Evening star., 1940-06-30
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star


so years ago prepared brass tablet or
A. plaque to be placed in the
Monument the inscription
Plaque giving in hrief the noints
Dispufe in the history of the soci-
ETY. and the erection of the Monument
A resolution was introduced in the Sem
ate by Mr.. Edmunds of Vermont provid-
ing for the placing of such a tablet in
the Monument inscribed with a brief
account of its history and forbidding the
placing of any other tablet in the shaft
The prohibitory clause was intended to
prevent the society from carrying out its
purpose. The Star of June 26, 1890, says
editorially:
"Unquestionably it is important that
the Washington Monument shall not be
defaced with unsuitable inscriptions,
whether on bronze tablets, memorial
stones or on the shaft itself. But oppo-
Sltion to the use of the monument So
ciety's plaque, based upon the alleged
unsuitability of the inscription, comes
very late indeed The preparation of
the plaque was decided upon and an
nounced years ago and the character of
the memorial and its inscription were
warmly discussed in the society's meet
ings, reports of which were published in
the newspapers. Congressional irterven-
ton for the protection of the Monument
against this plaque ought to have oc-
CURED long ago, if it was to occur at all,
in time to prevent the expense of making
the memorial. To permit up to this
point the question of what is to 60 in the
Monument to be decided by Congress, to
sit quietly by with full notice of the pro-
posed memorial and allow the society to
work on 1t for years, and now to pounce
upon the unhappy plaque when it is fin
ished and ready to be put in place seems
to be hardly fair. 1t will be necessary to
show some very serious objection to the
proposed tablet or its inscription in order
to justify this course"
Congress takes no backward step in
the war against the dangerous and ugly
,f overhead wires of Washing
~. " tom says The Star of June
wires 30, 1890. "The conference re-
Or9eo port on the District appropri-
alton bill provides for the appointment
of a commission to consider the location,
arrangement and operation of electric
wires in the District, whether used for
electric lighting, transmission of power,
telegraphy, telephony or signaling, with
view to securing as soon as practicable
the construction of safe and convenient
system of conduits and subways the
placing therein of all necessary electric
wires along the streets, avenues and
other public spaces and the removal of
all unused overhead wires and their sup
ports. The report of the commission is
to be submitted to the first session of the
Fifty-second Congress.
THE establishment of a comprehen-
sive and adequate system of conduits for
the burial of overhead wires is clearly
the next and the final step. Congress
erection of additional overhead wires; it
has limited the payment of the appro-
priation for electric lighting to under
ground wires and it has ordered that the
lexington railway wires be disused with
in the city limits after July /, 1893 In
these and in other ways it has indicated
its views and purposes in the matter. It
has moved and is moving only slowly
toward the general burial of the wires,
but It's course has been consistent and
evidently it will reach the goal in time
1t has already asked and maintained
from an Engineer Commissioner of the
District, Maj. Raymond, an elaborate re-
port on methods of wire burial but the
subject is a very important and COM
plicated one, deeply involving local in
terests, and it may be wise before acting
to secure further light on the subject
through the agency of special commits
sion to examine the whole question ex-
haustively.
"The delay will be of small conse-
Quence If Congress will act promptly