Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-07

Without . Rival as q Social Center and -
q Political Capital.

Political Capital.
Ex-Secretary Boutwell, in Boston Globe.
Great praise has been accorded to Washing
ton for the plan Of the city that bears his name,
but II can never be known whether the larger
share Of praise is due to him or to the engineer
by whom the ample streets, avenues, parks and
squares we're designed and marked. When the
future city was only wild, uncultivated waste
its magnificent distances might well have been
made the subjects Of ridicule; but now, when
the streets and avenues are paved, drained and
lighted and their borders are adorned with
! trees, and when the parks and public grounds
are decorated with whatever money can COM
mand and art can devise, the distances are none
too great for the comfort and health of those
who dwell in or for the enjoyment of those who
visit the city.
At the close Of the last century there we're
statesmen who thought that the republic of
Washington and of the war Of the revolution
would be limited by the Allegheny mountains;
and Mr.. Burke, in his speech on Cancellation
with America, represented a pioneer upon the
summit of these mountains looking westward
and surveying 500 square miles OF fertile land.
| This he set forth as one of the wonders Of the
new world.
When such erroneous and limited ideas were
entertained of the future of that expanse which
we call America land not without some
I
the great continent itself it is only less than
marvel that there were any century ago who
INDUCED the prophecies Of coming greatness
that are expressed in the plan of the city of
Washington.
II nature abhors straight line and if nature
il the wiser, as she is the best equipped judge
Of lines of beauty if tested by experience, then
the plan of the city is subject justly to one crit
icism. It's lines, without an exception, are
straight lines, and thus did the artist violate q
law which nature observes. invariably in vege-
table and animal life. The great city of the
future may be the city in which every line shall
be n curved line, and the great landscape artist
of the future may be he who can create such a
city with due regard to economy Of space.
Whether the future may or may not yield a
plan of city superior to the plan of Washing
ton cannot now be foretold. 1t is sufficient to
say that at the end Of century the city is with
out rival a social center and as the political
capital of a country whose population is twenty
times greater than it was hundred years ago.
The full scope of the ideas entertained by
Washington and his associates cannot be COM
pretended without considering the revenues Of
the country from 1889 to 1900 and in connec-
ton Herewith the expenditures authorized for
the erection of public buildings. In the year
1892 the revenue yielded only So. $50 $780, 81, and
for the eight years Of Washington's administra-
ton the revenue, exclusive of moneys Dor
rowed, amounted to a trife more than al, 900,
WV VI ZIG tNSiNc years VI washington b anu
Adams terms the grand total was less than
SS1 200, 600.
In the presence of these meager resources
Congress authorized the erection Of the Capt.
toll and with the knowledge that its cost would
exceed the receipts of the treasury for an en-
tire year. In the same period the erection of
the Executive Mansion known as the White
House. was undertaken, and although an mex
pensive STRUCTURE relatively, it still exists as a
stately palace, suffering nothing by comparison
with the best specimens of modern American
architecture. The Capitol, so authorized, is
now to be seen as the center of the vast edifce
which bears the name The best specimens of
architectural skill are to be found in the old
structure. These are the hall Of the House of
Representatives, now Used as q hall for the exhi-
bition of statuary, and the old Senate chamber,
in which the sessions of the Supreme Court are
now held.
The old Senate chamber is the finest room,
incomparably the finest room, to be seen in the
city of Washington. The architect Of the old
Capitol, of the executive mansion and Of the
state house in Boston, was Mr.. Bulfnch Of
Massachusetts, an artist, who, if not underval-
ued, has not been valued according to his mer-
its. 1t may not be too much to say that his
taste and skill were such that his works have
not been open to just criticism in these four
score and ten years.