Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16


and responsibilities of their position at the
earliest possible moment. They are not
Office seekers drones, who are unable to
exist out of place, but capable business
men, who have at the sacrifice of money
and health, given their time, brains and
energies to the thankless task of pulling the
city out of the slough of despond. That
| work done, they will gladly relinauish Of
flee for those for whom it has more
charms"
The editorial contrasts the conditions in
the city at the time of writing with those
existing before the board began it's work,
| saying the capital city was now worthy of
| the name, and continuing
"It is safe to say that if the work had
| not been entered upon when it was, and
| by just such resolute. energetic men, it
| would never have been done. The city
would have drifted into chronic. hopeless
| state Of seediness, unthrift and premature
| decay; without pride, self-respect or ambi-
ton, the scott of visitors, receiving the cold
| shoulder of Congress, and inviting, by its
| shabbiness, a continual agitation of the
| capital-moving project to the detriment of
business and the utter prostration of all
real estate improvements from want of con-
| fdence in the future of the city.
September 13, 1873, Governor Cooke re-
signed to return to private life. and Mr..
Shepherd was appointed to succeed him at
the head of the territorial government of
the District of Columbia. The Star say
ing:
"The appointment will undoubtedly be a
matter of hearty qualification to a large
majority of the people of this District, from
the fact that Mr.. Shepherd is native here
and has won his spurs by hard labor. 1t
is not necessary for us at this time to speak
of his career in detail. 1t is sufficient to
say that from his earliest boyhood he has
had an honorable ambition to do something
to make the city of Washington worthy of
it's name and position, and it is quite GER
tain that in the future as in the past, his
whole energies of body and mind will be
given to the advancement of the interests
of the District
The next event of Importance as having
bearing upon the evolution of the District
government was the congressional investf-
CATION in the early months of 1874 of
charges brought by certain people against
the board of public works. When the in
vestigation was concluded, May %, 1874,
The Star epitomized the situation thus:
Some mistakes, errors and Irregularities
have been shown such as are inseparable
from all works on large scale carried on
by human agency but nothing has been de-
veloped to the prejudice of the personal in
tegrity of the District government, and 1t
will not do to take microscopic or narrow
view of petty faults in the execution of a
vast scheme like the redemption of the ma
tional capital. 1t should be judged as a
grand whole, and in view of the question
whether it could have been effected as well,
or at all, by any other agents.
ct has long been apparent, and was so
pointed out many months ago in these col
umns that the District machine too
large, expensive and unwieldly to be main
tanned permanently, and we urged that it
should be curtailed just as fast as the COM
pletion of the work of improvement would
permit
The 1874 bill for government by a COM
mission was approved by The Star in all its
principal features, except that it was
claimed the tax rate of Sd on each 500 OF
real property imposed on Washington was
excessive. 1t was argued that the Districts
debts could easily be paid without this high
rate if the government would do its duty
and reimburse the District for one-half the
expenses of the improvements. Out of this
discussion evolved the "half-and-half' prin-
ciple. Coming down to the passage of the
bill establishing the permanent form of
government here and embodying 1.-The COM
pact of 1S7S.'' The Star, June IL, 1873 had
this well-verified prediction to make:
The District of Columbia, with its 10000
inhabitants, is, by the provision of this act,
brought into copartnership with the ma
tional government, and the growth, gran
e Iii, ill