The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-09-17
| WASHINGTON LETTER
Especial correspondence.l

congress Will next winter provide Tor
a magnificent new postoffice building
for the city of Washington, to be locat-
ed near the new Union station, If Rep
resentative Bartholdt of Missouri
chairman of the house committee on
public buildings and grounds, can
bring it about.
/ improvements in the way Of addi-
tional facilities for the government are
needed in Washington" said Mr., Bar
tholdt the other day. Il would count
in that class a new building for the
bureau of engraving and printing, or
at least additional space, in order to
afford more room and comfort for
those who are employed there and are
forced to spend large part Of their
lives in the building.
New City Postoffice.,
"My idea,'' continued Mr. Bartholdt,
| would be to have the new city post
Office as close as possible to the sta
ton and connected with it by subter-
ranean passageways, SO that mail com
ing in on the trains could be dropped
into receptacles provided for that pur-
pose and Immediately carried to the
postoffice. Under such a system with
in ten minutes letter could be on its
way to the addressee."
| An estimate of the approximate cost
of the new postoffice building was not
ventured by Mr.. Bartholdt, but it is
understood that those who have had
the project under consideration esti-
mate that 1t would cost upward Of
81 100000. 1t would conform to the
stately architecture Of the new Union
station and the government structures
on the hill.
| Other Structures Contemplated.
Mr.. Bartholdt does not stop at the
| city postoffice and the bureau of en-
craving and printing in recommending
new improvements for the national
capital. He believes the geological
survey is exceedingly cramped in its
present quarters and that new build
| ing should be erected on the squares
bounded by Fourteenth and Fifteenth
streets and Pennsylvania avenue and
! the Mall for the departments of state,
justice and commerce and labor.
Dewey Rents Gift House.
Admiral Dewey has leased the house
at 1747 Rhode Island avenue, which
was given to him by the American
people as a reward for his victory at
Manila bay, to Frank Mitchell Of
Washington. Mr.. Mitchell will occupy
the house in October.
Admiral and Mrs. Dewey vacated the
gift house last spring and moved to
house owned by Mrs. Dewey at the
northwest corner of Sixteenth and K
streets. This house was occupied by
Mr.. Ethan Allen Hitchcock during his
service as secretary of the interior. 1t
is larger and better fitted for entertain
ing than the Rhode Island avenue
house.
The Most Beautiful City.
Washington is the most beautiful
city in the United States and is claim
ed by many authorities to have no peer
in the world. Paris has more magnif-
cent vistas, but there are quarters of
the French capital with never claim
to beauty. There are more shade trees
in Washington than in any other city
in the world. 1t has $4,000 trees, while
Paris, the next in the list, has only
$4,000. 1t must be remembered In this
connection that Paris has nearly
100000 population, while Washing
ton has but 100000.
Streets of the Capital.
Washington streets are wider than
those of other cities, being originally
from so to 16O feet wide. Many of
these were too wide for the demands
of traffic, and when the improvement
of the city began in the seventies the
thoroughfares were narrowed and the
portions next to the buildings were re-
served as parking spaces The pretty
strip of green along both sides of
Washington thoroughfares Is really
part of the street. 1t is the property
of the United States and is not under
the control of the owner of the abut-
ting property, although he must keep
up the lawn. The real estate is al
ways sold by the square foot instead
of by the clumsy front foot method.
There is no law to compel the people
to sweep the snow off the sidewalks in
winter, because they are the property
of Uncle Sam, and private citizen
cannot be compelled to care for gov
eminent property.
Maintenance of the District.
More than half of the property in the
District of Columbia is owned by the
United States, which pays half the to-
tai expenses, while the property own
ers of the District pay the other half
Until 1878 the general government
paid nothing at all toward the main
tenance of the District. Even now
the great undertakings for the perma-
nent improvement of the capital, out
side of the public buildings, of course,
are half paid for by the residents of
the District Of Columbia, although the
whole people are interested In the COM
pletion of the plans which will make
Washington the envy Of the nations.
Negroes of Washington.
More negroes live in Washington
than in any other city, $4,000 Of the to-
tai population of 100000 being African.
Many Washington negroes are among
the most advanced of their race, and
Washington is the only city where
there is a distinct Afro American So
ciety which applies the standards of