Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-26
Washington's Improvement.
To the Editor of The Evening Star.

To the Editor of The Evening Star.
The letter from Mr.. B. H. Warner has
| attracted my attention on account of It's
| intrinsic merit, its candor and it's collec-
ton of interesting facts. Like him, came
to this city forty years ago, the very week
Richmond fell, and found 1t a muddy hole
sadly neglected, undeveloped, unattractive
and fast going to ruin. Even the Smith
sonian Institution was then the habitation of
bats and slugs where now scientists swarm,
and one may hear lectures on orientalism
There was no pretense of a weather bureau
in those dark and Warlike times, and I'M
like today, a fellow never could tell, by
looking at the morning paper, whether it
would rain, snow, blow or there would be
increasing Goodness. THE sun do
move as the colored preacher of Richmond
says, like The Star. Times change. and
men change with them. Naturally Pres-
dents Lincoln and Johnson had little time
to devote to the development of the federal
city, and not until the advent of Shepherd.
and President Grant was any real effective
work done in that line.
Mr.. Warner says: I'VE are without manu-
featuring and the volume of our business
Is limited" According to the last census
report, vol 8, phi lis, there has been re-
markable growth in the manufacturing and
mechanical Industries Qn Washington.
during the half century" The number of
establishments is given as 2,75. with a
capital of over forty millions of dollars. and
employing "a sos wage-earnerS. The value
millions of dollars. This is doing very well
for a political capital. the chief interests of
which are legislative, scientific and social.
There are a great many attractions In
Washington which Mr.. Warner failed to
enumerate. Chief among these are the IL
braries. which. take all together. equal
those of any other American city. A few
Of the attractions which might be added to
Mr.. Warmers list are the numerous statues
and monuments with which the city is
adorned: the museums which did not exist
forty years ago; the many elegant private
bathrooms open to the elect who love TO
dance; the whispering gallery in the dome
of the Capitol, so dear to newly married
couples; the splendid street railway system;
the group of law colleges so attractive to
the disciples of Blackburn and Gritty; the
vast number of professors and scientific
gentlemen one meets scurrying about on
BICYCLES or rushing to the public print
ing office; the outings of the Audubon
Club, and kindred organizations for the
preservation of birds, wild flowers, the de-
struction of weeds the determination OF
MOSQUITOES and the study of cloud forma-
lions: the camera clubs and exhibits OF
photographs and other specimens or me
arts; the numerous sales OF oriental rugs
and ANTIQUE furniture; the innumerable
churches of all denominations: the growth
of Christian Science and spfrituallsm; the
boarding schools for young women; the
chrysanthemum shows; the watering places
down the Potomac; and the many costly
private palaces of the wealthy. which clus-
teri about Dupont circle. Surely Wash
ington Is fast rivaling any city In the
world.
Formerly no one thought of preserving
the Mall Now we have very determined
spirit on the part of the people all over
the country to keep that great central park
of the city free from the entertainment OF
nublfc buildings. The recent proposition to
build a department in front of the Wash
ineton monument and utilize that structure
as chimney to allow the gases from Dr
Wiley's pure food laboratory to escape.
aroused widespread opposition. Instead
we are to have a comfortable waiting room
inside the monument decorated with
trophies of the chase
FULLER WALKER.