The Senate having under consideration a bill from the House
confirming a grant by the City Council of Washington of a site for
a railway dépôt in the public park, Mr. Sumner said:--
MR. PRESIDENT,--To my mind this bill is injudicious; and in saying this
I give an opinion reached after the most careful consideration of it in
the Committee. I think it ought not to be adopted by the Senate. I say
this with reluctance, for I sympathize keenly with every improvement
and with every facility afforded to this growing and beautiful
metropolis; and may I say, also, I feel a personal sympathy with the
distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania particularly interested in this
measure? And yet, approaching its consideration with those biases in
its favor, I am bound to conclude against it.
Sir, I do not think that this privilege ought to be granted, and my
reason is precise and specific. It proposes to take a considerable
section of land, which, if you look on the map, you will see properly
belongs to the Park of Washington. I am unwilling, at this early period
in the history of this metropolis, to begin by cutting out a slice
from this inclosure set apart for the future. If you do it now, where
are you to stop? Will you not be called to cut out another slice next
year, or in five years,--and may not the Park be reduced from that form
and those proportions it promises to enjoy? This metropolis is now at
its beginning, and yet doubling in a decade. During the last ten years
its population has multiplied twofold; and in the coming ten years
there is every reason to believe that the development will be as large,
if not larger. Of course with the increase of population is the demand
for a park, especially in the central situation which that enjoys. I
use the language of another, when I say that parks are the lungs of
a great city; but where will be the lungs of this metropolis, if you
begin now to reduce the Park? Rather should we sacredly keep it all
intact, so that hereafter, when you and I, Sir, have passed away, and
this metropolis has grown to a grandeur and beauty which imagination
cannot now conceive, that Park may remain in its entirety, a blessing
to the people, for which they themselves in turn will bless us.
Sir, I was born in a city which has the enjoyment of such a blessing.
There is in Boston what is known as The Common, set apart in the very
earliest days of the old town, when it was in fact what the name
implies,--a common for the pasturage of cattle; but, though often
assailed, it has been preserved untouched. Railroad corporations and
other companies have tried in vain to obtain a corner from it. The
jealous city fathers have saved that beautiful piece of earth, till
now it is the first treasure of Boston,--unless we except her common
schools, where all are equal before the law. I have often thought
what would have ensued if some time ago, yielding to corporation
pressure in its various forms, the city had consented to sacrifice that
beautiful inclosure. There it is, the very apple of the eye to Boston;
and nobody now fears that it will be diminished by a foot.
And should not Washington have a similar possession? Are you
willing, Sir, now at this early moment of her history, when she is
just beginning to grow, or rather when her growth is just beginning
to be apparent, to despoil her of this unquestionable attraction,
where the useful and the beautiful commingle? I think, Sir, you will
act improvidently, if you do so. I think you will act against the
best interests of the city, whether you look at health, beauty, or
enjoyment; for a park ministers to all these.
Therefore, Sir, would I keep it intact. By no consent of Congress
would I allow any business interest or disturbing railroad company
to fasten itself upon this inclosure. They should be excluded; and
when I say this, I would not carry them off far. Let them plant their
stations just the other side. They will then be perhaps a third of a
mile from Pennsylvania Avenue, traversing the centre of population
with conveniences such as railroads in no other city enjoy. With those
open to them, why should we allow them to enter our pleasure-grounds?
If there were no proper place without going a long distance, a mile or
two miles, there would be some reason, perhaps, for entertaining this
question; but when I consider the facilities which they may enjoy only
the other side of the Park line, with land there cheap and easy to be
had, I am astonished that any one can be willing to sacrifice the Park
simply to bring them a few rods nearer Pennsylvania Avenue.
And this brings me to the question of travel on the Avenue. If you put
a railway station as is proposed, you will bring on the Avenue all that
glut and accumulation of carriages and wagons always concentrated about
the terminus of a great line of travel. I think it will be injurious to
the Avenue. That alone would be a reason with me against the bill.
But as often as I think of the question, I come back to the Park,
which, say what you will, is destined to be one of the most important
possessions of this metropolis, and for the special enjoyment of
the people. They will enjoy this Capitol, for it is beautiful to
behold,--also the other public edifices, some of them excellent in
style and grateful to the eye; but nothing of all these will be what
we may expect that Park to be,--a place where the young and old will
resort of an evening to enjoy innocent recreation and congenial
society, while the open air or the opportunities of exercise impart
to them that best blessing, health. Sir, that Park should not be
sacrificed; and if you have any doubt, let me lay before you the
testimony of another place. I have already cited Boston; I now call
your attention to Philadelphia. You know the remarkable park which
has been opened there. I stopped a day in Philadelphia last summer,
on my way home, especially to see and enjoy this magnificent resort;
and I was well rewarded. I beheld the most beautiful park, certainly
in its promise, on this continent; and I doubt if there is one even in
the European world of equal promise. But no one can enter its grounds
without annoyance and trouble from the railroad-crossings, and the
perpetual sound of the steam-engine with its shrill whistle, so little
in harmony with pleasure-grounds.
It requires no scientific knowledge, no practical acquaintance with
railroads, to see that those crossings are a positive nuisance, and
that the hospitable park set apart for the population of a mighty city,
and destined to be one of the most beautiful objects of the civilized
world, actually suffers from the nuisance. I appeal to Senators who
have visited it; I know that there is not one who will say that I am
not right. There is not one who has ever entered those grounds, not
even the Senator from Pennsylvania who pioneers this bill, that will
not say he regrets those railroad-crossings and wishes them out of
the way. But I shall not rely upon the authority of the Senator or
my own testimony. I have in my hand the last annual report of the
Commissioners, and I wish the Senate to hear what they say:--
“At an early period of their organization the Commissioners
addressed themselves to the solution of the very difficult problem
of how to attain the best approaches to the Park, and they have not
at any time ceased to give that matter their earnest attention. If
a former generation could have foreseen”--