WASHIXGTOX'S BEGIXXIXG, GROWTH, AXD FUTURE 



277 



son. It was a day of little Americans, 

 and whenever they are in control the X'^a- 

 tional Capital alwa3^s suffers. 



Then there was the period after the 

 Civil War — that period when the art of 

 architecture in this country was at a low 

 ebb and buildings erected were "with- 

 out form and void." W^hen we think of 

 the millions that were spent in the con- 

 struction of the State, War, and X^avy 

 Department Building in AA'ashington, 

 which, like the Treasury Department, cut 

 oft' another L'Enfant vista from and to 

 the White House, and of the Federal 

 buildings of similar architecture in many 

 other cities, we ought to rejoice that we 

 have returned to better days. It has been 

 a struggle with the Philistines, but we 

 now seem to have come under the elevat- 

 ing influence of men like Burnham. ]\Ic- 

 Kim, St. Gaudens, Olmsted, and other 

 leaders among American architects. 



me;n who carried forward washing- 

 ton's IDEAL 



In the last two decades there have been 

 in public life and in positions of authority 

 men in whom innate artistic sense has 

 been united Avith energy and disinterested 

 effort, men who have shown a pride and 

 anxiety that the country uphold and fol- 

 low accepted canons of art, and who have 

 had the practical ability to compass their 

 patriotic purpose. Such a man was Sen- 

 ator James A. ^McAlillan, of ^Michigan. 

 For 3^ears he was at the head of the Com- 

 mittee on the District of Columbia in the 

 Senate. To him is due the revival of in- 

 terest in the proper development of our 

 country's capital. For 12 years he gave 

 a very considerable portion of his time 

 and thought to putting in good order the 

 District of Columbia. To this task he 

 brought experience with all those activi- 

 ties that make up the life of a city like 

 ^Vashington. AA'ith him the development 

 of the District was a constantly expand- 

 ing idea. By the time of the centennial 

 of the removal of the seat of govern- 

 ment to A\'ashington he had his ideal 

 clearly in mind, and before the architects 

 were called in, he had planned to make 

 AA^ashington a model capital. He organ- 

 ized the Commission consisting of Burn- 

 ham, Olmsted, St. Gaudens, and ]\IcKim, 



who made the report to his Senate Com- 

 mittee in the Fifty-seventh Congress en- 

 titled "The Improvement of the Park 

 System of the District of Columbia." 



\Mien Air. Burnham suggested that the 

 Commission should go abroad. Air. AIc- 

 Millan promptly furnished the money. 

 AA'hen it was necessary to have expensive 

 models made of the Alall system, he again 

 aided the project financially; and when 

 in the last stages of the Avork Mr. McKim 

 insisted that the architectural drawings 

 be rendered, J\Ir. AIcMillan told him he 

 might go ahead, and that if the govern- 

 ment did not pay he would. The work 

 of enlarging and renovating the White 

 House, which is now a monument in its 

 simple dignity and beauty to the brilliant 

 genius of James McKim, was due to the 

 initiation and insistence of ]Mr. and Airs. 

 Roosevelt and the assistance which Sen- 

 ator McAIillan and Senator Allison ren- 

 dered in securing in the spring of 1902 

 the necessary appropriations. 



PLANS BEING EXECUTED 



Senator jMcAIillan reported the new 

 plans for the improvement of \\ ashing- 

 ton to the Senate on January 15, 1902, 

 and on August 1 r of that year he died. 

 After his death, between $i 0,000 and 

 $15,000 of money that he had advanced 

 was paid back to his estate. The park 

 next to the Soldiers' Home, in which is 

 the filtration plant of the water-works 

 of Washington, is now called McAIillan 

 Park, in honor of Senator McMillan, and 

 is only a small recognition of the debt of 

 gratitude which the people of the United 

 States owe to this earnest and disinter- 

 ested public servant. 



Since the revival of interest in the capi- 

 tal, which for convenience we may date 

 from the celebration of its centennial in 

 1902, many steps have been taken of a 

 substantial chai'acter that make for the 

 proper growth of AA^ashington along the 

 original plans. The movement for the 

 clearing of obstructions in the Mall and 

 the erection of that great monumental en- 

 trance to AA^ashington, the Union Sta- 

 tion, Avere the result of a cooperation be- 

 tween Senator McAIillan, James Cassatt, 

 President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

 and Daniel F. Burnham. The erection of 



