Evening star., 1923-10-21

| some time since, says Inc SldE VI
! October IS, 1873, THE Star took occa-
sion to refute the
! Tn nafenea nf statement of Presi-
! dent Eliot of Har-
] washington. ward University in
| reference to the city of Washington.
! 1t will be remembered that while at
/ tending the recent social science con-
J vention in New England, the subject
! of a national university being under
! discussion. he asserted that Wash
! ington is a focus of neither foreign
commerce nor domestic trade; neither
manufactures, agriculture nor min
! ing; neither literature nor art. The
climate of the city is not very healthy,
! and the presence of Congress and the
! hangers-on of Congress does not
make the city better place of resi-
! dence for young men at the forming
! period of life
THE Philadelphia Press now takes
: up the cudgels in behalf of Washing
| ton and, in q forcible article. gives
! reliable statistics which emphaticaIly
; disprove Mr.. Eliot's assertions. Quot
! ing from the census report. it shows
| that Washington possesses 127 libra
! ries with 409036 volumes, and says
| that even Cambridge should not be
! too ready to challenge a comparison
| as to relative merits. Washington
| libraries are all Of modern growth,
! and not largely made up Of the use
less spoil of forgotten tongues or for
/ gotten authors. The four law libra
, ries contain 32.34s volumes, and more
! than are to be found in all the law
| libraries in MaSsa chusetts. where
| there are only 27.7o8 volumes.
"In reference to art. says the Press.
! in proportion to its actual wealth
and numbers. the city of Washington
will be found to have been as liberal
in it's support of art and artists as
most cities of the country. There are
/ some private galleries of merit and
many rare and valuable works OF art
in Washington, although President
! Eliot is apparently as ignorant of
their existence as the owners are of
the exalted merits of the beautiful
portraits which grace Harvard Col
lege AS to the architecture OF Wash
ington, it is superior to anything in
the states. excepting only and always
the state house at Boston,
in regard to institutions of learn
ing, says the Press. there are three
colleges in the District of Columbia
never aided by a lottery--two law =
and two medical schools, and, though
none. like Harvard. has been so fortu-
nate as to be endowed with five or
six millions of dollars, they yet con-
trive to do much modest and very
valuable educational work.
statistics from the ninth census are
! given to prove the falsity of the
charge that Washington is unhealthy
The percentage of mortality in the
District is 1.53, or, excluding the col
ored. 1.35: and in Massachusetts, for
the whole state, it is LII. Therefore
the deaths among 1000 persons in
Massachusetts, are about IS, against a
fraction more than Is in the District
If the statistics Of Massachusetts for
1871-Cambridgc, population, 39,634;
! deaths, $50: percentage, 2.2l Boston,
population, 250.526; deaths. 5,SSS; per-
I centage. 2.35-may be fairly compared
with the census of 1870, and those of
Cambridge or Boston presented there
will be found a much larger differ
ence in favor of Washington, or 22
to Is. The Press thinks these rugged
facts demolish u large amount of fine
writing, and closes its comments as
follows:
X X
"When the Capital of our country
is unjustly assailed, every one has an
interest in its proper vindication. We
merely do our part as a matter of
strict justice to Washington, and be-
cause the high official position of the
assailant enabled him to give some
character TO his attack it ought not
to shield him from a suitable reply.
Would Josiah Quincy, Edward Ever
ett or any other former president of
Harvard have made such an attack on
Washington? We think not. AS a rhet-
orician President Eiiot is unQuestion-
ably fine, but in the field of Gen.
Walker and the well ascertained facts
his preparatory training appears to
have been lamentably neglected.
Truth, he should have known, is much
, better asserted after it is ascertained.
His forte certainly is not in the dis
cussion of the comparative health of
cities. Washington, with all it's
faults, still lives and does not appear
to have heard Of the poor opinion en-
tertained of it at Harvard