Evening star., 1925-02-22

They further agreed:
The President shall have the sole power
of directing the Federal City to be laid off
in the manner he pleases He may retain
any number OF squares he may think proper
for any public improvements or any other
public uses, and the lots only which shall be
laid off shall be joint property between the
trustees behalf of the public and equally
divided between the public and the individ-
uals as soon as may be after the city is
laid off.
For the streets the proprietors shall re-
ceive compensation; but for the squares
lands in any form taken for public buildings
or any kind of public improvements or uses,
the proprietors whose lands shall be so taken
shall receive at the rate of 25 pounds per
acre, to be paid by the public
In this way George Washington was able
to plan the Federal City a whole and to
avoid those incongruites which the planning
of each separate section without regard to
other sections is bound to produce. He en-
ployed Maj. Andrew Ellicott to survey the
land and Maj. Pierre Charles LEnfant to de-
sign the new Capital. Jefferson, then Sec
retary of State turned to LEnfant the
plans of many European cities which he had
collected in his travels, but it was George
Washington who insisted on a layout for
the entire city. The jefferson sketch map
shows a narrow strip of regular blocks
stretching from the Potomac to Capitol Hill,
leaving all the surrounding area to be laid
out In the future.
We have to thank President Washington
for the extent of the area planned, as well as
for the location of the site of the Federal
City In the early days there were those
who scoffed at the grandiose plans. They
could nothing but the mud holes on Penn
sylvana avenue, the unsightly surroundings
of the Congress House and the rather forlorn
isolation of the Presidents house.
* X X X
But the plan of the seat of Government
has lived though times forgotten
times neglected. The street system OF the
LEnfant plan which extended only to Florida
avenue. Boundary street, is essentially
the street system OF today. The Mall now
practically free from encroachments. thanks
to Senator Mcmillan and the senatorial COM
mission of 1901, may yet be developed with
some semblance to the plan of 1891 The rail-
road tracks are gone. The fenced-in gardens
going. axis to rectify the error
in the location OF the Washington Monument
has been adopted, and the New Museum of
Natural History and the wings to the Agri
cultural Building conform to the line.
We have open squares and triangles and
circles in the old city because George Wash
ington supported the LEnfant plan, which dis
tributed open spaces at strategic intersections
and in the foreground OF proposed public
buildings.
The Father of Our Country bequeathed to
us a plan which, so far 1t has been
realized. has given Washington a high rank
among the capital cities or the world, and
which, If It had been followed in its entirety.
would have made the Capital of the United
States the most beautiful of all.
X X u
What has this generation done to deserve
the Federal City of George Washington
Growing out of the centennial celebration of
the occupation of Washington as the seat of
Government, a movement developed to pro-
tect the future growth of the city. The Nc
iaain cd he nj
plan long since forgotten, and revised the
Mall plan to something resembling the origi-
nal conception. The commission prepared
comprehensive park plan, but in the 23 years
which have elapsed since the report of the
Senate park commission, only of the SO
areas recommended for purchase have been
acquired. Many have been utterly destroyed.
And in that time the population has also
doubled. The have been built up
without those friendly open spaces to serve