Part 12

There is one almost sacred spot, upon which the nation has erected a splendid memorial to our greatest hero, George Washington. The Washington Monument is a simple obelisk of white marble, that towers 555 feet above the beautiful park in the midst of which it stands. Those openings near the top which seem so small are 504 feet above us and are actually large windows. On entering the door at the base of the monument, we pass through the wall, which is 15 feet thick, and find an elevator ready to carry us to the top. If we prefer to walk, there is an interior stairway of 900 steps leading to the top landing. At the end of our upward journey we find ourselves in a large room with two great windows on each of the four sides. From here we get another view of the hill-surrounded city, and the scene which lies before us is inspiring.

The Washington Monument is near the western end of the Mall, that series of parks extending from the Capitol to the Potomac River. Near by are the buildings of the Department of Agriculture, which has been of the greatest help to the farmers of our land by sending out important information concerning almost everything connected with farm life. Through the Bureau of Chemistry this department did much to bring about the passage of the Pure Food Law, which protects the people by forbidding the sale of food and drugs that are not pure.

In the spacious park adjoining the grounds of the Department of Agriculture is a building which looks like an ancient castle. This is the Smithsonian Institution, which carries on scientific work under government control.

The National Museum, which is under the control of the Smithsonian Institution, has a fine building of its own. This museum is a perfect treasure house of interesting exhibits of all kinds. Here may be seen relics of Washington, of General Grant, and of other famous Americans; and here are exhibits showing the history of the telegraph, the telephone, the sewing machine, the automobile, and the flying machine. Stuffed animals of all kinds are arranged to look just as if they were alive. So numerous are the exhibits that it would require a large book simply to mention them. Many of the boys and girls of Washington spend their Saturday afternoons examining the wonderful things which have been brought to this museum from all parts of the world.

Washington has also a zoölogical park where there are animals from everywhere. It is on the banks of a beautiful stream on the outskirts of the city and is part of a great public park which covers many acres of picturesque wooded country.

We must not omit the Post Office Department, for that is the part of the federal government which comes nearest to our homes. Here are the offices of the postmaster general and his many assistants. To tell of the wonders of our postal system would be a long story in itself. If all the people employed by the Post Office Department lived in Washington, they would fill all of the houses and leave no room for anyone else. Of course this great army of employees are not all in any one city, for the work of the post office extends to every part of the United States, and, through arrangement with other nations, to every part of the civilized world.

In the country surrounding the city of Washington are several important and interesting places. Just across the river, in the state of Virginia, are Fort Myer, an army post, and the famous Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington was the home of Martha Custis, who became the bride of George Washington. At the opening of the Civil War it was the home of the famous Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. Then it passed into the hands of the United States government and is now the burial place of over sixteen thousand soldiers who gave their lives for their country.

On the Virginia shore of the Potomac River, sixteen miles south of the city of Washington, is Mount Vernon, the home and burial place of George Washington. The spacious old mansion in the midst of fine trees and shady lawns looks out over the wide peaceful river which Washington loved. To this home Washington came to live shortly after his marriage. He spent his time in farming on this estate until he was called to take command of the American army. After our independence was won he returned to his home and his farm. Once more he was called upon to leave this quiet country life to become the first president of the new nation. When he had served his country two terms he gladly retired to Mount Vernon, where he lived until his death in 1799.

To-day the house and grounds are preserved with loving care. The rooms of the house are furnished with fine old mahogany furniture, many pieces of which belonged to Washington. In the grounds, not far from the stately mansion, is the simple brick tomb where rest the bodies of Washington and his wife. During the years which have passed since his death, thousands of his countrymen have come to this tomb to do honor to his memory.

As we sail up the Potomac toward the city after our visit to the home of the great man whose name it bears, the Washington Monument, the White House, the State, War, and Navy Building, the Capitol, the Library, and the post office tower above the surrounding buildings and, shining in the golden light of sunset, make a picture never to be forgotten.

This city of parks, of broad avenues, of beautiful buildings, belongs to the Americans who live in the far-distant states as well as to those who live and work in the capital itself. It is our capital and we may justly be proud of it, for it is one of the most beautiful cities in all the world.

=WASHINGTON=

FACTS TO REMEMBER

The capital of the nation.

Population (1910), nearly 350,000 (331,069).

Sixteenth city in rank, according to population.

Center of the federal government of the United States.

Governed entirely by Congress under provision of the Constitution.

Chief offices of every department of the federal government located here.

Splendid streets, avenues, parks, and monuments.

Many magnificent public buildings.

Very few manufacturing industries.

A city of homes of government employees.

One of the most interesting and beautiful cities in the world.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY

1. Give some reasons why every citizen of the United States should be interested in Washington.

2. What interesting buildings are located here, and for what are they used?

3. What were some of the reasons for selecting the location of the capital city?

4. After whom was the city named?

5. In what year did Washington become the capital city, and what disaster visited it a few years later?

6. Describe the plan of the city, and name one of its famous streets.

7. Name three interesting groups of buildings: one on Capitol Hill, one on Pennsylvania Avenue, and one in the Mall.

8. What are some of the natural beauties of the city?

9. Give some idea of the size and beauty of the Capitol and of the imposing ceremony which takes place there every four years.

10. Describe briefly the House of Representatives when in session and the duties of its members.

11. Where does the Supreme Court of the country sit, and why is it called the Supreme Court?

12. How does the Senate differ from the House of Representatives? What are the duties of senators? How many come from each state?

13. Why do we have two lawmaking bodies?

14. Name some of the attractions of the Library of Congress. Tell how its books are stacked and how they are sent to the Capitol, and give some facts about the copyright law.

15. Tell what you know of the White House.

16. What two fine buildings are on either side of the White House, and for what is each used?

17. Describe the making of paper money.

18. What are the duties of the Treasury Department, and what may be seen in the Treasury vaults?

19. Tell something about the people of Washington, their chief occupation, and why so many foreign diplomats have their homes here.

20. How are the city of Washington and the District of Columbia governed?

21. Name some places of interest in Washington not already mentioned.

22. Describe the splendid monument by which our greatest hero is honored.

23. Tell why you would like to visit the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and the Zoölogical Park.

24. Why are Fort Myer, Arlington, and Mount Vernon very interesting to all citizens of the United States?

25. To whom does the beautiful city of Washington really belong, and why should we be proud of it?

REFERENCE TABLES

LARGEST CITIES OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO POPULATION

RANK

London 1 New York 2 Paris 3 Chicago 4 Berlin 5 Tokio 6 Vienna 7 Petrograd 8 Philadelphia 9 Moscow 10 Buenos Ayres 11 Constantinople 12

INCREASE IN POPULATION OF OUR GREAT CITIES--NATIONAL CENSUS

=============+===================================++==================== | POPULATION || RANK CITY |-----------+-----------+-----------++------+------+------ | 1910 | 1900 | 1890 || 1910 | 1900 | 1890 -------------+-----------+-----------+-----------++------+------+------ New York | 4,766,883 | 3,437,202 | 1,515,301 || 1 | 1 | 1 | | | || | | Chicago | 2,185,283 | 1,698,575 | 1,099,850 || 2 | 2 | 2 | | | || | | Philadelphia | 1,549,008 | 1,293,697 | 1,046,964 || 3 | 3 | 3 | | | || | | St. Louis | 687,029 | 575,238 | 451,770 || 4 | 4 | 5 | | | || | | Boston | 670,585 | 560,892 | 448,477 || 5 | 5 | 6 | | | || | | Cleveland | 560,663 | 381,768 | 261,353 || 6 | 7 | 10 | | | || | | Baltimore | 558,485 | 508,957 | 434,439 || 7 | 6 | 7 | | | || | | Pittsburgh | 533,905 | 321,616 | 238,617 || 8 | 11 | 13 | | | || | | Detroit | 465,766 | 285,704 | 205,876 || 9 | 13 | 15 | | | || | | Buffalo | 423,715 | 352,387 | 255,664 || 10 | 8 | 11 | | | || | | San Francisco| 416,912 | 342,782 | 298,997 || 11 | 9 | 8 | | | || | | Milwaukee | 373,857 | 285,315 | 204,468 || 12 | 14 | 16 | | | || | | Cincinnati | 363,591 | 325,902 | 296,908 || 13 | 10 | 9 | | | || | | Newark | 347,469 | 246,070 | 181,830 || 14 | 16 | 17 | | | || | | New Orleans | 339,075 | 287,104 | 242,039 || 15 | 12 | 12 | | | || | | Washington | 331,069 | 278,718 | 230,392 || 16 | 15 | 14 =============+===========+===========+===========++======+======+======

THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION OF OUR GREAT CITIES

==========================+======================= | CITY | | LEADING COUNTRIES OF | BIRTH OF FOREIGN-BORN | POPULATION--1910 +-----------+----------- | First | Second --------------------------+-----------+----------- Baltimore | Germany | Russia Boston | Ireland | Canada Buffalo | Germany | Canada Chicago | Germany | Austria Cincinnati | Germany | Hungary Cleveland | Austria | Germany Detroit | Germany | Canada Jersey City | Germany | Ireland Los Angeles | Germany | Canada Milwaukee | Germany | Russia Minneapolis | Sweden | Norway New Orleans | Italy | Germany New York | Russia | Italy Newark | Germany | Russia Philadelphia | Russia | Ireland Pittsburgh | Germany | Russia St. Louis | Germany | Russia San Francisco | Germany | Ireland Washington | Ireland | Germany ==========================+===========+===========

SHORTEST RAILWAY TRAVEL--DISTANCE FROM NEW YORK CITY

San Francisco 3182 miles New Orleans 1344 miles St. Louis 1059 miles Chicago 908 miles Detroit 690 miles Cleveland 576 miles Pittsburgh 441 miles Buffalo 439 miles Boston 235 miles Washington, D.C. 226 miles Baltimore 186 miles Philadelphia 92 miles

SHORTEST RAILWAY TRAVEL--DISTANCE FROM CHICAGO

San Francisco 2274 miles Boston 1021 miles New Orleans 923 miles New York 908 miles Philadelphia 818 miles Baltimore 797 miles Washington, D.C. 787 miles Buffalo 523 miles Pittsburgh 468 miles Cleveland 339 miles St. Louis 286 miles Detroit 272 miles

TO WHOM WE SELL THE MOST THE AMOUNT FOR 1914

Great Britain $594,271,863 Germany $344,794,276 Canada $344,716,981 France $159,818,924 Netherlands $112,215,673 Italy $74,235,012 Cuba $68,884,428 Belgium $61,219,894 Japan $51,205,520 Argentina $45,179,089 Mexico $38,748,793

FROM WHOM WE BUY THE MOST THE AMOUNT FOR 1914

Great Britain $293,661,304 Germany $189,919,136 Canada $160,689,709 France $141,446,252 Cuba $131,303,794 Japan $107,355,897 Brazil $101,303,794 Mexico $92,690,566 British India $73,630,880 Italy $56,407,671

INDEX

Abbey, Edwin A., 128

Adams, John, 84, 87

Adams, Samuel, 124

Alameda, 240

Allegheny, 182, 184

Allegheny River, 171, 172, 182

Baldwin, Matthias W., 71

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 71

Baltimore, 155-170 railroad center, 155 harbor, 155 industries, 155, 156 exports, 155 fire of 1904, 156 public markets, 160 settlement of, 167

Baltimore, Lord, 168

Barge canal, 212

Belleville, 98

Berkeley, 240

Bienville, Governor, 245

Blackstone, William, 105

Boston, 105-136 capital of Massachusetts, 105 settlement of, 105 divisions of, 107 harbor, 108 trade center, 119 foreign commerce, 121 industries, 121

Boston Tea Party, 84, 122

Braddock, 173

Bradford, William, 73

Brockton, 119

Brooklyn, 11, 24, 28, 30

Brooks, Phillips, 127

Bruceton, 178

Buffalo, 207-226 settlement of, 207, 208 named, 209 Erie Canal, 210 lake port, 211 importance of location, 212 trade with Canada, 212 manufacturing center, 213 Niagara power, 213, 216, 224-225 iron industry, 214 flour mills, 216 important live-stock market, 217 important lumber market, 217 harbor, 221

Buffalo River, 207, 221

Bulfinch, Charles, 111

Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, 191

Calumet River, 56

Cambridge, 116, 117, 131, 133

Carnegie, Andrew, 184

Carnegie Steel Company, 175

Centennial Exhibition, 75

Charles River, 116

Chicago, 41-66, 180 fire of 1871, 41 settlement of, 43 harbor, 45, 56, 57 becomes a city, 46 important railroad center, 54 greatest lake port, 54 grain market, 55 steel industry, 56 largest lumber market, 57 exports, 57 center of packing industry, 61 Pullman, 62

Chicago drainage and ship canal, 54

Chicago River, 41, 43, 45, 53, 54, 57

Civil War, 247

Cleaveland, General Moses, 137

Cleveland, 137-154, 180 settlement of, 137 harbor, 141 becomes a city, 142 industries, 142, 143, 148 importance of location, 148 manufacturing center, 148 largest ore market in the world, 148 center of shipbuilding, 148 important lake port, 153

Cleveland, Grover, 224

Clinton, De Witt, 209

Coal, 56, 70, 100, 142, 172, 175, 213, 214, 215, 257

Coal mines, 175

Commerce, foreign, 35, 57, 121, 231, 259

Cotton, 257, 258, 261

Croton River, 18

Custis, Martha, 294

Cuyahoga River, 137, 138, 140, 141, 145

Declaration of Independence, 8, 85

Delaware River, 67, 68, 69

de Portolá, Don Gaspar, 227

Des Plaines River, 53

Detroit, 139, 189-206 leading port on Canadian shore, 189, 199 founded, 191 early history, 191 growth, 192 trade center, 194 harbor, 195 shipbuilding industry, 195 becomes industrial city, 196 center of automobile trade, 196 industries, 197 immense wholesale trade, 198 railroad center, 200

Detroit River, 191, 200, 205

District of Columbia, 267, 288, 289

Doan, Nathaniel, 139

Dutch West India Company, 5

East River, 27, 36

East St. Louis, 98

Erie Canal, 9, 193, 209, 210, 212

Exports, value of, 301

Fall River, 121

Farragut, David, 248

Fillmore, Millard, 224

Fish industry, 121, 239

Fitch, John, 72

Fort Dearborn, 44

Fort McHenry, 169

Fort Myer, 294

Fort Pitt, 171

Foreign-born population, 300

Franklin, Benjamin, 73, 84

French and Indian War, 171, 191, 245

Fulton, Robert, 72

Girard, Stephen, 79

Gold, 227

Golden Gate, 231, 241

Grain industry, 55, 102

Granite City, 98

Gunpowder River, 163

Hale, Edward Everett, 130

_Half Moon_, 3

Hancock, John, 124

Homestead, 173

Hudson, Henry, 4

Hudson River, 4, 30, 35, 36, 207, 209, 210

Hull, General William, 192

Illinois and Michigan Canal, 47

Illinois River, 47, 53, 93

Imports, value of, 302

Increase in population of our great cities, 299

Iron industry, 171, 172, 214, 233

Jackson, Andrew, 246

Jefferson, Thomas, 89

Key, Francis Scott, 169

Kingsbury, James, 138

Kinzie, John, 43

Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, 215

Largest cities in the world, 299

Lawrence, 121

Lee, Robert E., 294

Lewis and Clark expedition, 90

Louisiana Purchase, 89, 245

Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 96

Lowell, 121

Lumber, 57, 100, 217, 257

Lynn, 119

Madison, 98

Manhattan, 4, 11

McCall Ferry dam, 163

McKeesport, 173

McKinley, William, 224

Mexican War, 227

Mints, 81, 82, 237

Minuit, Peter, 5

Mississippi River, 47, 89, 91, 96, 97, 171, 245, 248, 249

Missouri River, 90, 93

Mohawk River, 207, 209

Monongahela River, 171, 172, 182

Morris, Robert, 75

Mt. Vernon, 267, 294

Natural gas, 151, 181, 185, 213

New Amsterdam, 6, 14

New Bedford, 121

New Orleans, 171, 245-264 early history, 245 in the War of 1812, 246 in the Civil War, 247 building the city, 249 the French quarter, 251, 252 the American quarter, 251, 255 important lumber market, 257 important cotton market, 258, 261 Gulf port, 261 second export port in America, 261 exports, 261 important sugar market, 257, 261 Mardi Gras, 263

New York, 3-40 settlement of, 4 surrendered to English, 7 named, 8 capital city, 9 harbor, 9, 36 becomes Greater New York, 11 boroughs, 11 nation's chief market place, 32 imports, 32 exports, 32 nation's greatest workshop, 32 industries, 32

Niagara Falls, 213, 224

Niagara River, 190, 191, 209, 212, 219, 224

Oakland, 240

Ohio Canal, 140

Ohio River, 93, 137, 139, 140, 171, 172

Ore, 56, 142, 214

Packing industry, 59, 61, 101, 217, 233

Panama Canal, 233, 242

Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 242

Pan-American Exposition, 224

Patapsco River, 168

Penn, William, 67, 74, 75, 76

Perry, Oliver Hazard, 192

Petroleum, 180, 213, 257

Philadelphia, 67-88, 167 settlement of, 67 manufacturing city, 69 commercial center, 70 industries, 70 United States mint, 81 Continental Congress, 84, 85 Declaration of Independence signed at, 85 capital of the nation, 87

Pitt, William, 171

Pittsburgh, 148, 171-188 workshop of the world, 171 named, 171 trade center, 172 manufacturing city, 172 center of steel industry, 173 industries, 173 Pittsburgh district, 173 mines, 175, 177 petroleum, 180 natural gas, 181

Pontiac's conspiracy, 192

Population of our great cities, 299

Potomac River, 267, 272, 292

Pullman, 62

Puritans, 105

Quakers, 67

Railroads, 9, 49, 58, 70, 93, 110, 142, 150, 200, 211, 213, 238 Pennsylvania, 30, 150 New York Central, 32, 110, 150 Michigan Southern, 49 Michigan Central, 49, 200 Missouri Pacific, 93 Boston & Albany, 110 Boston & Maine, 110 New York, New Haven & Hartford, 110 Nickel Plate, 150 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, 150 Erie Railroad, 150 Baltimore & Ohio, 150 Wheeling & Lake Erie, 150 Southern Pacific, 238 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, 239 Union Pacific, 239 Western Pacific, 239

Revere, Paul, 124

Revolution, War of the, 8, 75, 111, 112, 119, 122, 192, 207, 266

Richmond, 240

Rogers, Major Robert, 191, 193

Roosevelt, Theodore, 224

Ross, Betsy, 86

Sacramento River, 230

St. Gaudens, 113, 127

St. Lawrence River, 190

St. Louis, 89-104 frontier village, 89 trade center, 93 railroad center, 94 favorable location, 98 industries, 100 distributing center, 102 fur, grain, and live-stock market, 102, 103