the owner notice
OF his intention to look to him and not to the con-
tractor for payment. The owner will thus have
an opportunity to protect himself to some ex-
tent against compulsory double payments.
Timidity on the part of our legislators in
meddling with what il thought to
be mechanics or laborers' lien
law makes of material men, who are
not mechanics or laborers, q favored class
In this District, with privileges which they
enjoy nowhere else to the same extent
The law in its present shape is an in
vitation to material men to neglect all the
ordinary business precautions Of ascertaininc
the credit Of contractors with whom they deal
directly, temptation to the contractor to be
dishonest, a trap to the owner which the most
vigilant can escape only with difficulty. and
drawback upon the building growth of the city
II the cook who makes a pie were given a lien
for the mince meat upon the man who
eats 1t and upon everything he wears. no
matter whether the consumer has already
paid for the pie to the baker with
whom he deals directly, and no matter whether
the cook has or has not given notice to the
consumer that he intends to look to him and
not to the baker for his pay, then the cook would
only be protected in the same manner as the
material man under the local lien law. IL
every Senator and Representative could be in
duced TO build house in this city, their COM
bined experiences would work a change of the
law In the twlnkling of an eye. Will not Con-
yress take courageous action in the matter
without waiting for majority Of individual
Congressman to be victimized? Will not the
recorded experiences of countless citizens and
Of the vice-President be viewed as suficient2