The times., 1901-03-25
FUTURE OF WASHINGTON
A Citizen Advocates the Immediate
Establishment of Industries.
\ City Must he SeIf-Supporting to
Prosper-The Capital, Like the Ma
tion. should Manufacture and sell
Abroad-An Omce-HoIdinG Glass.


who frequently visits the District Build
ing was talking a day or so ago, to
reporter of The Times about the viev
| expressed by b. II. Warner al the re
cent meeting of the Business Mems As
sociation. 1t will be recalled that Mr.
| Warner stated on that occasion tina
| Washington is sadly in need of manufac
| turing industries He spoke of the in
vestment of money in manufactures, az
the next important step to be taken Il
give the Capital City a natural anC
healthy growth,
| The business man referred to warmly
| seconded Mr. Warmers views. He has
evidently given the subject much thought
and he believes that a large number o1
manufacturing enterprises are needed an6
that they must come. or the city will de
| generate and go backward, instead of for.
| ward, Il do not mean" said he. that
| these manufacturing plants shall be iror
! smelling or the work that attaches chief
| ~ to foundries and machine shops
| though. doubtless, a moderate number OF
! these will be required in the industrial
| development of the Federal Capital in
years to come. | should think that within
the next twenty-five or thirty years hun
dreds of small factories would spring III
| III lnb DjSITlcI. III Il measure 10 SollSi y
| the home demand.
You know it is true of city, as of a
nation or of an individual that It can
not prosper unless it is self-supporting.
To be self-supporting it must manufac-
| ture considerable number of the things
that it consumes. The great cities of the
country not only manufacture enough to
measureahly meet the home demand but
| make enough beside to sell elsewhere to
| pay for what it is necessary TO buy. Al
| the present time 1t is thought to be wise
| public policy to sell abroad what is man
! ufactured In this country. and In that
| way acquire great national wealth We
| hear much about the expansion of COM
merce and hear from official quarters
about the open door in the Orient and
/ the efforts made everywhere to secure
markets for American goods. Did it ever
strike you that "A city that makes moth
| ing, and buys everything elsewhere, is a
poor and spendthrift city? That is what
| is the matter with Washington, we are
| strainints every nerve to make a living off
the Government and the office-holding
class, instead of getting down to business
and bringing things to pass, as other
cities do"
The reporter suggested that there is a
pretty wcll established tradition that
Washington must not be a manufacturing
city Men say that it is the National
Capital, and that it should be reserved
for the wealthy, who may seek residence
here. and for the holding class.
The man said: That foolish notian.
hope, expired with the nineteenth CEN
tury What the twentieth century wants
and will have is the smell of coal smoke
supplemented, probably, by the use of
power from the Potomac River How
many rich people are there in Washing
ton? | would like to know. Certainly not
one-third of the population, and here, as
elsewhere, where there are leisure class,
they are nuisance, pure and simple.
They add nothing but a bad example TO
the young, and they aid the city only in
the amount they spend for their living
and their pleasures. If they would invest
their money in enterprises and give others
a chance to make an honest living it
would be different
This thought was behind what Mr..
Warner said about the office-holding class
of the population being against their
wishes a drag upon the city DO you know
/ sometimes think that the office holders
OF the Capital represent the failures in
business and in the professions in the
States from which they have come. At all
events, when they come to Washington
as office holders they have no initiative
TO help the city along. They are employees
of the Government. Their property inter-
ests and investments. if they have any.
are elsewhere, and the ma iority Of them
probably 90 back home as soon as they
are out of office They spend a little
money while here and that is all II js
neither the rich nor the Office holding
class that is going to build UP the city
and make it what IL deserves to be
1t seems to have escaped the notice
of some people that Washington with its
ZS,OJ0 population is about as poorly off
as city of less than 10000 That Is TO
say; that striking out the transient office
hoidlng class we have about 100 900 DeoDle
who actually belong here and are Wash
ingt0nians. Mr.. Warner was right in say
ing that this 100000 population are carry
ing an awful burden. The idea of reserV-
ing Washington as some sort OF a social
city where industry shall not come is
radically wrong. There is not such a
capital in the civilized world and there
never ought to be. 1t is contrsrv IN com,
mon sense. The bona fide pop1IIation of
" washington Is growing, it has longings
Tor industry, trade, and commerce. and
these In time it will have as the city
Such business and manufactures as
nave been established In Washington have
pfoSpered. We make nehw a good many
lhlnSs at profit for home constrnDtion
S@hd @ theft Is no reason. except one born of a
taise notion of what city ought to be
why our industries should not multiplv
anu ahd srYW Tar beyond the limits Of bread
ture Of confectionery Why nof shoes
shirts, hats, and clothing? Nobody rails
ed a WoId Of remOnstrance when the
street car companies began to manufac-
ture the electric current ESTABLISHING
therefor several of the largest plants in
the District, because IL was evident thai ,
TINS manufacture supplied a great Dub-
lie need. Now is il not as sensible and
as necessary that Washingtonians sbouid
manufacture such things as are uorp
every day, as to create that current to
enable rich and poor alike to ride abo,It
tn" city, '''ul
Washington. with all the cities Of the
IO"eI latltudeS, IS little shy on what
u lne ankees call gumption but their /
81" ness Is only temporary matter
, ) honSh slow. Baltimore, Richmond Al /
iaita, and number of others have over
come the hlndrances Of climate ana -.
Iact liat they were not Just in The carly /
tracks OF overland traffic. and have mad |
d good showing as Industrial and trgdint, |
I lis washington must follow in The
sdHit pain or cease 10 be. 1t cannot live
glu'H iehSer on the departments and tba !
~ fch people who gravitate here for
men winter pleasures The destiny of
iie CITY, as does that of every ofbor
points TO self-supporting industTv ia,
from ana independent of the Nati0raI
government As take it, the Washingtoh,''
DI the year 2OoD win he a city thai c1UI5
ose the Government offices and the vbai,
lfadlIicns of the Capital and still 90 ~
anu Il, prosper by its own industry and
MILLS TO BE REMOVED.