Evening star., 1927-05-22
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

| Fifty years ago Loudoun County,
Va, was favorite Summer resort for
Washingtonians who could
AAouuoun not send their families to
County. more distant places for the
i heated term. The follow
| ing in The Star of May Is, 1877.
touches upon certain comments on
| the attractions and advantages as
we'll as some of the disadvantages Of
| that region previously printed by The
Star:
with mingled feelings Of surprise
and regret we observe that our cotem.
poraries at Leesburg entertain the
view that the remarks in The Star
few days ago in regard to the at
fractions of Loudoun County as a
summering place were conceived and
expressed in an ungenerOuS and un-
friendly spirit and perhaps with the
intent to turn Summer comfort seek
ers in some other direction. Nothing
could well be further from the truth.
1t was because we had at heart the
interests alike of our citizens and
called .upon to say what we did say
on the subject. Other things being
equal-that is, the accommodations
being as good and furnished at as
reasonable a price as elsewhere, and
the means of getting to and from that
locality being as convenient and
cheap-it seemed to us that that
neighborhood was the one to which
our people would naturally turn as
a desirable place in which to spend
the hot Summer season; and it was
with the view of bringing about these
results that we pointed out some Of
the difficulties in the way, in the hope
that they might be removed.
"In regard to shortcomings in in.
dividual cases, it is not necessary to
specify them in detail. AS to the
relations which exist or ought to
exist between those who offer and
those who seek accommodations In
the country, they will soon adjust
themselves. The public will find out
in short time who are worthy and
who are not, and in the long run
those who deserve patronage would be
pretty certain to get it, and those
who deserve to fail will fail. The fit-
test will survive there as in other
affairs of life. But, as we undertook
to show last week, the main obstacle
to the desired interchange is the
want of proper railroad facilities in
that direction.
Business men who send their fam.
lilies to the country for the Summer,
and who desire to spend the nights
with them, as the majority of them
do, must have speedy and convenient
communication, and this they cannot
have on the so-called Washington and
Ohio Railroad, while its trains are
run as they are at present. With
that class every minute Of time is
of value, either in the prosecution of
their business or in recuperating from
its exhaustive drain. They cannot
therefore afford to spend from five
to seven hours every day in. coming
from and going to the place where
their families may be domiciled for the
time being, and this they would have
to give, as things are now managed,
in order to reach the more desirable
points in our neighboring county.
And the worst feature of the case Is
that there are at present no signs OF
improvement in this respect, inasmuch
as the old management was continued
In power at the annual meeting held
a few days since. To show how con-
spicuously untitled it's principal ON.
GERS are for the positions they occupy,
IT Is only necessary to quote from the
Alexandria Gazette an incident which
occurred at that meeting. Noticing
the representative of that paper in
the room, President Mckenzie 'ob.
jected to any reporter being present.
giving his oft-repated opinion that
newspapers were a great nuisance and
should be squelched.' Could anything
better demonstrate the propriety of
the figure we used last week to H.
lustrate the repellent policy and
wretched incompetency Of the man.
ayers Of this road? A dormant bat
clinging to a dead bough' is a symbol
OF enlightenment and progress In COM
parison with such monkish.age FOSSIL
ism as this. What business has 1t to
be fooling with a railroad in the
nineteenth century"