Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-19

TIL. most iUjU-ir US result Of the unreaS-
cufu-s abuse IF the Pennsylvania avenue
site suggested by the Commissioners tor
the public library Is the SANDER therein
involved of the avenue as the site of pub
lie buiIdiHgs Local circulation of exagger-
atiuus and iraEiHatioUs on this point, i'll
tended emily to defeat the specific library
proposition. is followed by reproduction
with embellishments Of the sIanderous mat
ter in outside papers. and the grand plans
for the Development Of the nations historic
avenue and the welfare Of the capital suf-
fer as Z. consequence.
To pronounce the proposed avenue loca-
ton as uuf, because the library should not
he placed in "a bog is to condemn the en-
tire avenue as unfit Cor public use. For no
public building should be located in a bog,
and if the market site can properly be thus
designated the sites of the new post office,
The Star building. the old Capital Traction
power house and the Post building must
also b. thus stigmatized. The difference of
three or four feet in altitude does not con-
vert a bog into a hill
Among the outside papers which have
REPRODUCED the shOrtsighJsd and ill-advised
a. well as untruthful slurs upon the ave-
nue. is the PiJtshurg Dispatch, which goes
the local datractors one better and says of
the Center market site:
When the Potomac goes upon ram
page it compeIs the water to back into the
sewers. and NJ this point It never fails to
VOmit forth sea of matter from SubterTa-
mean coujuits of Washington. Hardly a
year passes which dO.s not repeat two or
three tunes the spectacle Of boats being
rCWtt along the avenue at this place.
This is the sort Of stuff upon which pub
lie opinion i forming over the country in
in nit al ri
and the injury to Washington and the
criminal folly of local contribution to sUcn
ISLANDERS is obvious.
Everybody conversant with Washington
affairs knows that until the Long Bridge
dam is removed and the proposed compre-
heusive sewerage system is perfected the
comparatively Iow-iy-nE section. including
Pennsylvania avenue. with Its millions of
public and private property. viii be oX-
posed at long intervals TO the danger OF
Potomac flood. Blu the Long Bridge is TO
be removed, and the necessary changes,
already under way. will bc made in the
sewers The Importance OF Pennsylvania
avenue WEI compel the cure Of these Temedi-
able evils. Their existence viii not compel
the abandonment OF the avenue as the site
of public buildings, and should not De used
IL argument for any such purpose.
The picture Of the avenue between 9TH
ana g-h streets as the scene Of ooat-races
two or three times Year VIII elicit an
amused smile from Washing tOniaus. At
the time when the Tiber flowed in proXimi-
y To- tEe avenue and r.ade its environments
q bog like the one described in the vivid
iuagiuiues Of the DIRECTORS to the avenue
library site. the fashionable northwest with
its Sla~heS was ais, d marsh. And long
after the Tiber had ceased 10 be a living
stream. ana Pennsylvania avenue had
ceased 10 be subject 70 the reproach of he
ing Il bog. Massachusetts avenue, now 50
attractive was justly stigma ,ized with this
OpDrobriouS term. VINO viii venture TO
pronounce Massachusetts avenue a marsh
today because as recently a. 1862 Anthony
Truiopc described it il the following I'M
complimentary terms.
'Ma-~aehu-etts avenue runs the whole
length ~ the city, and is inserted on the
maps d- full-biCN.u street. about four
miles I'm length. Go there. and you will find
yourself not only out OF town away among
The u'Ids- but You VIII tina yourself beyUnd
Jhr u--Is III an u-cuJIvaJed UNFRAMED
wilderness Trucking your trousers up to
your knees YOU VIII wade through the boys:
you VIII lose yourself among rude hilIocks;
you VIII he out Of the reacn Of humanity"