Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-21

with Gov Shepherd, but I can see in his
face that he was the man for the occasion.
have come here tonight simply as citi-
zen ard taxpayer and q permanent resident
Of Washington, and 1 take this opportunity
to meet you not as members of the bench
or Of the bar, but as my fellow citizens.
My affection for the city OF washington Is
great and 1 could talk upon the mildness
of its climate, the width of its streets, the
smoothness of its pavements. and above
all things, Of the excellence OF Its num-
cipal government. not oy any means FOR
getting the number Of its equestrian stat
ues When Gov. Shepherd left Washing
ton he left it a city of magnificent dis
tances. He has come back to hnd II
city of equestrian statues. But we have
still more Of these statues to come. and
the question Is what are We going to do
with them?
But 1 claim the privilege Of taxpayer
and of citizen OF washington to say l am
proud OF its present beauties. and Of the
possibilities of the future. 1 think the plan
of this city Is q most magnificent one.
think it was a most happy thought to have
streets as they do 1t was happy thought
to name the avenues for states Of the
Union. I think that custom almost necessi-
tates and will justify naming Of certain
parallel streets by numbers But when 1t
comes to naming streets for letters of tie
alphabet I think that Is utilitarianism run
mad. I have no prejudice against letters
of the alphabet. I would AS soon speak els
phabet. Laughter) But when l see let
te-s of the alphabet used as names for
streets l wonder what they have done to
us that they should be punished In this
way.
How easily this thing could have been
done in another way, by which we could
have paid a very proper tribute to the cap
| itals of states, by substitute them for let
tiers of the alphabet Suppose, instead of
A street. we had said Atlanta street, and
thus honored the empire state of the south.
Or we might have called it Albany street
and honored the empire state of the north:
or Austin street, and honoreo the great state
of Texas How easily to have euphonious
rame in the place of street. There is Bos-
ton, tie beautiful capital of the grand old
state where 1 was born; or Bismarck, the
capital of North Dakota. For C street We
could have substituted Columbia, 8. c., or
Columbus Ohio. For D there Is Dover In
Delaware. I know we have no capital be-
ginning with F.. Let E street go, or We
might call 1t Erie. F could s9!e way 10
Frankfort, the capital of the Grand COM
monwealth of Kentucky. Hartford or
Helena could take the place OF II. There is
jefferson or Jackson for street. Madison
or Montgomery could take the place of NJ,
and Olympia, the capital Of Washington,
could be used 80 the name for street.
P for Preston OF Providence Who would
rot prefer such names to street. Owe
have Quebec, not a capital of any state at
present, but it probably will he some day.
r can take it's choice between Richmond and
Raleigh, s. Salefn. L, Iopehst, hdH-hdHsSaS
a little peculiar still giving n good name to
a street or there is Tallahassee. the capital
of Florida, and so on.
perhaps you will think am scolding. I
am no stranger here I am one Of you. and
claim the privilege of a taxpayer. not only
to praise or criticise, but to scold if neces-
sary. But no one is more proud of Washing
ton than am. know 1t Is the finest city of
the country When I lived in Detroit, said
there were only two places l would rather
live in, and they we're Boston and Washing
ton, and think 1 would prefer Washington.
I want Washing ton to be not only the finest
city of the country. but want 1t to be the
! fiepst city of the world"
| The POSTMASTER, Mr.. Parker, said he