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Show mE MIDYALE JOURNAL Fmat Gothic Structure in AnieriCi 1 '1'h1t t. fbe ebapel of the University ot OhlcaJO, just dedicated It waa designed by the late Bertram Goodhue and Is said to be &be ftneat example of Gothic architecture to America. The chapel wu tbe lift of John D. Rockefeller. ' 8y ELMO SCOTT WATSON lTD the federal buildIn& program for our national capital now under way at tun speed and every indication that It will be carried forward uninterruptedly to completion In time for the great celebration in 1932 of the two hundredth anniversary of the blrtb of George Washington, the century-old dl:'eam of Pierre L'Enfant, Is nearing Its realization. Few Americans know &D7thlng more about L'Enfan~ than a somewhat vague Idea associating his name with the phrase "the founder ot Washington." Yet bad the advice of this young French engineer been followed, the United States of America would have now the most beautiful and Impressive capital city In the world Even though the nation allowed him to die a disappointed man, hls goal oore!lched, yet be dreamed and planned to such good purpose that not even a hundred years of blindness to beauty and neglect of the oppor· tunlty at hand have been sufficient to dim bla vision splendid, and the United Slates may. yet have the wonderful capital that he planned for it. Pierre Charles L'Eilfant was bom August 2, 1754. somewhere In sunny France. Be was a lieutenant In the French army In 1777 when he came to th18 conntry and offered his services to the Continental congress. By bls ab1llt7 he rose to the rank of captain and then to maJor. Be planned and built Fort Hlfllln and Fort Washington. toqht through the remainder of the war, was weunded at the battle of Savannah, taken prisoner by Sir Henry Clinton In 1780 and paroled three rears later. With the war at llll end. L'Eofant deefAJed to remain In this country and continue his career as an engtneer and architect. The city of New York presented him with a testimonial for his services and hls reputation waa so h!gb that President Washlnzton selected him In 1TIU to la7 out the new. capital whlcb was planned on the banks ot the Potomac, declaring that "Major L'Enfant Is as well qualified for the work as any man UvlD:." To tbls Thomas Jetreraoo, secretary of state, added the Indorsement. ..1 am happy the President hat~ left tbe pfannlnJ of the city In such good bands." CertaiW, lt needed the hand of a pnlua to transform the "dismal hamlet on the Pot01D1lc" Into a city bellttlng tbe dignity of the oopltal of a Dation. ·For when President John Adams transferred the seat of government from the old-established and gay· l'bUadelphla to this raw wllderness town, be found It a place of thirty er forto' buts scattered around In the wooda and swamps and the beginnings of the publlc buildings, described by a coqressman In Adams' party as fol· lows: "One wiD& of the capitol only bas been erected, wblcb. with the Presl· dellt'a house, a mUe distant, both cooltructed wlth white aaadsoone, were ablntna objects in dismal cootrast wjll $lie ecene around them. Instea" r/1 recoplzlng the avenues and streets portl'afed In the plan of the city, not oae wu 'll8lble. unless we except a nad wltb two buildings on each side el It called the New Jersey uenae. Tile P~mosylvanla avenue, leading, as lald ctown on paper, from the capitol to ~ Pre~ldent's MaDaton, was then neatlr the whole distance a deep mOl'.., $Tared, wltb alder bushes. wbl• , . . ea1; throllltll the width of the lm:.&ded tVf!DUe ~uring the then eniiOhtc ~tet." L'Etl~'il pJan called for connectIng the PMsl&mt•s Bouse and the C6D- Audacious frertch Thieves A.mat:lna audac:lt7 waa dl8ptayed by erlmlnals Who talded the prl.lob of Melun, near Pari& De*plte fbe close watch malatalned on the jail day and night. tlrlrglars sueceeded to -.aklag way with the governor's sate, whk!b weighed noo pouuda and eootaiae4 $6.fl00. TJuty e\"klently ell111becJ •'er the waU tf1W the aid of a ladder. -.o4 tbM w~ to the lt"''etnor"4 t•fl'k'e. tbe btdo\l"l, nf whll"'h were httrrP4. Tb., Making Life Hard for Bandits in Oregon gress House, as be called them, by a series of parks. But President-elect John Adams could not see the sense of fiavlog these two Important build· logs so tar apart. Be W'Bnted the e::or::ecuth•e and legislative bulldlngs huddled together. Convenience and not beauty was hls Idea. BiowevE'r, Washington stood steadfastly by L'Enfant and the buildings were so placed, although L'Entant's dream of the parks between was never realized. In fact, he was repeatedly frustrated In his planning; be was ridiculed by· unImaginative and materialistic men who were high In ofllce and from the time the sent of aovernment was moved to Washington, he was constantly begging congress to pay him the money doe him. Finally, that body In 1810 passed a bill for his relief, giving him $666.00 with Interest from March 16, 1792, amounting In all to $1,394.20. 'l'bls was done more because congress was becoming weary of his Importunity than for any other reason and It was typh•al of the tardy Justice with whleb the new republic rewarded ma~y of the men, Including Revolutionary war heroes, to whom It owed so much. L'Enfant died In 1825, a heartbroken man. During his last 3tears he lived wltb a man named Dudley Diggs and be was burled In the Diggs family graveyard outside the city of Wash· tngto0 • There his body lay In an unmarked grave tor nearly a hundred years. Then through the efforts of the American Institute of Arcbltecta tt was removed to Adlogtoo cemetery. He was given a mllltary funeral and tributes were paid to him by high government officials, both American and French. A monument, wltb his plan curved 00 tbe marble slab, overlooks the city for \\"bleb he had dreamed on sucb a grand scale alld whleh during the years w~lle.he la7 In the unmarked grave bad sprawled hapha:r.ard over the landscape. For "backwoodl!j-ruled con~ saw no utlllty In beauty. Bomt!lfpun and Jack-booted solons !mew no more about a11!1l'tecture than the7 did about poetry and theugbt both the comical diversions of 'dudes,' or was 'macarpnl' stiU the word, or 'dandy'?" So -;rrites Charles Willis Thompson In an article In the New York Berald·Tl'lbune a year or so ago, teUing of the plans for preserving the beauty of tile caplta,l as L'Entant had conceived lt. Be writ~s: So 1t Is wonderful that the Ide• perslated throuch a century of Hannibal ChoUops and Elijah Programs. ll'or It did. The shades of UEnfant brooded over the city, and sun broods over lt. EBsentlally, lt Is still bls city. Noth· Inc that Ignorant politicians and gre~dy speculators could do to It has etfa<'ed his Indelible IIJipresston. The worst that baa happened to Washlnclon hall- sa\'1 ed through the bars, eDtered and tt1e4 to o~n th& safe, but finding the task too difficult, carried It otr wlt'them. Bow they did It remains a mystery. Firlt Paued R011d Russia Is said tcJ be the first country where wnod blocks were used for pavIng roads. Tbe first blocks CClllsisted Of abort uniform lebgths, round ID tlbape. as rut trom the tree trunfts. Latel' the sbupe altered to ben_. to aet'Ure a elOPer .Joint, and ftaallJ w• Idealized portrait of L'Enfant on the medailion made by Leon Chatdaln, In the Chevy Chase Saving, bank, Washington. pened outside the boundaries be set tor lt. He could not foresee that It would !{row ao big, L'Enfant's clty was to be only two and • half miles wide and three and a half miles long. His plan for that city Ia today as be made It, needing only beautlftcatlon. The city did not &TOW much blccer untll the War of Secesll1on, when It underwent a sudden and fictitious es· panslon. Then the speculators began to get In ,their work. Wasb.t.ngton lm· mediatelY grew beyond the llmlu known to L'Enfant and President Washington, •nd In building up tbe outer sections nothing waa thougbt of but money returns. Yet so meticulously bad L'Enfant laid out the plan It was not possible to turn It Into confua1on even when c~t~ed and Ignorance had done their worst. The new city, the greater Washington, had to crow generally along L'Enfant's linea In spite of Itself. But It was cunei! and degraded by defacemeats Impertinent bulldlngs Interjected themselves Into tbe plan; streets ambled otf Into the Lnnd of Nod and disappeared. L'Enfant's pet fantasy, the Mall, lay fallow, though he had planned so wisely that nothing can prevent Ita ftowerlng Into consummatloJl whenever concress so wills. The distortion of the original Idea hAd become such an eyesore by 1901 that a eongresslonal commission, headed b7 Senator .Jamea McMillan, of Michigan, set about restoring the L'Enfant plan. wherever It had been clepar!ed from, and embodied Its l)ralseworthy attempt In legislation which atlll rules. Ever since then the task of unifying and greatening Washington bas been carried Indefatigably on, •n« succeedIng congresses have been more and more friendly and attentive. The present plan, put Into "operation some two years ago by the public buildings commbqdoD, headed by Senator Smoot of Utah and having an Initial tund of $5,000,000 at Its dis· posal, follows closely the plan of L'Enrant. The outstanding feature In II 1s the Mall or Monument Gardens, extendi.Dg from the Washington monument to the capitol and flanked by new federal buildings. And If tbls plan Ia compl&ted, aa It Is hoped It wlU be, In tlme for the Georp WashIngton celebration In 1932, some of the honor paid that great American then . will be shared by thl young French engineer whom he .backed In his etrort to give this country a capital eity beautiful. Here Is a squad of the new plane-motor cyele sheriffs cf Oregon, who specialize in capturing bandits fleeing In tutomoblles. The aviator sherltr tlies, locates the escaping outlaw and signals directions to the motor cycle sberitr below, who ~llows in accurate pursuit. · The s<;beme bas worked out successfully. MRS. W. J. WHITING Mrs. Wllllam J. Whiting Is the wlte of the new ~ecretary of commerce to · President Coolidge's cabinet. She Ia a welcome addition to omctat society In Washington. Both Skillful and Hmnane A dog In Portland. Ore., whose bind quarters were paralyzed when be was run over by an automobile, with the frame constructed by a veter1Da17 surgeon. The dog comes do1'Ul the street jut like a well one except that bB propels himself with his front legs only. HIN-T TO HOUSEWIFE Three Perfect Indian Babes -------- The OLI Rocking Claair Some one becomes sad and despondent over the passin& of the family rocking chair. It has no place In modem Hfe. One now demands something that he can easily jump out of, for the automobile or airplane may be walttog at the door: For a quick exit, the old family rocker Is a bazard.-Hartford City News. the blocks received their present rectangular form. · Tbls method of paving was Introduced Into England about .1838, but some time elapsed before the value of a llrm foundation, such as portland cement concrete, was fully appreciated. H ~Mpitality The few who treat a courteous harshly are mostly those who In tbelr owu mlserx and want one around to be mlilerabl., Fanrl and Flreatcle. caWer revel every •oo.- This f'!t)ughb(>y, on k. p. duty, Is giving a valuable hint to housewh·es by wearl~ his gas mask while petdln~~: onions. Three mdlan bablea who were pronounced the ID08t perfect at the laP dian beby clinic whlcb was held ID Pendleton. Ore.. recentlY. Little Suale ~r..rewlooee, on the lett. seems quite disgusted with the bad tempe"fll ot w tribnl brotllera. |