Evening star., 1923-02-23
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

There was an old woman who lived
| In shoe;
| She had so many children she uluii
! know what to do.
! That old woman found right soiu-
tion Of her problem, but what shaii
| Uncle Sam do with all his hundreds
and thousands of children when the
souIless railroad corporation swoops
down upon the Plaza, to shoe the
young lady employees out of all the
government hotels? Shoe leather has
gone up. There are other reasons
why uncle can't follow the old
woman's example.
| The Baltimore and Ohio railroad
| Company owns part Of the land on
| which these hotels were built IN
| time of war. They were intended
| only for temporary structures, TO
meet the war emergency, but they
have proved ideal homes for the
young ladies', at great saving OF
money as compared with the accom-
! modations elsewhere, and they nave
! been very profitable TO the govern :
! ment, In spite OF the economy rentals
| charged. SO the hotels have been
| continued. and might well be con
4
the railroad company really wanted
| to put the land to better uses.
X X j: X
| There are two considerations which
| the present order to vacate suggests.
J First, In view of the governments s
| demonstration OF the proftableness
| of the eenterprise-paying some $4,000
year, nett would pay private
or semi-private company to follow
| the governments plan by erecting
barracks de luxe for the thousands
of government employes-barracks
for bachelor girls and other barracks
for bachelor men.
The barracks need not be adjoining
the Capitol, as these are, but upon
less valuable ground, even some dis
tance from the main offices of the
government. The modern CON
veniences and the parlors as we'll as
the social features OF such COM
! munities make them very attractive,
especially to young ladies whose
homes are not accessible. A matron
and reasonable rules give protection
which cannot always be guaranteed
| in an average boarding house or
apartment.
Second: So long as there IS not
capacity for all who want 70 take
advantage of the hotels. should there
not be a turn-about rule, limiting
tenure of a. room TO one year. If there
persists an anxious waiting list" At
least so long as the hotels are owned
and controlled by the government.
should only the first-comers be given
exclusive advantage?
If the 1000 present occupants are
turned loose upon the rooming capac-
ity Of the city there is going TO he
trouble ITO your tents, oh, Israel.
And here come the 400, 600 Shriners,
and after awhile there will come the
5000 alley dwellers n everything!
Might charter r. & o. sleeping cars
and rent berths. but would not that
be heaping Goals of fire upon the
heads Of the B. e Q. officials? And
coal costs too much to be wasted
Might have to resign and get mar
ried. It's just awful!
There have never existed neighbor-
ing nations which have lived contin-
uously in such cordial relations as
have the United States and Canada,
The more than S,000-mile boundary
between the two nations has not a
fort nor a gun upon all it's length,
and. aside from the periods when we
were at war with Great Britain, 1t
never has been protected. If ever
there has been d demonstration of
love thy nelghbor as thyself." it has
been found in the neighborliness of
the two great nations of North
America.
Yet Canada has remained aloof
from the Pan-American Union! That
union is unique. 1t includes all ma
tions of North and South America
except Mexico and Canada. The Mex