Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1900)
ftftia prop : I go - oo SITE fc ELECTED A BURNED BY BRITISH O March 30. .791. ' Jl ' August 24, 1814. HUNDRED years Is a long time in the United States for a city to be ulAii to lecurd lis existence. ud when that city is the capital of the nation there will be scant limit to the Imposing ceremonial which will in augurate Its centennial celebration In December next the celebration which will commemorate the removal of the neat of government from the old cap ital of the early republic in Philadel phia to the newer site of the perma nent government In Washington. Gov ernors from every State and Territory will participate In the rejoicings. Men -who are the bulwark of the nation will lend the luster of their presence and the fame of their names to the birth day celebration of the city of the gov ernment From every section of the country will ccme to Washington men president's nousK, 1800. who rcjollce In Its beauty and progress and whose hearts and hopes and joys and fears ' are bound closely together In single unanimity of purpose, reso lute belief In the certainty of the course nailed by the ship of state, the ship named Union, "strong and great." The story of the city of Washington from Its conception in the mind of the republic's first President down through the change nnd progress of 100 years, 1s a fascinating record of the great men and great deeds of the country at large. Washington began corporate and national existence at the date of the establishment of the government In the unfinished wings of the primitive capital building, but long before the lawu of the new century the town had existence In the brains of ts projec tors. It had been preparing for some years for the advent of the lawmakers and the arrival of the eagerly wel comed packet which finally sailed Into harbor on the Potomac after Its event ful voyage from Philadelphia. It had ven begun to count its historic asso ciations by the Illustrious presence of the man, who gave It his name, for, although Washington died at Mount Vernon barely a year before the of ficial occupation of the city he had traveled to the shores of the Totomac to lay the corner stone of Its capltol when first president of the new repub lic which had Its temporary residence In Philadelphia. Location of the Site. In the meantime Congress was In ses sion at Philadelphia. A bill was Intro duced fh the Senate "to determine the permanent seat of Congress and of the government of the United States." The discussion at once became lively and severe. The South wanted the site on the Potomac and had determined never to abandon the struggle. The North was equally stubborn In its resistance and ridiculed the Idea of establishing a seat of government In the wilderness. The debate was long and arduous, but on March 30, 1791, the long-discussed act became a law, a law providing "that a site on the River Potomac, be tween the mouth of the eastern branch and the Conogocheague be accepted for the permanent seat of government" a law which rewarded the persistence of the South and crowned with happy triumph the untiring and Invincible ef forts of the triumvirate of great men Washington, Jefferson and Madison. From the date of the passage of the 1)111 which selected the site of the Po tomac as tlx permanent scat of the na THE CAPITOL AS IT WOULD LOOK AFTER tional government to the day of his death In the seclusion of Mount Ver non the new city became one of the ab sorbing interests of Washington's life. It was he who selected the site It now occupies. Long before the question of location was settled the father of the nation had fixed the boundaries In the calmness of his Immovable judgment. He was familiar with the environment from boyhood. It was close to his home and to the dearest associations of his life and he was determined that the city should arise on the, triangular plain formed by the courses of the Potomac and the Eastern Branch and their Junc tion and stretching backward to the sheltering cover of the hills of Mary land and Virginia. Washington was the prime mover In the selection of the new site, but he had the advice and approval of Madi son and Jefferson. A meeting of the three eminent statesmen was held at Mount Veruon in September, 1790, and at Its close the two associates rode off into Maryland on their Jaunty horses to get the advice of a man prominent In the nation as a signer of the declara tion, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a man who owned considerable property In the neighborhood of Georgetown, and for that reason, as Jefferson wrote to Washington, he came into the plan "with a shyness not usual In him." But the venerable Marylander ap proved, nevertheless, and the site of the future city was secured. . The district laid out for the establish ment of the national capital was orig inally ten miles square, five on each side of the river, and contained 100 square miles. Now that the laud was secured to the government Washing ton's next thought was the appoint ment of a competent engineer and with PENNSYLVANIA his broad, Intelligent knowledge of men and situations he quickly discov ered the official for the position In MaJ. Pierre Charles L'Enfant. L'Enfant was a native of France who had served with the patriot army during the revo lution and, having been educated In the highest military schools of his country. he was able to assist materially .In the erection of forts and batteries. After the war he had remodeled the City Hall In New York for the occupancy of the first Congress and later he performed similar necessary services on the Fed- eral house In Philadelphia. To him Washington now turned for the plan ning of the national capital and L'En fant hailed the trust as the ODDortunitv of his lifetime. While plans were fomenting In the brain of the French engineer the new capital was without a name. Accord ingly at a meeting of the commission ers, at which Jefferson and Madison were present, the territory was formal ly christened the District of Columbia, after the great navigator who had dls. covered the continent, while the town was hallsd as Washington, chief among MMBivtoDm PROPOSED ALTERATION'S HAVE BEEN MADE. St. Louis Republic. cities as men. Its owner was chief among Work on the Capitol. After the plans of the new city had been adopted the attention of Its pro jectors was next turned to the erec tion of the building for which the town was organized and bids were re quested for plans of the Capitol. The requests were answered with numer ous proposals, only two of w,hleh seem to have been seriously considered by Presideut Washington one by Dr. William Thornton and the other by Stephen L. Ilallett, the former an Englishman, the latter a Frenchman. Thornton's plan was at first considered, but while imposing and beautiful it was not architecturally accurate, and the commissioners accepted the design of Ilallett. Work was at once started on the new building of Congress and the corner stone was laid by George Washington with imposing ceremonies Sept. IS, 1793. Now that the Capitol was under way and the work pushing rapidly- forward, the commissioners turned their atten tion to the "President's houe," and a design furnished by James Hoban, an Irish architect, who was acting as su pervising architect of the Capitol, was soon found to be the most satisfactor ily plan offered. Work was at once started on the President's headquarters. Virginia sandstone was used both for its construction and the construction of the Capitol, and both buildings were practically In readiness for the advent of the government officials in 1800. al though they were obliged to confine their deliberations to the north wing of the Capitol. With the close of the year 1800 the personal history of the city of Wash ington begins. One beautiful Indian AVENUE, summer day In October of that year the little "packet sloop" sailed up to moor ings In the Potomac bearing the official furniture and records of the Congress hitherto deliberating In the ense of Philadelphia. The very next day In their hired coaches of state the eminent men of the nation arrived to begin the duties of government. They were soon quartered In the little cluster of brick offices built around the white house for the departments, and when In No vember the President and his wife ar rived and the sixth Congress started Its proceedings In the single finished wing of the new Capltol the Govern ment circle was complete. But the head of the new capital was the second, not the first, chief magt.trate of the nation Washington had died the De cember previously and it was his trusted compatriot, John Adams, who began the first official rule In the first permanent capital of the United States. The personal side of the city of Wash ington had little to recommend It In those early years of official occupancy. President Adms had entered the capi tal a defeated candidate for re-election, and his short stnv if four embittered by the thought of his early leaving. Society, what there was of it, was formal and ceremonious, a marked difference from tho lack of etiquette which ushered In the reign of Jeffer sonlan simplicity. Thomas Jefferson succeeded President Adams as host of the executive mansion, and tho story of his innugural the first Inaugural which the new capital had witnessed Is scantily prophetic of the pomp nnd beauty of the pageant of the present Jth of March. During the eight years of Thomas Jefferson's Presidency the White House was truly the house of the people. He wasNa widower when he came to the office, so the duties of "receiving lady" had devolved upon the wife of Madi son, then Secretary of Stale the lovely Dolly of song and story, who was par excellence the "beauty" in the days when Madison was President. The city grew but slowly during Jefferson's term of office. At Its close It contained only 5,000 Inhabitants, a result largely due to the continued agi tation for the removal of Congress. The Inauguration of President Madison vas a scene of somewhat more ceremony than the lack of It displayed In 1800. Society began to flutter about fhe capl lal. Mrs. Madison started a return to the ceremonious regime of President Adams. She held levees and cave i-mirt dinners and balls, and assemblies were everywhere the rule of the hour. In the midst of the sounds of gavetv the clash of arms soon Intermingled its alarum, and before the President could realize Its approach war with England had been declared, the strug gle known to history as the "war of 1812." Two years later Washington It self suffered the shock of au Invasion. The city was In a state of almost In credible unreadiness, and when the British general and his soldiers march ed up the streets of. the newly built town they met with little opposition worthy of anything like the name. One after another the public buildings fell victims to the fireman's torch. The uncompleted Capitol fell first, the White House soon shared the same fate. The British occupancy of the capital lasted only a single day, but the dam age effected was Incalculable. A wooden building was hastily erected for Congress, which aflerward became known to fame as the "Old Capltol Prison." Madison rented the Octagon, a celebrated dwelling standing on New York aveur.e and Eighteenth street, In which he signed the treaty of peace with England which terminated the war. The wings of the Capltol were rebuilt In 1817. The following year the central portion was started and the original building was completed In 1827. This early crectloa still forms the central division of the present Im posing Capltol. The corner stone of the extensions was laid la 1851, and the whole wus finished In 1807, the dome being added and completed In 18(8. The modern city of Washington dates its activity, Its life and its beauty from the presidency of Gen. Grant. Up to 1871 the capital was dirty, unkempt and provincial, but from that time on Congress repented of Its niggardly pro vision for the care of the city and mon ey was provided for much-needed im provements. The surface of tho town was leveled and drained, trees were planted In profusion along the avenues and streets, parks were laid out and beautified, homes and official buildings were made attractive and comely and the present era of Washington's pros perity began. If recent plans contemplating addi tions to the capltol are carried out th'r-ty-nlne rooms will be added to tho ac commodations for House and Senate, The change Involved In the plans, how ever, will be In the nature of a comple tion rather than a mere alteration of the structure as It now stands, Inas much as the eatrttol to-flay, beautiful af 1f la to ntfr A AnlnkAI1 HJIA nri-uiieciurtu view point. It is, St A whole, one of the most superb buildings In the world, but it Is not perfect, and one of its faults Is that the domo Is set over close to one edge of It, Instead of AL1 A . t t . Hieing placed In the middle to give a (proper balance. It is proposed to da away with this lack of symmetry by throwing out a great portico, with "aprons," In the middle of the east front, to match and correspond with the porticos of the two great wings. This arrangement, while satisfying the artistic requirement, would furnish a large amount of additional and much needd space for committee rooms and similar purposes. According to tha plans, It alone would provide thirty, nine extra rooms. 1 Just how great the expense of tha suggested alterations will be can hard ly be estimated with accuracy, though It is likely to run up to a couple of mil. lions of dollars, or even more. Tha capitol has cost a lot of money from start to finish, and every change made In Its architecture has Involved an ex penditure much larger than was origin ally contemplated. For example, when the two wings were. ordered to be built the sum of $2,073,000 was appropriated, and It was supposed that this would be ' sufficient, but In the end the bill ran up to $8,000,000. For the construction of the new dome $100,000 was provided, but It cost that much to remove the old one, and $1,150,000 in addition was re. quired to complete the job. As It stand a tfl-rl O f W' til t Vl O irnnunda B11m.nt,M4lmm " --'"V, ...... . " - CJ. - ..... V u . u It, the huge edifice represents a cash outlay of nearly $20,000,000 an Invest ment that would have startled Its orig inal projectors. Probably Uncle Sam will be lucky 18 he gets off with a disbursement of $3, 000,000 for the new porticos andl aprons." According to the statement of the architect the Items of expend!- ture to date are as follows: Cost of old Capitol $2,750,000 Enlargement of site. ", 085,000 Rebuilding after British inva sion 700,000 New dome 1,250,000 Senate nul House rooms 8,000,000 Works of art 1,400,000 Furnishings 2,750,000 New terrace and approaches. . 1,200,000 Improvements of grounds. . . , 600,000 Total ; $19,233,000 He Missed he Motive. This Is a story which Representative Eddy of Minnesota tells on himself J Mr. Eddy not only enjoys the situation! when the laugh is turned against him but has a sense of humor which leads him to start the laugh sometimes him self. "In making the campaign in my dls-t trlct one year," said Mr. Eddy, "1 tookj along as an attraction, a veteran oC the war of 1812 and of the civil war who was a famous hand at beating th drum. He was a drummer from away back anil could arouse a whole town ship. Drum music Is an lncendlaryi kind of thing, anyhow, and the old cap tain's drumming was particularly stir ring. "Well, one night, after the captain's drum had given the usual overture, I commenced my speech to the populace which had been lured to the scene by his drum. I noticed at the foot of the rostrum, the same being a big dry good box, a blight-eyed little fellow about 12 years old, who sat through the fcpeech. following me with great atten tion. It pleased me very much. Any fool can Interest an audience of adults, but li takes a genius to hold a child. "So, after the speaking, I weut down nnd spoke to the little fellow, and after shaking hands with him asked him how he liked my speech. "Oh, it will do,' he said; 'but If I was you I would keep the captain a drummln' all the time.' "Washington Star. Youthful Classification. In this household the true and only Vermont maple sirup has never lost Its sweetness, and several times a weelo from the head of the table paterfamil ias pours out Judiciously measured quantities of It on the plates of his children. To give piquancy to the cere mony, he nlways explains that this tlmo he Is going to give Bob an ostrich and Mazle an antelope, with something elao from the nursery books for Teddy. On day the latter small philosopher was seen to regard the various plates for a considerable space of time In sllence.l "What is It, Edward V his mother asked. "Nuffin," replied the hopeful. "I wa just flnkln' that me an' Bob an Mazlo alius seems to get birds an' snakes au'l flngs wlv skinny legs, but pop he gen- erally gets a el'phant or a hlpperpota-i mus." New York Commercial Adver tiser. Afteora'a Silky Far. A recent writer on tho Angora goat calls attention to the fact that the ell-, mate of Angora possesses some remark-! able peculiarity causing the deveiop-i ment of a silky coat on animals of va-i rlous kinds. Not only the famous goat which produce mohair, are thus fur4 nlshed, but d similar tendency Is exhlb-i lted among such animals as cats and greyhounds living In the same country J Some men think they are good citi zens because there Is no snow on their walk la July.
