Evening star., 1918-12-01

~ portance come to Washington
suddenly, and are permanent
The city has within the last
two years experienced the greatest ex-
pansion and amplification, politically,
industrially, commercially and: even So
cially, within its history. and perhaps
within the history Of any capital city in
the world.
Will this growth be permanent?
Everything points to the fact that It
will: it is the conviction Of men In 9
position to know that never again
will Washington be the place it was
or anything even like the place that
it was. It is more-much smore-the
capital, the nerve center, OF the whole
United States than ever before. It
is in close touch with every remote
hamlet in the land, and every. corner
is intimately associated with 1T.
Thousands and hundreds Of thousands
have seen It and know it and have
lived in it to whom. but for the war,
it would perhaps never have been
anything more than a name-not the
tangible, throbbing central, organ OF
the greatest and richest nation on
earth.
Amphfes Brain and Heart.
Just as war strengthened and de-
veloped the limbs and members of the
nation, so has it quickened and ampli-
fed the combination Of brain and
heart that is the National. Capital,
sending into it's limits thousands of
patriotic workers. who may represent
the blood supply. and receiving in
return fresh and quickened mental
impulses, revivified and inspired men
and women, each health blood cor
ptscle.
Not only has the city,, within this
brief space of time, jumped into its
rightful place as the real capital and
center of the country. but, in a meas
ure, it has assumed genuine and
permanent international importance.
It has been said that Washington just
now is. and for many months past has
been, in sense, the capital of the
world. It took the war to do this.
No sSlump" Foreseen.
Will it. to use slang phrase,
slump? From history may be de-
duced the fact that 1T will not. Sue
cessive wars marked the previous
epochs in it's growth and development.
It has always gone forward; never
back The recent growth is the great
est, the most startling of all. Not all
of the gain will be net. BUT un-
dcubtedly no previous expansion will
prove in any way comparable as to
that net gain. no. matter how much
this may vary from the prognostica-
tions of the highly, optimistic. 9,
The city. started as struggling viii
lage Just before the close Of the eight
eenth century. The little war: OF 1872
found 1t considered generally OF little
moment sort of theoretical place,
as it were; Boston, Philade1phia and
New York were the real capitals, al
though the President and Congress
and foreign diplomats might in more
or less experimental way be living
and working on the banks Of the
directed from Washington however,
and the new, nation awakened to the
fact that it really had capital.
"War Capital'' in 1851.
The trouble with Mexico acted in
similar manner. and after 1886 came
a noticeable increase in the labors
performed at and the citizens resid-
ing in the District of Columbia Then
in 1861 came four years ofecivil strife.
The still unpayeds and half-formed
city became in very truth a war cap
ital. It was the heart and soul Of
Of that Union was planned here. With
the end Of the war. and the reuniting
and welding Of sections into q vast
and indisso1uble whole. the Capital
entered on what is no exaggeratfon
to term q new era Almost coinct-
dent with the Immediate great and
arduous labor, of reconstruction of the
south came the local physical recon-
struction program headed by Gov.
Alexander r. Shepherd. @
Even the Spanish-Amerfcan war,
small and brief as it was. marked q
distinct forward step. Now has come,
and gone, the greatest war In history.
q war in which America was the de-
ciding factor. No man dare commit
himself as to how far the city, will
progress; all-statesmen, business
men. soldiers, representatives OF In,
dustry-content themselves simply.
with the negative side Of he:Question:,
that It il impossible for Washington
ever 70 be again; what 1t was
Capital Beckons ia. Industry.
It win become am iasaustStals csntsf.l
althor-h 1t has few manufactures or