Evening star., 1924-01-27

for instance. that the impressiveness
OF the architecture is entirely lost.
! Take the case of the Capitol, the
most important national structure. II
/ Is approached generally from the
| west. along Pennsylvania avenue.
| This is the avenue along which Presi-
! dents travel on inauguration days. II
| is one of the most historic streets in
! America. But the blocks near the
! Capitol are lined with small souvenir
! shops. secondhand clothing and fur
/ ntture stores. gypsy fortune tellers'
| rooms, dingy lodging houses and
| cheap lunchrooms.
1t has been often urged that the ma
! tion should own this land along
Pennsylvania avenue. so that the ap-
| proach to the Capitol might be lined
with other government edifces. each
| in its setting of grass and trees. But
Congress has never seen fit TO make
| the investment, and as the years go
| on the cost Of such a project becomes
| more and more staggering.
Far Behind I'm Parks.
| To take another instance, the parks.
Much praise has been given Wash
| ingtons really fine parks. Yet so
far as park properties are concerned
the Capital. in 1919. was at the bot
tom of a list of the nineteen cities
with population exceeding 100000. In
other words. while parks in New
| York were valued roughly at $751;
! 100000, and in Chicago they were
| worth s60.000.000. and in New Or
leans, s7,500,00O. and in Buffalo
s11 100000, Washington parks were
valued at only s5,000.00o. The Capt.
tai has beautiful wooded lands which
ha
tension Of the park system, provided
steps are taken in time. In 1901 a
park commission recommended to the
Senate that fifty-three such tracts OF
land be bought. To date six of these
have been acquired. Many of the
most beautiful and important have
been stripped of their woodland
growth and leveled for building pur-
poses.
recently appointed by the American
Civic Association to make a survey oi
conditions in the District and to sug-
gest the needs for the future. The
committee is composed of experts or
1 civic problems, such as architects
street and highway engineers, stu
dents of housing situation and for
.estry experts.
! This committee has just issued its
first report. 1t reminds US that. with
the possible exception of CONSTANT
jnople and Rio de Janeiro, no capita
| in the world has a more beautiful
natural setting than Washington. AL
ment-purchase of lands for parks
and grounds for public buildings
lbeautifying of the entire waterfron,
so that the Potomac may be to
Washington what the Seine is tc
Paris; intrusting plans for public
itectural design; supervising the
plans for private residences to pre-
vent monotonous rows or poorly de-
isigned houses. In short, the com.
mittee points out that Washington
started out as a city with a definite
plan and that it must continue strict
lily as a planned city If 1t is ever tc
become the most beautiful capital In
the world.
Regarding the significance of ma.
their capital cities all peoples have
llavished their arts. In a capital con.
gregate the representatives of all ma.
tions. To men Of international view.
point the buildings Of a capital tel
more plainly than the words of its
L
| the scale of strong national feeling
| Of broad-gauge national planning, OF
cosmopolitan contacts, of funda-
mental traditions; or, conversely, OF
lack of national pride, of petty poll
tics handicapping large policies. OF
Iprovincialism, of susceptibility. to cas-.
ual influences
The committee further shows tha,
there Is a financial side to the bust.
Iness of building capitals which shoulG
mot be overlooked by a nation. "Al
italy invested for the building oil
Rome" it says. land century after
| century, along the roads that lead tC
Rome, all Italy has collected interest
millions upon millions, voluntary
tribute of other nations to it's arts
To a great capital city resort the
tourists Of the world 1t Is a magnet
for it's nation. The Eternal city
and the expressive colloquialism, Sc
this is Paris, have taken more bill.
lions out Of this country than have
foreign loans"