ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 57 



together with such facts and figures as will assist the committee in its con- 

 sideration of this subject." 



In response to the above request the commission made a full and complete 

 report which may be found on pages 28 to 38 of the annual report of the Com- 

 miss'ion of Fine Arts for the year ending January 1, 1918. In concluding their 

 report the commission state : 



•' In point of physical availability, excellence of exposure, accessibility, dis- 

 tribution of essential parts and capacity for enlargement wthout increase of 

 cost after the initial purchase, the Mount Hamilton location stands out pre- 

 eminent among all the sites that have been examined. Should Congress de- 

 cide to retain the Congress gardens in the vicinity of the Capitol, the Botanic 

 Garden and arboretum ought in any case to be established at Mount Hamilton." 



CONCLUSIONS. 



In view of the above the conclusions naturally arrived at are : 



1. That the Commission of Fine Arts has authority to designate a site for 

 a national botanic garden and arboretum. 



2. That they have been regularly requested to make such selection. 



3. That the purchase of Mount Hamilton site has been recommended by the 

 commission. 



4. Authority to acquire by purchase or condemnation the site so selected and 

 determined upon is the remaining and concluding act. 



Very respectfully, 



James M. Wood. 



Trinidad Citizens Association, 

 Washington, D. C, June 13, 1920. 

 Senator F. B. Beandegee, 



Chairman Joint Committee on the Library, 



Senate Office Building. 



Deae Sie and Gentlemen of. the Committee: We desired to lay before your 

 committee at the hearing May 21 on the proposed national botanic garden 

 argument favoring the project, but lacked opportunity. We therefore take this 

 method of presenting for your consideration the following : 



If there is one thing Americans agree upon it is that Washington should be 

 the most beautiful city in the world. It was the dream of the fathers who 

 gave us the right start and nature has provided every facility for its realization. 

 All do not agree that it is, but all would like it to be, are willing to pay the 

 price, and will have little patience with any opposing interest. 



We may differ as to plans for making it so, but it should be apparent to 

 all that steps must be taken toward improving the approaches to the city and 

 to secure a more symmetrical development, so that visitors need not enter 

 blindfolded and be piloted about from one beauty spot to another. 



There is an unmistakable tendency here to neglect one section and adorn 

 another. But, unfortunately, the neglected section of Washington is precisely 

 that part which should present the best appearance. 



First impressions are lasting, and first impressions of Washington are almost 

 uniformly bad. Whether entering by train, trolley, or motor the main cur- 

 rents of travel are through the northeastern gateway, and it is just here that 

 nothing, save the recent improvement of Maryland Avenue, has been done to 

 please, not to say delight, the eye. 



You do not arrange your home that way, nor your place of business, if you 

 would invite success. Nor do you neglect your personal " front " in approaching 

 or welcoming strangers. " Front " counts heavily in every individual or public 

 enterprise. To neglect it is sheer affrontery. Yet Washington's front has been 

 shamefully neglected and her fame has suffered accordingly. It is not too 

 much to say that she can never hope to be accredited the world's most beautiful 

 city until what can be done has been done to beautify the main entrance. 



Unless there is conscious and intelligent effort to do this, based upon close 

 cooperation and mutual willingness to pay for betterments on the part of the 

 Congress and the residents of the neighborhood, it can not be done at all. In 

 the natural, unguided course of municipal development this section is doomed 

 to deteriorate and the chief approach to their Capital City remain a reproach 

 to the American people. 



It is a singular fact that nowhere and at no time have white men voluntarily 

 extended municipal development eastward from the civic center. That this 



