and Sciences with a graduate department (1893), a College of the
Political Sciences (1907), Washington College of Engineering,
divisions of architecture and education (1907), a Department of Law
(first organized in 1826; closed in 1827; reorganized in 1865), a
Department of Medicine (1821; since 1866 in a building given by
W. W. Corcoran), with several affiliated hospitals, a Department
of Dentistry (1887), the National College of Pharmacy (united with
the university in 1906), and a College of Veterinary Medicine (1908).
In 1909 this University had 185 instructors and 1520 students.
Georgetown University is in Georgetown (q.v.). The Catholic
University of America (incorporated 1887; opened 1889), with
buildings near the Soldiers' Home, stands at the head of Roman
Catholic schools in America. Although designed especially for
advanced theological studies, it comprises a School of the Sacred
Sciences, a School of Philosophy, a School of Letters, a School of
Physical Sciences, a School of Biological Sciences, a School of Social
Sciences, a School of Jurisprudence, a School of Law and a School of
Technological Sciences. In 1909 its faculty numbered 42 and its
students 225. A Franciscan convent, Dominican, Paulist and
Marist houses, and Trinity College for girls are affiliated with the
Catholic University. The American University (chartered 1893),
under Methodist Episcopal control, designed to bear a relation to
the Protestant churches similar to that of the Catholic University
to the Catholic Church, with a campus of 94 acres at the north-west
end of the city, in 1910 had not been opened to students. Howard
University (1867), for the higher education of negroes, is situated
south-west of the Soldiers' Home; it was named in honour of
General Oliver Otis Howard, one of its founders and (in 1869-1873)
its president; it has a small endowment, and is supported by
Congressional appropriations which are administered by the Secretary
of the Interior; it comprises an academy, a college of arts and
sciences, a teachers' college, a school of theology, a school of law, a
school of medicine, a pharmaceutic college, a dental college, a school
of manual arts and applied sciences, and a commercial college; in
1909 it had 121 instructors and 1253 students.
The Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb (see Deaf and Dumb), on Kendall Green, in the north-eastern part of the city, is composed of Kendall school (a secondary school) and of Gallaudet College (called in 1864-1893 the National Deaf Mute College; the present name is in honour of Dr T. H. Gallaudet); it was the first institution to give collegiate courses to the deaf, and it has received Congressional appropriations, though it is a private foundation. Washington has also several academies, seminaries and small colleges; among the latter are St John's College (Roman Catholic, 1870) and Washington Christian College (non-sectarian, 1902). The Washington College of Law (1896) is an evening school especially for women. A School of Art is maintained in the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
The Carnegie Institution of Washington, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 and endowed by him with $22,000,000 ($10,000,000 in 1902; $12,000,000 later), is designed “to encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner, investigation, research and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind; and in particular to conduct, endow and assist investigation in any department of science, literature or art, and to this end to co-operate with governments, universities, colleges, technical schools, learned societies and individuals; to appoint committees of experts to direct special lines of research; to publish and distribute documents; and to conduct lectures, hold meetings and acquire and maintain a library.” It is under the control of a board of twenty-four trustees, vacancies in which are filled by the remaining members. In 1908 ten departments had been organized: Botanical Research, with a “desert laboratory” (1903) at Tucson, Arizona; Economics and Sociology (1904); Experimental Evolution, with a station (1904) at Cold Spring Harbor, New York (see Huntington, N.Y.); Geophysical Research, with a laboratory (1906-1907) at Washington—investigations have been carried on by the U.S. Geological Survey and at McGill University, Toronto; Historical Research (1903); Marine Biology, with a laboratory (1904) at Tortugas, Florida; Meridian Astrometry (1906; work is carried on especially at Dudley Observatory, Albany, New York); Research in Nutrition, with a laboratory (1906) at Boston, Massachusetts—investigations (since 1904) had been carried on at Yale and Wesleyan universities; Solar Physics, with observatory (1905) on Mount Wilson, California, and workshops at Pasadena, California, and Terrestrial Magnetism (1903; headquarters in Washington); the institution had assisted Luther Burbank in his horticultural experiments since 1905, and had published the Index Medicus since 1903; and it makes occasional grants for minor research and tentative investigations.
The learned societies of Washington are to a large degree more national than local in their character; among them are: the Washington Academy of Sciences (1898), a “federal head” of most of the societies mentioned below; the Anthropological Society (founded 1879; incorporated 1887), which has published Transactions (1879 sqq., with the co-operation of the Smithsonian Institution) and The American Anthropologist (1888-1898; since 1898 published by the American Anthropological Association); the National Geographic Society (1888), which since 1903 has occupied the Hubbard Memorial Building, which sent scientific expeditions to Alaska, Mont Pelée and La Souffrière, and which publishes the National Geographic Magazine (1888 sqq.), National Geographic Monographs (1895) and various special maps; the Philosophical Society of Washington (1871; incorporated 1901), devoted especially to mathematical and physical sciences; the Biological Society (1880), which publishes Proceedings (1880 sqq.); the Botanical Society of Washington (1901); the Geological Society of Washington (1893); the Entomological Society of Washington (1884), which publishes Proceedings (1884 sqq.); the Chemical Society (1884); the Records of the Past Exploration Society (1901), which publishes Records of the Past (1902 sqq.); the Southern History Association (1896), which issues Publications (1897 sqq.); the Society for Philosophical Inquiry (1893), which publishes Memoirs (1893 sqq.); the Society of American Foresters (1900;, which publishes Proceedings (1905 sqq.); and the Cosmos Club. The libraries and scientific collections of the Federal government and its various bureaus and institutions afford exceptional opportunities for students and investigators (see Libraries: § United States). The Library of Congress contains more than 1,800,000 volumes and 100,000 manuscripts, and large collections of maps and pieces of music. In the library of the State Department are 70,000 volumes of documents. The library of the Surgeon-General's Office contains 200,000 volumes, and is the largest medical library in the world. Besides these there is a vast amount of material in the collections of the Bureau of Education, the Bureau of Ethnology, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, the House of Representatives, the Patent Office, the Department of Agriculture, the Botanic Gardens, the Bureau of Fisheries, the Naval Observatory, the Geological Survey and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Public Library, containing about 110,000 volumes, is a circulating library.
Communications.—Seven railways enter the city: the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington division of the Pennsylvania System, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Southern, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis, the Washington Southern and the Washington, Alexandria & Mt Vernon. Steamboats ply daily from the foot of Seventh Street to Alexandria, Mt Vernon, Old Point Comfort and Norfolk, and at Old Point Comfort there is connexion with boats for New York. There is also an hourly ferry service to Alexandria, and at irregular intervals there are boats direct to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The street railways, underground trolley in the urban district and overhead trolley in the suburbs, connect at several points with interurban railways in Maryland and Virginia.
Industries.—The city's manufactures and commerce are of little importance in proportion to its population. Only government manufactures and manufactures for local consumption are at all large. In 1905 the government's printing and publishing cost $5,999,996; its ordnance and ordnance stores (in the Navy Yard on the bank of the Anacostia river), $5,331,459; and its engraving and plate printing, $3,499,517. The total value of the products of all the factories in the District which were operated under private ownership amounted to $18,359,159, and $9,575,971, or 52% of this was the value of printing and publishing; bread and other bakery products, gas and malt liquors.
Government.—Washington is the seat of the Federal government of the United States and as such is not self-ruled, but governed by the Federal Congress. The city was chartered in 1802, with a mayor appointed annually by the president of the United States and an elective council of two chambers. The mayor was elected by the council from 1812 to 1820, and by the people (biennially) from 1820 to 1871. In 1871 the Federal Congress repealed the charters of Washington and Georgetown and established a new government for the entire District, consisting of a governor, a secretary, a board of public works, a board of health and a council appointed by the president with the concurrence of the Senate, and a House of Delegates and a delegate to the National House of Representatives elected by the people. In 1874 Congress substituted a government by three commissioners appointed by the president with the concurrence of the Senate, and in 1878 the government by commissioners was made permanent. Two of the commissioners must be residents of the District, and the third commissioner must be an officer of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army. The people of the District have no voice in its government, have no representation in Congress and do not vote for the president of the United States. The District commissioners are the chief executive officers. Congress and the commissioners legislate for the District; the president, the commissioners and the supreme court of the District appoint the administrative officers and boards; and the president appoints the judges of the District courts, viz. a court of appeals, a supreme court, a municipal court, a police court, a probate court and a juvenile court. One-half the expenses of the government of Washington is paid
