Evening star., 1907-10-15

| Department, another for the War De-
partment. another for the Department OF
Justice, yet another for the Department
of Commerce and Labor. and still another
| for the miscellaneous bureaus that are
scattered about the city in rented quar-
| ters that are Ill adapted to the uses of
| the government. More buildings will be
required as the United States grows.
| Even now department of mines is
| urged and department of transporta-
ton suggested
| The Star last evening said:
| THE improvement of the south side o
| Pennsylvania avenue is to be an I'M
portant issue during the coming session
Of Congress. and there will be no partisan
ship in forwarding that enterprise. which
since the locat ton of the government in
| the District of Columbia. has been we'll
defined policy of public men.
The sentiment in Congress has never
| changed when this plan for the beautifi-
cation of the Capital city has been con-
sidered and there has been no reason ad-
vanced against the necessary purchase OF
| all the land located between the avenue
and the Mall from the Botanic Garden 10
| 18th street. except the expense involved
in the undertaking, and that has only
been urged to postpone action
| At the last session of Congress the Hey
wood bill appropriating sl0,0o0CoO for the
purchase of the property in question was
passed by the Senate 1t got no further
| In the House than reference to the COM
mittee on public buildings and grounds
| \ number of conditions and complications
initiated against 1t. 1t was a short ses-
sion Retrenchment sentiment was active
! in the closing days of the Congress. Inter
est in District legislation was taken up
mainly with the tangle of the smoke bill.
railway extension bill. three-cent amend
ment and the broad-tire measure.
| In the news columns OF The Star last
evening It was emphasized that delay
means expense. There Is lack Of wisdom
| in acquiring this land piecemeal or site
| by site for public buildings. The pur-
chase of every square enhances the value
of every remaining square The common
sense plan would be take this land in one
parcel under condemnation proceedings.
| There Is one aspect of the case which
| Is sometimes lost sight of. The section of
| Washington that Is involved in this pro-
| ject rests under the blight of uncertainty.
| improvement of the property by private
| owners is out of the question. For large
| section of the city not to improve is to
| deteriorate Old buildings will fall down
and be patched and propped up, but new
private structures in keeping with the
progress Of the times and the growth of
, the city are not to be thought Of Last
winter there was a plan on foot looking to
the transfer of the commission district to
some other part of the city. The commits
sion merchants complained that the
buildings were out-of-date and would not
be improved by the owners in view OF
probable condemnation by the govern
| ment, and rents were high in view OF the
fact that the government might buy the
property the owners being interested in
maintaining as high valuation as possible.
One more reason speaks for the acquisi-
ton by the government of this big TRAN
gle. II Pennsylvania avenue Is to become
the great and majestic public way aimed
at by the designers and founders of the
capital, there are districts abutting on and
adjacent to it that ought to be removed.
4 tumble-down tenement district is not
thing of beauty. A mean and shabby
Chinese quarter Is not a fitting appendage
for the national avenue. A lumber dis
tr!ct and a nufacturing center are not
appropriate. And there are other reasons
why this part OF the city should become
the property Of the United States.