Foreword

O YOU WANT to see your Capital City! Of course you do because any good citizen wants to know how his Government works. As an initial experience it is necessary to become acquainted with the setting-Washington, D. C. This bulletin will guide your introduction to the Capital. It will give you an historical and a present-day background for appreciating the city that is your own.

What kind of community is your Washington? Why does it exist? Was it planned or did it just happen? How large is it? Is there a relationship between its size and its purpose? Does it have the kind of government that you have in your home town? Who are the people? What do they do to earn a living? How well does the community meet their needs? Why is Washington your city? What historical evidences are there that show the past as a prologue to the present?

A tour of the city will help you answer these questions and many others. Such a tour may be taken in person or through reading the story of a group of young people. This story is not an actual record of a particular group or tour, but is a composite of many experiences. It is based upon diary records of tours taken by one person as a child, as a youth, and as an adult. To these impressions were added those of many elementary school children and high-school youth who have visited Washington recently. In writing about a subject on which authorities sometimes disagree, every effort has been made to secure accuracy. The Columbia Historical Society contributed the time of several

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members, especially L. F. Schmeckebier, who reviewed the manuscript. Dr. George W. Hodgkins, of the public schools of the District of Columbia, also reviewed the manuscript.

Children, young people, and adults were asked to read the story. They talked about the material that interested them most and how it helped them to understand Washington as the seat of Federal Government. Their reactions contributed to the revision. As a result, this bulletin can be used by upper-grade children and possibly by other citizens who wish information of a simple, factual

Final decisions of justice are made in this Supreme Court Building.

VI

BETTY, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE GROUP, was as excited as the other students over John's startling suggestion. She almost forgot to list it on the blackboard with other ideas for the year's work in social studies.

John had said, "I suggest that we go to Washington, D. C., to see our Government in action. We need to know our Capital City in order to understand our Government."

"That is the best suggestion in the list," Bill exclaimed. "How did you ever think of it, John?"

John explained, "We have been looking through our Yearbooks to see what kinds of experiences we have had since our kindergarten days of picture recording. I noticed that we have done many things to help us become better members in our homes, neighborhood, school, and community.

"Yesterday Jane came to tell us what her group did in this room last year. She suggested one change. She thought all of us should go together to take our exhibit to the State Fair, instead of sending a committee. While we are there we should visit the State Capital and find out how State laws are made."

John continued, "When Jane left it was time for me to go to our School Council and there I heard the chairman urge us to become world-minded. I told about our Current Events Club and about some of the guests who have helped us understand how boys and girls live in other parts of our world.

"Then I remembered what happened in our Current Events Club today. When Frank was confused about the powers of our Congress to pass laws, no one in the class could help him. How can anyone be a good world citizen if he does not know how his own Government works? Then 1 said to myself, 'When Betty asks for final suggestions for our year's work in social studies, I shall suggest a tour to our Capital City, as a background for studying our Government.'

Practical Pat said, "I disagree with Bill that John's idea is the best one on the list. How can any idea be the best one until we know how it will work out? A tour to Washington is a wonderful thing for a dream, but how can we ever take it? Where shall we get the money for the tour? Where shall we stay when we get to our crowded Capital City?" "I've thought about ways we could earn money," John replied. "Father

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says it is beautiful in Washington at any season of the year, but he likes spring best, because of the beautiful cherry blossoms. We can find a place to stay if we inquire now and make reservations early this fall." Helen thought it would be fun to organize a "Know-Your-Washington Club" and share information about Washington as a background for the trip.

Practical Pat spoke again, “I still wonder if it is possible to take the trip. There is a way to find out. Betty could appoint a ways and means committee."

Everyone liked Pat's idea and Betty called for volunteers. There were too many for a good working committee so she selected John and four others. The four chose John as chairman.

Later the chairman of the ways and means committee gave the report, recommending that a 3-day trip be taken in the spring. The group discussed and accepted the recommendation. Parents, school administrators, and Miss Brown had met with the committee earlier and had helped to write the report. Of course the tour to Washington was one of many kinds of activities planned for the year, but it was the most important one. A "Know Your Capital City" Club was organized. One of its purposes was to share information about Washington so that the tour would be more meaningful. Another was to arrange for the tour.

The club members read newspapers, magazines, and books; corresponded with students who go to school in Washington; saw movies furnished by tour companies, railroads, and audio-visual aid centers; listened to special radio talks about our National Government and the Capital City; and talked to Congressmen and other citizens who had lived there. A Senate page boy who was at home on vacation was a special resource person. He came to school each afternoon for a week and helped the boys and girls find answers to their questions about Washington.

Just before Easter the club members finished a book for use during the trip. They planned to use it again when they returned home, as one way to evaluate what they saw. Before school closed in May, they would revise it, adding interesting high lights of their trip, and a carefully selected picture collection. Here is the club's book.

IF YOU LIVE IN OR VISIT IN WASHINGTON, you can find beauty in many places, not just in beautiful art galleries. Visitors claim that our Capital is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its orderly design with its impressive buildings justifies their claim. The natural setting, as well as the man-made one, also fascinates them. This City of Trees

originally built on an oval piece of rolling land beside the broadening Potomac, now spreads out over the green hills on all sides.

Bill, the page boy, says that Washington is beautiful to him for another reason. Everywhere he looks he sees evidences of our Nation's past. Its monuments alone record a century and a half of adventuring in freedom. Since the birth of the Nation, its leaders have put forth great effort to establish, maintain, and improve our democracy as an ideal way of life. When you come to Washington you can see for yourself why Bill and the world travelers feel that it is so beautiful. No matter how you arrive, by train, plane, bus, or boat, you will be excited at the beauty of the spacious circles, its tree-lined boulevards and streets, and its many parks. If you come in the springtime, you will enjoy the fragrance and color of magnolia, cherry blossoms, azaleas, and forsythia. Here are some interesting places and things to see.

The Capitol and Office Buildings

"So this is Washington," you say as you walk briskly through one of the largest rooms in the world, the Concourse of the Union Station. You catch your first glimpse of the majestic Capitol framed by the arched doorway. You reach the doorway and take a swift glance across the Plaza at the car-burdened semicircle of streets. They radiate outward like the sticks of Martha Washington's fan.

In an instant the grandeur of the massive Capitol draws your eyes upward. No matter when you see it-in daylight, in floodlighted night, under skies of blue or gray, its dome is the focal point of your Federal city. At the top of this double-shelled, cast-iron dome stands the huge statue of Freedom, democracy's guardian of the past, present, and future. A chartered bus whirls you to the east door of the Capitol. You are impressed by the size of its imposing structure. It is about 751 feet long, 350 feet wide, 287 feet high, and covers about 31⁄2 acres of land. You remember that its five parts were built on the installment plan. In 1800 as democracy was starting on its way, no one quite knew where, the original north wing was finished. In 1811 the original south wing was finished; in 1829, the central portion; in 1857, the House Chamber; and in 1859, the Senate Chamber.

You walk up a broad flight of the Capitol's steps where all of the Presidents but one have been inaugurated since Jackson's day. On Taft's inaugural day snow followed by cold prevented an out-of-door ceremony. On these very steps on March 4, 1865, Lincoln made his famous plea for a just and lasting peace among all nations. Today we remember his unforgettable words that begin, "With malice toward none, with charity for all,