Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-12
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

| Independence day in 1853 occurred on
| Sunday, so that the celebration LOOK
place July 8, and thus
Washington's no Star was printed on
1. the 9TH, in accordance
with the custom OF that
time In the issue of the 9th are news
notes thus concluding:
AT night music and fireworks WOUND
up the rejoicings of independence gay IN
Washington. The Marine Band gave q
delightful promenade concert IN the
Presidents gardens. and in the Monu-
mef grounds a fine display OF fireworks
were discharged In the air for the oenent
of all who felt disposed to enjoy them.
Some of them were really beautiful and
| were received with delight by thousands
| of children, both Of the infantie ano
adult species. The strong south wind
which prevailed during d the eo oe ing
display by blowing the smoke to the
front In all other respects. and with
two or three exceptions. the fireworks
went off In a decidedly satisfactory man
ner. The pieces were nearly all designed
by Mr. Brown of the arsenal. under the
direction of Maj. Ramsey At ten and
one-half o'clock the show was over, and
In half an hour afterward all washington
went to bed to dream of picnics, nre-
works. music etc A novel feature or the
festivities here was the total absence OF
the drunken crowds who are usually 10
be seen In our streets on such an occa-
sion. The good sense of the keepers OF
restaurants in closing their bars during
the day was thus strikingly apparent.
x X
no
erations been the opening of a waterway
between the Atlantic ocean
1sthm1an and the Pacific across the
Scban,e isthmus joining the two
continents, or at all events
some method of transporting ships from
one great sea to the other. In The Star
of July 8. 1858. is long letter signed by
A. Watson, setting forth the merits of a
scheme regarded by him as the solution
of the isthmian problem. His plan was to
pull vessels overland on a great railway.
According to Mr.. Watsons printed
scheme the ship railroad should follow the
line of the Panama railroad then in oper-
alton. and should be sixty feet in width
The plan was to lay three tracks, each OF
eight feet gauge with eight feet between
the tracks. Thus each truck. to be placed
underneath the crib carrying the ship,
axle. Mr.. Watson estimated that a car
supported by a sufficient number of such
trucks would sustain without question a
3.O0O-ton ship and cargo. Mr.. Watson
continued:
THE advantages OF Panama ship
railroad over the proposed Nicaragua ship
canal would be numerous. It would cost
about ONOO0-the canal about $75, 600.
600. A ship could be transported over
this road in one day-the canal would re-
quire ten days. The charges on the ship
railroad would be about one fourth the
charges on the canal and the injury done
to vessels much less on the road than
on the canal. The road would always be
torrents Of rain so frequent in that eli
mate would often render the canal i'm
passable."
Half a century ago the volunteer
soldiery of Washington consisted OF a
number Of semi-ind
district pendent militia COM
pae;n.n+ panies, each wearing a
distinctive uniform and
largely following its own bent in the
matter of parades and drills. The SEN
timent however, was apparently in ia
vor of better organization; 1t found
expression in an editorial printed in
The Star Of July 10. 1853. as follows:
There is no substantial reason what
ever why there should not exist in the
District of Columbia at least one full
regiment equal in all respects to any
other in the country. 1t is obvious to
all that difficulties among the officers
of the staff Is the cause of the present
so deplorable condition of the volunteer
the part of those who should form the
regiment to become members Of it and
to discharge all their duties as volun-
teer soldiery proper The only remedy
for the current state of things seems to
us to be the entire disarmament of the
present regiment with the formation Of
a new one. embracing an election of the
officers from the head to the corporals.
We do not design to be understood as
advising the dispersement of any one
Of them. but rather the reorganization
of a regiment upon some basis that
may be satisfactory to the majority of
it's components, without thought of the
position In 1t of any gentleman. We
have no doubt that, with this done, the
authority under the law to confer VOL
unteer commissions in the District of
Columbia would respect the wishes OF
regiment thus raised and at once COM
mission officers chosen by it; as. If we we
are not mistaken. by the volunteers OF
nearly every state in the Union"
The President of the United States sell
dom went away from Washington during
his term of service in
Presidents those days. His trips be-
e ing rare and short, there
was no Summer capital
In The Star of July 10, 1853. is para
graph describing how President Buchan-
an was spending the hot season:
THE Presidents sojourn at his summer
quarters-the Soldiers Home-evidently
affords him great relief from the effects
ofo his constitutionwearin labors. There
he can temporarily escape the presence of
the avalanche of gentlemen with axes to
grind. which year by year, day by day.
and hour by hour for the last quarter of
century has been gradually increasing
in force and intensity, until the disagree
able task of listening with apparent pa
thence to their praises Of themselves and
aspersions upon all standing in the way
of the qualification of their desires. Whis-
pered and beloved by turns. into the ears
of successive Presidents has come to be
the skeleton of the White House. 1t
killed President Harrison, shortened the
life of President Taylor, and to our own
knowledge a dozen times obliged Presi-
dent Pierce to call in a physician, while
to the pertinacity of this same grim
VII god monster do we attrfhnto nea rlv