PARK AND CEMETERY 
345 
American ParK and Otitdoor Art Association. 
Address of the Retiring President, Edward J. ParRer, Quincy, 111. 
It is impossible for us to conceive of the beauty of the 
Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, with their variety of climate and 
wonderful native growth, at the time of the landing of the 
Norsemen, Asiatic races, Spaniards, Cavaliers and Puritans. 
Very much of the primitive beauty of the land disappeared 
when the forests were destroyed hy the fires of the Indians 
in pursuit of game, by the careless trapper, hunter and pioneer, 
and finally by the building up of towns and cities, and by our 
export of lumber. From Maine to the Pacific slopes the 
forests have been stripped of their heavy timber; the South 
is now being denuded by lumbermen, so that it will not be 
long before our main forest reserves will be as far away as 
Alaska and our new possessions. 
The United States has been tardy in making Government 
and State forest reservations, but it has, at last, realized the 
disastrous effect of forest destruction upon the climate and 
productiveness of our country, and the necessity for renewing 
and replanting our forest tracts. Several of our colleges and 
universities have quite recently added to their curriculum 
the study of practical and scientific forestry. 
While our population has made marvelous strides, and 
cities have multiplied in great numbers, we have been slow 
in following the example of older countries in the matter of 
park reservations. 
We are all interested in the reservations of New York State 
in the Adirondack region, and in the efforts of both New York 
and New Jersey to preserve at least a part of the Palisades 
on the Hudson. The bills pending in Congress for the pur- 
chase of National forest reserves in Minnesota, and in the 
Southern Appalachian Mountains, should receive our indi- 
vidual, if not our official, endorsement. 
A very able Park Commission has recently been appointed 
by Congress — at the instance of the American Institute of 
Architects — for the improvement of the entire Park System 
of the District of Columbia ; involving the expenditure of 
several millions of dollars. This movement, and the patriotic 
pride felt by all Americans in the improvement of the National 
Capital (which can be made one of the most beautiful cities 
in the world), makes it interesting to look back to the days 
of Washington, his influence in determining its location, and 
his wise plans for its improvement. Lover of nature as Wash- 
ington was, and especially of the forests, it is not strange that, 
after the successes of the army and navy, the adoption and' 
acceptance of the Constitution, and the founding of the State, 
he should desire to have a suitable and permanent seat for 
the Government, and that, too, near his own estate, Mt. Ver- 
non, and on the banks of the picturesque Potomac. 
Several States were anxious to secure the Capital. New 
York offered Kingston; Rhode Island, Newport; Maryland, 
Annapolis; Virginia, Williamsburg. The competition was 
sharp, the debates acrimonious, but a slight put upon Con- 
gress in 1783 in the City of Philadelphia led to the determina- 
tion to have the “Federal City” free from State control and 
commercial influences. This was finally expressed in Section 
8, Article I, of the Constitution of the United States, to-wit : 
“The Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive 
legislation in all cases whatsoever over such District (not 
exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the 
Government of the United States. * * *” 
The residents of the District of Columbia have, accordingly, 
been deprived of the elective franchise in Federal elections, 
and, until quite recently, in local matters. 
In a letter dated Mount Vernon, 31st March, 1791, addressed 
to Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, President Washing- 
ton wrote as follows : 
“Dear Sir: Having been so fortunate as to reconcile the 
contending interests of Georgetown and Carrollsburg, and to 
unite them in such an agreement as permits the public pur- 
poses to be carried into effect on an extensive and proper 
scale, I have the pleasure to transmit to you the enclosed 
proclamation, which, after annexing the seal of the United 
States, and your counter-signature, you will cause to be pub- 
lished,” * * * 
The proclamation of President Washington is dated Phila- 
delphia, the 24th day of January, A. D. 1791. We make a few 
quotations from it : 
“Whereas, The General Assembly of the State of Maryland, 
by an act passed on the 23rd day of December, A. D. 1788, 
entitled ‘An act to cede to Congress a district of ten miles 
square in this State for the seat of the Government of the 
United States,’ did enact that the Representatives of said 
State in the House of Representatives, etc., etc. 
“And the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Vir- 
ginia, by an act passed on the 3rd day of December, 1789, and 
entitled ‘An act for the cession of ten miles square, or any 
lesser quantity, of territory within this State to the United 
States, in Congress assembled, for the permanent seat of the 
general Governmen, did enact that a tract of country not 
exceeding ten miles square, or any lesser quantity, to be 
located within the limits of said State, and in any part thereof, 
as Congress might by law direct, etc., etc. 
“And the Congress of the United States, by their act passed 
the i6th day of July, 1790, and entitled ‘An act for estab- 
lishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government 
of the United States,’ authorized the President of the United 
States to appoint three commissioners to survey, under his 
direction, and by proper metes and bounds to limit a district 
of territory not exceeding ten miles square on the River Po- 
tomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern 
Branch and Connogocheque, which district, so to be located 
and Iftnited was accepted by the said act of Congress as the 
district of the permanent seat of the Government of the United 
States,” 
A letter of President Washington’s, dated Philadelphia, 2nd 
day of November, 1791, addressed to David Stuart, is interest- 
ing and suggestive to all of us. It is as follows : 
“Dear Sir : I have heard before the receipt of your letter 
of the 29th of October, and with a degree of surprise and con- 
cern not easy to be expressed, that Major L’Enfant had re- 
fused the map of the Federal City, when it was requested by 
the commissioners for the satisfaction of the purchasers at 
the sale. It is much to be regretted, however common the 
case may be, that men who possess talents which fit them for 
peculiar purposes, should almost invariably be under the in- 
fluence of an untoward disposition, or are sottish, idle or pos- 
sessed of some other disqualification, by which they plague all 
those with whom they are concerned. But I did not expect to 
have met with such perverseness in Major L’Enfant as his 
late conduct exhibited. 
“Since my first knowledge of this gentleman’s abilities in the 
line of his profession, I have received him not only as a 
scientific maij, but one who added considerable taste to pro- 
fessional knowledge ; and have thought that, for such employ- 
ment as he is now engaged in, for prosecuting public works, 
and carrying them into effect, he was better qualified than any 
