Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-23
FIFTY YEARS AGO IN THE STAR

" AAS AL ~ 4 a. Az
begin with let us have at least one street
whatever street is first in the field with
the wood pavement will make itself the
street Of the city as q fashionable resort
and as a. thoroughfare. The result has
been the same wherever the experiment
has been tried-in Chicago, st. Louis.
Cincinnati, San Francisco and every
where. In Chicago. where the wood
pavement has been more fully tested
than in any other American city. the
city councils at single sitting recently
Of streets with this pavement. In our
opinion there is no other city where the
wood pavement can be used SO service
ably as in Washington
ts
Capital removal continued to be p
topic of interest in the middle west.
but all the comment
Congress and was not favorable
=, =, In The Star Of No
tne 'apie&i' vember 10, 1859, is
the following:
There is at least one sensiblS man
in st. Louis. He writes to tHe Mis-
souri, Republican over the fgnature
of Mississippi Valley showing that il
the scheme Of capital moving wsre prac-
! .ical. II is by no means desirable for anv
| western city. He argues that Con-
gress will certainly either demand or
usurp the power to control Al things
| bounds of the new rational district.
Congressman will <hardly consent to
remove from a6lace where they are
80 omnipotentto a place where they
/ \ ~ L. a hav
omnipotence/of a body like the Amer
lean CongrSss is sufficient, in the ma
] ture of thitgs, to destroy any city in
the world. commercial supremacy and
| congressional supremacy are SO utterly
incompatible that they cannot possibly
exist in thu same city.
! He doubts the force of the argu-
ment tbat Washington is not safe in
time q war II an in .s ss;IH;., war
valley. If foreign war it may be
! safely assumed that no nation in the
tWorld will ever attempt to night the
United States. as Great Britain fought
in the revolution and in the war of
1872, that is. by landing troops. 1t
would be folly. The only way would
| be by naval power, and II ought not
to cost very much to protect WASH.
ington or any other single point that
| far from the Atlantic ocean against
a foreign attack. He thinks that the
capital, in any event. cannot be
moved for many years. and in the
meantime the central power OF gov
eminent will probably be SO much d.
minished that the seat and business
of the national government will be-
| come of so much less consequences
than now that it will not be matter
of much moment where the National
| Capital may be-"
The project of worlds fair to be held
in Washington in the early seventies
was being pressed
Snhscrintions for vigorously in this
the World Fair. aro and funds
were being subscribed toward the enter
| prise. In The Star of November IL.
1869, is published a list Of the nrst
subscribers to the fund. as follows:
William w. Corcoran. 10000; Matthew
Emery. $4,000; Henry .. Cooks, t M
H SGSi A'f Poses. S. 800: W THOMPSON.
$1,000; Matthew w. Gait. $4,000; Philip
Mohun, $4,000: Fit1hugh Coyle, 5000;
Dr. 2. D. Gilman. $4,000: James Y.
Davis 5000: wiiiim b Son rodd ob Hs'oSv'
Boteler, 5000: g. W. Me.zerott, 5000;
George W. Cochran. 5000; Metro
politan Railroad Company. 5000;
Washington Gaslight Company, WV
900; Gen. o. o. Howard, $4,000; George
w. RIGGS, $1,000: Sykes, Chadwick d
Co, $1,000. Total, $4,000.
The next days issue contained an
other list. with the following state
ment:
the result Of two hours work by
Messrs. Gait and Mohun. OF this $780,
900 the leading subscriptions were as
follows: w. B. Moses, $4,000: Hume
G. Hall. $1,000; J. B. Bryan, $4,000;
Perry & Bro. $1,000; Jesse B.
wilson, $4,000; Barbour & Hamilton,
$4,000; Francis Mohun & Sons, $4,000.
This makes a total Of 100000 already
subscribed to this important enter
prise. and is an indication, we take 1t,
that as much more may yet be raised
in this way.
with the very large amount which
ii is now reasonable to believe can
be raised in this way, and a subscrip-
ton of half a million dollars by the
city, the success Of the enterprise
would seem to be assured beyond
doubt. even without the expected con-
tribution from the general govern
ment, which we may look for with
more confidence when we have clearly
shown that we do not rely upon 1t en-
tirely, but mainly upon our own ef.
forts"