Evening star., 1899-03-02
House Selection Favored by the Sen
ate District Committee.
Mt. VERNON SQUARES ADVANTAGES
The Bill Blocked by a Few Sen
ators.
IT'S MERITS Erred


| bills providing for a site for the Washing
ton public library. the Senate recommend
| ing the purchase of site for 10000, to
be taken exclusively from the District reve-
| nues, and the House authorizing the Com
! missioners to place the library to be built
| by Mr.. Carnegie Oh Mt Vernon square.
The proposition by the Senate to purchase
a site was, however, the second choice of
| the Senate committee on the District of Co
| lurnbia, that committee first recommending
| in the strongest language a bill to place
the library on Mt. Vernon square, which
| proposition is undoubtedly far stronger in
| the Senate than the suggestion for the pur-
| chase of a site, and was abandoned because
| of the expressed opposition on the part of
| a few senators.
| 1t is expected that the Senate will today
| pass library bill. and that the two propo-
| sitions will then be considered in confer
| ence
| Advantages of Mt. Vernon Square.
In the report of the Senate committee on
| the District of Columbia the bill to To-
| cate the library on Mt. Vernon square, af-
| ter stating objections to placing the library
| at the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and
9TH street, the committee said:
| The market house site having been dis
| carded. 1t remained to discover another
| suitable site. By common consent Mt. Yer
| non square was fixed upon, and the more
| this site was discussed the more il grew in
| favor. 1t is not open to the objection that
| might be made in placing a public building
| in other reservations, because originally
Mt Vernon square was not part of the
parking system of Washington but was
the site of what was for years the largest
| market house in the District of Columbia.
mt: Vernon square is one of the public
| squares of the city the fee of which is in
! the United States. In 1920 in the act es-
tabiishins charter for the city of Wash
| nSton, Congress authorized the city corpo-
ration to occupy and improve for public pur-
| poses, by and with the consent of the Presi-
| dent of the United States. any part of the
| public and open spaces and squares In said
city not interfering with any private rights.
| In 1Si6 application was made to the Presi-
| dent for authority to occupy and improve
tEiS space or square for the purposes of a
market Authority having been granted 4
| market was then established and maintain
| cd until December =, 1872, when it de-
| stroyed.
| The original market house was a small
| brick structure, running from the building
| line of 9Th street westwardly about one
| half the distance to Sth street. Subsequent-
ly this brick structure was extended
| through to Sth street, and other extensions
| were made until the market buildings reach
| ed K street or New York avenue on the
| south. and there were various frame build
| ings and booths attached to the main mar
| ket, so that at least one-half of what is now
! known as Mt Vernon square was used for
| market purposes.
I'm 1912 and subsequently this Northern
| Liberty Market. as it was known, was the
| largest market in the city. 1t was destroy
ed by the orders of Mr.. Alexander r. SFep-
! herd under circumstances too well known
| to need recounting here.
| Suited for Library Purposes.
Mount Vernon square is particularly
suited to library purposes, from the fact
| that it is about in the center of the popu-
| lation that would naturally use a public
library. In theory the Washington free
library is an adjunct of the public schools,
| and the proposed location for the library
| would place the building within a few mo-
| ments' walk of the largest public schools
| in the District. including the Central High
School; the manual training school, and the
| Franklin School. Moreover, the site is
| slSirted by the Metropolitan. the Columbia
and the Capital Traction railways, and is
| within easy distance of the City and Sub
urban railway. The square is so large that
! the proposed library would occupy small
| er relative proportion than the statues now
| occupy in the circles. and would be quite as
much an ornament to the city.
! Situated in the center of Mount Vernon
| square, the view of the building would be
| obtained from Massachusetts avenue, *
| street and New York avenue, and would
add dignity and beauty to Il portion of the
| city where ornamentation is somewhat
| lacking.
No Adequate Objection.
| THE committee can discover no adequate
objection to the use of Mount Vernon
| square but, on the other hand find that all
| arguments point to it the location best
| adapted TO utilize to fullest extent the
| very generous gift proposed by Mr. Carne-
| gle
| Public school buildings within eight
| squares of the proposed location Of Carne-
| gle library ca Mount Vernon square:
White:
| White: Pupils.
Abbot. squares, schools. ........... $50
| Webster, . squares, "a schools. $50
Thomson. :|'2 squares, ) schools. .... 135
| IttSG. 1l2 square. Observation-Disclosures. 1000
| Polk, Il squares. 10 schools. ......... 4JO
Henry. 6ia squares. u schools. $50
| Manual Ira ming, squares. .tD
| Blake, squares. 10 schools. 400
SCatOn. 1i2 squares, II schools. $50