The total cost has been $1,200,000, of which $300,000 have been raised by contributions from the people. One may ascend the Monument by a stairway of 900 steps, imposing a climb of twenty minutes, or by elevator, which lifts one in seven minutes. As one ascends he sees in the rubble-stone masonry of the lower interior walls a number of memorial stones contributed by various States, corporations, and societies, both foreign and domestic, each inscribed with the name of the donor, and some bearing also the date when given. There are about a hundred stones not yet set. The most significant inscriptions are: "From the Temple of Esculapius, Island of Paros"; "Oldest Inhabitants, District of Columbia, 1870"; "The Free Swiss Confederation, 1870"; "Engine Company Northern Liberty, Philadelphia"; "Fire Department, Philadelphia, 1852"; "Georgia Convention, 1850"; "Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1851"; "Grand Division, Sons of Temperance, of Illinois, 1855"; "The Sons of New England in Canada "; " Deseret Holiness to the Lord"; "From Braddock's Field"; "Battle-Ground, Long Island"; "Charlestown, the Bunker Hill Battle-Ground"; Cherokee Nation, 1855"; "MichiSpires, Cologne Cathedral... Pyramid of Cheops... Strasburg Cathedral. Pyramid of Chepheron... St. Peter's, Rome.. St. Paul's, London. United States Capitol, Washington. Pisa Leaning Tower... Egyptian Obelisk, Central Park, New York.. 511 feet. 480" 468 gan "; "Vermont"; "Kansas"; "Salem"; "Brazil"; "Arabia"; "China"; "Nevada, 1881." A sandstone block from Switzerland has this inscription: "This block of stone is from the original chapel built to William Tell in 1338, on Lake Lu cerne, Switzerland, at the spot where he escaped from Gesler." One of the blocks sent was the gift of the Pope, and was inscribed "Rome to America." In March, 1854, during the Know-Nothing excitement, the lapidarium where the blocks were stored was broken into, and this stone was taken, and, it is supposed, thrown into the Potomac. The four faces of the metal apex bear these inscriptions: North face " Joint Commission at setting of capstone, Chester A. Arthur, W. W. Corcoran, M. E. Bell, Edw'd Clark, John Newton, Act of August 2d, 1876." West face-" Corner-stone laid on bed of foundation July 4, 1848, first stone at height of 152 feet, laid August 7, 1880, capstone set December 6, 1884." South face—“ Chief Engineer and Architect, Thos. L. Casey, Corps of Engineers; assistants, George W. Davis, Capt. 14th Infantry; Bernard R. Green, Civil Engineer; Master Mechanic P. H. McLaughlin." East face-" LAUS DEO." The outlook from the summit is grand and far-reaching enough to satisfy the most exacting. One finds himself in a small chamber with eight windows under the roofstones, 517 feet above the city, and looks down on the broad streets, lawns, roofs, and spires, spread out beneath, as on the canvas of some great landscape painter; then enlarging his range of vision, his glance takes in the wooded Georgetown heights, the Potomac stretching its serpentine length miles below, and far off to westward, like a mist upon the horizon, the mighty masses of the Blue Ridge. On the completion of the memorial, Congress passed a resolution providing for suitable dedicatory ceremonies. These were very appropriately held on Washington's birthday, 1885, at the base of the Monument, and later in the House of Representatives, the orator of the occasion, by an equally happy inspiration, being the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who thirty-seven years before had performed a similar service at the laying of the corner-stone. THE local press of Washington is contemporary with the birth of the city. On the removal of the government in 1802, two small tri-weekly newspapers, the National Intelligencer and the Washington Federalist were established there, the former as the administration organ. Its editor was Samuel Harrison Smith, who had previously published at Philadelphia a journal of some literary pretensions, known as the Universal Gazette. The Federalist did not long survive, but the Intelligencer, being the court journal, became prosperous and influential. In 1809, Mr. Smith admitted as a partner Joseph Gales, of North Carolina, who had been a year in his employ as stenographer, and in 1810 relinquished the paper entirely to his young associate. Mr. Gales then associated with himself his brother-in-law, Mr. W. W. Seaton, and from this time forward the Intelligencer became one of the leading newspapers of the country, acquiring a national reputation. It was published under the firm name until the death of the surviving partner, Mr. Seaton, in 1865, when it was purchased by Messrs. Snow, Coyle, & Co. That firm continued it until 1869, when it was suspended. The newspaper ventures since 1800 would form a long and tedious list. The Congressional Directory for 1888 gives the names of thirty-four newspapers and journals published in the city, two being in the German language. The leading dailies are the Post, morning and evening, and the Star, an evening paper. The leading weeklies are the Capital, Public Opinion, the National Tribune, and the Army and Navy Register. It is not, however, from its local press, that Washington is to be considered the journalistic centre of the continent, but from its metropolitan correspondents—the great bureaus which every journal of importance both in this country and Europe maintains for the collection and transmission of news. Not all of these correspondents are known -those who are entitled to the privileges of the press galleries, and whose names are given in the Congressional Directory, number one hundred and twenty-seven. Before describing their personnel and duties, let us examine briefly the origin and development of this unique branch of American journalism. Practically, Washington correspondence began when the national capital was established on the banks of the Potomac. James Cheetham, an English radical of marked personality, who conducted the New York Citizen, and who figured largely in the quarrels and intrigues of the Burr-Hamilton-Virginia factions, was one of the first of these correspondents to attract attention. He established himself here during the sessions of Congress, and wrote editorial correspondence for his paper, which, from |