Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-05
RAILROAD USE OF THE MALL.
That When It Is Needed for o Park the
Station May be Removed.

That When IL Is Needed for o Park the
Station May be Removed.
In opposition to railroad use of the mall
Charles Sumne said in the Senate in 1872:
''Sir. 1 do not think that this privilege ought to
be granted, and my reason is precise and spe-
ciic. 1t proposes to take q considerable Sec
ton OF land which if you look at the map You
will see properly belongs to the park Of Wash
ington. / am unwilling at this early period in
the history of this metropolis to begin by cut
ting out a slice from this Enclosure set apart
for the future. II you do it now where are
you to stop? Will you not be called to cut out
another slice next year or in five years, and
may not the park be reduced from that form
and those proportions it now promises to enjoy?
This metropolis is now at its beginning and yet
doubling in q decade. During the last ten years
its population has multiplied %two-fold, and in
the coming ten years there is every reason to
believe that the development will be as large,
II not larger. OF course. with the increase OF
population is the demand for a park, especially
in the central situation which that enjoys. /
use the language Of another when l say that
parks are the lungs Of a great city, but where
will be the lungs Of this metropolis If you be-
gin to reduce the park? Rather should we sa-
credly keep it all intact, so that hereafter, when
You and /, sir, have passed away and this me-
tropOiis has grown to a grandeur and beauty
which imagination cannot now conceive, that
park may remain in its entirety q blessing to
the people, for which they will in turn bless us.
"Sir, / was born in a city which has the en-
joyment of such q blessing. There il in Boston
what is known as the common, set apart in the
very earliest days of the town, when it was in
fact what the name implies, a common for the
pasturage Of cattle, but though often assailed
1t has been preserved and untouched. Rail-
road corporations and other companies have
tried in vain to obtain a corner from it. The
jealous fathers have saved that beautiful piece
of earth. till now it is the first treasure Of Bos-
ton, unless We except her common schools,
where all are equal before the law. l have
often thought what would have ensued if some
time ago, yielding to corporation pressure in
its various forms, the city had consented to
sacrifice that beautiful Enclosure. There it is,
the very apple of the eye to Boston, and no.
body now fears that it will be diminished by q
foot. And should not Washington have a SINH
lar possession? Are you willing. sir, now at
this early moment OF her history. when she is
just beginning to grow, or rather when her
growth Is just beginning 20 BIO apparent, to de-
spoil her of this unquestionable attraction,
where the useful and the beautiful commingle?
l think, sir, you will act improvidently if you
do so. l think you will act against the
best interests of the city, whether YOU
look at health. beauty or enjoyment, for a
park ministers to all these. Therefore, sir, would
l keep it intact. by no consent of Congress
would | allow any business interest or disturb
III hilIOd oIuPdH u IdstcH Iteell upon Ills
Enclosure. They should be excluded. and when
/ say this | would not carry them off far. Let
them plant their stations just the other side.
They will then be, perhaps, II third of q mile
from Pennsylvania avenue. traversing the
center of population. with cOnveniences such
as railroads III no other city enjoy. With those
open to them, why should W allow them to
enter our pleasure grounds? If there were no
proper place without going a long distance-a
mile or two miles-there would be some reason,
| mariana for antarfaininn fhiS nuaofinp. b,t
when 1 consider the facilities which they may
enjoy only the other side OF the park line,
with land there cheap and easy to be had, |
am astonished that any one can be willing to
sacrifice the park simply to bring them a few
rods nearer Pennsylvania avenue" Senator
Sumner then described the dangerous annoy
ances from the railroad crossings in Paramount
Park, Philadelphia: and read from the last an
nual report of the commissioner of the park,
bewailing these annoyances. In conclusion he
said:
Il only ask Senators to look at the park. Let
them pass through our library and take their
stand on that uneaualed portico, from which
they may look down upon an amphitheater
more like that of ancient Rome than that OF
any other capital, with a river beneath and
hills in the Distance river much larger than
the ancient Iiber, and hills much more beauti-
full than those that stand around ancient Rome.
and a Capitol, too. but how much more beautl-
full than that which once gave the law to man.
hiuu. TAN III tHdt pOTtlcO. slT. anu survey
that amphitheater; your eye will then rest with
satisfaction on the outline of this very park,
stretching from the Capitol beyond the Execu-
tive Mansion, and destined to be a breathing
place for the immense population of future
generations. Stand On that portico and try to
imagine what this park may be. And now it is
! proposed not only to diminish that breathing
place, but to disturb it by the smoke of steam
engines, and to confuse it by the perpetual din
of locomotives. l hope no such thing Will be
6nna Thara 10 a n1aca for all fhipDS and t6;a
l know-the place for a railway station is not a
public park"
The Senators who favored the grant to the
ments. Some things which they said to lessen
the force of the vigorous assaults upon the sur
render of the mall may profitably be remem-
bered at the present time. Senator Cameron,
the leading representative Of the Pennsylvania
railroad. said: Il desire to saw also that the
bill contains a proviso allowing Congress to re-
move the depot at any future time when they
desire the ground for a park or any other pur-
pose. The bill gives Congress the power to
do it and leaves it entirely in the control OF
Congress-"
Senator Frelinghuysen, by reason OF the
state he represented, also a mouthpiece of the
Pennsylvania road, gave assurance that engines
he said, ''Of having trains OF cars, with their
smoke and noise, running into this depot Is all
imagination. No engine will go into that
depot. The engines will switch off and the
cars will pass this 800 feet and into the depot
with the passengers by the momentum they
have received"