Vol. XXVII, No. 3 



WASHINGTON 



March, 1915 



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WASHINGTON: ITS BEGINNING, ITS GROWTH, 



AND ITS FUTURE 



By William Howard Taft 



Formerly President of the United States 



With Illustrations in Color from the Commission of Fine Arts 



1HAVE been deeply interested in the 

 development of Washington ever 

 since as Solicitor General I looked 

 out of the. windows of the clerk's office 

 of the Supreme Court, at the Capitol, and 

 stood awestruck by the beauty of that 

 sweep from the Capitol down to the Mon- 

 ument, thence to the shining bosom of 

 the Potomac beyond, and across to the 

 Arlington hills. 



That is now a quarter of a century ago, 

 and my love for Washington and my in- 

 tense interest in securing from Congress 

 the needed legislation and appropriations 

 to bring out its incomparable beauties 

 have never abated. That first view was 

 along the axis of the Mall, which was a 

 main feature in the plan of L'Enfant, and 

 was the cherished core of that grand de- 

 velopment of Washington recommended 

 by the Park Commission in its report to 

 the Senate Committee of the District of 

 Columbia in 1901. 



When I left Washington on the 4th 

 of March, 1913, the last view that my 

 eye lovingly rested upon was that other 

 axis at right angles with the first, from 

 the south windows of the White House 

 across the White House grounds and the 

 White Lot to the Monument, thence to 

 the Potomac Park and the majestic river, 

 with the far hills of Anacostia to the left 



and a distant suggestion of Alexandria 

 on the right. 



A SITE OF GREAT BEAUTY 



Mr. James Bryce, in his article on 

 Washington,* comments on the foresight 

 of George Washington, who almost alone 

 among his contemporaries seemed to look 

 forward to the enormous growth of this 

 country and saw the necessity for a grand 

 Federal capital suitable for a great na- 

 tion, and this, though he died before the 

 acquisition of Louisiana. Washington 

 was a surveyor and loved the country 

 and the life of a squire. His selection 

 of the site of Washington is evidence of 

 his eye for natural beauty. 



If General Washington, at a time when 

 his country was a little, hemmed-in na- 

 tion, boasting but a single seaboard, with 

 a population of only five million, and with 

 a credit so bad that lot sales, lotteries, 

 ?nd borrowing upon the personal security 

 of individuals had to be resorted to in 

 order to finance the new capital, could 

 look to the future and understand that it- 

 was his duty to build for the centuries- 

 to come and for a great nation, how much 

 more should we do so now? 



* In the National Geographic Magazine, 

 June, 1913. 



