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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO ALEXANDER WHITE. [PRIVATE.] - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XIII (1794-1798) [1892]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. XIII (1794-1798).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

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Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO ALEXANDER WHITE.

[PRIVATE.]

Philadelphia, 17th May, 1795.

Dear Sir:

Your letter of the 11th inst. came to hand by the post of yesterday.

With pleasure I received your acceptance of the office of Commissioner of the Federal City. The commission will be forwarded to you from the department of State, and the sooner you can enter upon the duties of the trust, the more convenient and agreeable it will be.

With the candor which I am sure will be agreeable to you, I shall intimate (for reasons which I shall not at this time enumerate, but which will appear evident after you have been there a while) that a residence in the City, if a house is to be had, will be more promotive of its welfare, than your abode in George Town.—I shall add, that the motives which induced a fixed salary (which the first commissioner did not receive) were, that they should reside on the spot;—that they were not only to plan and regulate the affairs of the City,—but to look to the execution of them also; to accomplish which with the greatest ease to themselves, and best advantage to the public; I presumed that after measures were decided on by the board they would have been so arranged as that each member would have attended to the execution of a particular part; or if found more convenient, that in rotation each would have superintended the whole.—I could not perceive however when in the City last, (the only time since the change in the Board) that any such arrangement had been adopted.—In short, the only difference I could perceive between the proceedings of the old and the new Commissioners resulted from the following comparison.—The old met not oftener than once a month, except on particular occasions; the new meet once or twice a week.—In the interval the old resided at their houses in the Country; the new resided at their houses in George Town. The old had too much of the business done by daily wages, and were obliged to trust to Overseers and Superintendants to look to the execution; the new have gone more into the execution of it by contracts, and piece work, but rely equally, I fear, on others to see to the performance. These changes (tho’ for the better) by no means apply a radical cure to the evils that were complained of; nor will they justify the difference of compensation from six dollars per diem for every day’s attendance in the City and sixteen hundred per annum.

My time will not permit me to go more into detail on this subject;—nor is it necessary; your own good judgment will supply all, and more than I could add.—

The year 1800 will be soon upon us; The necessity therefore of hurrying on the public buildings, and other works of a public nature, and executing of them with economy; the propriety of preventing idleness in those who have day or monthly wages, and imposition by others, who work by measure—by the piece, or by contract—and seeing that all contracts are fulfilled with good faith, are too obvious to be dwelt on,—and are not less important than to form plans, and establish rules, for conducting, and bringing to a speedy and happy conclusion this great and arduous business.1 I am, &c.

[1 ]Alexander White was appointed to succeed Daniel Carroll. While seeking a man for the office Washington wrote to William Deakins: “That the duties of a commissioner of the Federal City would have been discharged with ability and fidelity by the gentleman whose name you have mentioned to me, I cannot harbor a doubt; but the An[ge]l Gab[rie]l, in his situation, would have been charged with partiality. From a thorough conviction of this, I have never turned my attention to a character who, at the time of his appointment, was a resident either in George Town, or the Federal City.”