The Progress., 1893-09-23

hN
] either too small or too large. 1t had TO be
removed altogether or he lifted up to
worthiness OF its expanded surroundings.
Happily congressional economy did not
prompt adoption of the former alternative,
and Il new and far grander dome soon rose
toward the sky. 1t was a dome which We'd
in grandeur and magnificence with the
domes of St Peters and St. Paul's, and
with characteristic American energy and
ingenuity it was erected in few years
And there stood the capitol as we see it
today, saving only the western terrace.
The expansion horizontally and vertically
had improved and not harmed its svmme-
try. Though the original idea was now
nothing but nucleus, a being dropped.
gOdlike, out of the clouds and with gods
appreciation Of the fine and beautiful
would say the man who built this great
pile and built it all and planned it all as a
complete entity. Viewed from without,
there is nothing that one would add or
take away. 1t is perfection in magnif-
cence
There was another distinct stage of this
process of evolution, and it, like its prede-
cessors, harmonized admirably with that
of which it became the complement. The
builders of the capitol and the builders of
the capital city made one mistake. They
faced their palace in the wrong direction.
With its front to the east they thought
they We're facing it toward the seat of
wealth and population of the future city.
But as it turned out they placed the back
door of the capitol where the front should
have been, and the new national statehouse
soon found the capital city growing up as
its back yard
For this result the ubiquitous Yankee
real estate speculator was to blame. He
gObbled up most of the desirable building
lots on the hill TO the east Of the capitol
and held them at such high prices that the
settlers of the city We're compelled in self
defense to buy ground in the other part of
town. Consequently there was for Il long
time agitation in favor of doing something
to turn the capitol about, as it were. to
improve its western facade. At length a
start was made on this work, and now,
after the lapse of some six years, we have
reached the centennial anniversary of our
great building with a beautiful terrace
adorning the western front and serving to
make that side of the structure look more
like front than back door,
In good time, if we can ever get a con-
gress here that will not be dominated bv
the idea of economy, the process of evolu-
tion will be carried still further by the
erection of a splendid colonnade along the
western front. Thus the feat of turning
the capitol around, or, more strictly speak
ing, of giving it two fronts instead of one.
will have been accomplished. 1t is a work
which should be done, and it cannot be
done too soon, for the city of Washington.
which is rapidly becoming one of the most
beautiful cities of the world and which is
The American city most admired BY foreign
1rs, Is growing almost entirely to the west
)f the capitol, and it is a shame to have
,he principal facade of our grand state
house on the wrong side
There is another thing that should be
lone, and it is such simple matter that
10 not despair of its accomplishment in the
rear future. 1t is to turn the face of the
GODDESS of Liberty toward the west. For
% years, or some such matter, the beauti-
ul goddess has stood there with her eyes
ooking toward the Atlantic ocean. Not
nly is the major part of the city of Wash
ngton behind her back, but also that great
mpire over which she holds sway. and
whose institutions and freedom she is the
ymbOl of. For two or three years have
een advocating a change in the position of
his our patron goddess, and am willing
o go on record with the prediction that in
he next five years she will look toward the 4,
mighty west instead of gazing in the direc- b
ion of the ocean. s
While | sat yesterday listening to the {
peech of President Cleveland at the ami
ersary exercises | could not repress the 7
bought that this great building has dur
lg the past century been the scene of more
istory making than any other building in
be world, Within its halls the mightiest (
yperiiHeat in human government ever
nown has been successfully carried on. A
1rm of institutions has been nodded and 3;
effected within its walls that marks rev. N
luton in the science of government. I
urned by the vandal hands of momen-
irily victorious hostiles, planted in the
lidst of a swamp, surrounded during its :,
lrlier days by handful of patriots and a II
ense bank of forests lying not far beyond,
has grown as the nation has grown and
-ands at last the proud seat of a govern
lent which ranks probably first in all the
orld. When one stops to think of it, the Z
istory of this gray old building comes very
ear being the history of the American ma
on.
1t is pleasant thought, too, that it is a
rander building externally in its architec-
Ire, in the proportions of its halls and the IT
lagnifcence of its great dome. than it is
its interior decorations This is so be-
ause the architecture aud the building O.
ere the work of American hands, while =,
le interior decorations for the most part =.
ere executed by foreign artists Forty, =
J. IS or so years ago there were no artists lC
America who were thought competent CO
} decorate the interior of such a grand A
aiding as this. Nearly all the artists w
nd many of the artisans employed for that ~,
lrpose were Italians. Some of their work
as well done, and some of it was i'll done
The comforting part of the thought is III
lat today art has made such rapid strides
all its fields of effort that plenty of m
mericans can be found to do all this work
uch better than it was DONE There is
lch thing now as American art, and
lille it may not have a school all its own
is fast achieving one not alone by adap-
tiOn of the best there is in FOREIGN schools