Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-12-13
Not a Case of the TerritoryyS
Merely Putting in Thumb
and Pulling Out a Plumb,
Says New Mexico Man
INTERESTING VERSION or
A NAvIGABLE RIO GRANDE
National Capital at Height of
Its Beauty; the Horse Rapid
Iy Disappearing; Washington
Has Skating Craze,
lBy win c. Barnes.l

"dSliliBLOH, DtCs TT is uIlIOE-
innate that in the early days of the
republic they could not have foreseen
The immense growth OF the country
and located the capitol of the nation
somewhere nearer the center of the
country, so as to be more readily and
cheaply reached by us from the far
west.
For 1t is a far west when you look
back over the 1000 miles or more
between the city of Washington and
Santa Fee.
st. Louis, many years ago, made a
fight TO gel the capital moved out
there, promising, If ! remember right
ly, to move every public building then
erected and re-erect 1t there and also
move all the records, etc, free of
charge.
But ii fell through, and. of course,
today such a thing is out of the ques-
ton.
But it is unfortunate because WASH
ington is a city that every loyal
American citizen should visit, not
once, but many times. It's a city for
us all to be proud Of, and as time goes
on will be more and more attractive
TO the visitor.
The first entrance into the city
through the new Union station is a
foretaste of what the city has in store
for one.
This splendid station which has
cost fourteen million dollar so far,
stands u~nequalled in the world, and
of its kind, in size, splendor and
grandeur.
Like most of the public buildings
here, the white marble enters largely
into its construction and it certainly
forms a splendid gateway to our ma
tional capital. =
And the city itself, with its wide
and well paved streets. its many
parks and open places where green
grasses, trees and flowers are grow
ing. where overhead wires are I'M
known and the trolley only found in
the suburbs. How can any American
visit it and not be a better citizen
ever afterwards.
And the city of today, splendid as II
il, is no doubt but hardly well started
in its growth n Improvement
One is struck with the numbe of
autos seen on the smooth streets and
especially the electrics,. which seem TO
be great favorites here. There is very
little fast running, too, and the speed
limit seems TO be pretty generally en-
forced. Wells Fargo, the Adams, and
other express companies use autos al
most entirely for city work.
1t may be that In spite of all pre-
dictionS that the auto is not replacing
the horse, but il is hard to believe ii
is not the case when you watch a
ldoiilOidb "a Wtdhilb VI poa ~
theaters at night. for there is an auto
for every carriage at such places and
sometimes two autos for one car
rage.
Now If the autos were not there the
people would be using a carriage,
hence they surely ave displaced the
horse that much at any rate. or
course. the demand for and scarcity
of horses Is always pointed to as an
evidence that the auto cuts no figure
in the demand, but to me ii only
proves that the supply of horses is
very low and when the country began
to expand had ii not been for the
autos the prices for horse flesh would
have been vastly higher and the
scarcity more marked.
pv~ -
They have the roller skate craze
here in a very virulent form. The
smooth asphalt pavements offer an
ideal place to use them and hundreds
OF skaters OF all ages. boys n girls,
young women and men, and older
persons of both sexes, crowd the
streets on pleasant evenings just as
you see ice skaters out on the ice.
Here a dozen boys laughing and
shouting, there a young fellow and his
best girl sid by side with clasped
hands crossed in front of them just
as IL II were on an ice pond. one
evening on one street the crowd was
lined up for a whole block on both
sides watching some fifty or sixty
skaters who were all experts at II and
doing all sorts of fancy stunts. They
went up and down this block and the
exhibition of fancy skating was some
thing worth seeing.
This past week has been a lively
one. even for Washington. The open
of congress was naturally an event.
then the Rivers and Harbors conven-
linn UaE in session for three laws
which attracted great crowds and
many noted men addressed u.
Then on two days the republican
national committee was In session ms
that. in itself. was no small anair'
sounding. az IL did, the first cry OF the
coming national campaign.
Mr.. Sol Luna, our national COM
mitteeman. h never misses any
thing where either New Mexico or the
republican party Is Interested. was a
prominent figure at the commlttee
meeting and also attended the Rivers
and Harbors convention as a delegate
from New Mexico.
When asked what interest New
Mexico had in such a meeting We re-
ferred the inquirer to the legal opln-
ION Of the United States courts as 70
the navigsbility Of the Rio Srande
and the possibility Of an approprla-
tiou for making IL a deep waterway as
far up IS possibly Las Cruces OF
SocorrO. e
Last week they held a meeting here
Of the National Drainage association.
and ii struck me as an odd condtti9n
~ affairs and also shows the widely
divergent interests Of our country.
This drainage meeting was 20 urge
federal aid in draining some eighty
million acres OF swamp LAND lying
SHAKE INTO YOUR SHOES
1uen.s Fcot-Ease . powder II cures pan