Evening star., 1913-12-07
HOPEFUL VIEWS
OF C|TY'S FUTURE
Prophecies of Greater Wash
ington Made by the Dis
triCt Commissioners.
ADDRESSES AT BANQUET
OF OLDEST INHABITANTS


Annual Report by President of As.
sociation-Tribute Paid to De-
ceased Members.
Nearly one hundred and fifty members
of the Association of Oldest Inhabitant:
of the District of Columbia last nigh
listened to hopeful prophecies by thu
three District Commissioners of a great
ter Washington. These prophecies Were
made at the associations annual banaue
at the Ebbitt House.
Commemorating the forty eighth an
niversary of the birth Of the organiza
tiOns. members of the aSsociatlon-soms
of whom were past ninety years of age
applauded vigorously the prediction OF
President Theodore w. Noyes and Com.
misSioners Newman. SiddOns and Hard
ing that the National Capital is des
tined to become the nations pride, and
that it's greater development is to b.
brought about as result of that pride
President Noyes, who presided as toast
master, referred to the threatened attacl
on the relations existing between the ma
tional and local governments. and ex
pressed the opinion that a determined ef
fort will have to be made by the citizens
OF Washington to prevent the disruption
OF these relations.
The perception which now enables the
Washingtonian to see the danger thai
is ahead. he stated, also gives assurance
that, ultimately, the federal government
will assume an attitude of justice ano
fair play toward the District.
Commissioner Siddons took an alto
fofh nf,y1 Aa cit inn
Washingtonians, he declared. should
never fear an examination by Congress
into the history of the capital
Commissioners Newman and Harding
made it plain that they, too, have conf
dence that Congress and the nation a.
large will eventually make of Washing
ton the model capital of the world.
Address by President. Noyes.
Mr.. Noyes. as president of the associa
ton. next presented his annual report,
in the form of an address. He brieh,
noted the statistics Of the membership
and in his Introductory remarks spoke o
the relationship which the organization
bears to the community. as being in min
iature representation of the population
of Washington. Fair play for the Wash
ingtonian. he said. is the watchword o.
the Oldest Inhabitants, not so much TO
their own sakes as in the interest o
their sons and the adopted sons of tn
capital. The local inhabitant," said Mr.
Noyes, being thus of limited powers an,
resources, on that very account needs fail
play in relation to the protection of lif
and property: in re alton to governmen
both national and municipal; in relation
to taxation and confiscatlon III the gu1s
of taxation; in relation to means of self
support for the growing youth of tn
city; in his relations with the corpora
tons which supply him with light, heat
rapid transit and the means of electri
communication by wire; in his relation
not only to the means of supporting life
but to the high cost of living. and in re
lation to the physical, mental and mora
well-being of the people of the commu
nifty even more than to the external AT
tractiyeness and material prosperity .
the nations city.
THE signs Of the times are SO men
acing that all Washingtonians, old ant
young. well-to-do and poor, of whateve
profession, trade or occupation, mus
stand together in the common defenS
of the capital community.
Revolution Is Threatened.
"A revolution. in the relations of Uncl
Sam and Washington's inhabitants, oil,
and young, is threatened. The equitabl
compromise settlement of 1878 is treate,
as il 1t settled nothing, or rather it j
treated as II 1t disposed forever of all tn
pre-existing equities of the Washingtonial
and left all of Uncle Sans equities in
tact. One legislator proposes the repea
of the half-and- half provision Of the or
ganic act. a total repudiating of th
nations obligation under that agreement
others would eliminate certain larg'
revenues of the District from duplication
by the government under that act; o.
or
ticipation in paying the funded debt o
the District; would conffscate from
the District revenues the amount of Ger
tain alleged ancient debts to Uncle Sam
rising from alleged violations of the Law
in the seventies by the nations agent, tn
Secretary of the Treasury, resurrectins
claims that died and We're buried thirty
five years ago. 1t is thus proposed t
overthrow the half-and- half provision o
the organic act either as whole and d
d single stroke or by piecemeal.
The Oldest Inhabitants realize more
keenly than the younger Washingto-
mans the nature and extent of the dis
aSter involved in return from the
twentieth century conditions at Wash
ington to those of forty years ago. Ar
association, the average age of whose
membership is approximately seventy
years, enjoys wonderful retrospect
over half century which has meant
much, not only to Washington, but &c
America and the world. Our average
or typical Oldest inhabitant of today's
association was entering manhood a,
the beginning of the civil war. He
saw the capital, neglected and ill
treated by the nation. as struggling
country village with zigzag grades, nc
sewerage system, no street cars, nc
water supply except from pumps and
springs, gas lighted only on a part OF
PENNSYLVANIA avenue and in the pub
lie buildings. with no paid fire depart
ment, for police mere constabulary
with unimproved reservations. unpre-
tentious dwellings. wretched sidewalks
and streets of dust or mud and mire
He has lived to see the new Washing
ton, Americas most attractive city, a
political, scientific, literary and art
center, with clean and economical
non-p partisan municipal government;
with surface remodeled. boasting more
smooth streets than any other Ameri-
can city; with an elaborate and costly
system of sewers and water mains;
with convenient transportation by over
$50 miles of street railway under
ground electric and barring the over
head trolley in urban sections; with
ample steam railroad facilities with
out grade crossings and with one OF
the finest and most architecturally at
tractive Union stations in the world
with broad streets, shaded for several
hundred miles with trees. making OF
Washington the forest city; with parks
and reservations of picturesque beauty,
with stately and imposing pubic build
ings, and with comfortable and attrac-
tive homes. including many costly