Evening star., 1926-12-05
Capital Sidelights

| towers, Chairman Moore Of the Com
mission of Fine Arts emphasized to
the Gibson subcommittee Of the House
District committee when he was
witness on Friday--just as Rome Is
a. city Of domes This remark was
made apropos OF the tower on the
Post Office Department Building. the
architecture of which was a special
abomination and constant irritant to
the late Uncle Joe" Cannon. The
Post Office Building as silhouetted
against the skyline has frequently
been referred to as the broken back
of a camel.
| The public buildings in Washington,
Mr.. Moore explained. are in harmony
with classic precedents. and the dome
style is capable of wide adapta bility
and flexibility, permitting OF plenty
| Of light and air, while the architec-
ture can he sufflciently varied and yet
suff1ciently uniform.
Those who know of the undercover
| fight to preserve the dome on the
new central, or pavilion. portion Of
the main. or administration. building
of the Department Of Agriculture can
read here between the lines a de-
fense and justification of this dome
|
Arts advisory board. The dome on
the new Department of Agriculture
Building is found in the original pla MS
made many years ago. 1t is to sur
mount a central rotunda to contain
an exhibition of plant growth that will
apotheOsiZe agriculture. 1t Is to bal
ance with the dome on the National
Museum in the vista from the Lin
coin Memorial to the Capitol dome.
while another entirely different type of
dome is seen on the Library of Con
gress Building.
The office of the supervising archl-
tect In the Treasury Department start
ed out to lop off the dome in the pla ms
| for erecting the new Agriculture
Building under the $50. 900 900 Ave
year program. But Secretary JArdine
rose up in vigorous dena nd that the
original plans he carried out-with
an "over my dead body" attitude.
! which was supported stanchly ny the
Fine Arts Commission. with the re-
suit that the dome is going to he
| built.
The chairman of the Fine Arts Com
| mission has just received a letter from
the veteran diplomatist. formerly dean
of the corps here. Amba ssa dor Jules
J. Jussera nd. concerning photograph
| he has brought to his attention of
a government palace in Poland. so
exactly a. replica of the White House
here in Washington that Mr.. Jusse
rand said he was convinced that
there must have been some relation
ship between the designers DR..
Moore promptly disabused his mind
of the misconception by saying that
| there are scores Of residences in Flu
rope and in England very similar to
the White House. because this was the
sta ndard type of home for a gentle
maj Of those colonial DAYS It was so
conventional a type that 1t was pla ced
in books on buildings and sent to this
New World. The old estates In vir-
ginia have similar reproductions from
these old standard colonial building
| books.
AS an illustration Of how the Fed
eral Government made a mistake in
selling off to private persons certain
parcels of land that the Government
| itself now needs to carry out pla MS
for Capital development, DR.. Moore
called the attention of the Gibson
| subcommittee to A corner just west
Of the present Bota mic Garden. border
ing the Mall. where "a tire man is
putting up big building, which he
desires to surmount with a tower on
which his name would be painted in
big letters, so AS to blazon 1t before
the eye of every person going in or
out Of the Capitol"
Considerable interest has been shown
In certain old documents referred tc
in this column AS Illustrative of the
sort OF priceless archives which are
to 60 into the new Archives Building,
or National Hall Of Records. From
time to time certain other human
interest documents will be mentioned
to show the character and wide va
riety Of material for research and
students Of history that will be de-
posted in this new Federal structure
In the library OF the Coast and
Geodetic Survey Is a map, made about
1900 by Juan de la Casa. CHRISTOPHER
Columbus pilot on his second VOYAGE
who attempted to portray the newly
discovered lands which We're to bring
such wealth and prestige to his Span
ish sovereign. The map is crude
full OF geographical errors. and
there are symbols which attempt to
depict the malignant forces endowed
with living attributes which inspired
terror in the minds of the super
stitious sailors of that period who
ventured beyond the limits Of known
waters. And though the mistakes
and the strange fancies of old he
lefs shown in that map may brine
a smile. II is a, smile tempered with
a wholesome respect and admiration
for the man who dared what others
feared to undertake.
Just little more than 20 years
ago there was A. lanky youngster in
the fourth term Of st. Marks School
who thought he had earned a place
on the second team. but the coaches
disagreed with him. He felt In his
heart he knew more foot hall tina
most Of the fellows who made the
team and had more endurance-so he
persisted. The next year he played
on the school team. Then he went
to Harvard and played on the eleven
in 1907. 1909 and 1909. being acting
captain in 1908 and captain In his owr
right in 1909, and was the only Har
ward man picked by Walter Camr
for the all-time all-American team
BY now you must have guessed thai
this is a story about Representa- tive
Hamilton Fish Of New York. wht
proposes to erect as q, most fitting
memorial to Col. former Preside mt
Roosevelt big stadium in Potoma c
Park. where national and interna
tional athletic meets would be held
n
Second only to AL Smith as a fea
ture in the recent elections was Sen
ator David I. Walshs comeba ok
through defeating the appointed sena
tor William NJ. Butler for the seal
formerly occupied by the late Henr,
Cabot Lodge. and who IL the frs
Democrat to be elected to the United
States Senate from Massachusetts II
SO years and the fourth in all Ameri
can history yet this sama "Ta ya'