The Washington herald., 1907-01-20


surest foundation TO beauty" To cross a
stream requires swimming. flying, boats
or bridges; d graceful span ornaments a
landscape. According to this line Of rea-
soning, the majority-of the property own
ers of Georgetown prefer bridges" that
may be completed in one year. rather
than await the cUlvert scheme that will
curtail air space and beautiful possibili-
ties, and take fifteen or twenty years 70
complete, according 70 the estimates of
the engineers employed by the park com
mission. The advocates Of the culvert
scheme state that the creek is quite
crooked below Q street Did not the
omniscient omnipotent Jehovah create
rivers and streams to wind in and out
Through hills and valleys?
l come from haunts Of coot and ho-n.
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle ont among the fem,
To blcker down . valley.
By thirty hills ] hurry down.
Or Slip between the ridges
By twenty thorps a little town.
And half a hundred bridges.
With many curve my banks fret
By many a field and fsll0w
And many a fairy f0Teland set
With WiloW-Teed and mallow.
View Once Fine.
Would poets write Of ''ua1bling brooks"
and winding creeks if they flowed
straight as a new army road? The view
from the old plper-mH bridge, now
known as 2 street, I'D and down the creek
was once worth a journey TO see Why
should the capital of the richest nation
on the earth be subjected 70 chaos until
the millennium? The cuIvert is spoken
of as If IL were a subway for the people
10 pass through. and not as a waterway
Is lOng-suffering Georgetown 10 be busted
for another generation with the scrapings
from the dump7
What State viii present mountain
range TO ill that vast ravine? We have
seen cur hills vanish 10 make the desc
lation Of the Massac husetts avenue cuI-
vert embellishments, and now we ask why
should a Chinatown effect be created
upon our creek banks? If the Commits
sioners and other bumpers are anxious TO
see one fast developing. let them visit the
site Of onCe-famOUs Peter Grove where
the earth-burrowed abodcs are not quite
started, owing to the slow disintegration
of the roots of the stately oaks that
adorned Road street. now r street. and
ThiTtieth street Even below Q street
there IS still a little beauty visible for
nature soon hastens to veil desolation if
left alone Storms VIII wash away the
tons Of tin cans and the rubbish that the
last ten years have piled up and then
the banks can soon be covered with
green The japanese were not allowed to
throw one tin can out in camp.
Rents Are Lower.
Owing 10 this Dissertation of the creek
banks and the lack Of bridges and parks.
property in Georgetown now rents for
half the price of that east of the creek.
Our late distinguished Secretary Of State.
Hon. John Hay wrote to the Commits
sioners when the bill 10 provide a bridge
at @ street was introduced in the Fifty
eighth Congress: I have always been in
terested in Georgetown, and intended at
one time to live there, but the disagree
able approaches 70 the ancient city were
one Of the reasons that induced me to
give UP the idea. but l beg 10 join the
other citizens of Washington and George
town in adding my name 10 theirs in
favor Of this Improvement" The bumpers
had then begun their hideous work of
dissertation.
In the Old countries millions Of dollars
have been expended 10 erase crowded
and ugly parts of capital cities to create
beauty. and only in the past year a great
work. representing the expenditure OF
$4,000. 600, was contaminated In LOndon
Thousands of houses have been cleared
away 90 make a fine boulevard and give
England's capital more air and beauty
We have now in our land the much-titled
of Ind c,Ifr
hoped he would stay long enough in the
District TO enlighten the spectators and
real estate men by the delivery of an
address relating how he wiped out the
crowded slovenliness Of BerOda to make
way for fine buildings and spacious parks
Old Georgetown was once STEPPED in
beauty and we who love It feel the new
created ugliness an indignity How can
there be objection to a bridge at Q street
al cost of Sl50000. and. later, one at y
street to connect the old city with the
new when far out in the open country
100000 concrete bridge is being con-
structed?
The Engineer Commissioner dwelt on
the cost of the bridge at 0 street Ger
tainly, until o street is cut through New
Hampshire and Connecticut avenues
there can be no immediate need for that
much-dreaded expense
For the benefit Of the existing genera
ton. stop the dump; let the bridge at Q
street be built in harmony with the open
valley treatment of the creek preferred
by the park commission. As the President
was so commended by the press and the
people of the country for unfolding the
park commissions plans for Washington
the beautiful" in the placement of new
public buildings, it is hoped that the eff
forts of 215 women. in harmony with the
same great plan. may result in a bridge
at Q street and the adorament of the
whole valley, and that our President in
his drives may soon have as pleasant q
way to approach the old town as Presi-
dent Jefferson had in his daily trips to
visit and TO market
Cleanliness and beauty are necessary
10 the best thought and action-trees.
grass. flowers. These are surroundings
that lead 10 a higher appreciation of
beauty in its multitudinOus forms and
cOntentment of individuals and cOmmuni-
ties
We hope that the love Of beauty is in
herent in most OF US, and whoever has