The Washington times., 1922-06-25
WESTWARD TREND
OF CITY FOIL OWED
HIGH "HILL" PRICES
Population, Seeking Less Costly
Land, Quite Satisfied to Live In Northwest.
Holder Of Capital Property Forced to Wall
by His Own PrOhibitiYc Prices.

ment took possession OF washing-
ton. The arrival Of the officials
oaused great excitement among the
population OF twenty-five hundred
people. When the little ship bear
ing them was sighted. sailing slow
ily up the Potomac, the whole city
gathered on the banks Of the river
and cried q welcome. The next
day other officials arrived by stage
coach from BaItimore. and the
Government settled down to busi-
ness in its new home. John Adams
was President; John Marshall.
Secretary Of State; Oliver wolcot.
Secretary Of the Treasury: Samuel
Dexter. Secretary Of War. and
BENJAMIN Stoddert. Secretary Of
the Navy.
"A CITY OF HUTs."
washington ala not meet With
favor in the eyes Of the Govern
ment officials. Mrs. Adams called
It the wilderness city" ana the
others gave vent to their opinions
In the public press. II was called
q city Of magnificent distances,
set in q mudhole and dubbed .
capital, q city Of miserable huts.
and q town without houses. Those
who had opposed washington a.
the Government seat grew merry
over its mean and disgusting ap-
pearance. The late stilson Hutch
ems in his history Of Washington.
published In 1885. prints . letter
written by John Cotton Smith. .
member of that early Congress In
which he gives . depressing pic
ture Of the newborn capital.
"our approach to the city was
accompanied by sensations not
easily described" It reads -one
wing of the Capitol building had
been completed and this. with the
Presidents house, Q mile distanct.
both built Of white sandstone. wers
shining objects In contrast with
the dismal scenes around them.
Instead Of seeing the avenues and
streets portrayed on the plans Of
the city. not one was visible unless.
we except q road with two build
ings on each side Of II. called the
New Jersey avenue. The Penn.
sylvania avenue, from the Capitol
to the Presidents house. was near
ly the whole distance q deep
morass. covered with elder bushes
which were cut through to the
Presidents house. Near George
town, Q block Of houses had been
erected which were called the "Six
Buildings" There was also two
other blocks, consisting Of two or
three dwelling houses facing in
different directions and now and
then . wooden habitation. the
intervening spaces and the surface
Of the city In general being covered
with scrub oak bushes on the high
er ground and on the marshy soil,
either with trees or some sort of
shrubbery. The desolute aspect Of
the scene was augmented by .
number Of unfinished houses at
.Greenleafs Point There appeared
to be but two really comfortable
habitations in the city. One Of
them belonged to Daniel Carroll
and the other to Motley Young.
The roads in every direction were
muddy and unimproved." -
WASHINGTON CRITICIZED.
Many of the descriptions OF
Washington written about this
time We're at least original. One
writer says: Imagine Q daddJ
long.legs. whose body Is scarcely
visible while. his legs shoot out In
all directions. and you win have
some conception Of this city. The
streets are filled with mud In wln-
ter and dust in summer. Instead
Of splendid buildings, you can sea
nothing but corn fields, aria
plains, dry canals. and dirty
marshes. The citizens built
houses where there are no streets
and the city builds streets where
there are no houses" H-
Satire and ridicuie came rom
all sides, but in spite Of II the -,ty
grew slowly. In 1910 It had q
population Of s.2os. and In 1870 q
population Of 1s,471. The officials
of the Government numbered 100
people and the expenses Of rum
ming the same amounted to less
than $500, 900 q year. The Prssi-
dent drew q salary Of s2s.ooo, the
Vice President 5000. The early
cost Of Congress was $4,000. The
expenses Of the Treasury Depart.
ment were s55.ooo. II cost $500
to run the Department Of State for
one war. The sxpenses NJ I'm,