The Washington herald., 1915-08-28

ciues OF this continent and indeed mos
of the great cities Of the modern world
From all that in Washington you ar,
free, and 1t is fortunate you are free, be
cause you are able to make a city of ;
different kind, a city of a novel type,
I city to which there will be nothing Xix,
in this country and hardly anything Xix,
in any other country. ."
In these circumstances, may not tn,
| city of Washington feel that its mission
in life is to be the embodiment of tn,
majesty and the stateliness of the whole
nation; to be. as was well said by the
, previous speaker, a capital of capitals. q
| capital Of the whole nation. overtoppine
the capitals Of the several States a.
much as the nation overtops those State.
representing all that Is finest in Amer.
lean conception, all that is largest and
most luminous in American thought, en-
bodying the nations ideal of what the
| capital of such a nation should be- -
LAS Athens represented the finest en-
/ bodiment of ancient culture, SO you
| would like Washington to represent your
| American ideals. You would like it to
give by its external splendor a sort of
esthetic education to the people. You
would like it to be a model of other
cities, a model which the capitals of the
greater States may all seek to vie with.
as most of these States have already
| initiated in the construction of their
State capitols, the Capitol at Washing
ton. What you want is to have a city
which every one who comes from
Maine. Texas. Florida, Arkansas or Ore
gon can admire as being something finer
and more beautiful than he had ever
dreamed of before; something which
makes him even more proud to be an
American; something which makes him
wish to difruse the same ideas Of beauty
through his own State as he sees set
forth in visible form here.
TO Rock Creek there is nothing COM
parable in any capital city of Europe.
What city in the world is there where q
man living in house like that in which
We are meeting. in Eighteenth street.
can within less than ten minutes by car
and within quarter of an hour on his
own feet get into a beautiful rocky glen,
such as you would find In the woods of
Maine or Scotland-a winding. rocky
glen, with a broad stream flowing over
its stony bed and wild leafy woods look
ing down on each side. where you have
but an inexhaustible variety of foot
paths, where you can force your gay
through thickets and test your physical
ability in climbing up and down steep
slopes. and in places scaling the faces of
bold cliffs. all that you have in Rock
Creek Park . ."
so some day the people are going to
set the true value upon all these things
these spots of beauty around Washing
ton and all the tract behind the Rock
Creek Valley and these woodlands have
spoken of. When that day comes one of
two things will happen: Those who come
after you will either have to pay far
more for these pieces OF ground than
would have to be paid now, or else men
will mourn in vain over opportunities Of
enjoyment forever lost. This is the IA
vorable moment. The value of land near
this great and growing city is rising
every day. ."
"As a result of the amazing growth
of the United States you are going to
have an enormous capital, even If 1t has
no large industries. We made the mis-
take in London of not foreseeing how
London would grow. When We began
elbHty years ago " Uullu = INay STA
tions We made little tiny stations, not
realizing that the country and with it
London were going to grow enormously.
and that far more space would be need
ed for our increased traffic. 1t seems
strange now that every man of sense did
not foresee this growth and the need for
preparing to meet 1t. ."
The only man who seems to have fore
seen the greatness of this city, so far as
1 can learn, was George Washington
himself. Although he died before Louis
lana was purchased and long before you
acquired territory on the Pacific Coast.
he appears to have realized that this was
going to be an enormous country and
ought to have a grand capital. and you
ought to go back to his ideals and render
the greatest tribute you can render to
his immortal memory
What you have got to. do Is to make
the nation feel that it has a real living
interest in Washington. Make the man
from Maine and from Minnesota and
from Florida feel that Washington be-
longs to him. 1t is not those only who
live here in Washington that are the
owners Of Washington. but these men
also who dwell all over the country.
Many CT them. and all their representa-
tivas, come here every year, ana as they