CHAPTER VII.
WHAT MADE NEW WASHINGTON.
Municipal Changes—Necessity of Reform—Committee of One Hundred Constituted—Mr. M. G. Emery Appointed Mayor—The “Organic Act” Passed—Contest for the Governorship of Columbia District—Mr. Henry D. Cooke Appointed—Board of Public Works Constituted—Great Improvements Made—Opposition—The Board and its Work—Sketch of Alexander R. Shepherd—His Efforts During the War—Patriotic Example.
A sketch of the territorial government which now rules the District of Columbia, will account for new Washington and the many beneficent changes which have renovated the city.
As early as the winter of 1868, efforts were made to secure a united government for the entire District, instead of the triple affair then in operation, viz.: municipal corporations for Washington and Georgetown, and the Levy court for the County. Under that regime no system of general improvements could be established. The District was under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress and was obliged to beg and plead with that body for permission to begin and for appropriations to pay for each improvement, as its increasing business and population imperatively demanded. Again, the extension of the right of suffrage and the consequent increase of the number of ignorant voters, made it apparent that something must be done to prevent the control of the cities falling into the power of a class of petty ward politicians of the very worst order, who had sprung up just after the war, and who had already caused considerable uneasiness in the minds of the solid and thinking portion of the community, by the rapid manner in which they had managed to increase the public debt without showing any corresponding public benefits.
It was at first proposed to have the District governed by commissioners to be appointed by the President, and I believe bills to that effect were introduced into Congress by Senator Hamlin, and Mr. Morrill, of Maine, but were defeated. Of course the proposed change was very unpopular, and the Washington Common Council passed a series of resolutions protesting against any interference with the government then existing. The extravagance and venality of the administration of 1868-9, however, awakened the sober and thoughtful minded citizens to the absolute necessity of a radical and vigorous reform, and during the winter of 1869-70 a committee of one hundred was constituted, to whom was given the task of perfecting a bill granting a territorial government to the District, and of the urging of its passage by Congress. This bill failed to pass that Session, and there next came a bitter political contest, resulting in the election of Hon. M. G. Emery as Mayor of Washington.
The evils which it was supposed Mr. Emery would correct, did not seem to lessen during his administration, and in the following winter the project of a new government was revived and urged with so much vigor that Congress, on the 21st of January, 1871, passed what is now known as the “Organic Act,” establishing and defining the powers of the territorial government of the District of Columbia. Immediately following the passage of this act there appeared four prominent candidates for the governorship of the young territory, viz: Messrs. M. G. Emery, Sayles J. Bowen, Jas. A. Magruder, and Alex. R. Shepherd. Messrs. Emery and Bowen soon subsided, and the contest narrowed to between Messrs. Shepherd and Magruder.
It was unmistakably the popular desire that the appointment should be given to Mr. Shepherd. He had been more prominent than any other individual named in securing the change effected; the nucleus of the Organic Act is said to have been drafted by him, and the energy and sagacity he had shown in his public life pointed him out as peculiarly fit for the position. Besides, he had gained the popular confidence by his unvarying integrity and fearless independence, and by a quality too rarely observed in a public man—positive manliness. Colonel Magruder, the Georgetown candidate, was quite popular in that city, where he had for a number of years been the collector of customs. Though at that time he was not extensively known in Washington, those who were his friends were ardent and untiring in their support. It soon became evident that the appointment of either of these gentlemen would cause extreme dissatisfaction to the supporters of his competitors, and as it was especially desirable that the new government should commence its operations with perfect good feeling pervading all the different parties, a governor was sought who should harmonize all differences, and Henry D. Cooke, of the firm of Jay Cooke & Co., a gentleman of unimpeachable integrity, who had kept aloof from all factions and who, in fact, was one of Mr. Shepherd’s warmest supporters, was at length selected.
Then came the appointment of that body of men, against whom so much abuse has been hurled, but to whose energies the existence of the new Washington I have portrayed is wholly attributable, viz: the Board of Public Works. This Board was at first composed of Messrs. A. R. Shepherd, A. B. Mullett, S. P. Brown, and James A. Magruder, with the Governor as president ex-officio. Since then Messrs. Mullett and Brown have resigned, and their places have been filled by Messrs. Adolf Cluss, and Henry A. Willard.
I may state also that the first Secretary of the District was N. P. Chipman, and that when he was elected as the delegate to Congress, the position was given to E. L. Stanton, the son of the late Secretary Stanton, by whom it is now filled.
All the gentlemen I have named are men of clear intelligence, excellent business capacity, and positive energy.