The Washington times., 1903-08-07

what it was two years ago-by cutting
down old forest trees, by leveling
hills and filling up GALES, by running
asphalt streets through the solitude of
the suburbs, and by laying water
mains where there Is no human being
within half a mile to tap them, by
putting up expensive school buildings
for the benefit of residents III Mary
land settlement out of taxes wrung
from the pockets Of defenseless tax
payers in the District and by playing
into the hands of land butchers, spec
ulators and promoters masquerading
as public benefactors-when it comes
t. wasting the public revenues in that
manner, we say, we are opposed to
those advocating so ruinous a policy.
As a striking example of this waste
o. the public money in the interest of
Land spectators we may cite, out of
number of similar cases, the case of
Connecticut Avenue, west Of Rock
Greek. From the western terminus
of the bridge TO near the entrance 10
the Zoo" the avenue has been as
phalted and sidewalks have been laid.
Not single house faces the avenue {;
not a single sign, even, that building
! lots are for sale, can be seen. The
evidence, however, that the land
butcher has been at work is only too
plainly discernible in the removal Of
noble trees; the dreary eXpanse of red
mud which greets the eye on every
side; the pool of stagnant and pesti-
lence-breeding water left to gather
where new street acts like a dam
and the heaps of yellow clay, like
Philippine ant-hills, which may be
said to proclaim the degree Of violence
done to nature by a Phihstine, and
which, in reality, are left to mark how
much earth the contractor has been
able to cart away
Now, with not a single house III
sight, figuratively speaking; with not
the least prospect of an asphalted
street being needed in that section for
some years to come; with ill-paved
streets endangering life and limb in
the very heart of the city; with brick
sidewalks scattered over town i'll
every direction to test the temper OF
the pedestrian and invoke the indul-
gence of the Recording Angel-what
Is the object, except it be to lend 8
hand in the diabolical destruction OF
the beautiful country surrounding Us
on every side-what Is the object, we
repeat. of squandering money III So
called improvements" which the city,
al the present rate Of its growth, will
rot, and cannot, digest in twenty-five
years.
In the present condition of the Dis
trict exchequer the taxpayers Will
hold those making common cause with
the land butchers responsible for their
Gets. Ii was not SO much what Alex
ander r. Shepherd did himself, as
what his rapacious hangers-on-the
land spectators of that day-did tc
enrich themselves under the protect
! ing aegis of his genius, that drove HIM
from power and into exile. Let ouI
Commissioners ponder over that and
take the lesson to heart. No govern
ment can hope TO exist long without
the support Of public opinion: ana
though the plain people Of the Dis
t1;ct may have no way of recording
their wishes at the ballot box, there
| l., in our opinion, little doubt as Il
nat they will think, and as to what
perhaps, they Will do, if they should
discover their government to be one
RIM in the interest of land Jobber'