Evening star., 1928-12-30
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

There was no Commission of Fine
Arts fifty years ago to pass upon public
Plan and Site for the placement
Museum Building u NJ IelIicgs, p,,Sic B,,ildo ndo
ings Commission, consequently the de-
signing and the location of structures
were not supervised as closely as at
present. The following in The Star of
December "a, 1878. relates to a proposed
construction regarding which there Is
now much criticism:
1.-THE proposed new building for the
National Museum is, Ii authorized by
Congress, to be situated to the east of
the Smithsonian Building at the foot
of Ninth street. It was proposed in the
original bill to place it to the west of
the Smithsonian, but the congressional
committee on visiting the ground came
to the opinion that If the building were
placed next to the Smithsonian and
between it and the Agricultural De-
partment it would destroy the pleasing
effect produced by the uniform distance
of the two existing buildings from
Twelfth ssreet and that site on the
other side of the Smithsonian would
obviate this objection and also give a
better view of the new building itself.
For the erection of the latter, a fire
proof structure 800 feet square, $3.50 900
is asked. The model of the building
bears a general resemblance to the
Government building at the Centennial
Exposition. The new Museum would
have but single floor and be entirely
of brick and iron. Its 10000 square
feet of floor would be lighted by 10000
feet of glass equal to one-seventh OF
floor space for glass. 1t is said that
according to best authorities one-ninth
of floor space for glass is required to
exhibit art matter properly"
Washington harbors almost as many
worthless dogs as the cur-infested city
of Constantinople," says
A Canine The Star of December
N,;so,o. "a, 1878. Some time
% N"i'"eo' ago broken-down
citizen went to the poorhouse FOLLOWED
by no less than sixteen dogs, who had
doubtless helped him on his way to
bankruptcy 1t is almost impossible To
ride Or drive through the city or out
skirts without having pack of these vile
ours burst out from some alley III full
yclp, In a way to seriously try the nerves
of spirited horse, and some bad acct
dents have resulted. It may be mention
ed for the benefit of both the owners Of
the dogs and the victims that In
recent case in Iowa the Supreme Court
of the State held that the bark of dog
is as bad as It's bite and made de-
cision protecting travellers from its an
noyance by giving the prosecutor the
damages he wanted because he was in
jured by jumping from his buggy after
the defendants dog had scared his
horse into running away by rushing
out and barking as the complainant
drove along the highway. The court
held that it was not essential that the
dog should have bitten the horse, but
1t was enough that it ran after 1t and
barked."
"Now that gold is no longer at
premium and is coming out from its
The Troublesome circulation says
Dollar of Gold. cembep na T'": as, " 1878,
"the curious fact Is presented that for
convenient use the public prefer green
backs to 1t, and for any amount under
five dollars even prefer silver. The gold
dollar Is Objectionable ON account OF
It's minute size, rendering it constantly
liable to be lost. AS Falstaff had in
sinking, this little coin has an alacrity
for dropping from a porte -monnaie or
working from the bottom of a pocket.
II the gold dollar could be made thinner
and of larger surface 1t would not only
obviate this objection to certain ex-
tent, but 1t would be a much hand
somer coin. All our gold coin, in fact,
compares unfavorably with the Eu-
ropean coin In appearance, for the rea-
SON that 1t Is both inferior in design