The Washington herald., 1907-06-03
AVENUE is BADLY TORN UP
Famous Thoroughfare Resembles
Huge Railroad Yards.
Red, Green, and white Lanterns
Placed Every Night Warn Trav-
eIers of Piles of Rock.

Pennsylvania avenue. from the Capitol
to the Treasury, at night resembles
the switching yards Of great railroad
terminal There are no putting engines
no clumsy box cars or nimble brake
men running 20 and fro, but the red and
the green lights which add 70 the weird
ness and attracuveness Of a railroad
terminal after dark are everywhere.
Pennsylvania avenue, known from one
end Of the world TO the other and back
again. where great men Of the principal
nations may be seen almost daily, and
the thoroughfare Of Uncle Sam that is
pointed TO with pride, is being made over
again.
Even during the day one is reminded
Of the railroad by the gangs Of men az
work in the middle Of the street or the
car tracks. There are the Italians. the
water boys, the men with the sledge
hammers. the track measurers. the bosses
with their queer expressions Of COM
mand. and nearly everything else that
goes 10 make I'd the building ol @ rail-
road line.
Two new parks-small, but parks just
the same-wlll greet the eyes Of the
statesmen when they begin their daily
str0lis along the avenue IN the afternoons
after the close Of the days business at
the Capitol next winter This VIII De a
result Of the Improvements now under
way one OF them is at the intersection
Of Eighth and streets. and viii be
triangular shaped. The other is at Tenth
street and Pennsylvania avenue.
For many years the commanding statue
Of Benjamin Franklin has stood on the
north side OF Pennsylvania avenue az
Tenth street, absolutely without protec-
ton. There has not been even a chain
fence about the monument Now, when
the improvements Of 1907 are completed,
the Franklin statue is 20 be adorned boy
the addition Of little green park at its
base. Like the other, this space is 20 be
triangular in design
The work on the Avenue-Pennsylva
avenue is known almost altogether as
the Avenue" in Washington-is only in
It's infancy, All summer the task will
continue, and Il will probably be well
into the fall before the job has been fin
ished. and the one mile of street con-
Meeting the Capitol and the two other
important buildings at the other end, the
Treasury and the White House. will be
better, more beautiful. with its added at
fractions, than ever before.
The undOing Of the old and preparing
for the new work has brought about the
use Of iights-thousands and thousands
Of them. They are set on piles of dirt.
on heaps Of stone, on poles, hung on
ropes, encircle various excavations, and
scattered every few feet along the street
car tracks. The majority of these Ian
| terms are red, but here and there are the
! green and the white ones From the ele-
walton Of the Capitol. with the temporary
/ lights in the middle and the usual ilu-
| limitations along the side and in the store
| windows, the scene Is one resembling the
| Imagination Of Fairyland.
/ The placing Of the lights every night
| and their care during the day is 20 small
| task, and requires the services Of a spe-
| cial force Of men. Long before dark each
| evening the lantern men begin placing
their lights in their respective places
| Each has been cleaned and reflled dur
| ing the day. With the appearance OF
day. light and lanterns disappear as II by
magic.