In considering the views of the commission, and in reaching his decision, the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. looked at the matter from the standpoint of an American citizen, saying in substance that he appreciated the fact that if Congress intended to make of the Mall what the founders of the city intended it to be, no railroad should be allowed to cross it, and that he was willing to vacate the space provided the matter could be arranged without sacrificing the interests of the stockholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. This conditional consent on the part of the railroad, which was later agreed to by Congress, removed the one great obstacle to the preparation of adequate plans for the improvement of the city. Lesser obstacles, such as the lack of surveys of the oldest parks in the District and the difficulties of getting together the widely scattered data, were surmounted. On the other hand, the work was much lightened by the excellent topographical maps of the District outside of the city prepared by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. [Illustration: TREATMENT FOR AREA WEST OF THE CAPITOL, PLAN OF 1901] THE CAPITOL GROUP Naturally the plan of 1901 began at the Capitol. It was recommended that the chief legislative building of the Nation be surrounded by structures dependent on or supplementary to legislative work. The Library of Congress had been completed in 1897. The enjoyment and satisfaction taken in the Library by the thousands of persons from all parts of the country who visit it daily is an indication of the manner in which the American people regard the upbuilding of their Capital. Since the Library Building was designed we have learned lessons of subordination in grouping (as shown in the Senate and House Office Buildings and in the Union Station), and also of restraint in decoration; but the Library contains individual work of the leading painters and sculptors of its era. [Illustration: UNION SQUARE, PLAN OF 1901] The idea of office buildings for the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives was in mind when the plan was being made, and therefore the areas these buildings would naturally occupy were marked. The three buildings were designed and constructed in such manner as to make them an integral part of the Capitol group. Simple, elegant, and dignified, the Senate and House of Representatives Office Buildings carry on the great tradition established by Washington and Jefferson in the selection of the Thornton design for the original building, and persistently maintained by President Fillmore in the extension of the Capitol by Thomas U. Walter. By common consent the remaining space facing the Capitol on the east was assigned to a building for the Supreme Court of the United States, which since the removal of the seat of government to the District of Columbia in 1800 occupied the same building with the Congress.