Evening star., 1898-11-17
\ Temple of Justice.

10 the Editor of The Evening Star:
1t is 20 be hoped that the recent acci
dent at the Capitol will influence Congress-
To pass Senator Morrilrs bill TO secure
ground for building for the Supreme
Court. and / am very glad to see by the
press that one Of the justices has brought
the matter to the attention of the Presi-
dent for there is no doubt that if the
members Of the court will interest them
selves in the matter they can help very
much 10 induce Congress 10 act
No one can question the necessity or the
prOpriety of erecting q suitable buiIdiro
Tor the Supreme COurt-a building thar
snail be i'll accord with the dignity and
Importance of that august body
A bill twice passed the Senate Years ago
to take the six squares east of the CanifoI
from Il street south TO Il north for the Ii
brary and Supreme Court building; but as
II could not be got through the House. the
friends Of the measure finally secured the
passage of the bill for the three en,1+ h
squares for the library Senator voorhees,
saying at the time that they would in1yne-
dlateIy introduce and push a bill to take
the other three for the Supreme Court
building, as originally intended
Senator Morrill, has introduced a bill in
each Congress since. and it has been favor
ably reported in the Senate at nearly If
not quite. every Congress 1t is pending
now. but not reported as yet If is IN he
at the coming session, though the fact that
it will be a short session, and that ire
questions growing out Of the war viii oc-
Cupy the attention of Congress- NAV render
il difficult. and hence the necessity for CON
Certed and strenuous efforts
Whether passed at the coming session or
not The government is bound to take the
ground sooner or later. and the sooner the
better. 1t is absurd to suppose that the
government will permit il To remain as il
Is, with that jog in the public grounds
there.
When the Prince of Wales visited the
Capitol in 1860 or 81. / heard a member of
his suite say that he had been in every
capitol building in Europe. and that not
one OF them could compare with ours.
l recently heard { gentleman Who has
been through Europe several times saw thar
there were but three buildings in the world
mat eXceiled our new library building
win a corresponding temple of justice on
the adjoining grounds. we will have a trio
OF buildings superior to anything in the
world TIE longer it is delayed the more
1t will cost, as was the case with the two
squares taken TO enlarge the Capitol
grounds.
In 1860 the owners offered the property in
those two squares for s392. 80 The war
coming on delayed action, and in 1873 the
government paid S6S4 1870. Is for it, consider
ably more than twice much
In ISIS, and again in 1886, under author
ity of Congress, the Secretary of the Inte-
rior obtained from the individual owners
the prices at which they would sell: but
the amount | am unable to state Since
then quite a number of additional build
ipgs have been erected and other improve
ments made Another reason why the mat
ter should be settled is that it works injus-
fice TO the owners, to keep the possibility
of the government taking it hanging over
their heads. 1t prevents their selling or
renting TO advantage.
For these and other reasons it is sim
cerely to be hoped that the matter may be
settled without further delay.
November 16, 1898. w. c. DODGE