Evening star., 1920-01-06
HALF OF DISTRICT
COMMITTEE WILL
FIGHT FOR $3.50

| Continued from First Page.)
ton; it was intended that the seat o.
government Of the United States
should be a place dedicated and Sc
apart exclusively for the transaction
of the governments business; In th'
language of Senator ingalls,: 1t wa!
to be the workshop of the nation
Soon after the organization OF the
new government the present D1strlci
site was acquired. President Wash
ington was authorized by Congress to
lay out and define the boundaries OF
the District, and to lay out the city
on such plan as he might see fit. Hav-
ing located the site of the capital and
determined it's boundaries, President
Washington procured deeds of con-
veyance from the owners of the land
(nineteen in number).
Provisions of Original Grants.
Some of the provisions of the orig
inal grants to the government are
significant and indicate beyond Ques-
ton the national character of the en-
tire project:
I'VE, the subscribers, in considera-
ton of the great benefit we expect to
derive from having the federal city
laid off upon our lands, do hereby
ecutors and administrators to convey
in trust to the President of the United
States or commissioners, or such per-
son or persons as he shall appoint, by
good and sufficient deeds in fee SIM
pie, the whole of our respective lands
which he may think proper to include
in the lines of the federal city, for
the purposes and on the conditions
following:
1.-The President shall have the sole
power of directing the federal city to
be laid off in what manner he pleases.
He may retain any number of squares
he may think proper for any public
improvements or other public uses.
and the lots only which he laid off
shall be joint property between the
trustees on behalf of the public and
equally divided between the public
be afatre the city shall be laid on
Broad Plan Adopted.
Washington proceeded to lay out
world was ever conceived on a plan
so bold and ambitious. or on a scale
of such magnitude and beauty.
Total number of acres taken for the city. g. 600
Donated to the United States for ave
nues. streets and alleys. g, Cos
Donated to the United States. 1916
lie buildings and use ............ 5l
Total number Of acres taken by the United
otateS ...'............ u, i<S
10, 1876 lots decided back to former owners. 9s2
Acquired Five-Sfxths Of Whole.
The SAL acres for public buildings
and reservations were required to be
paid for out of the proceeds of the
lots donated to the government. The
government, therefore, acquired by
Inf a cif
original Gill acres comprising the
city area, more than f1ve-sixths of
the whole. Of the 5.129 acres secured
by the government 3,606, or more than
54 per cent, were dedicated for streets,
avenues and alleys. fee simple title to
government Of the United States.
Maj LEnfant. the great French
engineer, who, under the direction of
Washington, drew the plan Of the
Capital City. said:
".No nation. perhaps, had ever be.
deliberately deciding on the spot
where their capital city should be
fixed, or Of combining every neces-
sary consideration in the choice of
situation, and, although the means
now within the power of the country
are not such as to pursue the design
to any great extent. 1t will be OBJ
vious that the plan should be drawn
on such establishment which the In
crease of the wealth OF the nation
will permit it to pursue at any period.
however remote
A National Proposition.
"As indicating clearly the public
understanding at the time that the
city of Washington was to be dis
tinctly a capital city, and its upbuild-
ing and maintenance principally a ma
tional proposition; the following from
the Philadelphia Herald OF January y
1875. five years before the seAe OF
government was moved to Washing
"aTo found a city for the purpose Of
making it the depository of the acts OF
the Union and the sanctuary OF the
laws which must one day rule all North
idea which has already become, with
propriety, the object of public respect.
The city of Washington. considered un-
der such important points Of view, could
not be calculated on a small scale the
extent and disposition of its avenues
and public squares should all corre-
spond with the magnitude of the OBJ
jects for which it was intended. and
we need only cast our eyes upon the
situation and plan of the city to recog-
nize in them the comprehensive genius
of the President, to whom the direc-
ton of the business has been committed
by Congress-
intended by those who planned the cap
ital city that the great expense of its
upbuilding and maintenance should be
borne wholly or chiefly by the local
resident population. When the national
government by constitutional provision
assumed supreme and exclusive control
of the Capital city and the District in
L.. TOD ysVv nr
sumed a corresponding obligation for
the orderly development, upkeep, and
Identification of the capital along the
lines of it's splendid conception. The
power to control carries with 1t the
duty to maintain.
Failure to Meet Obligations.
while this obligation Of the govern
ment was recognized by the founders
of the Capital city, and has been en-
phasized and reaffirmed by the official
acts and reports of every committee of
the question, the seventy-five years fol-
lowing the location of the capital wit
messed a most shameful failure on the
part of the government to meet its just
obligations in the development and
maintenance Of the capital. The record
shows the major portion of this great
burden was thrown upon the citizens OF
the District. Time and again the Dis
trict was brought to the verge of bank
ruptcy in meeting the extraordinary ex-
penses of capital building and main
tenance.
THE money derived from the sale
of lots by the government was used
almost exclusively in the erection of
public buildings for national uses.
The opening and building of the great
streets and avenues of the city was
left almost wholly to the resident
population. 1t was a burden they
were unable to bear.
From the laying out of the CAPT
tai. in 1890, to 1895 the national gov
ernment contributed to the municipal