The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1905-06-01
The Assrandixement Of Washington.
By Martha L. Schneider. Washington. D. c.

With a new "Natpral Society of the
Fine Arts" whose aim is to make art
appreciated and to afford those who
value such works, an opportunity to
view them in exhibitions and learn
about them further in lectures; and a
new Natural Society for making
Washington the most beautiful city in
the world, the future greatness of the
capital of the nation as an artistic
and aesthetic center seems assured.
1t was the wonderful foresight and
imagination of L'Enfant which made
Washington beautiful city, but the
city as he planned it, no longer &C
commodities the population. Only
those who reside here realize how
quickly the city is growing in every
direction stretching outside of the
limits of these plans, once considered
designed upon too vast scale.
At first, suburban settlements were
allowed to be created which had no
more relations to the city thorough
fares than the cow-paths of one pasture
are allied to those of the adjoining
field, and for long time property
sub-divide their land to suit them
selves.
This condition of affairs has been
remedied to some extent by the high
way extention act, which was enacted
only after years of effort on the part
of those interested in preserving the
beauty of the city according to the
original plans. There is much yet to
be done, for in these rapidly growing
parts of the city, no provisions are
being made for parks; and unlike
most modern cities, where the suburbs
show the advancement in municipal
taste, Washington displays only
beauty of homes with spacious
grounds, and the beauty of the old
city's thoroughfares are omitted.
So rapidly are these beautiful SUBJ
urban homes being built, land values
have 80 advanced that should parks
now be provided the cost would be
much greater than few years ago,
and every years delay only adds to
this expense.
Owners of private property cannot
be expected to donate large tracts of
land for park purposes, and as long
as Congress does not make the neces-
sary appropriation every available foot
of land in the outlying portions of the
city will be built upon with the result
that the new Washington will lose all
it's claims to beautiful city.
This state of affairs has not gone on
quietly without protest. The press
and the citizens have labored to pre-
vent this great mistake of building a
city for the time being. They realize
that there should be in every part of
the city, broad, smoothly paved
avenues lined with trees; ample
reservations at convenient distances
for the enjoyment and comfort of the
generations yet to come.
If the majority of citizens in town
or city demand that certain improve
ments in their midst be made, they
get it by electing men who will look
out for their project, but here in
Washington the people have no means
of influencing legislation except by
petitioning Congress.
Now Congressman come here for a
short term; they find it very beauti-
full city when they compare it with
other cities they know; and they
cannot understand why the people of
Washington are always asking for
more appropriation for making the
city beautiful when to them it is far
more beautiful than tdey ever inn
agined a city could be, coming, as
the most of them do, from small
towns or cities or even busy mercan-
tile large ones, where utility and not
beauty is of the first importance,
therefore, when these petitions are
brought before them they cast their
vote in the negative.
Washington to them is temporary
abiding place, and the interests of
their constituents of the principal
importance, and they do not come
instructed to assist in making the
capital of the nation all that the
greatest capital in the world should
be, and they are apt to get more
praise from their districts for voting
against appropriating large sums of
the public funds to identifying the
city of Washington than they would
if they voted for it, because the people
of the United States are not fully
awake to what the city of Washington
stands for in the eyes of the world,
and they do not fully realize that
what is represented here represents
America.
The National society for the ag-
grandizement of Washington will
endeavor to bring before the people
of the United States the necessity of
a patriotic love and personal interest