Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-05

March, 1871, Major Pierre Charles l. En-
FAINT. a French engineer who had served
chosen by Washington and Jefferson to aid
in the extensive work of laying out the city
that was to be. LEnfant, with an .tnstinc-
tive genius which has made the plan of
Washington city his lasting monument,
drew the map and accompanying inscrip-
tionS which the President submitted to
Congress with special message, Deem
her b. 1871. q Messages and Papers of
the Presidents. 113)
The creation of the capital of the United
States was the first instance in history of
a nations founding a seat of government
on new ground by legislative act. And the
city was planned on a scale of amplitude
and with a marvellous foresight, which
does immortal honor to its chief projectors
Washington, Jefferson, l. Enfant and ELL
colt. These broad streets, magnificent ave-
nues. noble vistas and ample reservati tons,
by which one-half the city area is forever
secured from being built upon. attest the
predetermined sagacity of it's founders. The
national capital Graded in the wilderness
a hundred years ago finds it's ina gnificent
distances once the theme of thoughtless
ridiCule. none too ample for a thronging
population in an age when distance is al
most annihilated.
The Presidents Order.
Coming now to the recital of the re-
moval of the government to its new and
chosen capital, we find the Congress at
approved April "a 1900 q L. S. Statutes at
Large. 21D amendatory of that of July 16,
1870, and authorizing the President to an
ucipate the time of removal, fixed by law
as the first Monday in December, 1900.
President Adams had previously reminded
Congress in his annual address, December
B. 1899, that the government was required
on the first Monday of December next to
be transferred from Philadelphia to the
district chosen for its permanent seat and
hn mil losa Il tod tI.A
public buildings advanced so that the re-
moval would be practicable and the accom-
mOdations satisfactory. ANNALS of Con-
gress. Sixth Cong. 1909 On the 18th of May,
1900, Congress provided by law that its
next regular session should be held on the
third Monday of November. 1900, at the
city of Washington, instead of the first
Monday in December. the constitutional
date for its assembling. in the absence OF
a special enactment. g L. S. Statutes at
Large. 50 The next day, May II, that
body adjourned. AMI President Adams on
the day following, May Il. 1900, issued the
April a:
" The President requests the several
heads OF departments to take the most pru-
dent and economical arrangements for the
removal of the public Offices clerks and
papers, according to their own best judg-
ment. as soon as may be convenient, in
such manner that the public offices may be
opened in the city of Washington for the
dispatch of business. by the 10Th of June.
q Gibbs Memoirs of The Administrations
of Washington and Adams, 3G2D This i'm
pOrtant executive order is not filed in the
Department of State, nor has it been found
in any contemporary publication.
The fact that the 18th of June fell on
Sunday in 1900 either did not occur to the
President or was deemed unimpOrtant IN
allowing just calendar month for com
plotting the transit of the executive officers
and effects from Philadelphia to Washing
ton
The Presidents Visit.
president Adams himself left Philadel-
phia May 81. 1900, travelling by way of
Lancaster Pa, and Frederick town.. Nd
a circuitous route, but affording opportu-
mites of entertainment by the way.
He reached Georgetown June 3, left
Washington Saturday, June IA. and pro-
ceeded on his way to Massachusetts, hay
ing spent nearly TWO weeks In the Dlstrlcl.
The removal of the various department Of
fees, their clerks, archives, etc, to the new
capital was promptly entered upon. Search
of contemporary newspapers shows that
the heads of the departments left Phlladel-
phia for Washington at the following
dates: Charles Lee. Attorney General and
acting Secretary of State, May ~, 1913.
Oliver Wolcotr, Secretary of the Treasury
arrived July =, $500. Samuel Dexter, Sec
retary of War arrived June II. $500. Ben
iamiu StOddert Secretary of the Navy, left
Philadelphia June IL. Abraham Bradley,
ir acting for Postmaster General Haber-
sham absent in Georgia., left Philadelphla
May - and arrived here May %. John
Marshall, Secretary of State, arrived June
6, 1900.
THE clerks employed In the various de-
partments about 126 in number) came
over from Philadelphia at various dates,
by stage or hired COnveyances. they were al
lowed all expenses, out of the appropriation
for remova. of the government offices and
archives and about S64 coo were thus paid
out of the treasury for the entire pecuniary
charges of removing a government from its
temporary capital to its, permanent one.
The department records. office furniture,
etc, were nearly all shipped around by
Delaware and Chesapeake bays and the
Potomac, by sailing vessels. constituting no
small bulk, and the myth of "a single
packet sloop,' which magazine writers
have reported as having transferred all
the archives of the United States to. this
city, has no foundation in fact.
Settling In This City.
THE Washington that received the ex-
ecutive emigrants was imperfectly provided
with accommodations for them. Only one
department building was erected, the old
Treasury edlfice on the site of the present
south front of the department, q plain
two-story brick of only thirty rooms. The
War Department went into lodgings Ga
practice which the present day shows many
survivals) on Pennsylvania avenue above
2lst street, and the Post Office Depart
ment was opened in a leased house near
Blodgets Hotel, at the corner of sth and
Z streets.
President Adams returned to Washing
ton from his home at Quincy, Mass, the
last of November, 1900 and the George
town Centinel of Liberty announced:
He occupies the spacious building erected
for the accommoda ton Of our chief execu-
tive
Passing from the departments
which we have found fully opened here for
public business by the time fixed in Presi-
dent Adams executive order of May 10,
1850. namely. June 10, 5000 we find Con-
gress assembling in the Capitol building
tthe north wing only yet being completed
on January Il, 1890, the third Monday fixed
by its own act
No quorum. how .er, appeared in either
house that day; but on the 18th the House
of Representatives had a quorum, and the
Senate on November p, when joint COM
mittee was sent to President Adams, noti-
flying him that Congress was in session
and ready to receive any communication
from him. The President replied that he
would address them the following day. On
November %, both houses being assembled
in the Senate chamber, he read his speech
equivalent to annual messages OF later
days. in which occurred this notable pas
sage:
Immediately after the adjournment of
Congress at their last session in PhiladeI-