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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tions as originally planned was one of the chief problems of the com- 

 mission. 



Again, the reclamation of the Potomac flats, prosecuted since 1882, 

 has added to the monument grounds an area about one mile in length 

 from east to west; so that where L 'Enfant dealt with a composition 

 one and a half miles in length, the commission is called upon to deal 

 with an area two and a half miles long, with a maximum breadth of 

 about one mile. 



By the inclusion of the space between Pennsylvania and New York 

 avenues on the north, and Maryland avenue and the Potomac Eiver on 

 the south, the new composition becomes a symmetrical, polygonal or 



Rock Creek, showing Possibility of Seclusion from Disagreeable Surrot'ndings. 



kite-shaped figure bisected from east to west by the axis of the Capitol 

 and from north to south by the White House axis. Regarding the 

 Monument as the center, the Capitol as the base, and the White House 

 as the extremity of one arm of a Latin cross, we have at the head of 

 the composition on the banks of the Potomac a memorial site of the 

 greatest possible dignity, with a second and only less commanding 

 site at the extremity of the second arm. 



So extensive a composition, and one containing such important 

 elements, does not exist elsewhere; and it is essential that the plan for 

 its treatment shall combine simplicity with dignity. 



