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a nucleus for this boulevard or drive, it would be the easier to secure favorable action by Congress toward the consummation of the plans prepared and earnestly advocated by Engineer Commissioner Powell during his term of office."

The acquiring of Fort Stevens for a park was mentioned as far back as in 1867, and the committee feels that the time has come for a united effort to secure this historic site.

Other portions of ground on which still stand the grim reminders of the civil war will then likely also be obtained, and by connecting one with the other and with the Soldiers' Home grounds and Anacostia Park, in connection with the Mall, Potomac, Zoological, Rock Creek parks, and Arlington, Washington will be surrounded by a system of the most beautiful natural parks in the world; and marking the only battlefield of the civil war in the District of Columbia and the point where the gallant Joshua Barney and his brave men opposed the British on August 24, 1814, would be of great historic interest to all Americans.

ANACOSTIA PARK.

The subject of the improvement of Anacostia River and the reclamation of the health-destroying marshes has been before Congress for many years. Numerous surveys have been made, but as the expense is considerable, it has thus far failed to take hold of this important improvement seriously. It is hoped that this matter will receive the attention it deserves, and that this uninviting river with its miasmatic swamps, whose baneful influence is so seriously felt by a large portion of the citizens of Washington, troops at the barracks, employees at the navy-yard, inmates of St. Elizabeth's Asylum, and those in other public institutions located in that region, will be improved as reported on by Lieut. Col. C. J. Allen, U. S. A., and recommended by General Wilson in 1898.

NAMING AND LABELING TREES AND PLANTS.

Through the efforts of Mr. Albert M. Read, a member of the committee, considerable interest has been aroused in the proposition of adopting some uniform system of naming and labeling the trees and plants throughout the city. This matter was brought to the attention of the board of trade in the following resolutions:

"Whereas the honorable Secretary of Agriculture has, in his annual report, called the attention of Congress to the importance to the Department of Agriculture of an arboretum, in which can be brought together for study all the trees that will grow in the climate of Washington, and suggested that the area known as the 'Mall' be set aside for that purpose: Therefore, be it

"Resolved, That, recognizing the great benefits that would accrue to the scientific and educational interests of our country and its capital by the planting of such an arboretum as is contemplated, the board of trade, in public meeting assembled, approves the project.

"Be it further resolved, That the committee on parks and reservations of this board is hereby instructed to earnestly cooperate with the Department of Agriculture in securing the establishment of this important public improvement in such park or parks in the District of Columbia as may be decided upon as most suitable for the purpose."

Considerable correspondence has been had with the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, and Mr. F. V. Coville, botanist of the Department, and there is little doubt but that the Secretary will have the trees in the Department grounds marked within a short time. There is also great hope that the District Commissioners and the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds will place suitable marks designating the trees in the different squares.

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On December 14 of last year the board of trade unanimously adopted the following resolutions:

Whereas it has long been manifest that a comprehensive and symmetric plan of treatment for the parks and reservations, public-building sites, and bridges of the District could no longer be deferred without detriment to the original designs of President Washington and his associates; and

Whereas at the dawn of the new century it has been clearly demonstrated that love of country included love for the country's capital; and

Whereas we believe that no sentiment is more ardent or more universal than that of pride in the "permanent seat of the Government" of the United States: Therefore, Resolved, That the Washington Board of Trade earnestly recommend to both Houses of Congress that an appropriate legislative act be passed at the earliest practicable date to authorize the President to appoint a commission of three or five building and landscape architects, each eminent and experienced in his profession, whose duty it shall be to devise and report to Congress suitable and adequate plans for the development of the capital city, in subordination to the plan of its founders, and yet sufficiently expanded in dimensions to typify a century's growth of the Republic.

I also make a part of this communication Senate bill No. 6065, introduced by Mr. Proctor at the last session of Congress, to mark the only battlefield in the District of Columbia.

A BILL to establish a national military park at the battlefield of Fort Stevens, in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study the only battlefield in the District of Columbia, known as Fort Stevens, where the advance line of Confederate troops, under General Jubal A. Early, met the improvised Union forces-then the sole defense of Washington-under General A. McD. McCook, and stoutly resisted until they could not longer contend favorably with the enemy's line, thus rendering it necessary that they should be "ordered to fall back slowly, fighting until they reached the rifle pits," where they met a detachment of the Veteran Sixth Army Corps, commanded by General H. G. Wright, whose timely arrival on this battlefield, on the memorable day of July eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, saved, at a cost of many noble lives, the national capital from capture; and to render historic and patriotic the location where Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States, stood and witnessed said battle, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to acquire, under the provision of the act approved February twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, entitled "An act to establish and protect national cemeteries," or under the act approved August first, eighteen hundred and eightyeight, entitled "An act to authorize condemnation of land for sites of public buildings, and for other purposes," all that parcel of land situated near Brightwood, in the District of Columbia, and particularly described as follows:

Beginning at the point A, on the plat hereto attached, at the junction of the west line of Brightwood avenue and the north line of the public school lot immediately north of Brightwood; thence northerly with the west side of Brightwood avenue, four hundred and forty feet, more or less, to the easterly projection of the center line of that street of the highway-extension plan, running east and west, and whose eastward projection runs next north of old Fort Stevens parapet; thence with the eastern projection of said center line aforesaid, and with the said center line itself, due west nine hundred feet, more or less, to a point three hundred and twenty feet west

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of the west line of Thirteenth street extended; thence due south seven hundred and ninety feet, more or less, to the north line of the Rock Creek Ford road; thence along the north line of said road southeasterly one hundred feet; thence due north sixty-eight feet, more or less, to the center of the second street of the highway-extension plans lying south of the first-mentioned street of said plans; thence with the center line of said street and from the point sixty-eight feet, more or less, from Rock Creek Ford road southeasterly two hundred and sixty-five feet, more or less, to intersect the center line of the due east and west portion of said last-mentioned street; thence with said center line due east two hundred and thirty feet, more or less, to the west side of the old Piney Branch road; thence with the west side of said road northerly four hundred feet, more or less, to the projection of the north line of the public school property aforementioned; thence with said north line southeasterly two hundred and forty feet, more or less, to the beginning, containing fourteen acres, more or less, and being the same parcel colored green and inclosed by the lines A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, A, on plat hereto attached, together with that square of the highway-extension plans lying east of Brightwood avenue, and being the fourth square east of said avenue and bounded on the south by the second of the east and west streets of said plans north of the junction of roads at Brightwood, containing five acres, more or less, and also together with that block of the highway-extension plans inclosing old Fort Totten, containing four and one-half acres, more or less; all three parcels above described being selected on such topographical plan as to include the most important strategic points in the chain of defenses on the north of Washington, extending from Fort Reno on the west to Fort Totten on the east, this line being in actual use during the engagement of July eleventh and twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, the total area of the three parcels being twenty-three and one-half acres, more or less, and upon the report of the Attorney-General of the United States that a perfect title has been secured under the provisions of the aforesaid acts, the said lands and roads are hereby declared to be a national park, to be known as the Fort Stevens Lincoln National Park.

SEC. 2. That the said Fort Stevens Lincoln National Park shall be under the control of the Secretary of War, and it shall be his duty, immediately after the passage of this act, to notify the Attorney-General of the purpose of the United States to acquire title to the lands and roads described in the previous section of this act under the provisions of the aforesaid acts; and the said Secretary, upon receiving notice from the Attorney-General of the United States that perfect titles have been secured to the said lands and roads, shall at once proceed to establish and substantially mark the boundaries of the said park.

SEC. 3. That the affairs of the Fort Stevens Lincoln National Park shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the Secretary of War, be in charge of three commissioners, one of whom shall have been an officer of the Army on duty in the War Department at the time of the battle, and the other two shall be officers who shall have actually participated in the battle of Fort Stevens, all three to be appointed by the Secretary of War; and, in addition, there shall be detailed by the Secretary of War from among those officers best acquainted with the details of the battle of Fort Stevens one who shall act as secretary of the commission. The said commissioners and secretary shall have an office in the War Department building, and while on actual duty shall be paid such compensation out of the appropriation provided in this act as the Secretary of War shall deem reasonable and just.

SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the commissioners named in the preceding section, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to superintend the opening of such roads as may be necessary to the purposes of the park and the repair of the roads of the same, and to ascertain and definitely mark the lines of battle of all troops engaged in the battle of Fort Stevens and points of historic interest connected with the fortification or defenses of the national capital during the civil war, so far

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as the same shall fall within the lines of the park as defined in the previous section of this act, or so far as said lines of battle or points of historic interest may be located upon any park, reservation, street or public highway, or other land now belonging to, or hereafter to be acquired by, the United States or the District of Columbia and situated within the District of Columbia; and, for the purpose of assisting the said commissioners in their duty and in ascertaining these lines and points of historic interest, the Secretary of War shall have authority to employ, at such compensation as he may deem reasonable and just, to be paid out of the appropriation made by this act, some person recognized as well informed in regard to the details of the battle of Fort Stevens, and who shall have actually participated in said battle, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, from and after the passage of this act, through the commissioners and their assistant in historical work, and under the provisions of the aforesaid acts regulating the condemnation of land for public uses, to proceed with the preliminary work of establishing the park and its approaches as the same are defined in this act, and the expenses thus incurred shall be paid out of the appropriation provided by this act.

SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the commissioners, acting under the direction of the Secretary of War, to ascertain and substantially mark the locations of the regular troops, both infantry, cavalry, and artillery, within the boundaries of the park, and also the location where President Lincoln stood during the battle, and to erect monuments upon these positions as Congress may provide in the necessary appropriations; and the Secretary of War in the same way may ascertain and mark the lines of battle within the boundaries of the park and erect plain and substantial historical tablets at such points in the vicinity of the park and its approaches as he may deem fitting and necessary to clearly designate the positions and movements which, although without the limits of the park, were directly connected with the battle of Fort Stevens.

SEC. 6. That it shall be lawful for the authorities of any State having troops engaged in the battle of Fort Stevens to enter upon the lands and approaches of the Fort Stevens Lincoln National Park for the purpose of ascertaining and marking the lines of battle of troops engaged therein: Provided, That before any such lines are permanently designated the positions of the lines and the proposed methods of marking them, by monuments, tablets, or otherwise, shall be submitted to the Secretary of War and shall first receive the written approval of the Secretary, which approval shall be based upon formal written reports, which must be made to him in each case by the commissioners of the park.

SEC. 7. That the Secretary of War, subject to the approval of the President of the United States, shall have the power to make and shall make all needed regulations for the care of the park and for the establishment and marking of the lines of battle and other historical features of the park.

SEC. 8. That if any person shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, columns, statues, memorial structures, or work of art that shall be erected or placed upon the grounds of the park by lawful authority, or shall willfully destroy or remove any fence, railing, inclosure, or other work for the protection or ornament of said park, or any portion thereof, or shall willfully destroy, cut down, hack, bark, break down, or otherwise injure any tree, bush, or shrubbery that may be growing upon said park, or shall cut down, fell, or remove any timber, battle relic, tree, or trees growing or being upon such park, except by permission of the Secretary of War, or shall willfully remove or destroy any breastwork, earthwork, walls, or other defenses or shelter, or any part thereof, constructed by the troops formerly engaged in the battle of Fort Stevens, or the approaches to the park under the authority of the Secretary of War, any person so offending or found guilty thereof by the police court of the District of Columbia shall, for each and every such offense, forfeit and pay a fine, in the discretion of the judge, in accordance with the aggrava

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tion of the offense, of not less than five nor more than fifty dollars, one half to the use of the park and the other half to the informer, to be enforced and recovered before said court in like manner as other offenses committed against the United States.

SEC. 9. That to enable the Secretary of War to begin to carry out the purpose of this act, including the condemnation and purchase of the necessary land, marking the boundaries of the park, opening or repairing necessary roads, making maps and surveys, and the pay and expenses of the commissioners and their assistants, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars, or such portion thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and disbursements under this act shall require the approval of the Secretary of War, and he shall make annual report of the same to Congress.

The United States or the District of Columbia already have holdings covering one-half of the Federal line between Fort Reno and Fort Totten, to wit: (1) Fort Reno, now a reservoir; (2) a school lot near Connecticut avenue extended, in which the old earthworks still stand; (3) Rock Creek Park, containing Fort De Russy, Battery Kingsbury, a couple of batteries near the creek, and several hundred yards of rifle pits, all in good preservation; (4) Battle-Ground National Cemetery, near Brightwood, where are buried 40 Union soldiers killed in battle at and near the site of the cemetery, as follows:

ROLL OF HONOR.

The following comrades, killed in action on July 11 and 12, 1864, are buried in Battle-Ground Cemetery: