Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-13


as though it were not q portion OF the
National Capital although no eye can
distinguish from physical appearances be-
tween that section which is by congress
sipnal dictum still recognized through
equal federal payments as the National
I Capital and that which. in point of fiscal
treatment III the matter of street eS'eA-
sions and improvements. Is rated as
negligible lnterland.
! The character and extent Of tn 5 III
! fairness ald inequity are suggested
! by Theodore W. Noyes in Finances OF
| the National Capital Partnership IN us
| and equitable apportionment of the cost
| of street extension. as follows:
| Capitals Extraordinary Street Plan.
/ The expense of the street system o.
/ Washington is not 10 be endured unless
met hy all the resources which combine
( to make the National Capital worthy %
tire nation If Congress will violate the
obligations incurred at the founding o.
the federal District upon which the act
OF 1875 was based. and Will say in leg
i islation concerning the extension OF sin
I gle streets separately and succeasiveN
that the nation has no financial concern
! in the modern capital save II the portion
! limited by The imaginary line ., Bound-
any street. then the streets OF the repu-
dated section musi he opened and I'M
proved on the basis of cramped local re-
| sources. and not Oh the national lines OF
! the original city. But If. the other
| hand Congress wisely determines thai
| the grand purpose OF the highway aci
shall be cartied out and that the Create
Washington OF the coming century. tor
/ yhi.-i, We nludernS VIII he held respon
sib,r shall not discredit tue nation when
conlpar red with the city planned b. the
Z forerathers. then the violation Of The
organic at involved II the extension
slF room
| enamccd.
! Consider for one moment Washington s
original street plan. of which the use is
suggested exclusively at private expense
| fo, the extension OF the nations city.
| 1t represents the hard bargain driven
with the original proprietors of the soil
I John Law. prominent citizen. who came
here at the citys birth. charged. in 1870
! voicing general complaint that the city
! had been made vast by the politicians
| merely to CRAFTY their cupidity and
! tempt as many farmholders as possible to
! give up half their property. Even more
bitter complaints We're made concerning
tho area appropriated for streets and ave
nues not merely one-iiaE. but all of
which was taken by the government with
4 out compensation. The property owners
donated one-half OF the lots and all of
the streets and avenues 10 the nation :.
and the national representatives show ed
, shrewd appreciation of the terms of the
benefac:ion BY setting apart streets
more than one-half of the total area Of
the city. ::.606 acres out OF total OF
! Gill. a greater percentage Of street sur
face than in any other city in the world.
Its vastness has been vel! pictured by
I imagining street loJ feet wide extend
ing from Washington to New York. to
be graded. asphalted and supplied with
cutters curbstoneS, sidewalks drains.
sewers. lamp posts and shade trees As
the Senate District committee said in its
report OF 1879:
The plan of the city was formed by
the public authorities: the dimensions OF
the streets determined by them without
interference b. the inhabitants or regard
to their particular interest or conven-
fence 1t is a plan calculated for the
magnificent capital Of great nation. but
! oppressive from its very dimensions ana
| arrangements to the inhabitants, II ITS
execution TO any considerable extent Is
| 10 be thrown upon them. No people VINO
anticipated the execution and subsequent
! support of it out of their own funds
would ever have dreamed of forming such
a plan Al that period neither the gov
eminent nor the proprietors contemplated
that the whole or even large proportion
of the burden should be thrown upon the
Inhabitants of the city.
THE streets were not only oppressive
from their size and extent in their
original formation. but they will from
the same cause continue to be an I'M
ending source OF expense i'll their re-
pair They must annually cost nearly
double the amount of streets OF the
same length OF moderate dimensions. The
government which created this condition
OF things ought not be very dear 10 the
complaints OF those upon whom such
burden has fallen.
Extension of the Street Plan.
The proposition now is to preserve
much of this magnificent street p an. the
srandest in the world; and to extend IT
TO a considerab Bile degree over the District
outside of Washington under method
of extension in some respects more I'M
Justly oppressive to the inhabitants OF
the federal District than the arrange
ment of which the original property own
ers complained. The latter were required
to give land for the streets. but they
were recompensed in part for their gifts
by the unders;s lding. afterward violated.
that the donated streets should be opened
and improved exclusively or largely al
the expense of the nation.
Had old Washington realized that the
nation would disregard its implied agree
ment and throw the expense of street de-
veiopment almost entirely upon individual
citizens i, would never have consented to
dedicate for street purposes more than
half of the total area of the city. and the
new Washington beyond Boundary
street ma: well shrink back when in
vi;ed to develop the extravagant and eX-
pensive but magnificent street plan Of a
great National Capital with the feeble.
unaided resources of scattered sub
urban population. which in its natural
development would never dream of dedi-
eating to the public and of maintaining
and improving at its own expense a street
area that would take out of the market
and render not only unproductive but a
source of direct and heavy outlaE over
one-third of the entire suburban city.
The large owners of unSubdivided land
in the District outside OF Florida avenue
will doubtless readily donate to the pub
lie the necessary streets. Just as their
predecessors did at the founding of the
city. They will not even exact the I'M
derstandng had with the original pro-
prictors-that the cost of improving these
streets shall fall exclusively or largely
on the nation. They will be content if.
being annexed to Washington. the donat-
ed thoroughfares are treated in the same
way as all other Washington streets and
are developed under the act of 1873 or
the half-and-half basis. But the owners
of lots in the belt of misft subdivisions
intervening between the original city
Y and the unsubdividcd land and the own
ers of small plots in such unsubdivided
land whose property. under extension
bills. will be either all taken in streets o,
so mutilated as to be rendered practically
valueless occupy a different position.
Why should they give to the public they
ask. that for which they have paid cash
| VIII hone ,Ne inlireer