Evening star., 1904-02-29
courts, names the punishment Hor criminals
and provides laws rexuIaang juries.
Congress Rules.

courts names the punishment Cor criminals
and provides laws regulating juries.
Congress Rules.
4.In short, Congress. without let or him
drance, with no otter restraint than the
one clause in the Constitution just quoted,
is the source OF all 4pver4ment in the Dis
trict of Columbia. Eongress passes upon
and allows every dol4ar OF money expended
ments, scrutfnizes and Nfaxes the salary of
every clerk in the city Offices. 1t provides a
water system. police fosce and a fire de-
partment. 1t orderssthe streets paved and
repaired, cares for the parks and carries
away the garbage. In short, the Congress
of the United States,s eonst stituted at present
of 1856 members In thes House of Representa-
tives and ninety in the Senate, representing
Washington, with supreme power and au-
thority to legislate for lit. Thus 1t may be
said that this particular clause in the Con-
stitution is interpreted literally and is ex-
ecuted as it is interpreted.
1T should also be said that under the
control of Congress washington has de-
veloped from a neighborhood of suburban
fringeS of nearby villages surrounded by
the most inauspicious conditions, to that
of beautiful city. Swamps have been
drained, forests have been removed, rivers
have been ~bridged canyons have been
filed and rocks have been blasted out in
making way for the beautifully paved and
parked capital city that Washington has
grown to be. And let me say that during
all of that time the symmetrical plan
which the father of his country prided him.
self so much in and spent SO much time in
perfecting has been carried out. To many
its conSummaton has seemed slow. There
have always been those who chafed under
the apparent lethargy in the building up of
Washington, and at times the enormous
cost has almost persuaded those in control
of affairs that the plan was too big and
that the design of the craftsman was too
expensive of execution But to the credit
of all of them, better judgment has al
ways prevailed, charity and patience on
the one hand has met apprehension and
conservatism on the other, and the SYM
metry of the plans of Washington have
never been interfered with.
ITO George Washington belongs the
credit of most of the beauties of plan of
the capital city, for it was his farseeing
eye that looked clear in advance of any
thing then dreamed of by most people and
to where We have scarcely yet reached
To George Washington, the father of his
country, the designer of her machinery of
government. the savior Of her liberties, it
was appropriate likewise that the plan for
her capital should be intrusted when she
was ready to have one In him then was
repOsed the trust of selecting the exact
location of the capital city For several
years the headquarters of the nation. had
been migratory. 1t had been going from
one city to another, according to the pa
Congress- or other more or less worthy mo-
tives, until most men came to believe that
IL the nation was to endure and perpetuate
Its blessings and beauties, it must have
permanent. fixed seat. of government that
If 1t was to convince the skeptical OF its
future stability, it must at least be settled
and determined within itself
Location Of Capital.
"some time was taken up in contro-
versy as to just where the capital was to be
located. The south very naturally wanted
1t in the southern states, and the north
wanted it in the northern states, and every
state wanted it in that particular state The
compromise, 50 well known, to all men. was
finally made that the southern states were
to be permitted to have the capital located
on the Potomac river, and the northern
states, in consideration of permitting them
to have it without further trouble, were to
have assumed certain of their state obliga-
tons incurred in Revolutionary war times.
Thus the location of theN capital, which
threatened at times the disruption of the
Union, was finally adjustedias the result of
barter of the location for the .assump-
tion of state debts This only shows that
those old philosophers were no less alive to
home interests than men of more modern
times, and that Pro bono publico' is some
times a local question.
Washington was then given authority to
select the site for the federal city In this
he was limited to 100 miles along the Po-
tomac river, running from somewhere about
Cumberland, Md, to Jones Point, down just
below Alexandria. His experience as sur
veyor pre-eminentIy qualified him for the
undertaking, while his proverbial justness
to all men and to all things and under all
conditions made him the unanimous choice
for this important yet laborfous undertake
Ing.
How fitting that George Washington
should select the site of the permanent abid
ing place of the nations capital, and that
the city should bear his name, to stand
throughout the life of the nation a growing
monument to the grandeur of the achieve
ments of his life. He selected in accordance
with the law place ten miles square, To-
Gated on the Potomac river, about two
thirds of it north of the river in Maryland,
and the rest of it south of the river in Vir-
ginia. The lateral lines of the square do not
extend due east, west, north and south, but
in a northeasterly northwesterly, ETC., di-
rectiOn, giving it such shape that one cor
ner is at the farthermost northern point and
it's opposite diagonal point is the farther
most southern point. This makes 1t some
what of diamond shape as it appears on
the map with it's corners toward the four
points OF the COMPASS.
In 1S46 that part selected west of the PO-
tomac river and in the state of Virginia
was receded to that state. and the District
of Columbia now constitutes about seventy
square miles east Of the west bank of the
Potomac river
Spokes of Wheel.
washington, then. with the assistance or
L'Enfant, proceeded to lay out the city or
Washington. He made, the streets to run
north, SOUTH east and west, but across
them, diagonally northeast and southwest,
and northwest and southeast. he ran ave-
nues. All of these thoroughfares he made
of extraordinary width. All the city was
to be reckoned from the Capitol. The
streets are numbered from the Capitol east
and west and lettered from north to south.
From the Capitol these streets and avenues
radiate as the spokes from the hub of
great wheel Between the Capitol on one
hill and the White House on another hill,
about a mile and half away, he ran Penn
sylvania avenue, familiar, of course. to