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Show Underpass Dooms Old Trees With some friends Isat I sat looking lookingthrough lookingthrougb througb through a window on * . Lafayette LafayetteSquare Square just as the leaves reached reachedthe reachedthe reachedthe the po nt \ : ihere here they screened An Andrew Andrew Andrew drew Jackson sitting on a horse horse'Wmch horsewhich horsewhich 'Wmch Wmch which ' somebody described descIlbed as hav hay havmg haying having mg ing two feet firmly planted ( like hke a aradical aradical aradical radical ) ) in the air Soon the fOliage fOliagewill foliagewill foliagewill will come down like a hood cover ing log covering coverlog the skeleton branches which whichno whichnov no v are still sull showing through the thegreen thegreen thegreen green . . . Trees were on our minds lor for we had wehad Just ] ust walked down ConnectIcut ConnectIcutavenue Connecticutavenue Connecticutavenue avenue which lor for several blocks Is bemg being isbeing Isbemg deforested so that a ttmnel tunnel ttmnelcan tunnelcan tunnelcan can be dr lied lled underneath Dupont DupontCircle Circle itstrees Wash ngton is famous tor for ItS trees but of late years the automo automobile bile ha caused the destruction of many ofmany ofstreets of the finest Widening of streets sometimes somel/mes somel mes / necess tatet tates re moval removal of o1 trees Frequently ancIent ancientoaks oaks elms or ginkgos grnkgos downand are cut down and replaced with saplings saplmgs Underpasses saplingsUnderpasses saplmgsUnderpasses to take care of the thetraffic traffic have ofoui ofout burrowed under two of OUI out c rcles already and now my myc mycircle circle rcle Dupont I < ( I live only three threeblocks blocks from It it ) ) Is to experience expeIlence a bethe asimilar aslIDilar slIDilar similar operation It will never be the Circleis same Of course Dupont Circle is not quite the th . ' " same as it was when I whenI ' . nrsi nrst first saw it tnree three * - rlp - - " - - iI , . " ' . saw - rlp - - - - " iI , . " when agowhen it was the center decades of the social ago socialand and diplomat c section sectionI I was bemoaning bemoanmg this official officialvandal2sm officIalvandalism vandal2sm vandalism which ch robs these spots of spotsof their charm outover as we looked out over the five varieties inthe of elms In the park before us One of our ourgroup ourgroup ourgroup group a naturalist Identified Idenhfied the theelms theelms theelms elms ScotchDutch as American Amencan English Scotch Dutch and Smoothleat Smoothleaf not to men menon t ment on the horse horsechestnuts chestnuts maples maplesbeech beech dogwood a beautiful beauhful deodar deodaran deodaran an ash which he reminded us was the wasthe mystic tree of Y Yggdrasll Yggdrasil ggdrasil Its Itscrown itscrown itscrown crown In to the heavens and its roots In rootsin the nether world How Dow flow much better would we webe webe webe be I insisted with our surreys surreyswith surreyswith surreyswith with ( the lie fringe frmge on top lDstead instead lDsteadof insteadof insteadof of our automobiles and our ourtrees ourtrees ourtrees trees instead IDstead of parking space space9 space9A ' " highwaydirector hlghaydlIector A survey made by the hlgh\\ay hlgh ay highway \ dlIector director of the District of Colum Columbla Columbra Columbia bla bra H C Whitehurst Whrtehurst shows that that52000 52 000 vehicles vemcles skirt the cIrcle circleevery circleevery every day not counting buses and andtrolley andtrolley andtrolley trolley cars It is estimated that 10 in 10less inless inless less than 10 years 68 000 cars a day dayWIll daywill daywill WIll be nosing by That is the reason reasonfor reasonfor reasonfor for the underpassThe underpassThe underpass underpassThe The two circles already operated operatedupon operatedupon operatedupon upon were Thomas Circle 9n an n elgl1- elgl1 elgl1point eigl t - t-point t point - point intersection mtersectIon and Scot Circle CircleSIX Circlesix Circlesix SIX points pomts Since then the accident accidentrate accidentrate accidentrate rate has dropped 75 per cent the thecommIssion thecommission thecommission commIssion reports reportsIt It is going to cost $3 3 $ 800 000 to tooperate tooperate tooperate operate on Dupont Circle-and Circle and Circle - and the thetrees thetrees thetrees trees |