Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-23

try. Since the close Of the war immense post
Office buildings have been put up in St. Louis,
chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New York,
but Washington has been living in hired quar-
tiers, though il has become q place of $50, 900
people And no place of that population uses
the mails more.
Asplendid square has been bought and the
foundation il prepared for the erection OF this
post ONCE on the same unpopular side of Penn
syivania avenue and within only about two
blocks of the great brick power house of the
cable railroad. which in itself looks like public
department.
These two buildings strike into the heart of the
hsatisn quarter of Washington, which is long
and thin, and they confront Pennsylvania ave-
nue. on that side which has been comparatively
little improved, with large and imposing con-
structious.
Another great building in Washington which
is almost ready for occupancy is the naval OBJ
servatory, which Is not merely tower or dome
to look at the heavens, but a department which
has to do with our entire maritime movement
We prepare the Nautical Almanac, keep i'm
proving our coast survey and do many other
functions at Washington city, such as are per-
formed by the observatory at Greenwich for
England
II / correctly remember the meridian Of
Washington city not definitely ascertained
Quincy Adams. say sixty years ago.
In the intermediate time the natural opera
tons OF this government in the direction OF
astronomy have become so large that our ex-
tended shipping, which runs through the gulf
to the Isthmus of Panama, up to the great
lakes and through the Pacific ocean, demands
the proper housing Of its computators and
scientific men.
The naval observatory is situated very far
northwest OF Washington. and. indeed. to the
4. L
where the building shows strong in the land
scape.
THE FAvoRITE CITY.
1t wns not many years ago that any Of these
constructions would have raised a howl, as it is
called, and congressional investigation COM
mittes, but the education of the country has
40 much advanced, and all the cities have SO
much improved, that Washington On many ac-
counts is the favorite city OF the country.
This l. shown by the constant selection Of
the place by private societies, such as the
Grand Army OF the Republic. by commissions.
hasons and medical societies, as their places of
anniversary assemblage. The medical society
OF the world not long ago met there.
Very much of this il due TO the private bene-
faction of James Smithson. the illegitimate son
of an English nobleman who, looking for some
place where he could do the most good with
whas he had to leave. chose the United States to
be bis aimOner. lie gave them some general
directions as to his intentions.
IL will hardly be believed at this date that at
tncks were made upon Smithson in Congress as
a fellow who had undertaken to correct his
and accusing him of using the United
States a. his sponsor.
In the same spirit John Randolph, after the
artist Trumbull had painted the portraits Of all
our revolutionary men and assembled them to-
gether by having produccda "shin piece" as he
called it, perceived in that picture a number Of
persons Mr.. Randolph did not like.
The Smithsonian Institution, as Prof Hos
ford said 10 me in Chicago, has heen the most
useful benefaction to science the world has ever
had. Falling into-the hands Of men of the mis-
siOnary sOrs. like Prof. Henry. it has Joined in
fuences with every sort of productive brain
force to spread knowledge through the world
and make man glorious upon this planet.
Prof. Hosford cited to me q single case where
Henry had persuaded the express companies of
the world 20 forward for nothing the publca-
tons of the learned societies of the earth be-
tween each other.
In our day, as in the time of Columbus, it is
not enough to have an idea, but to get it to be
known.
The Smithsonian Institution must not be
omitted among the growing influences of WASH
ingtCn. Ii is the nucleus of whole series OF
institutions which have come together since the
war.
The original building which has beer once. a.
".
more agreeable to look upon than practical to
hold collections.
In the course of time there has been built
upon the same ridge, which il generally called
the island hero, though il is island no more,
the splendid museaE of army and navy sur
geons. the general museum of the United States, |
which contains the history of man as the habi- J
tatOr of the globe, in remarkable collections of
his apparel, works and slow ascen: from bar
barisn.
The fish commission has lne building also |
a beautiful museum close BY. The botanical /
gardens in the next block have grown in char
acter. The Agricultural Department, which !
now has cabinet minister. and the great bu- !
resI Of engraving ald printing. with its fine |
Romanesque building, stand upon the came
elevation.
The group is completed by the Washington
which, having lain in a state OF im-
potent popular decay for a whole generation,
was finally built by Congress with the energy
OF hardly a year.
THE INFLUENCE OF STREETS.
The influence of the streets OF Washington
over the whole land has been noted by nearly
every traveller; they were first put down in
wood, which woald not stand the climate, and
these when taken up, after much c!alnor,
and cecnented pavement substituted for it
showed quickly how good was the return for
road investments.
The roads Of the District of Columbia are
now fine and vide and well graded ont to the
Marya line; there-where Gen. Jackson We
toed the Washington turnpike bill in 1890. pro-
viding for connection between the District of
and the national road at Frederick
good roads end and We have pure provin-
c:alisIn.
A great new hotel in Washington is among
the mooted matters, and ii will probably be I'M
dertahen during the present year. Many hotels
are there. and some of the later ones the
best, but too many of them have been patched
up from time TO time. and wandering laby-
rinth5 like the Vatican.
Washington cannot fail, ID seems to me, to
become a large manufacturing city. It's open
river. with a good channel. its terminal situa-
ton Tor railroads, its cheap coal from Cumber-
land brought down by canal all the way. ard
the variety of talent dispersed through the
town by reason Of tho public employmen
must soon eyentuate in something more than
mere city of residences Ike Versailles.
Ten times the amount of mechanical invest
ment is to be found there now at the close of
the war. 1t is good place for artists. Archi-
tects have become very numerous in Wash
ington.