Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-25
GOV. V.SHEPHERDGOING
He Talks With a Star Man Before
Leaving for Mexico.
his VIEWS ON DISTRICT GOVERNMENT
He Would Change It to an Execu-
tive Department.
STREETS, WATER AND SEWERS


senct of nes rly year from the scene of
his mining operations at Batopilas. Gov.
Shepherd will go from here directly to Chi
huahua, and his journey may continue to
the City of Mexico itself before he finally
reaches Batopilas The vacation he has en-
joyed, which included trip to Europe and
a Sojourn of several months in his beloved
city Of Washington, has been advantageous
to him physically, and he is enjoying robust
health 1t was the first time that he had
teen in Washington, save for an exceeding
ly brief visit in 1887, for fifteen years, and
during his stay he had opportunity to
appreciate the fulhllment of the plan of
greater Washington which he inaugura ted
and carried through it's initial stages, until
only the natural growth which progress
brings remained to be developed. Desiring
to learn his impressions of the city which
owes so much to l is genius, a Star reporter
called upon MIN this morning at his resi-
dence on Massachusetts avenue near
Thomas Circle.
The Present Form of Government.
Il was virtually a stranger to Washing
ton for fifteen years until my present
visit" said Gov. Shepherd, when the re-
porter made the object of his visit known,
'and the chief impression made upon my
mind since my return here has been that
the present form of District government is
all wrong, and must of necessity be
changed in n very few years. l do not
wish to be taken as finding fault with the
personnel of the present government, :or
1t would te impossible to find two better
men than Commissioners Ross and Trues-
dell. My opinion is entirely free from pref
udice, l assure you, but it is nevertheless
emphatic. There is too mucn of division
of responsibility now by the direction of
the affairs OF the District by three Com
missioners. This responsibility should be
lnd1Vldualized. OF course, there is pos
sibllity here for anything like suffrage, and
there should not be. The re-esta bllshment
of suffrage here is an impossibility, and
belief that it may be attaired some time
IN the hereafter is an absErdity. The Dis
trict OF Columbia is really a big govern
ment reservation, ard the people who come
here take up their residence with the dis
tinct understanding that the United States
government is the controlling influence in
the direction of it's destiny. Then, again,
there she Uld never be any possibility of the
administration of the District affairs being
opposed to the administration of national
affairs. which has it's home here, such as
suffrage might cause. The two must al
ways be congenial."
My theory of the form of government
which should be adopted for the District of
Columbia" continued the governor, lis that
the District should be made department
of the United States governmental sep
arate and distinct executive department.
with cabinet officer in charge of 1t. 1t is
ance as such fully justifies the head of it's
government in occupying a place coequal
with the heads of the other departments
of the government. 1t has been suggested
in the past that the District affairs might
be taken care of by the Secretary of the
Interior, but they are too important, in my
opinion. to be made a matter of secondary
consideration. such as they necessarily
would be if Joined to the Interior Depart
ment. The cabinet officer at the head Of the
District department should have a staff
under his control, and the power of appoint
ment of each member of it. who would be
selected for their familiarity with the
necessities of the District, and assigned to
the branches of the work in which they were
most accomplished and expert. 1t would be
very easy for the President of the United
States in such a to select a man for
the head Of this department equal in point
of ability, and, therefore. in point Of in
fuence, with any other member of his cabi-
net.
There would be no chasing of cranky
ideas or attempts at impossible experiments
by army officers who happen to be appoint
ed Engineer Commissioners of the District"
continued Governor Shepherd. 'rhe en-
gineer officer under the department form
OF government would report to the head
of the department, and would have no power
to lay down plans and then carry them out
without hindrance from anybody. Under
the present form Of government an engineer
officer may be assigned to duty as District
Commissioner and proceed to inaugurate
system based upon his own ideas. Upon his
retirement another officer may succeed him
whose views will be Numerically opposed
to his, and the preceding plans may be
changed accordingly. With government
such as have briefly outlined all such
clashing and expensive experimenting would
be made impossible.
Extension Of the Streets.
'"There is another thing continued Gov.
Shepherd, that has struck me as being
unwise since my return to Washington, and
that Is the general tendency on the part Of
a great many people TO demand a spreading
out and distenson of Washington to the
District limits. l have as deep an interest
In Washington as any. man in it, but am
entirely opposed to the scheme of street
extension whole. ] believe that some
of the streets, the main arteries, should
be extended to the District boundary but
to extend them all would be the height Of
foolishness. When people go out into the
country to live they want two or three
acres around their house instead of being
confined by a twenty-five-foot lot. The ad-
vocates Of this street extension plan, too,
are bird to another thing. Because New
York has extended itself fifteen miles in
the last forty years and Chicago and Phila-
delphia have made similarly great advance
ments, some people have the idea that
Washington Is going to do tho same thing
That conclusion Is simply absurd New
York is the greatest commercial city in
America, and is continually growing from
within itself and extending it's boundaries
on this account. Philadelphia is a great
manufacturing city and Chicago is great
in manufactures and is the entrepot for
the commerce Of all the great lakes. Their
spreading out, therefore. is natural Wash
irgton, however, has nothing to increase
1t but the accretions from the outside. 1t
has no manufactures and it never will
have, except those which are peculiar to
capital cities to turn out works of art and
articles of vertu and perhaps few Of the
things that enter into the daily necessities
of the community, but 1t contains nothing
itself to warrant the belief that it will
grow to such an extent as the projectors
of the general street extension plan seem
to imagine.
DenuncintiOn of the Water Supply,
''The most outrageous thing in Wash
ington," said the governor, after a pause,
"is its water supply. If the board of pub
lie works in the old days had been guilty
of such a thing that tunnel out here 1t
would have been laughed out Of existence
The trouble about the water supply seems
to be that the responsibility for it has been
divided, and therefore the influence in be-
half of its betterment been weakened
Washington has the grandest facilities for
a perfect supply Of water in the world,