Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-08
NEEDS OF THE CAPITAL
PRESIDENTS DESIRE THAT
WASHINGTON BE MODEL CITY.
District of Columbia Should Be Best
Governed Bit of Land on
Earth.

From the New York Tribune.
President Roosevelt's initiative, original
ity and power of constructive leadership
nowhere appear to greater advantage in his
brilliant and forcefu1 message than In the
paragraphs which deal with the municipal
government of Washington. Those VINO
sheer that never before did a President in
vite Congress to solve the municipal prob
lem of the country seem to forget that
Congress Is in duty bottnd to solve the mu-
nicipal problem of one of the chief cities
of the country. : President Roosevelt in
giving attention to questions of city ad-
ministratien does, indeed, with his char
acteristfc interest in all matters affecting
the nations welfare, set forth an ideal Of
progress applicable to: New York and Chi
cago as well as Washington. but he in no
way transcends the proper functions OF a
federal executive scrupuleusly respecting
our distribution of authority over general
and local concerns.
Congress is the local Legislature of the
District of Columbia. If the Presidents
discussion of municipal affairs is an inno-
walton, 1t is only because this function OF
the federal government has not hitherto
been adequately exercised Most refer
ences to the subject in presidential mes
Sages have been perfunctory or concerned
merely with specific matters of immediate
interest. But George Washington did not
think he was inviting with undue seif-con-
fidence the laying of the countrys munich
pal burdens upon his shoulders when he
busted himself with planning for the flu
ture of the capital city; and President
Roosevelt follows in his footsteps when he
gives earnest consideration to methods Tor
improving that city and making it model
municipality.
1t is a good thing for Congress to have
this phase of its duty emphasized. 1t COM
monty deals with the District in that same
bored and inadequate fashion in which 1t
treats Alaska or any other subject OF no
political Importance to members In their
home districts. Few congressman really
take seriously this business of local gov
eminent except as 1t may affect their own
convenience, and they have needed and
timely reminder of their duty of dealing
with the overcrowded poor, securing COM
pulsory education for the children, provid-
ing Fairgrounds and small parks, and gem
orally making Washington a healthy, we'll
governed, progressive city. The opportun-
tiles for such betterment are the finest in
the country and there is absolutely no rea-
son why Washington should not be model
city. 1t has plenty of room, and no enor-
nous population of factory workers con-
gested by the necessities of their employ
ment 1t is not handicapped by vast
hordes of foreigners who compIicate the
problem of administration. Its government
is not even subject to revulsions of popular
feeling. A wise policy can be pursued
there year after year until convincing re-
suits are secured, while here, when a good
work is half done, a turn of the political
Kaleidoscope bit of Indifference on the
part of respectable people, united effort
on the part of the gamblers and other law
breakers, may throw us back under rule
of barbarism.
With all these advantages Washington
should be the best-governed and most pro-
gressive city in the land, and the only Hea-
son for 1t not being so is neglect. Neglect
has resulted in scongested and tnsanitary
alleys, where the negroes are huddled in
tumbledown cabins, and in children run
ming the streets when they should be In
school. The Presidents recommendation OF
systematic and farseeing plans for reform
should be needed. The nations capital
should be the first city in the world in every
thing that makes for the welfare of Its In
habitants. The people of Washington are,
for their own sake, entitled to this intelli-
gent rule, since they have no power over
their own condition. and when the problem
is so comparatively simple there the ma
ton should not fail to offer an example for
the encoura cement and emulation of other
cities When New York and Chicago see
the ideals of municipal reformers demon
strated in Washington as they are now in
some foreign cities, they will appreciate
the value of these ideals and the POSSIBLE
itys of achieving them.