Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-13
A DOLEFUL CRY FROM THE PAST
Woeful Story of Ante-Natal Dangers
Nations Ward Starved by Guard
ian-Attempts Upon Its Life.
BY THEODORE W. MOVES.
From The Washington Evening Star
February IS, 1888.

Modern cities, though they never y1elo
| to mere old age, are often said to De
| born, to grow to maturity. and to die like
persons. In certain aspects Of their ma
| tenal development and decay they re-
semble persons. If the analogy might De
carried further. and human emotions De
ascribed to personified cities. Washington
finding a tongue. could give utterance TO
a woeful autobiography.
This recital Of grievances would find a
beginning in events which occurred pre-
vious to the cttys birth. While orol-
| nertly neither individuals nor municipal
CORPORATIONS can complain OF 1li-treat-
ment at a time when they had no ex-
istence, the capital on the Potomac may
perhaps be excused for INDUCING IN a
feeble, preliminary wall over the dlncul-
| ties which it experienced In being porn
| at all And this privilege snoulo %
granted the more readily in view OF the
fact that many subsequent evils can De
traced to their sources in events OF the
ante-natal period.
| The location of the National Capital
was subject Of contention between
north and south and between several di1-
ferent states Of these sections; me
| claimants of the honor OF providlng tne
permanent seat of government were mace
unyielding in their demands by state
pride and state jealousy, and sectional
animosities added to the bitterness OF
| the controversy. The subject was a
| fruitful source Of wrangling in the con.
gress assembled under the articles OF
Confederation. This body met in some
| one of half a dozen different places
according as convenience suggested oi
necessity compelled. and from time TO
time it named a permanent location
| only to reverse its decision when the
subject was next discussed. The pro,
posed site on the Potomac, SUPPORTS
| by many southern members, was reject
ed more than once. In 1888 location
on the Delaware was preferred to one
on the Potomac, and in 1884 commits
sion was appointed to h seies se,ac st paa
not made, however. and the contentlon
was bequeathed to the first Congress
meeting under the Constitution ne
ever before. The claims of Philadelphia.
Germantown, Havre de Grace. Wrights
Ferry on the Susauehanna, and ioca-
ton on the Potomac were most strong
ly urged.
September 8. 1889, the House, by. a
vote of 81 to 10, passed a resolution
fixing the permanent seat OF govern
ment on the susquehanna, an acton
which aroused the bitterest feelings
among the southern members and caused
Mr. Madison to affirm his belief that II a
| prophet had started up In the virginia
convention and foretold the proceed
party to the Constitution. The Senate
| inserted Germantown, instead of a site
| on the Susquehanna. as the seat of gov
eminent. The House CONCEDED IN the
| haps be now standing In Germantown
| had not an amendment. affecting the
| location in no respect, carried the Dill
back to the Senate, where it failed to
receive consideration during the re-
mainder of the session. In the next year
| this phase of the wrangle was ended
The persistency of Mr.. Madison and
| other southern members carried the
day, but a bargain was necessary to
secure the required votes. The bill FOR
| the assumption of the state debts by
the national government. which was
also originally supported by q minority:
| to locate the capital on the Poto-
| mac by a "log-rolling' arrangement
between Hamilton and Jefferson. In
July. 1890. the House by vote of 80
| to IL. decided in favor of the Potomac.
After ten years of preparation for the
| event. during which period site was
selected by President Washington, a
| against obstinacy and avarice i'll some
of the original proprietors of the SOIL,
| and the work on several public build
| ings was begun, Washington the
National Capital came into being. From
| its cradle 1t was surrounded by enemies
eager for Its life. President Washing
| ton was tainted with sordid motives
| in causing the capital to be placed
near his estates on the Potomac. The
| bargain by which the question was set
| tied was denounced as fraudulent and
| corrupt, and each disappointed and In
| censed claimant of the capital prize in
| this legislative lottery awaited a chance
| to crafty revenge and to test the for
tune of a new drawing by strangling
| the successful competitor.
| The first grievance, then. Of Washing
| ton-the city controlled exclusively by
| Congress, the ward of the nation-is
| that from it's tenderest years it's nerves
have been unstrung. its growth retarded
| and its constitution undermined by a
we'll founded terror. due to
The Attempts Upon It's Life
and the threats of sudden and violent
| destruction made from time to time by
it's guardian. Like the hero of Great
| Expecta TONS" the capital was brought
up by hand" and it's guardian was
forever ION the rampage" From the
day in 1900 when the archives of gov
| eminent were brought from Philadel-
phia in seven large boxes and four or
| FIVE smaller ones" and an army of fifty
four of11ceholders swelled the population
of the city, there have been periodical
| attempts to remove the seat of govern
ment, and such removal would have
| ington. An Englishman named Weld
who visited the future capital in 1895,
says: Notwithstanding all that has
| been done at the city and the large
sums of money which have been expend-
ed there are numbers of people in the
United States still living to the north
of the Potomac. particularly in Phila-
| delphia. who are still very adverse to
the removal of the seat of government
| thither and are doing all in their pow
er to check the progress of the build
| ings in the city and to prevent the Con-
| gress from meeting there at the ap-
pointed time Those who had thus OPP
posed the removal to Washington were
| the same who now endeavored to effect
second removal and who. as part of
a condition which would serve as an
| argument in favor of the change As
| a sample of the attacks upon the infant
| capital. hear a new Critic in his Let
| tiers on the Seat of Government" pub
| lished in 1907: In the meantime, be 1t
| from New Hampshire to Georgia (for
| may presume without fear of con-
| tradiction. that Observation-Disclosures
| of the youth of the United States grow
up to manhood without ever having
| seen the capital of their country, that
| the national bantling called the city of
| Washington remains, after ten years of
| expensive fostering, rickety infant
| unable to go alone.
| Mature will not be forced. A sickly
into healthy constitution. This
embryo of the state will always be a
disappointment to it's parents. a dis
credit to the fond opinions of its
worthy godfathers and godmothers and
| an eyesore to all its relations to the re-
advice. in conclusion, is to remove the
| seat of government to Philadelphia