Evening star., 1937-02-14
Amazing Results Bring .
Credit to Its Friends
Survey of Achievement Given in Report
of Fine Arts mmission-Triangle
Group of Federal Offices Conspicuous.


advocates, once publicly directed at
tention to the fact that for some time
it had to be slipped in or slipped on
when Congress was not looking"
THE Commission Of Fine Arts was,
under authority of Congress, ap-
pointed by Mr.. Taft, when President
of the United States. and was
charged by him, unofficially, with the
duty of seeing the plan through. US
we'll as guarding against inartistic
error. Valliantly has the Commission
of Fine Arts kept the faith. And now,
after nearly q years of watchfll
waiting. tactful persistence, and re-
inforced wisdom. hopefully applied
the dream has become reality.
OF course, much still remains to be
done. both in the way of extensions
and in that of embellishments" upon
| both of which ''the enjoyment by the
people of the Nation in their Capital
City greatly depends"
Within a single generation, to
quote the report, Washington has
been transformed by the citizens of
the United States. acting through
their representatives, legislative, exec
utive and judicial. This transforma-
tion has proceeded in an orderly, dig
nifled and even magnificent manner.
because at the beginning. and again
at the time of the awakening of our
civic consciousness, Washington had
the advantage of guiding plans made,
IN both instances, by men of expert
ence, with knowledge Of the worlds
best precedents, men Of supreme artis-
tic taste. Above all, these planners
were endowed with lofty conceptions
of the boundless future Of America,
and were imbued with patriotic .fervcr
to make their vision bright and pene-
f. trating"
Mr.. Moore. in this connection, re-
calls the watchword given by Daniel
H. Burnham: Make no little clans;
they have no magic to stir mems
blood. Make big plans, and let your
Watchword be order and your beacon
beauty"
1t was McKim who said that you
can compromise anything but the
essence'-and to him the essence of
the Park Commission plan for Wash
lngton was the width of the Mall. It
has been maintained.
Elhu Root helped ito hold the plan
down" by driving a stake" here and
there. Mr.. Cassatt, then president of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, lent great
lmpetouS, apd at considerable sacri.
flee, by removing the station from its
Sixth street site on the Mall; a great
battle over the placement of the Lin
coin Memorial on the site selected by
the Park Commission was waged and
won during the Taft administration
during the Great War the erection cf
Government power house, with
chimneys, on the river front, was pre-
vented by a jocose editorial in one Of
the great metropolitan dailies; the
plan has had warm friends and short
sighted foes, but its own logic and
beauty as well as adaptability have
triumphed.
THE report Of the Commission of
Fine Arts covers a vast amount
OF territory. The fulf1llment Of the
Park Commission plan has not been
single ABSORPTION. Bridges have
been built-notably that over the pic
turesque ravine at Calvert street, of
which Paul Cret was architectural
acknowledgements have been
made in the buildings at the Zoo;
Meridian Park has been created a
place Of pleasing beauty; certain pub
lie monuments have been erected.
More than quarter of century ago,
referring to the statues in Washing.
ton, Hamilton Mabie said it was to
be hoped that future generations
would realize they had been erected
in ignorance, not in malice"
dorado Taft, the sculptor of the
Columbus fountain, once sadly re-
marked that nothing was more la
mentable than mistakes in imperish-
able materials" It is against such
mistakes that the Commission of Fine
Arts has safeguarded the city, of
Washington.
This commission is made I'D, It
will be Recalled, of architects, sclup-
tors. painters and landscape archi-
tects, appointed by the President,
from among the foremost in the coun-
try, to serve for three years each.
None receives pay, and an allowance
Of only S. day Is made to cover the
cost of travel. Approximately Q
meeting q month is held in WASH
ington. Thus it will be seen that, in
the interest Of Washington as q ma
tional work Of art. the leading pro-
fessional men in this field generously
donate their services year in and year
out. The number Of submissions
made is surprisingly large; the num-
ber of reflections comparatively few.
but many a time a design which was
seemingly unworthy has attained
acceptability through patient CO.
operation between the designer and
the commissioners.
A LII through this report stress IS
put on the fact that Washington
Is the National Capital. 1T was 50
made" the report declares, ''by the
! Constitution" 1T IS the seet Of