Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-24
PRIDE In THE CAPITAL
AMERICANS DESIRE WASHING
TON TO BE CITY BEAUTIFUL.
Should Not Ask Citizens to Pay
Half Cost Of National
Work.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Speaker Cannon is reported to have said
that the extensive plans prepared by emf
nent architects and landscape gardeners
for the growth and Identification of the
city of Washington would be carried out
Just as fast as the residents Of Washing
ton came forward with half the cost. This
is truly surprising proposition, and not
likely to meet with the approval of the peo-
pie of the country. They take pride In
their capital, and have a real affection for
1t. They will find it hard to discover why
the small number Of people who live In the
District Of Columbia, which was called into
existence purely for national purposes,
should have anything to do with the ma
tional expense Of capital city, laid out
on lines that no private individuals would
have ever thought Of adopting. or why they
should be called on to pay any part or the
special expense involved.
1t is neither fair to the residents that
they should be put in such position nor
is it fair to the country that the develop
ment and completion of It's capital should
be hampered and delayed by permitting To-
cal District of Columbia considerations to
enter into 1t at all. Washington is small
city, and by no means a rich one; there are
no factories, and very little business goes
on there. and II, as Mr.. Cannon insists, the
development of the capital Is to proceed
only as fast as the residents of Washington
will elapse before it can be completed, no
matter how rich the country may be, nor
how eager to see the work finished.
ALI Americans City.
Mr.. Cannon's view involves the mistaken
superstition that the people Of Washington
are any more interested in what is purely a
m ha n
country, or bound to pay a larger proper
ton Of the cost. Washington was located
and laid out under the direction of the first
President and the second went there to
live, since when 1t has been the arena Of
great events, the abiding place of heroes
and statesmen, and chief center of in
terest to the entire country. 1t would be
fitting as the new century opens that the
ceremonies of inauguration should become
more splendid and impressive exhibitions
Of the majesty, unity and progress of a
great enlightened and law-abiding people,
and that as citizens and soldiers, employer
and employed. march in ever-growing uni
son along Pennsylvania avenue, the ma
tons consecrated and historic parade
ground, they should find 1t graced from end
to end with noble architecture and adorned
as was never any street before with statues
arches and monuments Of commemorative
art.
Historic Avenue.
Along its route should live in marble and
In bronze the mighty men Of the republic
who have trodden it, and the great deeds
they have wrought. No other street Is so
closely associated with the history Of any
government as 1t is with ours. Washing
ton traversed it when it was but a wood
land path; John Adams made his way in
state through its stumps and bog holes;
Jefferson set out trees along its line when
the city site had been stripped of forest;
and every other President, with his varying
escort, has passed along 1t to assume his
once. 1t has seen more such pageantry
than any street in the world, and, meas
urea by 1t. goes back to a venerable an
tiquity. With Mr. McKinley's TWENTY-FIVE
inaugurations have taken place in WASH
ington, and twenty-five coronations in Eng
iand. with their corresponding show and
ceremonial would take US back to the
reign Of Edward III, in the fourteenth CEN
fury.
Fast Pennsylvania avenues few and scat
tered houses in 1914 fed our routed forces
from Bladensburg, with the exultant red
coats In close pursuit, and with the Capitol
bursting into flames at one end of It. and
the White House soon to follow at the
other. Down its somber length covered
ike a pail with enblems of grief, passed
she funeral cortege of Abraham Lincoln,
no head covered and no heart unmoved of
all the vast multitude that gathered to
mourn his tragic end. Along Its dusty high
way tramped. with the swinging step that
had carried them from Atlanta to the sea.
snerman's gallant, indomitable men Of the
west, looking bronzed and hardy as Indians.
and all elate with victory. Up through it's
thronging thousands, too, came the grand
Old Army Of the Potomac, war-worn vet
Grams who for years had been the bulwark
OF the capital, all with elastic tread and
soldierly bearing. as they were greeted with
welcoming shouts. their tattered flags fut-
ter1ng In the summer wind.
Never since history began has such an
army, having fought voluntarily and con-
sclousiy Tor great and noble cause made
30 joyous holiday for any capital as when
IT trod In triumphant Homecoming along
fennsylvania avenue. Slowly over its
smooth pavement. on a hot September
street car visible down all its length pa-
thetic In Its isolation, the focus of the SYM
pathies OF all the world, passed the ambu-
lance bearing the wasted, stricken form of
Garheid. never to return. Crowding it's side
walks, with sorrowfng hearts, vast con-
course watched the dead Mckinley borne
back within the fateful portals of the
White House.
Names We Revere.
Along its pavements back and forth from
the Capitol have strolled Marshall and
Story, Clay and Webster, fancy and Chase,
Scott and Lee. and all the great men re-
nowned In war, in craftsmanship, in litera-
ture, In science and commerce, whose
names adorn our history. The capital of
every country Is the expression Of its
achievement and the sure indication of
what it aspires to. In Washington is
boundless opportunity, and a noble plan
adequate In every respect to what Is needed
has been adopted. A good beginning has
been made. and the entire country should
unite now in demanding that the work Of
pushing 1t to completion be promptly and
generously entered upon. Local jealousies
have long since vanished. Let the country
repudiate any theory Of progress gagged by
the narrow restriction Of local expenditure
to which 1t can have no relation, and pro-
coed to develop In our generation a capital
for hundred million Americans which
shall stand forth as pre-eminent among the
cities Of the earth as the name 1t bears out
shines all names that have been borne by
mortal men.