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Photo by Albert G. Robinson 



IN THE SUBURBS OF WASHINGTON 



can people, and if you once get hold of 

 their imagination and appeal to their 

 sense of the ideal, they will respond. 



re:me;mbe;r the story of thf sibyl who 



CAMS to king TARQUIN 



You probably remember the old tale — • 

 I will not call it a threadbare story, but 

 a time-honored story — of the sibyl who 

 came to King Tarquin with nine books 

 of prophecies to sell, and how when she 

 named their price the king said it was 

 too much. She went away and burned 

 three of the books and came back, and 

 still the king said the price was too much, 

 and she went away and burned three 

 more and came back with only three 

 books and asked him to buy those, and 

 then the king perceived there was more 

 in the matter than he had supposed and 

 gave her the price for the three that she 

 had originally asked for the nine and re- 

 gretted that the other six had been de- 

 stroyed. Those three contained predic- 

 tions and warnings which made the 

 greatness of Rome. Who can tell how 

 much longer the Roman Empire would 

 have lasted if Tarquin had bought the 

 whole nine. 



So some day the people are going to 

 set the true value upon all these things — 

 these spots of beauty around Washing- 

 ton and all the tract behind the Rock 

 Creek Valley and these woodlands I have 

 spoken of. When that day comes one of 

 two things will happen : Those who come 

 after you will either have to pay far 

 more for these pieces of ground than 

 would have to be paid now, or else men 

 will mourn in vain over opportunities of 

 enjoyment forever lost. This is the fa- 

 vorable moment. The value of land near 

 this great and growing city is rising every 

 day. If you can but convince those who 

 hold the purse-strings, it will be good 

 business to buy now and dedicate to the 

 public for all time to come. 



YOU HAVF NFVER SUFFICIENTLY FORFSEEN 

 how ENORMOUSLY RICH AND POPU- 

 LOUS A NATION YOU ARE 

 GOING TO BF 



The trouble has been with you that 

 you have not been sufficiently hopeful in 

 those past years during which wealth and 

 population were growing all through the 

 19th century. It may seem strange to 

 say so to an American audience, because 



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