New-York tribune., 1902-01-12


Gr0m the bust BY the late Onsow Ford)
administration gambling had betaken itself to
gambling houses in PennsyIyania-ave., and
though Congress had enacted stringent laws
against Il, they remained a dead letter, anC
scores OF Senator's and Representatives sqUan
dered their salaries at the gaming table. Tn,
reckessness then characteristic Of WashingtoI
society was fostered by conditions that hav,
since become obsolete one was the lack o.
family life at the capital owing TO the difficulty
and expense of travel Thence arose a featur.
OF life that ended only with the civil War-th,
"messes' at private boarding houses, composee
Of little coteries Of Consressmen of ike poiiJica
opinions to which no guests were admitted
The physical condition Of the capital improved
slowly In the early days congressman ha,
TO toll over execrable roads from Georgetown
to their daily business and late as 1854 the
brilliant Laurence Oliphant describes the ell.
as "a wilderness of bowling streets runniH
into the country, and ending nowhere. its popu
latIon consisting chiefly Of politicians and ne
groes. In 1860 it was little better than al
overgrown village, its houses of wood; its street
ungraded. Unpayed and III kept. its water sup
piled by springs and pumps, its sewerage fatal.
defective. The Civil War brought a change
doubling the population in a decade and adding
and in 1871 came the energetic and much abused
administration of Governor Shepherd tha
wrought a complete transformation. His down
fall brought another important transformation
that in the local government when in 1874 Con
gress took away the elective franchise and Is
tablshed the government by commissioners
that has made Washington, in Mr.. Wilson
view the best governed city in the world"
Mr.. Wilson has devoted much space to trac
ing the political history of the country as l.
was determined by the course of events at tn
capital and his review is succ,nct and ami
mated So too are his characterizatons CT tn,
men who have successfully appeared and player
their part there in national politics. He is con
cerned hot only with serious facts Of history
but with the picturesque and striking incident
through which they were developed, and he i
full of quotations OF memorable scenes in Con
Eress-many Of them such as no American cal.
be proud Uf There is the picture of old John
Quincy Adams in the House an ex-President.
fighting single handed for the right of petition
his bald head crimson with excitement anc
tears dropping from his eyes, as he for foul
days stood defying the storm and hurting bach
opprobrium on his enemies; of CIay's farewell
to the Senate when members sat with bowed
heads, their eyes suffused with tears, and ad
epoch in legislative history" There is the sue
cession of turbulent scenes during the slavery
contest before the Civil War; the contest IL
1875 over the admission of Kansas, when Keitt
and Grow and Barksdale and Washburn came
to blows, and the situation was saved only by
the ludicrous appearance presented by Barks-
dae's restoration of his wig backside foremost
on his head, Brooks's assault on Sumner in the
Senate. and Pryor's challenge of Potter for
words spoken in the House-one OF a number
Of such events though the duel never came off
and the last ever sent by one member of Con
gress to another. The exciting days of the Civi'
War. of course, furnish material to Mr.. Wilson
for many interesting pages, in which anecdote
of President Lincoln naturally occupy prom
nent place.
Washington is "a city of authority am
leisure" and of the higher level OF life anc
society that exists there Mr.. Wilson gives
an agreeable and discriminating picture in the
closing pages of his book His work is ex-
tremeIy well done; the two substantial volumes
are the product OF interchangeable research, pre-
sented in d manner that never ceases to be en-
tertaining.