The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-05-01

ISIS TO washington Is OH. III
the Nations Capital even the
perennial visitor is greeted with
something new to enjoy. This year
new buildings, recently opened, in and
near the great triangle between the
Capitol and the Ellipse, will be fea-
ture of tour of the city.
Gaze down upon the modern Wash
fngton from an airplane. AS always,
the simple grandeur of the White
House, the Capitol the Lincoln Me-
mortal, and the towering Washington
monument draw the eye and make the
heart beat faster. But near them new
wonders have appeared.
Quietly and steadily, with so little
fuss that residents were hardly aware
of it, thousands of carloads of stone
and metal-whole mountains in the
aggregate-have been hauled into the
city and reared into monumental build
ings.
Acres and acres Of old, unsightly
structures have been razed on Capitol
Hill, around its base, and along broad,
historic Pennsylvania avenue. In their
place stretch parks, wide boulevards,
or long, handsome houses of govern
ment.
In the angle formed by the intersec-
ton Of Pennsylvania avenue and the
new Constitution avenue, beautiful
Champs Elysees or Rue de Rivoli of
Washington, rises a mighty wedge of
masonry, the famed Federal Tri-
ANGLE" eight blocks long.
In this single group is the most
amazing collection of government
buildings that the world has seen.
They make their own weather. In
hottest summer the air inside is cooled
to the temperature of a fine spring
day.
Beneath the roofs of this Triangle
work nearly 10000 government en-
ployees, about as many as the entire
population of Batavia, N. Y, or Day.
tona Beach, Fla. Every day dozens
of people get lost in its 20 miles of
corridors.
Massive and Beautiful.
In sheer size the cluster of buildings
is staggering, even from high above.
1t is as if half a dozen or more of
New York's tallest skyscrapers have
been laid on their sides, formed into
blunted arrowhead, and cut and twist
ed to make courts and wings. One
unit-the Commerce departments
longer than the Chrysler building is
tall.
Pp+ a. Go MT yoorolv on froDracSion
of bigness that one has in the wan
dering plane. Long ranks Of ma
jestic columns, graceful arcades, a
wide plaza, and solid rock walls give
a beauty and simplicity that make
these enormous newcomers fit COM
panions for the classic White House
and Capitol.
The airplane turns, and far off in
the distance, beyond the Capitol DOME
appears a cleaning white marble tenn
pie, comparable in beauty even to the
noble Lincoln Memorial. This is the
new United States Supreme Court
building, the only real home of its own
that the nations highest court has
had.
For the first time in American his
tory q citizen now might gaze upon
the separate, permanent abodes of the
three branches of his government
legislative, the Capitol: executive, the
White House, and now. for the judi
cial, long sheltered in the old senate
chamber, this temple whose dignity
and impressiveness match the majesty
of the law itself.
Suspended In History.
As you cruise about, other splendid
white buildings appear, new jewels in
the familiar setting along the Poto-
mac.
Beyond the Lincoln shrine the new
Arlington Memorial bridge links north
and south. Down the Virginia shore
of the winding river a wide Appian
way, the Mount Vernon Memorial high
way leads to the home and tomb of
The Father of his Country.
From the steps Of the Capitol all the
way down to the river. two and third
miles away, sweeps broad stretch
Of tree-dotted park land. Gone is
much of the mushroom growth Uf tenn
porary wartime structures. Their re-
moval gives new beauty to this Mall,
main feature of the grand plan con-
reived by the Revolutionary soldier
artist, Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant,
when he laid out this city with broad,
sweeping, prophetic strokes to be the
capital of vast country.
Hanging between earth and sky, you
seem suspended in history, halfway
between the past and the unfathom
able future. How would the city look
hundred years hence. or twenty, or a
thousand?