Evening star., 1901-09-03

put upon 1t, and to seek a remedy by
peaceful means And it Is less and less
disposed to brag and bluster as 1t attains
greater power and therefore greater self
respect. This very exposition, like those
which have preceded it, manifests the spirit
of the American people. devoted to the
competitions Of peace. Proud of its army
and navy, proud OF their achievements and
those of the citizen soIdiery supplementing
the regular forces, 1t looks upon them as a
means of defense and not of offense. and
for the exceptional emergencies, and not
the ordinary life Of the nation
The Feeling Strong.
Nowhere Is the national, or the interna-
tiona1, feeling of the United States Of
America so strong or SO clearly expressed
as in the District Of Columbia, where the
representatives and the citizens of all the
states and territories meet and contribute
to the populations: where the national gov
ernment carries on Its operations; where
the President. through a Secretary of
State. conducts the negotiations respectinp
its foreign relations with the ambassadors
and ministers OF all the other governments
who are permanently resident in Washing
ton. The very purpose Of the founders Of
the District Of Columbia was to make II
national. and even cosmopolitan-remoyed
from local and provincial feelings and in
fuences-and its development has more and
more gratifed their desire.
ut will be remembered that the far-seeing
genius Of George Washington first perceived
the necessity for such a capital. He had
seen the revolutionary capital and that of
the confederation which followed the revo-
luton moving about from place to place in
ephemeral and undignifed fashion: he had
seen the congress of the confederation flee
from its place in Philadelphia In 17S3 be-
fore the onslaught Of mob of the ill-re-
Quilted solGders of the revolution. He had
determined then that the people of the
United States needed not only a more per-
fnnf 11gliO h.lf yfnnr nrf1
federal district which would give it security
and sancuty it could not have in any place
temporarily loaned by one Of the states
Other men began to see it too. 1t was felt
that the dignity as well as the safety. and.
therefore, the perpetuity, Of the national
government that was to come Into being
with the new Constitution demanded that 1t
should have seat of its own under it's own
authority, and where 1t could not be en-
croached upon by any disturbing influences,
Accordingly, in the Constitution OF 17s9
provision was made for a federal district
ten miles square. over which Congress
should have exclusive jurisdiction Then
came the consideration in Congress of the
important question of where the federal dis
tr1ct should be placed. Naturally, different
sections and different states desired IT. 1t
was seen that 1t could not be given to New
England or to the extreme SOUTH but every
state In between considered itself eligible
and most Of them tried to get it, Offering in
some cases even their state capitals for the
HdlIOIldl use. Inc contest IN Congress over
the selection Of place became excited and
at times so bitter that some felt that the
breakup OF the Union, which all feared as
possible before its thin ties could be made
unbreakable might come over the placing
of the federal district.
Famous Compromise.
Congress made several tentative selec-
tions and one. in Pennsylvania, that was
apparently definitive, but all were recon-
EidpreH
troversy might go on Indefinitely, when
the famous compromise was reached by
which the south got the federal district,
In consideration of It's acquiescence in the
desire Of the north for the assumption by
the nation of the revolutionary debts of
the states. 1t was as natural as it was
admirable that the choice of the precise
location for the federal district on the
Potomac river, for 100 miles from Will
Transport southwark, was left to George
Washington, who knew the whole region
thoroughly and was more interested in
the success Of the plan than any other
man, for he had not only the eye of the
surveyor but the eye Of the seer, and Sc
lected site not only with regard to it's
beauty, its convenience and it's adaptable
ity, but to the future Of the nation. It
was well that he was also intrusted with
the preparation of the federal city within
the federal district, for he laid it out, with
the assistance Of Thomas Jefferson, the
leader of the other school of statesmen,
and of the surveyors, L'Enfant and Ell
licott. with the eye Of faith which saw
the United States Of today as no other
man Of his time began to see it. 1t is
hard to realize now that no one saw then
as Washington did the United States Of a
century later. bound together in a union
that cannot be broken. a mighty nation,
spread not only across the continent, but
across the seas, and whose future great
ness no man can limit. Washington
thought with breadth and depth that dis
tinguished him from the other fathers Of
this republic, and nowhere does this ap-
pear more clearly than on the map OF the
federal city, as Washington called 1t, al
though inevitably it was called by his
name by every one else and finally by
Congress. AS we look at that plan, whose
scope and detail are now admired by the
greatest experts as the best possible for
the purpose, we see Washington's conf
dence in the future OF the nation which
he had brought into the world. 1t is diff
fcult for us to realize how puny that ma
ton appeared to foreigners; how weak and
unpromising to many Of its own citizens;
so that the magnificent project Of Wash
ington for the federal city seemed to them.
alike in it's unparalleled grandeur and SYM
metry, thing for rdicule.
1.-THE. serene Washington, who faced
laughter as he faced cannon, did not
change his project, which is still the work.
ing plan for the city of Washington to this
day. Washington not only selected the site
Of the federal district and planned the
rangements under which Maryland and
Virginia gave to the United States the
jurisdiction over the territory for the Dis
trict of Columbia as Congress called the
federal district in memory of Columbus,
and personally conducted the negotiations
with the nineteen owners of the land, most
ly cut UP into farms, on which the city of
Washington was to be built. He included
on the Maryland side of the Potomac. in
the larger portion of the District, sixty
nine out of the one hundred square miles.
the city of Georgetown founded by Scotch
and English in 1I51, and on the Virginia
side Of the Potomac his own home town Of
Alexandria, both towns then ambitious and
hopeful of commercial greatness. which
Washington himself sought to bring to
them by the Chesapeake and Ohio canal,
designed to connect the east with the coun-
try beyond the mountains, then called the
west.
Poor Government Then.
but the federal city he placed on the
map between Rock creek, the eastern
boundary of Georgetown, on the west, and
the Anacostia river on the east, with the
Potomac as the southern boundary. The
national government was poor as well as
weak. 1t could not afford to buy out the
original proprietors 1t could not afford to
put up the necessary buildings for its own
use. Therefore, in the decade from 1880