especially interesting about it is the opposite
views that can be taken of the same facts. As to the latter there
is no dispute. Yet, from one point of view, Shepherd made one of
the most disastrous failures on record in attempting to carry out
great works, while, from another point of view, he is the author of
the beautiful Washington of to-day, and entitled to a public statue
in recognition of his services. As I was a resident of the city
and lived in my own house, I was greatly interested in the proposed
improvements, especially of the particular street on which I lived.
I was also an eye-witness to so much of the whole history as the
public was cognizant of. The essential facts of the case, from the
two, opposing points of view, are exceedingly simple.

One fact is the discreditable condition of the streets of Washington
during and after the civil war. The care of these was left entirely
to the local municipality. Congress, so far as I know, gave no aid
except by paying its share of street improvements in front of the
public buildings. It was quite out of the power of the residents,
who had but few men of wealth among them, to make the city what it
ought to be. Congress showed no disposition to come to the help of
the citizens in this task.

In 1871, however, some public-spirited citizens took the matter in
hand and succeeded in having a new government established, which
was modeled after that of the territories of the United States.
There was a governor, a legislature, and a board of public works.
The latter was charged with the improvements of the streets, and
the governor was _ex officio_ its president. The first governor was
Henry D. Cooke, the banker, and Mr. Shepherd was vice-president of
the board of public works and its leading member. Mr. Cooke resigned
after a short term, and Mr. Shepherd was promoted to his place.
He was a plumber and gas-fitter by trade, and managed the leading
business in his line in Washington. Through the two or three years
of his administration the city directory still contained the entry--

Shepherd, Alex. R. & Co., plumbers and gas-fitters, 910 Pa. Ave. N. W.

In recent years he had added to his plumbing business that of erecting
houses for sale. He had had no experience in the conduct of public
business, and, of course, was neither an engineer nor a financier.
But such was the energy of his character and his personal influence,
that he soon became practically the w