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.