The Washington herald., 1913-12-23
MRS. HENDERSON
OPPOSES Change
Will Ask Senate to Have
Name, Avenue Of the Presi-
dents, Retained.
GIVES MANY REASONS
Plans to Have Busts of Ali Chief Ex-
ecutves and Vice Presidents
Placed Along Street.
GIVES MANY REASONS

/ Mrs. John b. Henderson, following tn,
action of Representative Sisson, of Mis-
sissippi, yesterday on the floor of the
! House, when he succeeded in having tbs
| Avenue of the residents changed back t
Sixteenth street, will carry the fight &
the Senate after the holidays and try tC
! have the matter settled. She wants the
name. Avenue of the Presidents, e,
tained.
Not to lose any time, Mrs. Henderson
| shortly after she was notified by The
| Washington Herald of the action OF the
House, called up Senator Gallinger, Rep.
resentative Bartholdt, Senator Pomerene
and Postmaster General BurIeson, and
asked lem to use their influence to pre-
serve the name which the House voted
against All of them, with the exception
of the postmaster General. who was not
at home, assured Mrs Henderson that
the '~"tter would come before the Senate
after the recess and the name. Avenue OF
tn Presidents, would be retained
Representative johnson. chairman of
the House District Committee, who has
been vigiIantly defending the Avenue of
the Presidents against his colleagues.
who finally succeeded in taking him by
SUI pa gtSAtAdass IL allhAF IOHAtsStu "
Mrs. Henderson that he had been
caught mapping" While Chairman John
son left the House chamber yesterday
for a moments rest, Representative Sis
son called up his amendment to the Dis
trict bill wiping out the name in question
and the House promptly adopted It with
out debate.
Busts of Presidents.
course of a few years the thoroughfare
in question will be one OF the most beau
tiful of any capital city Of the world.
With this in view, she said. steps al
ready have been taken to place bronze
busts of each President of the United
States and OF each Vice President along
the street. These busts will be placed
on suitable granite pedestals and ar
ranged at uniform distances.
Not only will this plan help TO beautify
the avenue Mrs. Henderson maintains,
but it will be thoroughly in keeping with
the name, Avenue of the Presidents.
which, she says, will never be taken
away These busts will be passed upon
ty the Fine Arts Commission before
they are put in place, and Mrs. Hender-
son is arranging to raise money to carry
out the plan. She believes wealthy resi-
dents along the avenue will willingly
contribute and that relatives of the
former Presidents and Vice Presidents
will help. Each State which has fur
nished a President or a Vice President,
she asserts, will consider it an honor
tc. appropriate money for a suitable bust.
THE street has every natural ad-
vantage over any other residential street
in America said Mrs. Henderson.
Seven miles long. 160 feet wide, leading
direct to our largest park, which it
borders for several miles, perfectly
drained and hygienic in all its surround
ings, not threatened with any street car
line, it having a parallel car line its
whole length, no other thoroughfare can
be compared with it. Yet, with these ad-
vantages, it has been neglected by Con-
gress and below Scott Circle and above
Florida avenue slums Of the worst kind
developed, so that it seemed for a time
uncertain what the outcome of Sixteenth
street would be. For ten years not a
single home Of architectural Importance
was erected on it and in its recovery
from sIum conditioss it seemed wise to
give il a new name.
Favored by Majority.
In view Of the fact that 90 per cent of
the residents of the street prefer the
name Avenue of the Presidents, Mrs.
thinks their wishes should be
Between now and the date the Senate
Mrs. Henderson will make
personal appeals to a number of promi- |
lent Senators and to members of the
Senate District Committee to save the
Avenue of the Presidents from losing its
lame permanently. The Sisson amend |
nent, to be effective, must be adopted by
he Senate before 1t can become law.