Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08
TESS TELLS PLAN
OF BECENTENN|AL
Pictures Celebration in Honor
OF George Washington
in Radio Forum.
tcontinued From First Page.)

be allocated a mile of road for such
State tablets and architectural treat
ment as determined by the State, with
the approval Of the Federal Highway
Department and the Fine Arts Com
mission"
To Publish Orders.
The commission also plans to publish
complete and definite edition of tine
writings of George Washington, includ-
ing his general orders, never yet pub
!ished. There are known to be more
than 1000 OF these letters. Their
publication" said Senator Tess, will
be notable permanent memorial to
his memory, which in time will be the
very best possible source of material in
the study Of Americas progress up to
date.
The commission also has undertaken
to assist in the restoration of Wake
field. the birthplace Of Washington, -
all but completed to add to the 70 acres
already owned by the Wakefield As
ISOLATION 300 acres necessary to proper
~ treat the home and surroundings.
This latter addition is made possible
by provisional gift of John D. Rookie
Teller, ir. The Government will be
asked to appropriate $4,000 to COM
pleGe Gne reSJOrdUlOn.
The commission plans to cover the
entire Nation in its plans, both for i'm
mediate results and permanent me-
MORALS, through its historian, Prof. AL
bert Bushnell Hart" Senator Tess said.
1T is the plan to have each State cele-
brate the event so that 1t will become
a Nation wide celebration. Through the
school authorities 1t is planned that a
program will be put on by every school
in the country-f not on the same day,
at least in the same week.
THE climax of the event." he said,
will properly take place in the Capt.
tai City"
Senator Tess speech follows:
Plans are rapidly taking shape for
the most ambitious celebration ever
undertaken in honor of a single in
dividual on the 20oth anniversary Of
the birth of George Washington in
1882. This celebration will not only
be Nation wide, participated in by every
section of the country, but 1t Is ex-
pected to reach an international stage
where other countries, recognizing the
service of Washington to the world.
will participate. The event will be OBJ
served in a suitable manner in every
American embassy, under the direction
of the American minister, and in CO.
operation with the Nation to which he
Is accrediated.
I am asked by The Evening Star
under whose auspices am speaking, to
tell the radio audience something of the
plans and the reasons which will justify
such an undertaking. This am glad
to do, and thank The Star for the
opportunity.
Era of Great Progress.
The year 1882 will mark the 200th
anniversary of the birth of George
Washington. These two centuries span
a period of time during which there
has been greater progress in all lines
of activity and more accomplished for
the good of mankind than In any
1000 years preceding it. In no part
Of the globe has that progress been so
marked, nor has 1t even approached the
strides taken in the country he founded.
Could he return to take part in the
celebration of the bicentenary of his
birth, he would witness such changes
as were never seen before by human
eyes.
1t would be dif1icult to properly es-
innate the contribution Of Gen. Wash
ington to his country as known today.
The tractless wilderness through which
he carried his message at the opening
Of the French and Indian War, when
he was but 81 years Of age. has be-
come the heart of a great empire,
with her teeming cities, her fertile
farms, and her beautiful homes, oc-
cupied by prosperous population. He
would observe the Is separate original
colonies stretching along the seaboard,
whose independence he had succeeded
in winning and whose hopeless anarchy
he banished through constitutional gov
eminent, adding State after State until
IS more sovereign States extended her
borders from sea to sea to cover the
choice portion of a continent.
The 100000 people over which he
presided in his day have increased to
beyond i20,000G00 in our day, living
under, and loyal to the same Constitu-
ton with the adoption of which he had
most to do, in convention of which
he was the most distinguished member,
and over which he had presided with
such dignity and finality. He would
take no little pride In the fact that
during the 143 years of its operation
It had been virtually amended but a
half dozen times, notwithstanding the
worldwide changes-social, industrial,
political and religious-wrought in
civilization during that period. Witness
ing the stability of the Constitution 143
years after, he would recall with in
terest the confusion created bv some
delegates in the constitutional conven-
ton when they declared that they
labored for posterity as well as for that
day; especially he would recall the
jeerS Of certain members of the con-
vention who declared it foolish for any
man to hope that any Constitution the
convention might adopt could last as
to that pessimism, he would view with
genuine delight the loyalty to that
instrument Of 100 600, 900 of the best
fed, the best clothed the best equipped
and the happiest people of all history.
Established Institutions.
To students of political science, and
especially as affected by the constitu-
tional history of the United States.
large and perhaps unrecognized part
of Americas progress must be due to
her institutions with which Gen. WASH
1ngton had to do. The marvellous growth
Of the Nations wealth and power, which
reveals an annual income as large as
the total wealth of the next richest
country. the mother country, from
whom the colonies less than $50 years
ago won their independence under the
leadership of Washington, would not
have been possible in a government in
which the talent Of people is re-
strained, either from the force of GUS
tom or legal inhibition. It could only
materlallze under complete emanclpa.
ton Of the human intellect, where
universal freedom of growth and de-
velopment of all the people were not
only permitted, by both custom and
law, but stimulated by the open door
of opportunity to every phase OF human
progress. Such were the means and the
end Of wise government.
The establishment Of popular govern
ment In the United States Is the basis
OF the might and power Of America,
which In little over century Of time
mas forged anead into world leadership.
It is properly regarded by students OF