Memorial stones (beginning at 30 feet, stopping at 280 feet). Corner stone laid July 4, 1848. Capstone set December 6, 1884. Dedicated February 21, 1885. Elevator, electric, time of travel. Weight of car empty. Weight of car loaded, 35 persons (1 person equals 150 pounds) Cables.. Speed of elevator, 100 feet per minute. 34 feet 6 inches 31 feet 6 inches 15 feet inch 18 inches 3,300 pounds 81,120 tons 5 tons per square foot 9 tons 3 tons inch to 1 foot 179 898 50 8 $1,300,000 5 minutes 35 persons 5,670 pounds 10,920 pounds 8,040 pounds 14 inches diameter 50 kilowatts, 250 volts Engine governor throws off current at 105 feet per minute. There are several improvements at and about the Washington Monument that are needed. First. The lower portion of the Monument to the south of the elevator shaft should be made into a comfortable reception room by sheathing it and ceiling it in and providing it with suitable heating, lighting, and ventilating appliances. Practically all visitors to Washington go to the Monument, and in inclement weather they have to wait inside the structure until the time comes for them to make the ascent. The place where they must wait is ordinarily very damp, cold, and uncomfortable, the walls being the rough stone as left by the builders, upon which moisture condenses very freely. People sitting and waiting in this place are also exposed to the down draft of the chilled, cave-like air of the interior of the Monument. The conditions are particularly favorable to the contracting of severe colds and pneumonia. As there are some 150,000 to 200,000 people of the country, many of them women and children, who visit the Monument every year, the aggregate damage to health each year may be very great. For the protection of the thousands of people who come from all over the country to visit this grandest of monuments the reception room recommended should be provided. The necessary expense for this room, all of strictly fireproof construction, with heating, lighting, and ventilating apparatus, is estimated at $2,500. Second. The road surrounding the Monument is a gravel road; the round-top hill on which the Monument stands is a very windy spot, and the Monument, like the notorious flatiron building in New York City, acts with the winds to produce severe whirlwinds. The conse quence is that when the weather is dry and windy the air about the Monument is filled with flying sand and gravel to an almost incredible extent, which is painful and annoying to all who have the fortune to visit it at such times. It is respectfully recommended that in consequence of this condition of things as enumerated above the roadway surrounding and in the immediate vicinity of the Monument be paved with asphalt. The expense of this work is estimated at $7,500. IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC RESERVATIONS IN THE DISTRICT OF The public parks provided for in the original design of the city of Washington, after about a half century of exploitation in a primitive way, received the first positive impulse on lines of systematic improvement in the Downing plan of the fifties. The demise of that skillful architect and landscape gardener terminated further movements in that direction. Owing to conditions over which there was no control until the seventies, the real beautifying of the city and its parks remained in abeyance. In the early part of the decade mentioned Congress took up the subject in earnest. The Board of Public Works for District purposes and the officer of Engineers in charge of public buildings and grounds representing the General Government, aided by liberal appropriations by Congress, then began the working out of a project based on scientific and artistic principles. During the entire period of upward of a century, the original city commissioners appointed by President Washington, and their successors, now represented by the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds, have had charge of park improvement. To continue the same policy of administration and execution finds its strongest support in the comprehensive system and satisfactory results exemplified in the beautiful Washington of to-day. This Office has in its files the old records of parks, maps, deeds of transfer, and the original L'Enfant map of Washington, and a wellequipped garden plant, all tending to show that up to the present the development, care, and maintenance of the parks as laid out by L'Enfant and approved by President Washington have been carried out according to the direction and appropriations by Congress; and it is along these historic lines that new endeavor should be encouraged and expansion carried on. The future development of the park system of the city of Washington has received the attention of this Office for a number of years, and studies of a comprehensive character have been prepared not only for the improvement of the parks within the city limits, but also for connecting them with those in the suburbs. The improvement of the reclaimed flats (now known as Potomac Park), in connection with the beautification of the Mall, on lines proposed by L'Enfant, and later by this Office, is a subject well worthy the serious attention of Congress. In consideration of this long-established policy, so far as this Office is concerned, I have the honor to submit the following retrospect of work done during the past year and recommendations for the attainment of the best results along similar lines during the next. The work of the Office is divided as follows: 1. Clerical department. 2. Horticultural department. 3. Engineering department. 4. Police department. 5. Executive Mansion, greenhouses, and grounds. 6. Washington Monument. 7. Departmental telegraph. For the purposes of administration all the parks under this Office are divided into three divisions, viz: East division: All east of North and South Capitol streets. Northwest division: All west of North Capitol street and north of B street north. Southwest division: All west of North and South Capitol streets and south of B street north. The area covered by the park spaces of the District of Columbia under the charge of this Office is 440.234 acres. There are in all 303 reservations, varying in size from 250 square feet to 82 acres. Two park spaces were separated from the park system under this Office during the year as follows: (a) Reservation 249, being the triangle at the intersection of Georgia avenue, Fourth and N streets SE., containing 0.0119 acre. (b) Reservation 250, being the triangle at the intersection of Georgia avenue, Fifth and N streets SE., containing 0.0041 acre. These spaces were transferred to the Navy Department for naval purposes (proposed enlargement of navy-yard) under authority of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1903, volume 32, Statutes, Part I, page 1186. The 303 reservations are classified as follows: Between June 30, 1902, and June 30, 1903, part of the $20,000 appropriated by Congress for "improving various reservations" was devoted to unimproved ground, and the first stages of improvement was accomplished on three reservations, comprising 0.021 acre in various parts of the city, as shown in the table below. The first stage of improvement consisted of grading, introducing water, covering with soil, sowing with grass seed, and inclosing with low, open iron post-and-chain fences. Previously proved. Unimproved. partially im- Unimproved. partially im- Unimproved. partially im Previously Previously proved. proved. In connection with the subject of the United States public reservations in the city of Washington, it is considered proper to invite attention to the desirability of correcting a typographical error which appears in one portion of the act of Congress approved July 1, 1898 (vol. 30, Statutes, p. 570). The act referred to reads: * SEC. 2. That the park system of the District of Columbia is hereby placed under the exclusive charge and control of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the President of the United States, through the Secretary of War. The said park system shall be held to comprise: (a) All public spaces laid down as reservations on the map of eighteen hundred and ninety-four accompanying the annual report for eighteen hundred and ninetyfour of the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds. (b) All portions of the space in the streets and avenues of the said District, after the same shall have been set aside by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia for park purposes. Provided, That no areas less than two hundred and fifty square feet between sidewalk lines shall be included within the said public system and no improvements shall be made in unimproved park spaces in streets between building lines or building lines prolonged until the outlines of such portions as are to be improved as parks shall have been laid out by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia: And provided further, That the Chief of Engineers is authorized temporarily to turn over the care of any of the parking spaces included in Class B above to private owners of adjoining lands under such regulations as he may prescribe and with the condition that the said private owners shall pay special assessments for improvements contiguous to such parking under the same regulations as are or may be prescribed for pri vate lands. The error referred to occurs in the sentence which reads: And provided further, That the Chief of Engineers is authorized temporarily to turn over the care of any of the parking spaces included in Class B above to private own ers, etc. and consists in the fact that Class B should read Class A, because it is the reservations mentioned in Class A whose care is intended to be turned over temporarily to private owners of adjoining lands, and not those in Class B. It is therefore recommended that Congress be requested at its next session to correct the error in question by suitable legislation. PARK CURBING. It being the wish of Congress that the public parks should be as open as possible, all the former high iron fences have been removed, except where absolutely needed. This has left the edges of the parks with an unfinished appearance, which in many cases is very unsightly. It has been found by experience that a simple stone curbing gives a pleasing finish, and is sufficient to preserve a neat border line between park and sidewalk. Lafayette Park is an illustration. Franklin Park, one of the prettiest and most frequented in Washington, suffers for lack of this. A simple but tasteful curb can be laid around it for $2,000, and the appropriation of that amount is respectfully urged. PARK WATCHMEN. I especially desire to invite attention to the force of park watchmen, which force is improperly named, inadequate in point of numbers, and insufficiently paid. The designation of watchmen does not describe the members of this force and their duties. They are strictly policemen, with all the powers of the regular police force, and their duty is to maintain proper police control over the parks. This requires a great deal of delicacy on the one hand in dealing with women and children, and on the other the roughest and most dangerous kind of police work in dealing with toughs and offenders of all kinds. The duty of the men is not simply to watch the parks, but is also to protect the respectable people, especially women and children, in their full enjoyment, and unmolested by bad men and dissolute women. It would be a satisfaction to the men of the force and aid them in the performance of their duties to be designated as policemen, for offenders are sometimes averse |