Evening star., 1919-12-21

or visitors for anything"
Testimony on the subject of the
cost Of living in Washington was
given in Tho
Local Prices Lower Star Of Decem-
Than in Boston. .ss tom ~ ,sa
following extract from the Washington
correspondence of the Chicago Ad-
vance:
Among the many ISLANDERS against
our National Capital is its alleged ex-
pensiveness of living. l want to set
some actual prices paid in Boston for
articles of food side by side with cor
responding ones paid in this city.
Within the last week l have bought
the best porterhouse steak for from >"
to 25 cents. for which l last month
paid in Boston from 81 to AZ cents per
pound. I have bought potatoes at from
65 to rs cents bushel against 3"
cents to 81 in Boston. At the Howard
University they furnish students with
rooms and board at cost which IS s3.eI
a week. against IS week for similar
accommodations in Andoyer. nv
water rate in Boston was SEQ: here il
is IS. Coal is cheaper, gas is cheaper
and so is flour. In the one item Of
rent Washington is at the disadvan-
tage. But this is especially so only AT
the season of the year when strangers
most do congregate in the city. 4
house rented in November will bring
one-third more than the same house
rented in May.
The capital removal agitation con-
tinuing. The Star from time to time
contained references
Washington's to the project, which
was making little
AoVSntases' headway. but still
attracted attention. In the issue of
December Is, 1869, is the following
communicated" expression on the
subject:
Some of the more prominent advo-
Gates of the scheme to remove the
capital admit in their private conver-
sation that no better location could
be selected than the present one. TAX
ing into consideration natural ad-
vantages and surrounding scenery and
elevated ground. The several or par
ticular cities of the west Ito one of
which especially the principal agita-
tors are striving to remove or trans
fer the capitaD are. with perhaps not
an exception, low and fiat, and can
not certainly surpass our own locaii-
ty in climate and in consequent
health. But they object to Washing
ton principally on account of its near
ness to the sea and assumed exposure
to attack in the event of a foreign
war.
The western people. it is main
tanned, cannot live without the union
of the states. their existence as in
dependent freedmen being inseparably
connected with the perpetuity of the
republic. Their section beins. inland.
they claim that the capital would
there be safe from all forsiGn attack
and hence they consider it to be their
duty to strive for the consummatiop
of their project for removal And
the prominent gentlemen to whom we
have alluded say they will contend, to
the last man, for the continued Tree
navigation of the Mississippi river
and its tributaries, as the main ar
teries of commerce All outlets to the
sea.
There is no probability whatever
that the capital-movers will be sue
cessful in their efforts, and these men
should be informed that there need
be no apprehension in the future con
cerning an invasion of Washington
and injury by fire to the public build
ings as during the war of ISL Al
that time we had no lines of telegraph
to concentrate thousands of troops at
Washington and it's neighborhood
from distant points in a few hours.
The celerity and promptness of the
transportation of troops and supplies.
all over the country, attest to a
strength and facility of preparation
unsurpassed in any part Of the old
world Nor is it likely that the Ma
tional Capital will ever again be men
aced by so large an army as that
which strove to capture it during the
late civil war. Certainly no foreign
power could in any event present so
formidable an array of hostile force:
And. during the war of 1912 we had
no steam vessels nor ironclads. no
monitors. one OF which is far superior
in execution to the best built fort.
owing to the great advantage of 10
comotion and capacity to place itself
in position. To admit that our capi-
tai will ever be subjected to foreign
invasion is to say in effect that for
eign mercenaries may have uninter-
rupted transit to our shores and that
comparatively few Of them may meet
on many fields, with a chance for vic
tory. our millions of invincible de-
tenders.