Evening star., 1927-05-22
Capital Sidelights

Wfllcn are second only 10 IIOCk creek
Park. with it's !, ,6S2 acreage as q pub
lie park, was started with a draft of
| 500, 900 transmitted by Gen. Scott to
the Secretary of War. being part of
the tribute levied by him on the City
of Mexico for the benefit of the Army,
accompanied by the request that the
sum might be allowed to go toward
| the establishment of an Army asylum.
That was in February, 1848, and on
March 3. 1851, Congress passed an act
Ito found a military asylum for the
relief and support of invalid and dis
abled soldiers of the Army of the
United States"
X X X
Very few of the present member
| ship of Congress have ever visited
| the Congressional Cemetery. which is
| the Westminster Abbey of their early
predecessors in the legislative body.
| From 1907 to 1885 practically every
| Senator and Representative and other
executive officer who died in Office was
| buried there. Then, with transporta-
ton facilities increasing, the practice
| fell into disuse and ended by 1855.
| But in 1888 Congress started new
| custom of erecting official monuments
| and cenotaphs in memory of each
| member of Congress who died in of.
|
| The first of these official obelisks was
set up in memory of Representative
John Lent of New York, who died
February %, 1888. following the same
| ugly type as used for each Congress.
| man since the first one was erected in
| 1907 to Senator Uriah Tracy of Con.
necticut. The custom was abolished
by act of Congress in 1877 on motion
| of Senator Hoar of Massachusetts.
! who argued that 'it certainly added
new terrors to death to propose that
in any contingency, whatever might
be the poverty and degradation of any
member of Congress, his body should
be put under such a structure"
Two of the most interesting memo
rials in the cemetery are over the
graves of Elbridge Gerry of Massa-
chusettS and Tobias Lear, the last
private secretary Of George Washing
ton. Gerry was a signer and Vice
President. 1t was he who made the
first public proposal in Congress to
acquire territory for the National
Capital, recommending the Potomac
region, near Georgetown. His name
mander." Inscribed on his monument
is his memorable Injunction, 1T is
the duty of every citizen, though he
may not have but one day to live, to
devote that day to the good of his
country"
n X y
In these days when Congress has
passed a S50,000,000 authorization for
a group of public buildings on the
MallAvenue triangle and intends to
make an appropriation of $25,000,000
to acquire the privately owned land
in this triangle it is of keen interest
to compare these figures with the
price paid in the best bargain Uncle
Sam ever made-through the agency
of George Washington. Without ad-
vancing single dollar and at total
| cost of only S36, 1000 the Government
acquired a tract of 900 acres in the
heart of the Capital City by Wash
ington's deal with the original own
ers March 81, 1881. The 1916 build
ing lots assigned to the Government
| ultimately proved to be worth $780,
900 and now represent a value of ap-
proximately $100,000.000.
This indicates that Congress IS
showing good business judgment in
acquiring the Avenue-Mall triangle.
the plaza between the Capitol and
for expansion of the Governments
plant.
X, y X X
A check.up shows that in all the
time that Congress has been on the
job since March 4. 1889, we have had
a grand total of more than $4,000
acts passed, with only AZ of these acts,
or part of them, declared unconstitu.
tional by the Supreme Court, although
80 900 cases have been brought to test
their constitutionality. A survey for
the last "a years shows that 367.750
bills were introduced, of which 33,397
were enacted. which proves that not
one in 10 of the legislative proposals
ever becomes law. The high tide of
legislative enactment was during the
Fifty-ninth Congress, when Uncle
Joe" Cannon was Speaker. and 1928
acts were passed in that two-year Pc
rfod.
With the restoration Of the old
Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was
shot, as a museum to house the IA
nous Oldroyd collection of Lincolniana
recently purchased by the Govern
ment, an effort is going to be made
to have redraped on the box in which
Lincoln was sitting when attacked by
Booth on April Ia, 1865, the flag now
exhibited in the Treasury Building, a
rent in which was made when Booth
caught one of his spurs in the flag ms
he leaped from the box after shooting
fhe President ~.,