Evening star., 1922-12-05
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

vision real. He was the forerunner
OF OF that effort OF business men OF
WashInRton and Alexandria to under
lake. even now. TO make this a great
seaport and gateway into the Mis-
In 1870 George Washington. tho
surveyor. wrote to the Governor of
Maryland. as follows:
Inere is the strongest speculative
prnoa IN the world. to me. of the
and MARYLAND might derive fand at
very small expenseD ny making
the Potomac the channel of com
merce between Great Britain and
e.s ena. immense territory: a tract of
country which is unfolding to our
View the advantages of which arr.
100 great and too obvious. | should
think. but which through iIi-iimed
parsimohy and supinen.ss may be
wrested from us and conducted
through other channels
4: X x X
Washington's clear vision was be
clouded to others by the jealousy
OF central Virginia in favor of the
James river and by the jealous rivalry
or Baltimore. Georgetown failed to
become the New York as Surveyor
washington perceived it might easily
DO. and as today's Washingtonians
are ambitious to achieve. through
opening the port to ocean traffic.
George Washington persisted until
in 17'2 he procured the passage of
an act by the Virginia assembly for
the formation of a company to build
canals around Great and Little Falls
taoove Washington cityp SO that
boats might navigate the upper Po-
tomac- Patrick Henry was one Of
the managers. The coming of tha
revolution stopped the enterprise, but
after the revolution Gen Washing
/ TON revived IT, the cana! was dug,
ana navigation. originating ~
georgetown. penetrated the far west
nearly TO the Rocky mountains.
ne boats ascended the Potomac
22V miles. then the freigh: was car
rl+d Twenty-Five miles overland Ia
the Mononeahe!a river branch al
| the Ohio. Thence 1t went down the
ONO 10 the Miami-just west of Gin
cinna,i.-and north up the Miami TO
Fort Wayne. and. with thirty-fve-
mile portage. down the Miami of the
i lakes into Lake Erie
or. passing on down the Ohio river
into the Mississippi. il ascendel the
Missouri: Or down the Mississippi TO
the Tennessee river. II then reached
up the TombiEbee to Mussel Shoals
Rivalry OF the railroads finally kill
ed the canal. but not until il had de-
total Of over a million barrels Of iour
and 42.45S barrels OF whisky in l5.oon
boats OF a total tonnage of l1s.5s4.
Today's dream has not SO much 10
do with the upper Potomsc-though
its possibilities. too. are apparent
but il seeks to meet today's commerc.
conditions in opening the lower Poto-
|, mac. from Washington to the ocear.
for the large ocean-going ships and
mako of the capital . real ocean pc TT
even with modern draft. as il was in
the earlier days with the smaller ton
mage.
With this as an ocean port. the com
merce which Gen. Washington's com
pany reached out to Mussel Shoals.
Ala. and 10 the grea. lakes and tho
upper Missouri river in the far north
west will again come into existence.
and the city of Washington may be
come the port and mart for half tie
continent and all OF Europe.
We may realize the farsightedness
of George Washington. as expressed
in his letter to the Governor of Mary
lsnd. quoted above. by its contrast
with the humorous tone of Thomas
Moore the poet. who visited the city
In Jefferson's administration. and
wrote:
In fancy now. beneath the twilight gloom
Come let me lead thee DER this modern Rome,
Where tribnnes rule and duSky psvi bow.
(nns cYepk nnr g
This fam d metropolis. where fancy sees
Squares in morasses. obefisks in trees;
Which travelling fools and xazeteers adorn
With shrines unhuilt and heroes get unborn:
Thougi. nauRht hut wood and - they ses.
Where streets should run and sages ought
to be
A witty French lady said of Wash
ineton and Georgetown about that
time: Washington is city OF
streets without houses and George
town is 4 city of houses without
streets" Georgetown. including
Dumbarton Rock. had houses nesting
among its hills. hut for years did
, not grade it's streets-in fact quar-
! relied and grew sarcastic toward
Washington city because II tried to
borrow Washinston's instrument for
fixing the levels. and was practical
ly refused the loan.
Tom Moore may laugh at early
Washington. but he had no right to
sheer at our Tiber as Goose creek.
More than century before Ns64
a man named Francis Pope got 4
, patent for the land on which now
stands the Capitol. and facetiously
he named the creek the "Tiber." so
that he might boast that he was the
Pope of Rome. upon the banks of the
, Tiber: IL was so named in his patent.
But the glory that was Rome today
is far outshone by the beauty and
splendor that is Washington. and its
commerce will Yet reach to the ends
OF the earth