Washington—A Residential City 
By JOHN W. HALL 
I F one who has not visited Washington in the last 
forty years—yes, within the last twenty years 
—should revisit the Capital City, it is a safe 
proposition that, aside from a few ancient landmarks 
scattered here and there, the first impression would 
be of a city builded anew. It is not necessary to go 
further back than twenty years, yes, ten years, to take 
up a line of expansion and development not thereto¬ 
fore manifest, if even contemplated except in the 
original plan of the city. In reality it is difficult to 
comprehend Washington as of twenty years ago 
and the Washington of to-day — to comprehend 
the recasting of the entire architectural aspect of 
the city. 
Washington is not a business city, from a commer¬ 
cial view-point. It should not and never will be a 
business city. It is not a business city for the reason 
that there is no geographical lines for such; it will 
not be a business city for the same reasons coupled 
with the happy handicaps of a lack of transportation 
facilities and its proximity to such great commercial 
marts as Baltimore, Phdadelphia and New York. 
It should not be a business city for the reason that its 
present great development is, and its future devel¬ 
opment !must he, in the direction of an ideal resi¬ 
dential city. The original idea and plan of the city 
contemplated homes, not business; colleges, not 
foundries and factories; cleanliness and whiteness, 
not dirt and smoke. 
For many years the moral, if not the official, in¬ 
fluence of the city has been antagonistic to the intro¬ 
duction of manufacturing or other industrial enter¬ 
prises. 
A very recent effort to boom the city as a 
“Greater Washington” along industrial and com¬ 
mercial lines proved abortive. On the other hand, 
the entire citizenship of the National Capital gives a 
hearty welcome to the coming of those who are home 
builders; it gives a generous appreciation of the many 
institutions of learning, science and art which are 
constantly being located among them. 
Every nation of the world has dwellers within the 
gates of Washington. Its permanent resident popu¬ 
lation is made up of people from every state and 
territory of the Union, and from the tropical and 
arctic possessions. With a citizenship so thoroughly 
cosmopolitan, the form of municipal government is 
admirable and highly conducive to home making. 
The administration of municipal affairs is in the 
hands of three commissioners, named by the Presi¬ 
dent with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
one of whom is taken from each of the two great 
THE HOME OE MRS. Z. IE LEITER 
iSS 
