The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1921-02-19

| pointed and instructed them as to where they
| should locate the permanent capital. Those COM
missioners named the city for the man who had
led the victorious armies of the colonies in the
Revolution and who then serving Presi-
dent Many fairy stories have been written about
how Washington personally selected the site for
the capital, even driving some Of the surveyors
stakes etc. The unvarnished truth is that he
merely carried out the will Of congress by ap-
pointing commission which was instructed by
congress to do a certain thing.
From the day the tract ten miles square was
staked out Washington's impress has been In the
city and its environs. That impress stands out
clearer as the years pass. More than a million
persons, Americans by birth or adoption gain
new inspiration every year merely by looking
upon the material things that connect the days
when Washington moving about there in the
flesh with the present time Thousands of for.
eigners benefit in the same way. There is
any pause in the stream Of pilgrims to Mt. Vernon
or in the throng that is always on the way to the
top of the Washington monument. Winter and
summer, through sunshine and storm, the homage
paying to the Father of his Country" goes
Every recurring anniversary of his birth seemingly
increases the interest In his memory. On these
anniversaries floral decorations invariably
piled high in the tomb at Mt Vernon and neither
branch Of congress fails to provide that his
farewell address shall be read.
Probably because the point has never been en-
phasized many persons have the idea, 1t seems,
that Washington lived for a short time in the
city that bears his name. There Is also pOpu-
lar belief that the Washingtons at one time &C.
cupied the White House. Washington never
q resident of the permanent capital The seat
of government In Philadelphia when con-
gress voted to locate the capital where it is, and
Washington had a temporary home In that city.
On returning from Philadelphia at the close OF
his second term President he gave consider
- Ia r1y DpfC
of the new capital. He frequently rode up from
Mt Vernon on his favorite black horse to see
how things coming
Who would undertake to say that he did not
visualize the national capital in such form
as it stands today? If he did. he in his
ina gnation the Capitol building on Capitol hill,
the Library of Congress with it's golden dome in
the rear of the Capitol the magnificent office
for senate and house Of representatives
the expansive Mall extending from the Capitol to
the Potomac, with the monument to his own men,
ory the most conspicuous thing on it; and he
also saw the splendid memorial to Abraham Lin
COLI which has just been completed well as
the memorial to U. S. Grant, which is almost
ready to be turned over to the government. And
who again would say that he did not have vision
of the resident section Of the city extending far
beyond the White House to the northwest?
Washington never saw the White House occu-
pied To some extent it represents his ideas of
what combined home and business office for
the President should be-the original idea was
hat the President should make the house his
residence and also his workshop. Washington
, Mason assisted in laying the cornerstone of
he White House. That Formally conducted
~ Masonic lodge in Alexandria of which
Washington member.
It is certain that he was deeply interested in
he work of construction. At the time of his
leath the house was practically ready for occu
nancy The furnishings were being placed In
,osition Only few days before his death he
md Mrs Washington went through the entire
uilding and, according to the chroniclers OF the
ime. were keenly interested in every detail OF the
lace which was to be the home of future Presi-
ents.
Today. as 1t has ever been, 1t is not so much
he things with the Washington stamp on them,
those in the nearby districts that interest the