Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1929, Page 39

SPECTAL MAGNIFICENT IS PLANNED FOR AVENUE! Washington's Historic “Main Street” to Be Fringed Wi Federal Buildings. ISTORIC Pennsylvania avenue, along which inagural parades have passed for more than a century, in a few more years will have a setting worthy of the main thoroughfare of a great capital. Under the Federal building plan, the | somewhat soiled and ragged fringe of buildings on both sides of the Avenue from Peace Monument to Fourteenth street will be replaced by magnificent ‘Government structures. For many years the rather squalid appearance of some sections of the Ave- nue has been a source of surprise to inaugural visitors who were not familiar with the reasons for delay in improv- | ng it. ‘The plan long has been in the minds of leading Americans. But it remained for this generation to translate it into action. Already great plans have been drafted on paper for building an array of monumental buildings on the south side of the Avenue nad for controlling the nature of privately constructed new buildings on the north side of the Ave- nue, expected to match somewhat in stateliness the Federal buildings op-| posite. | $75,000,000 Authorized. On the south side of Pennsylvania | avenue, lying between that street and | the great park-like Mall, and stretching to the Treasury Department is a great triangle of land, which for years has been filled witha nondescript assortment of residential, business, manufacturing, wholesale and retail houses. The Gov- ernment has decided and authorized the transformation of this great triangle into an area of Government buildings of character and design commensurate with the dignity of the Government of the United States. Congress has au- thorized expenditure of at least $75,- 000,000, most of it in this triangle, and leaders in Congress have promised more, to make this area something of which the Nation will be proud. The construction of millions of dol- lars’ worth of great public buildings on one side of the broad street is ex- pected to result eventual]ly in rebuild- ing much of the north side of Penn- sylvania avenue to house more im- portant and suitable interests than now occupy the locations along the east- emn end. Private interests are expected to turn toward the trend of public buildings in the National Capital much as it is said in the other cities of the United States that business gathers around the Federal post office and courthouse. ‘The Government by the right of emi- nent domain and complete control will decide what is to be done with the en- tire south side, but it is now exercising some thought to what may happen to }am ?the; side %t u:h' lA\'!ncl(l’e. So there already pending in Congress pro- posed legislation which woum.‘lvepthe Government authority under zoning regulations to control the height and architectural exterior of buildings adja- cent to Government structures. The legislation would apply to any part of the National Capital, but it is expected to be especially helpful in the case of | li the eastern end of Pennsylvania avenue. Authority Recognized. ,Already the Tight of the Government fo exercise some jurisdiction, even without the authority of new legisla- tion which is only in the tentative stage, has been recognized. In an in- stance the United Cigar Co. had planned a one-story building on the cormer of Fourteenth and Pennsylvania avenue, opposite the towering Willard Hotel, and across the street from the great tri- angle. After some negotiations with the Fine Arts Commission, the cigar company altered the design of the building more to conform to what the Goyernment thought would be suitable at that location. It is not only mere beauty that the Government is driving at, however, in planning to put up on the Federal tri- angle the most imposing group of uni- fied architectural cemposition i the world. It is Federal housing. For Uncle Sam is woefully lacking in buildings to house his own activities. This was amazingly illustrated within the past few weeks, when figures were made pub- lic ‘showing that the Federal Govern- ment pays out in annual rent for build- ings: to house Government activities, in this :city alone, the large sum of $1,210,000. ? Many Government departments are housed wholly or in large part in rented quarters. For instance, the Department INAUGURAL | a veritable army of workmen and ma- SECTION. SETTING th Monumental | would point to two great projects on the | south side of the triangle, and not so evident from the Pennsylvania avenue front—the Department of Commerce, {and the Internal Revenue Bureau | Building. These projects are well un- | der way. ! The Internal Revenue Building south of the Post Office Department already has its foundations completed, resting | into the spongy subsoil. Contract has been let and preliminary work is under way for the superstructure of this build- ing. Out of the $10,000,000 which Con- gress authorized as a limit of cost for this important building, to house the tax papers of the American people, the Treasury has obligated a total of $8,- 627,162, of which $5,799,000 is to the last contractor for the superstructure, to be completed in the Summer of 1931. The Department of Commerce, which is to be the longest building in the city, even exceeding in length the Na- tional Capitol on the Hill, is bounded | by Fourteenth and Fifteenth, B and E streets, and will form the west front | and great architectural feature of that | end of the Federal triangle. It is to | be a rectangular building. Pilings and foundations are now being placed by | | chinery in a huge hole in the ground, partly visible from Pennsylvania ave- nue across the park in front of the District of Columbia Building. Con- gress authorized a limit of cost .of $17,500,000 for this gargantuan build- ing, and the Treasury Department, through the supervising architect's of- fice, already has incumbered $1,534.896 of this, Bids for the building itself will be opened March 27, and about three years will be allowed for com- pletion. Key to Triangle Plan. These two buildings, although not fronting on the Avenue, give a key to the general architectural composition of the whole great triangle. ‘The general scheme of the buildings to be erected on the triangle will be around two great open spaces in the center, to be known as the Grand Plaza and the Great Circle. The Depart- ment of Commerce, at the west end of the triangle, is also at the west end of what will be known as the rectangu- lar Grand Plaza. The Internal Reve- nue Building, in its location between Tenth and Twelfth, B and C streets, is located on the southeast. corner of what will be known as the Great Circle. To sightseers one of the interesting | features of this huge square building is the circular corner cut out of the northwest part of the building. _This is an indication of where the Great Circle will be. Eventually the circle is to_cut through what is now the Post Office Department Building, but it is expected this will be in the far distant | future. The triangle will be developed as a unit, and entrances at the cross-streets running through the triangle from north to south will be definitely marked with what is known as an outstanding “architectural motive,” so that the pub- will know it is “entering the Fed-' eral domain.” At the entrance on Pourteenth street, for instance, east ! of the Department of Commerce, there will be erected stately “pylons,” artistic columnlike "architectural -features, to give dignity and stateliness to the entrance. At other street intersections it 1s likely that the architects may provide some kind of an overhead de- vice. But, it is strongly emphasized, there will never be anything to impede traffic. For traffic in the Federal triangie will be something to deal with, | once all the buildings are up and filled with the thousands upon thousands of Government workers. Converted Into Park. Just mnorth of the Department of | Commerce Building, at the corner, ‘where the inaugural parade turned to- day at the Treasury Department, an | entire irregular square of buildings, in- cluding Poli's Theater, will be torn down and the area created into a park, both for beautification of that end of the long stretch of Pennsylvania avenue and also to provide the very practical and much-needed additional traffic arteries to carry the heavily in- creased load of motor vehicle traffic, Proceeding in imagination from this heautiful corner of parkway to the east, toward the Capitol, the next feature in the Federal triangle program of de- velopment will be a building on the site of the present District of Columbia | of Justice, the Department of Com- merce, the Department of Labor and the Interstate Commerce Commission are all In rented buildings, whils the extensive Department of is scattered virtually all over the oity of ‘Washington, part in Government bufld- ings, but mostly in rented quarters. New Agricultural Building. Not all of the new Federal buildings are to be concentrated in the Federal ‘Triangle, which will put an entirely new face on famous Pennsylvania avenue. ‘The Department of Agriculture, for in- stance, is now getting a new adminis- tration building, to connect the two white marble wings, which a whimsical Secretary of Agriculture, Wilson, erected with the permission of President Roose- | velt, when Congress did not sive en i to erect the whole building at once. 'l‘hls! new administration building is now well | under way, with its structural steel tow- cring above the trees of the Mall. Be- hind the present buildings the Govern- “nent plans also to put up what is to be known as an extensible building for the Department of Agriculture, eventually to occupy three squares, and to be connect- ed to the main building by bridges over B street. ‘There are also other projects off the triangie, such as an addition to the Government Printing Office, for wisich contract has been let and preliminary construction started. Another huge housing project for the Govarnment up on Capitol Hill will be the new_Supreme Court Building, for which Congress has already appro- priated for land purchase $1,150,000. And there are other lesser housing proj- ects where in the city. But to get back to the Federal tri- angle and its Pennsylvania avenue front, which is to be so strangely meta- morphosed within the next few years, Congress has taken two principal steps on which executive branches of the Gov- ernment, principally the Treasury De- partment, are working. It authorized $50,000,000 for land and buildings in the District of Columbia, and then later added another $25,000,000 to be spent for purchasing the land in the triangle. Already much work has been sccom- plished, and much more is under way under the authority of these enact- ments and subsequent appropriations. For instance, the Treasury Department has already entered into arrangements for obligating $13,300,000 out of the $50,000,000 authorization; and $3,169.- 496 out of the $25,000.000 authorization: makinz a total of $16.469496 already “encumbered.” Some of this is off the triangle, for instance the great Depart- ment of Agriculture project. What Has Been Done. But if Foover today could not easilv see any evidences from the Avenue of vhat is to transform the whole Penn- ania avenue prospect, what, it is|is already pending for the acquisition | Washington. The belle of the ball was | dered when the bird circled around her | of part of this ground for the munici- ' Mme. de Bodisco, wife of the Russian | husband's head. asked, has been done? In answer to this, the Government !the Grand Plaza and the Great Circle Bul to follow along the general | lines of the triangle, per- | haps connecting with the next build- ing. Already the Government has| | on thousandes of concrete piles, sunk | _THE EVENING ' STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, M ARCH 4. 1929. TWO VIEWS: Past Inaugurals Seen as Milestones Along an Old Road 3 o | ___(Continued From First Page) crowd ever to attend an inauguration | up to that time was in the Capital. There ‘was a salute of 26 guns at daybreak. . A carriage drawn by four white horses, presented by the Whigs’| of Baltimore, called for Harrison at his hotel. - The old soldier insisted on rid- ing horseback. He rode to and from the Capitol, mounted on a_ white charger, holding his hat in.'his hand and waving it in acknowledgment- of the cheering along the route. He was attended EK an_escort of mounted marshals. crowd estimated at 50,000 heard. his inaugural address’from the east. portico. * P There was a.rather pretentious pa- rade for those days. Tippecanoe clubs from Virginia.and Maryland were rep- resented with log cabins mounted on wheels, each with its hard cider bar- re} and coonskin nailed to the door. The -studénts of Georgetown College marched down the Avenue, headed by the faculty in birettas and black robes. ~There was something prophetic of a new age. in the power loom, mounted on. a wagon, which was en- tered by & factory at Laurel, Md. It 'was & hard, full day for the con- queror of -Tecumseh, but he stuck it ouf ‘like a soldier. All the afternoon * theawhole Nation was paying to a rough' froptiersman.” That night there .were three inaugural balls. The President, attended all three of them. It is recorded that he danced a polka with Mrs. Gales, wife of the editor of the Intelligencer. E * K ok * Back in the White- House at mid-| night, away from,the music and revel- 1y of the dance hails, ‘Willlam Henry Harrison was too tired to sleep. Age demanded its due. Tremors, in- side and outside, shook the battle- wracked body. He stumbled into bed. An owl, perched on a window out- side his bedroom, hooted all night. He was querfilous the next morning, com- plaining Ahat a'dog had been ‘howling uynder window. * k% A month later a gentleman and a little boy were playing together in a garden at Willilamsburg, Va. A courier from Washington entered the garden. He asked the gentleman to.be directed to.the President of the United States, for. whom he had an important communication. After a word of explanation John Tyler reached out his.hand for the letter the courier bore. The excitement of the inauguration had killed old Tecumseh. The little | boy ran into the house to tell his mother that they must leave at once for Washington. * K k% ‘War with Mexico was a foregone con- clusion on the day James K. Polk of Tennessee was inaugurated. Sheets of rain drenched the crowd which listened to his inaugural address. For half &n hour he spoke over a sea of umbrellas. A miracle was wrought that day. Prof. Samuel S. B. Morse had set up his magnetic telegraph on the portico platform. While the President was speaking the inventor sent a running account of what he said to Baltimore. * %% % ‘The conqueror at Resaca de Palma and Palo Alto had retired in his old age to the peace of his Louisiana plan- tation house. Old Rough-and-Ready took little part | in the campaign in which he was elected Southern Railway. But as both of | are in good condition at | the present time, it will likely be years before they are torn down to make way | for the eventual complete architectural | composition. | Proceeding in ition still fur- | ther toward the Capitol, the area be- | tween Thirteenth and Twelfth me’t for are to be location between Bn'duu( the structure next to the istrict Bullding, still occupied by the| these mm‘? there in They are intended for the independent ofices of the Government and for the Interstate Commerce Commission. Next along the Avenue comes the Pos: Office Department, with its towering spire and clock. And across Twelfth street is the | President Theater, along the Avenue, a location where in past times great functions in eonnection with the inau- guration of Presidents have taken place. This old theater, which has been re- modeled many times, was recently pur- ehased by the Government for $250,000 a8 part of the triangle program. The next block, from Tenth to Ninth street, is under condemnation to be used eventually for an archives building, and a surrounding structure, to be known as a shell building, the use of which will be | determined = later. the Archives Building the Government plans to bouse its valuable papers. Congress has suthorized this building, to cost $8,750,- 000. Plans are being drawn, but are {still in & very tentative stage. Center Market to Go. ‘ The next feature along the Avenue inow is the huge Center Market, lying | between Seventh and Ninth streets and | from the Avenue to the Mall. This now is owned by the Government and is !ture as a market for the public. It is Department of Justice erected there. From this point, Seventh street, on down to the Botanical Gardens at Third street, the Government will acquire for the purpose of further developing the triangle project, but it has not'as yet been decided what buildings or park- way will be placed in this area. The Botanic Garden is to be moved around {to @ location to the southwest side of the Capitol grounds. What is expected to be an imposing | feature of the north side of the Ave- | nue, if present plans carry through, 'will be the municipal center, which local authorities hope will be created I operated by the Department of Agricul- i o be torn down and a building fér the | President. He had plenty to do manag- | ing his slaves. Notification ceremonies were a thing of the future. He was officially in- formed of his election by letter. There | was no reply. Another letter was dis- patched, and still another. No answer. Plans for the inauguration of March 4, | 1849. could not go ahead without some | word from the President-elect. A messenger was sent from Washing- ton to Louisiana to notify Zachary Taylor. The three letters were found at the nearest post office. There was post- age due on them, the postmaster said. If they had been of any importance, sald Old Rough-and-Ready, it was rea- | fonable to assume that the sender would | have attended to the postage. If they were of no importance, why should the person to whom they were addressed | pay for them? | Mrs. Taylor was hn?py now in her de- | clining years, far from battles and bivouacs in this deep peace of live oak groves and cotton flelds. “It is just a scheme to break up our home,” she said, when told they must move to Washington. ‘The day of Taylor’s inauguration was warm and sunny. Cannon roared and the city church bells pealed at dawn. The old soldier, dressed in a black suit, rode to the Capitol in a carriage drawn by four black horses. The Speaker of the House and the mayor of Washington rode with him. Presi- dent Polk'got into the carriage beside Taylor at the Irving Hotel, Twelfth and Pennsylvania_avenue. There were 12 companies of soldlers in the parade. They were followed by rough-and-ready clubs of Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria. A delegation from Balti- more had four bands in line. There was a contingent of feathered and blanketed Indians. Wild cheering followed the admin- istration of the oath by Chief Justice | i and not a scholar. His inaugural ad- dress was short and blundering. He told his cheering admirers that the United States was “at peace with all the world and the balance of mankind.” ‘That night there were three naugural balls—one at a temporary structure in Judiciary Square, a military ball at Carusi’s and another at Jackson Hall on Pennsylvania avenue. The President | and Vice President attended them all. Old Zachary even tried to dance. He was beginning to enjoy himself in his new role. His wife would take no part in the gayety. He was attended by his daugh- ter Betty, in a simple while dress and a solitary white rose in her hair, The in the area between Judiclary Square iand Pennsylvania avenue. Legislation ! pal center. | ! big ball at Judiciary Square remains a gala event in-the social history of She wore a Russlan court| | President, William Taney. Zachary Taylor was a“soldier | BY OF AMERICA’S “APPI AN WAY” Two views of the famous “Avenue triangle” as it will be when the Federal Government completes its great Federal historic Pennsylvania avenue. dress of crimson velvet with a white satin underskirt and train, and made gorgeous display of her diamonds. The girls wore "low-necked dresses. | There were shrieks of pain throughout | the evening as drops of hot tallow from the composition candles in the chan- deliers fell on the bare necks of the dancers. Black coats of the gentlemen were ruined with tallow streaks. Mrs. Taylor remained in seclusion at the White House. She was no hand for society. Some say she smoked a corn-cob pipe. She was filled with dire forebodings. When she entered her bedroom at the White House for the first time a dia- mond-shaped object carved in the mantel caught her eye. “The first object to greet me is a coffin,” she said. The next year old Rough-and-Ready lay in his grave and Millard Fillmore, the handsomest man who ever lived in the White House, was President. His wife, who had been a country school teacher, had some radical ideas for her time and generation. There wasn’t a book in the house. She fussed until Congress made an appropriation to stock a small library. She insisted on putting a new-fangled coal range in the kitchen to replace the brick fireplace oven, greatly to the dismay of the colored cook. She also bought a plano and a harp. * ok kK Mrs. Fillmore was interested in cul- ture and higher things. During the closing days of her husband’s adminis- tration, Willlam Makepeace Thackeray | came to town. She invited him to the White House and made quite a stir over him. Gen. Franklin Plerce of New Hampshire, the newly elected President, was in town for his inaugu- ration, The Plerces, the Fillmores, Thackeray and Washington Irving made up a party which went down the river to Alexandria to see a new boat invented by John Ericsson. Mrs. Fill- more thought the conversation of the great British novelist might get Mrs. Plerce's mind off the great sorrow that had come into her life a few days be- fore when her son, on his way to Washington to see his father take the ocath of office, had been killed in a raflroad wreck in Connecticut. The weather on March 4, 1853, was in keeping with the gloom which shrouded the hearts of the new Presi- dent and his wife. A sickly sunrise lit the east. There was & raw north- west wind and the Avenue was covered with slush. ? There were six military companies and the Marine Banc}fl i:\ th; h;;ar‘a,il:é ss affair, It was a colorle: i or hia bama, was far from Washington. He took the oath in a Cuban plantation house where he had gone for his health. : While Plerce was speaking from a platform of New Hampshire pine, erected at the east ‘gornco. :mmnl‘:gn: to fall and the storm was blizzard before he had finished. There were no dances that night. * ok ok K The next inauguration was a much more colorful ‘affalr. James Buchanan was escorted to the Capitol from the house of W. W. Corcoran, whose guest he had been, by more than 30 military and uniformed civic organizations. The retiring President and his * successor rode in an open carriage drawn by two ray horses. . T’;ie eging Supreme Court. justice who administered the oath to Buchan- an had a weighty question on his mind. A few days later he was to announce his ruling t a colored man named Dred Scott, who had been taken North his owner, had no rights before | the law and that the Nation could do nothing to save him and his family from being “sold South.” 5 The great-inaugural ball was held in a temporary annex to the City Hall. The President came at 11, accompanied by his niece, Harriet Lane. Dancing contipued all night. North and South danced together. sl m & % Out of the dead grass on Willlam Hen::' Harrison's grave a blackbird ttered. flun was a_dismal afternoon in late February. Theré was an old prairle superstition about blackbirds arising | from graves. A middle-aged woman in | the little family party which had stop- pz@ over at North Bend to pay tribute {0 the memory of Old Tippecanoe shud- Abraham Lincoln did not notice the building program on the south side of Incident. He was on his way from Springfield to Washington for his first inauguration. The party had started early, for they did not know what lay between them and the Capital. Thus far their train had moved through friendly Northern villages with school ¢hildren gathered on the station platy forms to cheer them on their way. Soént it must turn South toward Washington and proceed through a countryside the temper of whose populace was unknown. Fort Sumter had been fired on. There were rumors of plots to assassinate the newly elected President before he could take the oath of office. As the train moved through Ohio and Pennsylvania | Lincoln could see from the car window militia companies drilling in the streets. His mind was absorbed in the great problems before him. Mrs. Lincoln watched the children and the soldiers. She thought of the blackbird that had flown from the grave back in Indiana. She was in a highly nervous condition. Through Baltimore and all the way to Washing- ton she heard the tolling of bells in her ears. * % % % The Lincolns were afraid of Balti- more with its thousands of Southern Sympathizers. Before entering the city the President-elect changed trains and clothes. He altered his appearance with a traveling cap and shawl. His train schedule was kept secret. Thus the world was treated to the cdrious spectacle of a man elected as chief magistrate of a great nation by the suffrage of its people stealing into his capital in partial disguise. Lincoln arrived in Washington February 23, 1861, early in the morning. He went immediately to Willard’'s Hotel, with which he had been acquainted while a member of Congress years before, changed his clothes, ate breakfast, and then made a formal call on President Buchanan at the White Houss. Until his call at the White House Lincoln had kept secret his resence l;:om?hulgtml‘.t 'Il')he news had spread he ! vt - mrAndejdim s ity S e e e oining the hostelry was an ol Presbyterian church wh’(ch had beeg converted into an assembly hall. There a former President of the United Smte‘s‘ was presiding over a peace congress made up of delegates from the Nortshern and Southern States. John Tyler's convictions were with the South. The delegates could find no basis for agree- ment. It wos a final, futile effort to avert the Impending war between brothers. The peace congress adjourned for the morning when Tyler announced that Lincoln was in the hotel. The delegates formed in line and the Presi- dent-elect received them, one by one, in the recption room. * koK ok There are always soldiers in an in- augural parade. They wear their dress uniforms, their shoes are shined, their buttons polished, they march in perfect step, thelr gun barrels, bayonets and band instruments glitter in the sun. Military pageantry is & part of the inaugural ceremony. It derives from the days when the monarch held his throne by right alone and a powerful bodyguard was a prac- tical necessity. For many generations the military display at inaugurations and corona- tions has. been symbolic. The. soldiers are there to parade and not to fight. But on March 4, 1861, a week after Lincoln and his family stole secretly into: Washington in the chill damp of the ‘Winter morning, it was different. The shoes of the soldiers were not shined so neatly, nor their guns so shiny. . 3 The guns were loaded.: The soldiers were there to fight. The Capital, it wns well known, was thronged with Southern -sympathizers. There were muttered threats that Lincoln would neyer live to take the oath. - Some said that there was a Southern plot to cap- ture the city from within and take over the machinery of government. The morning dawned warm and sunny. Lincoln and Buchanan rode together in an open carriage. On each side of the carriage rode a double file of cavalrymen, ready for action. Com- anies of infantry marched ahead and hind. Sharpshooters were stationed at the upper windows of most of the houses on Pennsylvania avenue. Cavalry patrols guarded the street crossings. A regiment of District of Columbia militia was drawn ur at the Capitol steps. On Capitol Hill was a battery of light artillery., Old Winfleld Scott, OF FUTURE PAGEANTS W WILL BE Expected to B BEAUTY SPOT \Plans Awaiting Execution for 65 Years e Carried Out Under Hoover. HATEVER spectacle for the world rests in the inaugural parade, demonstrating the acclaim of the American people for their new Chief Executive, the real heart and essence of | the occasion 18 in the ceremony on the Nation’s Advance | To World Power Is | Pictured Clearly | the ranking general of the Army, had made the preparations. The Mexican war hero was ready for battle. m procession reached the Capitol wi it incident. Lincoln walked down the aisle of the House leaning on the arm of his oldest friend in Washington, Senator Baker of Oregon. A few months later Baker was killed at the head of his regiment at Balls Bluff, | just a few miles outside of Washing- ton, and the President was to know his first great personal grief of the war. ‘They came out on the east portico. Rather faint cheers greeted Baker's in- | troduction. The oath was administer- ed. Lincoln held in his hand his. gold- headed cane and his tall silk hat. He drew the manuscript of his address from his pocket, and laid-the. cane under the table. He could find no place to put his hat, so he continued to hold it. The situation was embarrass- }ing, because the new President couldn’t make the appropriate gestures with the hat in his hand. He looked about uneasily. His old enemy, Stephen A. Douglas, was seated on the platform. Douglas, noting Lincoln's predicament, stepped forward, took the hat, and held it through the address. “The -mystic chords of '~memory which stretch from every battlefield and patriot’s grave to every loved heart and hearthstone all over our broad land will again swell the chorus of the Union when agein touched, as they surely will be, by the better angels of our nature. * k k¥ ‘The solemnity of the inauguration was relieved by an inaugural ball that night in a temporary building irf Ju- diclary Square. There were 5,000 dancers. The Lincolns came at 11. Mrs. Lincoln entered on the arm of Senator Douglas. She was gowned in white silk with a wreath of jasmines and violets around her head. Her hair was puffed and frizzled. Some with gold and diamond dust. Washington society was not there. It was in no mood for dancing. Its eart was acrass the Potomac. A’ féew days’ later” Abraham Lincoln called on the North for volunteers to serve 60 days. The black shadow of the greatest war in history, up to that time, had been over the inaugural ceremony. * ok ok X Four years have passed like a demon- haunted dream. Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancel- | lorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg belong | to history now. The Spring grass is _growing green over the graves of the fallen. Breken hearts in thousands of homes await the coming of peace. ‘The hospitals of Washington are filled with wounded. The cots of sick men fill the aisles of the churches. The South is hungry and despairing. Grant is pressing on Richmond. . ‘The turbulent tide of war has cast up a village tallor into the office of Vice President of the United States. On. March 4, 1865, he is to_take the oath of office with Abraham Lincoln. It was a somber, drizzly day, very muddy underfoot. Andrew Johnson must have felt something of an in- feriority complex as he prepared to go before the Senate and assume the sec- ond highest office within the gift of the people. He had suffered a chill on the way to the Capitol. He sald he was sick and asked the attendant in the Vice President's room for some whisky. A bottle and a water goblet were produced. Johnson filled the glass twice and drained the contents. The retiring Vice President, Hannibal Ham- lin, held his arm as he staggered into | the Senate chamber. “1 kiss this book in the face of my nation of the United States,” he said |hlc§ly when the oath was adminis- tered. The Senate listened in amazement while he plunged into a disconnected, meaningless speech. He couldn't be stopped. Hannibal Hamlin kept nudg- ing him from behind. Johnson paid no attention. Everybody was waiting to go outside and listen to the second inaugural address of Lincoln. The whole inaugural ceremony was thrown off schedule. S * ¥ % The sun broke through the clouds by | a curious coincidence just as Lincoln stepped on the platform. He opened the Bible at random. His lips rested on the 27th and 28th verses of the book of Isalah: “None shall be weary or stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken. Where arrows are sharp and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, their wheels like a whirlwind.” It was one of those speeches that automatically become a part of his- tory, with its magnificent concluding paragraph: “With malice towards none, with charity to all, with firmness to do the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the hattle and for his widow and his orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” A month and five days later the army of Northern Virginia was sur- rendered at Appomatox Court House and towards morning of the next day Lincoln died in a house on Tenth street, where he had been taken after falling from an assassin’s bullet, Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the blackbird. * ok ok On March 4, 1869, Washington was filled with men in slightly faded blue un_}:!g:ms. i . re was an epic o onet charges, cavalry dashes, cmng:ym and prison camps written in the lines of their faces. But all this was behind them. They were married now and tied down to steady jobs. They were back to see| their old battle leader become President. | On this gray day full of rain and vaporous mists was an inauguration which eclipsed all that had passed be- | fore. The sides of the Avenue were | of the ladles had powdered their heads | main steps of the Capitol Building. There is a historic setting where Herbert Hoover took the oath of office President and delivered his inau- gural address, which was heard by millions of people in all parts of the country as carried to them by a record- breaking hook-up of radio stations. And this historic setting will never be the same again. For the surround- ings of the Capitol are being improved, with the new Supreme Court Building about to be erected just where the President saw today the rim of the crowd that faced him, and the plaza between the Capitol and Union Station, into which the paraders thronged, is soon to be one of the most beautifully landscaped parkways in the world. ‘The west front of the Capitol grounds also, where in the past the inaugural parades have started from Peace Mon- ument, is to be greatly improved with a great, formal “Union Square,” where the Botanic Gardens now are, which will extend across to B street, which is to_be straightened and widened from the Lincoln Memorial past the Capitol grounds, and with a new approach and vista from Union Station via a new. wide avenue which will meet Pennsyl- vania avenue at Second street. ident stood and made his inaugural ad- dress will probably never again be in exactly the same location, because the entire central section of the east front of the Clriml is to -be moved out to complete the plans that have been awaiting execution for some 65 years. ‘This improvement is to be urged upon the next Congress and is expected to have the heartiest support of President Hoover as a monument to ministration. Press Importance of Plans. The Capltol of the United States, which visualizes the self-governing power of the American people and which _dominates all of the many b: tiful Federal buildings in this “most beautiful city in the world,” is “not a creation but a growth,” erected piece- meal and never completed, although plans for this work were prepared in 1860 and formally presented to Con- gress in 1864. It is now proposed to impress upon the next session of Congress the im- portance of carrying out these plans, various adaptations of which have been repeatedly recommended. For three score years intermittent efforts have been made by Senators and Representatives to secure legislation di- recting the execution of the plans made by Thomas U. Walter, architect, for the extensions, the corner stone of which was laid July 4, 1851, with Daniel Webster as orator. The original building is of sandstone from quarries on Aquia Creek, Va. the walls of the extension are of white marble from quarries at Lee, Mass,, and the columns are from quarries at Cockeysville, Md. Of recent years the leadership has been taken in .the Senate by Senator Dale, Republican, of Vermont, and in the House by Representative Montague, Democrat, of Virginia, who have re- peatedly declared that it is a national disgrace that this most important of all Government buildings should remain uncompleted. The present architect of the Capitol, David Lynn, is prepared to timates of cost. Leaders in both houses of Congress have expressed a willingness to co-op:- erate in getting early action upon this proposed legislation. It is not generally known, and few of the hundreds of thousands of vis- itors annually notice that the magnifi- cent dome on the stately structure, which towers 287 feet, Is over one side, instead of over the center of the building. This is due to the fact that in 1861 Congress adopted the plan of Mr. Walter for the extension of the Capitol under which the wings used as the House and Senate chambers were added. Subsequently Mr. Walter erect- ed the western addition, which was long used as the home of the Library of Congress. He also designed an eastern extension, which when completed will “balance” the building and while The very rostrum on which the Pres- | submit plans and specifications and es- | bringing the east front into line with the two wings will leave the dome— where it ought to be—over the middle of the building. The Walter plan for the extension of the east front was adopted by Con- gress in 1904. The work now proposed, and recom- mended in a report made in 1921 by Carrere & Hastings, consulting archi- tects, with an estimated cost of a proximately $4,000,000, comes under five headings, as follow (a). Extension of the east front and rebuilding it in marble. (b). Replacing west front in marble. (c). Replacing west terrace steps in granite and repairing terrace. (d). Constructing cellar entrances on west side leading to elevators and constructing new elevators. (e). Sculpture in new east pediment. For a thorough understanding of the proposed rebuilding a brief history and description of the Capitol must be given. It fronts east and stands on a plateau 88 feet above the level of the Potomac River. The entire length of the building from north to south is 751 feet 4 inches. Its greatest dimen- sion from east to west is 350 feet. It covers an area of 153,112 square feet. ‘The southeast corner stone of the orig- inal building was laid on September 18 1793, by President Washington, with Masonic ceremonies. The original de- sign was prepared by Dr. William ‘Thornton and the work was done under the direction of Stephen H. Hallett | James Hoban, George Hadfield and B. H. Latrobe, architects. The north wing was finished in 1800 and the south in 1811. A wooden passageway connected them. On August 24, 1814, the interior of both wings was destroyed by fire set by the British. The damage to the building was immediately repaired. In 18 the central portion of the building as commenced under the architectural superintendence of Charles Bulfinch. The original building was finally com- pleted in 1827. Its cost, including the grading of the grounds, alterations and Tepairs, up to 1827 was $2,433,844.13. The House extension was first oc cupied for legislative purposes, Decem- ber 15, 1857, and the Senate wing on January 4. 1859. The value of the Cap- itol Building and grounds, October 14, 1911, was as follows: Building, $15,000,~ 00t grounds, $10,400,000—total $25.- 400,000. Its present valus is beyond: computation. The dome of the original central building was constructed of wood cov- ered with copper. This was replaced in 1856 by the present structure of cast iron. It was completed in 1865. The entire weight of iron used is 8,909,200 pounds. The dome is crowned by a bronze statute of Freedom, which is 19 feet 6 inches high, and weighs 12,985 pounds. It was modeled by Crawford. The height of the dome above the base line of the east front is 287 feet 5 inches. The height from the top of the bal- ustrade of the building is 217 feet 11 inches. The greatest diameter at the base is 135 feet 5 inches. The rotunda under this dome is 97 feet 6 inches in diameter and the height from the floor to the top of the canopy is 180 feet 3 inches. Extension a Necessity. In his report as architect of the Cap- itol extension, dated November 1, 1864, Mr. Walter stated: “Now that the new dome and the wings of the Capitol are approaching completion it must be apparent to every one that the extension of the cen- ter building, on the east to the line of the new wings, becomes an architectural necessity. I have, therefore, prepared plans for thus completing the work in harmony with what has already been done, and will place them in the Cap- itol for future reference. “I do not suppose, nor will I recom- mend, that any action be taken by Congress in reference to such an im- provement until the war (between the States) is ended and the financial con- dition of the country becomes settled and prosperous, but inasmuch as it is my purpose to retire from these works as soon as the dome is finished, I deem it incumbent upon me to leave upon record my views as to their final com- pletion. | | i and third story windows rented at from $25 to $50 each. Gen. Grant looked worn and sad as he drove to the Capitol, seated be- side President Johnson in an open lan- deau drawn by four horses. He waved his hand respectfully in acknowledg- ment of cheers. The war had lifted him from a cord- wood peddler to the seat of Washington and Lincoln. * ok X K Facing the great throng at the Capitol, he drew the manuseript of his inaugural address from his pocket and began to read with great deliberation. The cheers were deafening. His little daughter, Nellie, became confused and frightened. She ran out of the group on the platform and clutched her father's arm. He took her hand in his and continued reading. Thus they continued, hand in hand, for a few minutes until somebody brought a chair for her to sit down. The inaugural ball was held that | night in the north wing of the new Treasury Building, just completed. The capacity of the hall was greatly over- taxed. No adequate arrangements had been made for checking wraps. It was bitter cold outside in the early hours of the morning. When the crowd began to leave they found they couldn’t get their hats and coats. There was a stampede on the checking room. Ladies lost their escort. Horace Greeley lost his white overcoat and tall silk hat and his corns were stamped on. Gentlemen walked home bareheaded. in dancing pumps. Some of them had wrapped around their shoulders the silk shawls of unknown ladies, which garments were all they had been able to lay their hands on in the tumuit. Ladies, tired, confused and without their escorts, sat on the ballroom floor and wept. They couldn't go out without their wraps. Their gentlemen couldn’t find them. Some still were sitting on the floor, it is related, at 10 o'clock the next morning. x oK K K There followed & succession of Civil War Presidents—Hayes, Garfield, Harri- son, McKinley. Their oid regiments came back to Washington to _escort them from the Capitol to the White House. ‘The in- augurals were of the same type as those of Grant, but there was increasing splendor and larger crowds. at historical pageant accom- the inauguration of Garfield, a2 advess B folded s old completed his address he fol ol mother, in her black silk dress, in his arms and kissed her. There were 500,000 visitors in Wash- ington the day Cleveland was inaug- | urated. For the first time since the Civil War the South took part in the ceremony. A colorful part of the parade was the 69th New York regiment, its band play- ing “The Wearing of the Green.” The Soclety of Tammany was in line, its A paniel marred packed to their capacity. The roof- tops were black with spectators. Second officers carrying tomahawks. ashington and the Nation outdid o S itself in the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt. In addition to the regular Army escort there were militia regi- ments from all the Eastern States. Their ranks were filled with veterans of the Spanish War. Rough Riders, cow~ boys and mounted Indians were color- ful additions to the parade. There was ractically a replica of this occasion our years later when William Howard ‘Taft succeeded to the presidency. S | | ., The river of time was flowing placidly through green pastures snd drm?vsy vu{ lages in the Spring of 1912, when with colorful military pageantry, the college ;‘)&)’ressor and 1rmlmtml liberal, Woodrow son, was_inaugura the United States.gu (NS EigmE oL The German Kaiser, dolled up to represent the white knight, Parsifal, was curling his fierce mustache whil> his heart swelled with pride as he watched his gorgously uniformed regi- ments goose-stepping on the Potsdam parade grounds. In England, France, Germany, Austria, Rumania, Serbia, Italy, Bulgaria, Canada and Australia the country folks were feasting and | dancing, marrying and dying. with no | vision of what lay ahead. Thousands of schoolboys were nodding over their books in thousands of American towns and villages. Two years later the river of time was boiling over the rapids of the greatest war in history. The murdered Austrian archduke, Francis Ferdinand, was leading into the great shadows the souls of millions slain on muddy battlefields from the Marne to the Carpatians, Woodrow Wilson came to his second inaugural in 1916, the voice of the idealism of the world. Yet another year the schoolboys of 1912 were crawling on their stomachs through shell-stripped forests between the Marne and the Moselle or grinning at the mist-wreathed moon with bullet- torn dead faces while mothers and sisters across the ocean waited in tor- ture of suspense for letters from them. Time swept past the rapids of war, through a barren country at first but finally once again into fertile flelds and growing towns. Woodrow Wilson died, his dreams frustrated and his ideals shattered. Through the simple, unpretentious inaugurations of Harding and Coolidge the pageant of history proceeded. Each was attended with its human in- *arin g, the editor-printer, opened the Bible as if by accident and his lips rested on the words of the prophet Micah, which he repeated in voice which will linger long in the memories of all who heard him: “Whatsoever more shall the Lord ask of a man than that he act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly in the ways of his God." Some such thought must have been in the minds of all the men who have taken the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution as Prcsidents of the Upited States.