Evening star., 1924-10-07

possession Of their property again.
Maybe they work itsAas the dairies
used to-so long as they have enough
cars they should worry whose name
is on them.
To the west runs the upper river.
with Its green banks. There Is old
Aqueduct Bridge, it's Virginia end
running plump into the new bridge,
Its Washington end closed with CROSS
bars. There is some agitation to chop
1t all down except 400 feet on the Dis
trict side, to serve as an amusement
pier for the neighborhood.
Yonder. sticking through the trees,
are the towers Of Georgetown Uni
versity, speaking volumes for the
perspicacity of the early fathers, who
saw what an educational center the
Capital of the Nation some day was
to be.
The kick one gets out of standing
on Key Bridge at midday is not in
what he sees, but in what he thinks
Here is a canal, one of the Oldest of
ways of travel. Here is a road, even
older. Here a steam railroad, not so
very old. Here Is an electric railroad,
younger still, crossing a bridge, one
of the earliest of mankind's struc-
lures.
Here is an airplane, winging up
from the naval air station. This is
the latest thing in the way of trans
portation for the body of man.
There is the radio tower, visible
symbol of the invisible radio i'm
pulses, mans latest invention to
transport the brain and voice of man,
what he thinks and what he says.
Here, at this point, on this new
old bridge, focus these many means
of getting around, summed up here
as if in play.
The scene is grand only u 'Vs
wings, off there where the lGGpS
ment looms and the Memorial stands.
Here in the foreground the set is dis
NAL, dirty. ultra-utilitarian, but it
has aspects of grandeur, has 1t not?
X X
1t was across this bridge that the
late President Harding trod one cold
day shortly before Christmas, 1922,
returning from the inspection trip
which resulted in the determination
to place the Arlington Memorial
Bridge across the Potomac between
the Lincoln Memorial and the ma
tional cemetery.
The roadbed of Key Bridge-then
miscalled the Georgetown Bridge
was rs yet unfinished when President
Harding and his party, led by Lieut.
Col. c. o. Sheriff.. superintendent of
public buildings and grounds, walked
from the Virginia to the District side
| wrote at that time:
president Harding stepped out
over the crushed stone and mud of
the incomplete roadbed as if il had
been golf course. Nor did the
President shiver into his coat collar
Although the wind was hlowipv o. ,pnra
than briskly, President Harding's
overcoat collar remained turned
down. HS~kept pace easily with Col
Sheriff., whose military stride is a
good one"
Mr.. Harding made it plain during
that trip that what decided him for
the memorial bridge site at the Lin
coin Memorial was the beauty of the
situation.
1T is the picture. gentlemen" he
said.
1t is the picture that always must
be kept in mind when dealing with
Washington. The late President was
not an artist, but he had a lot of
common sense and a fine feeling for
the eternal fitness of things. and
often he hit the nail on the head
where others perhaps better fitted
merely succeeded in smashing their
thumb.
Washingtons water front, both
mere and at other points. must be
and will be improved. Plans are so
vast that all cannot be done in a
lay, but much can be accomplished
Dy determined men and women who
ire not ashamed to bear the stand
trds of the beautiful.