Photo by Albert G. Kobinson 

 A FARMING SCENE IN THE OUTSKIRTS Ol- THE NATIUX'S CAPITAL 



you are supposed, and rightly, to be the 

 most sanguine of peoples. Nevertheless, 

 you have never sufficiently foreseen how 

 enormously rich and populous a nation 

 you are going to be. 



I read lately a book in which a Eu- 

 ropean traveler described the site of 

 Washington as it was in 1795. He said 

 it consisted of woods, through which he 

 could not find his way from the village 

 of Georgetown to the spot where now 

 stands the Capitol. Just think what has 

 been done since that time ! 



Look at the pace at which your city 

 has been growing. \\'ithin the last six 

 years it seems to me it has extended it- 

 self half a mile further into the country 

 in every direction, covering what were 

 then fields and woods with streets and 

 squares. 



As the result of the amazing growth 

 of the United States you are going to 

 have an enormous Capital, even if it has 

 no large industries. We made the mis- 

 take in London of not foreseeing how 

 London would grow. A\'hen we began 

 80 years ago to build railway stations we 

 made little tiny stations, not realizing 



that the country and with it London were 

 going to grow enormously, and that far 

 more space v ould be ncctled for our in- 

 creased traffic. It seems strange now 

 that every man of sense did not foresee 

 this growth and the need for preparing 

 to meet it. 



People ought to have realized 80 years 

 ago what the progress of modern science 

 was certain to achieve, what railroads 

 were going to become, what larger facili- 

 ties for transportation were sure to be 

 required, how coal and steam ])ower were 

 going to increase woallh and industry. and 

 how ]iopulation would multijily. Whether 

 any European countries will coiuinuc t<> 

 grow as fast in the future as P.ritain and 

 Germany have grown during the past 80 

 years, I will not venture to conjecture: 

 i)ut about the continuing increase of 

 wealth and po])ulation here in the L'nited 

 States there can be no doubt at all. 



GEORGE Washington's foresight 



That increase seems destined to con- 

 tinue here for at least a century and a 

 half or two centuries to come, and at the 

 end of that time no one can tell what 



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