Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-04-30

individual purchasers with the implied
! pledge entering as consideration IN
/ the sale that il should remain such
capital forever. the nation raised equities
! and created vested interests which
| forbid it without dishonor to destroy
Washington as the seat of government,
| the nations city. the permanent National
| Capital.
! ca Instead of cutting down the seat
-, of government in the Ten Miles Square to
a minimum of the absolutely necessary
| spaces required for national purposes, the
Ten Miles SQUARE should be restored to
its original proportions. Instead OF new
| rctrocession to Maryland. the old retro
cession to Virginia should be undone. as
| recommended ny President Lincoln. The
National Capital is the symbol of ma
s! ticnaii.,. tn" nation in miniature. eH-
panding and prospecting with il. con-
! tracing and suffering with II. The ma
| tional spirit of today calls for a greater
Washington, and finds repulsive the pro-
posals of contraction and degradation IN
respect to tho nations city.
The iconoclasts and nIateralistS VINO
would destroy the nation city sheer at
the sentiment which pictures the capital
as a token of national sentiment. at once
the symbol and bond of American ma
tionality. But Americans in their national
relations ANA IN nationai affection ana
pride have always been imaginative
idealistic sentimental.
The decision whether the National Cap
ital partnership shall be dissolved
whether a divorce sevcrins the bond which
connects nation and capital shall be de-
creed. rests wholly with Congress. repre-
/ senting the nation. And among the few
men who assume and to large extent
have been Permitted to speak and act for
the House OF Representatives IN TINS mat
/ ter are those v no Slur every Washing
tonian's motives in advocating the main
tcnance OF the National Capital partner
ship as ncrceuary. selfish. sordid and
base. and VINO sAaeringly stiSmatizc as
insnrere seutmentaiitr the suggestion OF
any abstract and intangible benefit TO toe
nation from the existence Of the nation :
city.
The fact remains that. the capitalfi is not
only the symbol of American nationality.
hut is an inspiration 10 patriotism ana
strong rationalizing force. binding the
people of the sections together in national
hmcricanism.
was born in Washington. am proud
of my birthplace, proud of my home CITY
and of its people. My profoundest pride,
however. is in Washington as the Ma
tional Capital. and as national Ameri-
can would be shocked AS by some over
whelmin-s personal disaster II the bls-
trict were DESTROYED as capital and re-
solved into its original clements as
small fraction of Maryland This de
struction would seem to me and. ! be-
iicvc. to millions of other Americans a
humiliating bio" u: American patriotism
and the spirit q. -h1neflcdn
The National CaD:al IS not to be de-
stroyed. hut is to live and grow constant
IL in strength and beauty. and in the af-
fectioaate pride of the American people.
The Washingtonian as we'll as Wash
inSton viz he exalted. And in the
course OF the natural and ineritab1 de-
velopment of the years to come We can
foresee the time when Citizenship IN the
CAPITA of the great republic. freed from
disabilities no LONGER necessary to be
rl,fia INK oh oil O
the reasona bic cause of far profounder
pride than that felt in his home city by
any other american under the stars and
Stripes or by any other Patriot and en-
thusiast in ell the world
The Nations Pride.
From its pitiable plight of forty years
ago the capital has become an object OF
interest pride and affection to Americans
of all sections of the republic J. In the
cosmopolitan population of the modern
city northerners. southerners and west
erners are mingled The latter. not SO
very long ago. in the dependent condi-
ton of residents of national territory.
struggling for greater national attention
to their affairs and for more thought1ul
consideration OF their needs ana grey
ances by a legislative body in which they
had no real representation. and SENSITIVE
IL resentins misconceptions born OF sec
tional ignorance concerning their re-
sources. spirit and tendency. can sympa-
thize with community whose present
politically resembles in some respects
their past. and. they should be able TO
legislate with peculiar wisdom and con-
sideration for this bit of national soil,
doing to the capital as they would tnat
the nation had done unto them in the
times that are gone.
But the strongest hold of the capita
upon north and west-upon patriotic
Americans everyWhere-ariseS from the
fact that it embodies the national idea
Washington was brought into being as
peculiarly and exclusively the home aud
abiding place of tie nation as uistn-
ruished from the states. Instead of Sc
Letting as the capital an existing CITY
Of some state. the nation determined 10
create a capital which should be largely
owned and exclusively controlled by the
republic itself With this purpose in view
ii acquired by gift title to tive-seventns
OF the soil Of the city that It created
and reserved to itself by the organic law
the constitutional power of exclusive leg
islation in this capital. 1t planned mag
nificent city upon unimproved lands and
sold lots upon the implied agreement
that the capital should be permanent
and that the grand design on paper OF
the nations city would be made reality
, BY the nation. The capital was the crys-
talliZation Of the national idea; II was
the substantial embodiment of the ao-
stract MON. the naturalization oil