Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 77

— @rect an equestrian statue to Gen. Washington, which passed July 19 of that year, but failed of passage in the House. Five more years went by, when James Buchanan, later to be- come President of the United States, tried his influence at getting the following resolution through the House: “Resolved, That a committee be appointed whose duty it shall be to inquire in what man- ner the resoluticn c¢f C:ngress passed on the 24th of December, 1799, reiative to the erection of & marble monument in the Capitol, at the city of Washington, to commemorate the great events of the military and political life of Gen. Washington, may be accomplished, and that they have leave to report by bill or otherwise.” It seems this resolution was laid on the table Bnd never taken up again. ¢ John Quincy Adams in his first annual mes- Bage to Congress, da‘ed Decembes 6, 1825, de- voted a paragraph of about 100 words to the subject, in which he pointed out the duty of that body in providing a memorial in honor of Washington, but Congress did not heed the suggestion, and some more years passed by, until February 13, 1832, according to Frederick L. Harvey, for a number cf years Secretary of the Washington National Monument Society, when “a report was made to the Senate of the United States by Henry Clay and to the House of Representatives by Mr. Philemon Thomas, chairmen, respectively, of committees to make arrangements fcr celebrating the approaching centennial anniversary of Washington's birth- day. One of the resolutions authorized the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives ‘to make applica- tion to John A. Washington of Mount Vernon, for the body of George Washington, to be re- moved and deposited in the Capitol, at Wash- ington City, in confcrmity with the resolutions of Congress of the 24th of December, 1799, and that if they obtain the requisite consent to the removal thereof, they be further authorized to cause it to be removed and deposited in the Capitol on the 22d day of February, 1832 " Again Judge Washington would not consent %o the removal of the body, although the reso- lution had been amended to include the re- moval to the Capitol of Mrs. Washington's remains. Mr. George Washington Parke Cus- tis, however, was willing that this should be done, and so the matter was permitted to drag along. During the meantime the resolu- tion providing for the marble statue by Horatio Greenough, as introduced in the House in 1830, was adopted, and the statue made and placed in the rotunda in 1841. It is now in the west wing of the Smithsonian Institution Buildine. Even the Masonic order in this city took the matter up in 1825, when the Grand Lodge passed a set of resolutions commending the project of erecting a monument to Washington and pledged its active co-operation and aid in that enterprise, and as Kenton N. Harper has sald: “It is no exaggeration to say that the mammoth obelisk, now for many years the pride of the country, owes its existence to the efforts of the Mascnic fraternity in general and the local craft in particular.” ,IT Wwas Mr. Watterston's move to form the Washington National Monument Society in September, 1833, that put real life into the project and which resulted in placing at the west end of the Mall the great white shaft as & memorial to the greatest American of them all, the dedication of which occurred just 46 years ago yesterday, the 224 day of February falling on Sunday that year, as it does today. Here again the city hall played its part, for 2t was here in the aldermen’s chamber on Sep- -~ tember 26, that the society was formed, and at the second meeting, held on October 31 fol- lowing that, a constitution and by-laws were adopted and the following officers elected: Chiet Justice John Marshall, president; Judge William Cranch, first vice president; the Mayor of Washington., Gen. John P. Van Ness, second vice president; W. W. Seaton, third vice president; Samuel H. Smith, treasurer, and George Watterston, secretary. A board of 13 managers was also appointed, to correspond in number with the original States. They were: Gen. Thomas S. Jessup, Col. James Kearney, Col. Nathan Towson, Col. Archibald Henderson, Maithew St. Claire Clark, John McClelland, Thomas Munroe, Col. George Bomford, Roger C. We izhtman, Peter Force, William Brent, esq.: William A. Bradley and Thomas Carbery. Right here it might be interesting to skip a hundred years and say that President Hoover is the present president of the society, ex officio; that the Governors of the States are vice presidents, ex officio; Judge Willis Van Devanter, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, is first vice presi- dent; Charles C. Glover, second vice president; Theodore W. Noyes, treasurer; William R. Haar, secretary, and the other members are: Herbert Putnam, Maj. Gen. William M. Black, U. 8. A.; Admiral Will'am H. Brownson, U. 8. N.; Frederick H. Gillett, Lieut. Col. U. s. Grant, 3d, U. S. A; Right Rev. James E. Freeman, Frederick A. Delano, George E. Ham- ilton, Rev. D. Charles Wood, John Barton Payne and William Cabell Bruce, At first contributions were limited to $1 a person, but this limitation was later done away with and any amount was accepted, and in the appointing of collectors only the most re- liable persons were selected, and these were bonded. From the first, 10 per cent of the money collected was paid to the collectors, but this amount was increased to 15 per cent. UP to 1836, when designs were invited from . American architects, only $28,000 had been collected, which was a small amount to build & structure estimated at the time to cost $1,- 000,000. Robert Mills was the successful archi- tect, although the feature of the pantheon with which the shaft was to be surrounded, according to the design as submitted, was never formally and finally adopted by the so- slety as a part of the monument. It is interesting to note that of the $28,000 eollected up to 1836 the people of the District of Columbia contributed $836.36, an amount greater than that contributed by the States of Vermont, Delaware, South Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois and Florida. The District’s THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., FEBRUARY 22 '193L. Picture from “History of the Monument,” by Harvey., Enlarging the foundation of the Monument before increasing its height. contribution was exceeded up to that date only by the States of Maine, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi, demonstrating even a hundred years ago that whatever national project the people of the District of Columbia are called upon to take part in they do even more than many of the States whose population is greater than their own. By 1847 the aggregate of collections and accumulated interest amounted to about'$87,- 000, and the society deemed it about time to make a start at least with the foundation. On May 25, 1844, a joint resolution- was intro- duced in the House of Representatives, accom- panied by a report from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, which provided “that the Washington Monument Society, in the City of Washington, be, and they are hereby, authorized to occupy that part of Reservation No. 2 bounded by the canal, B, Seventh and Twelfth streets south for the pur- pose of erecting thereon a monument to Wash- ington, under the direction of the President of the United States, according to the design proposed by the Committee on Public Build- ings, and to aid the said society in completing the same, and for defraying the expense of inclosing the grounds, laying out walks and planting trees,” etc. However, nothing seems to have come ocut of this resolution and it was apparently forgotten until the matter was again taken up by Ccn- gress and a resolution passed on January 31, 1848, which authorized the Washington Monu- ment Society to erect “a mcnument to the memory of George Washington upon such por- tion of the public ground or reservations within the City of Washington, not otherwise occupied, as shall be selected by the President of the United States and the Board of Man- agers of said society as a suitable site on which to erect the said Monument and for the neces- sary protection thereof.” SPEAKING of the subsequent selection of the site as authorized by Congress, Mr, Harvey says: “The site sgelected under the authority of the resolution of Congress was public reserva- tion No. 3, on the plan of the City of Wash- ington, containing upward of 30 acres, where the Monument now stands, near the Potomac River, west of the Capitol and south of the President’s house. The deed was executed on the 12th day of April, 1849, and was duly recorded among the land records of the Dis- trict of Columbia on the 22¢ day of February, 1849. “This deed was executed by James K. Polk, President of the United States, ‘and in testi- mony of the selection as aforesaid of the said reservation, numbered 3, for the purpose aforesaid,’ was also signed by William Brent, first vice president; W. W. Seaton, second vice president; Archibald Henderson, third vice president; J. B. H. Smith, treasurer; George Watterston, secretary, and Peter Force, the signing being ‘in the presence of Winfield Scott, Nathan Towson, John J. Abert, Walter Jones, Thomas Carbery, W. A. Bradley, P. R. Fendall, Thomas Munroe, Walter Lenox, M. F. Maury, Thomas Blagden.’ " As to dhe reasons for the selection of this particular site, we find them stated by the society, in an address to the country in later years, as follows: “The site selected presents a beautiful view of the Potomac; is so elevated that the Monu- ment will be seen from all parts of the city and the surrounding country, and, being a public reservation, it is safe from any future obstruction of the view. It is so near the river that materials for constructing the Monu- ment can be conveyed to it from the river at but little expense; stcn>” sand and lime, all of the best kind, can be brought to it by water from convenient distances; and marble of the most beautiful quality, obtained at a distance of only 11 miles from Baltimore, on the Susquehanna Railroad, can be brought either on the railroad or in vessels. In addi- tion to these and kindred reasons, the adop- tion of the site was further and impressively recommended by the consideration that the Monument to be erected on it would be in full view of Mour. ashes of the C.aif, and by evidence that Washington himseif, whose unerring judgment had selected this city to be the Capital of the Nation, had also selected this particular spot for a Monument to the Amecrican Revolution, which in the year 1795 it was proposed should be erected or placed at the ‘permanent seat of Government of the United States’ This Monument was to have been executed by Ceracchi, a Roman sculptor, and paid for by contributions of individuals. The same site is marked on Maj. L'Enfant’s map of Washing- ton City for the equestrian statue of Gen. Washington, ordered by Congress in 1783, ~which map was examined, approved and trans- mitted to Congress by him when President of the United States.” THAT the society selected an excellent site the people will appreciate more and more as time goes on, and the marvelous fore- thought of Washington and L’Enfant in set- ting this site apart for such a purpose only demonstrates in just ancther instance the rare wisdom of these men in planning the Federal Capital. The corner stone of this massive structure, the gift of Thomas Symonton of Baltimore, and which weighed 24,500 pounds, was laid on July 4, 1848, nearly 83 years ago, and no doubt very few people are living today who recall seeing this notable event. A considerable number of documents and records—covering five octavo pages of reading matter—were placed in the stone: newspapers of the National Inteiligencer, Union, National Era and Sunday Evening News of this city, tegether with 51 newspapers from ecities outsid: of Washington. Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, de- livered the principal oration and, strange to say, 37 years later, when the Monument was completed, his words were again heard in the dedication exercises. Naturally, the Masonic fraternity, of which Washington was a mem- ber, took a conspicuous part in the ceremony, and Benjamin B. Prench, the grand master, delivered a brilliant oration on the life and character of Washington as a Mason. The Masonic relics on the stand were the chair used by Washington when master of his Lodge, ' Alexandria-Washington, No. 22, of Virginia, and his apron and sash; the ancient records of Predericksbury Lodge, showing Washing- Vernon, where rest the . ton’s entrance into Masonry, and ghe gavel used at the Capitol corner-stone laying. The paraphernalia which had once been the prop- erty of the Revolutionary hero and distine guished Mason, Gen. Joseph Warren, also was in evidence. - - A. GOBRIGHT, in recording his personal ® recollection of the laying of the Washing- ton Monument corner stone, tells us: “A rather unexpected feature was added to the ceremonies—a bag of sand from the tomb of Kosciusko, which was deposited with the corner stone. This relic was presented by Francis Leiber, by whose son it had been brought to this country for the purpose. “The weather was intensely warm. While on the ground President Taylor partook freely of ice water, and on his return to the White House he said he felt very hungry, and ate heartily of cherries, which he washed down with" copious draughts of iced milk and water. At dinner he applied himself again to the cherries, against which Dr. Witherspoon re- monstrated. In the course of an hour he was seized with cramps, which resulted in viélent cholera morbus. The disease took the form of typhoid. Then the greatest anxiety, in Wash« ington and throughout the country, was exe pressed concerning him, and hourly telegrams were sent hence as to his condition. They ane nounced, first, that he was seriously ill; next, that he was in a dying condition, and thas, therefore, he was beyond the power of human skill; and, finally, that He died on the 9th of July. His death was calm and peaceful. Vice President Fillmore, the cabinet ministers, the Mayor of Washington, the marshal of the Dis- trict of Columbia, the attending physicians and his family surrounded his bed. His last words were, ‘I have endeavored to do my duty.’” The Monument continued to progress until 1854, when $230,000 had been expended and a height of 170 feet had been attained. From then on little was added to its height; indeed, four years later only two more courses of stone, each of two feet, had been laid, and from this time on substantially nothing was done, and the Monument remained for many years in the un- finished state, recalled, no doubt, by many an old resident. TO Congress it seemed apparent that the Monument could be completed only with Government assistance, and so, in 1876, an ap- propriation of $200,000 was made to continue the work, and annual additions were made until the structure was completed on December 6, 1884, the Monument being dedicated on Feb- ruary 21, 1885. Following the appropriation of 1876 there was much discussion as to whether or not the de- sign for the Monument should be changed, and several distinguished architects were invited to submit modified or new designs, but none was accepted, and the work was continued along the lines as originally submitted by Mills. The dedicating of the Monument was equally as notable, if not even more so, than was the laying of the corner stone. The Masons per- formed their part of the program at the shaft, including an address by the grand master, Myron M. Parker. Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey, the noted Army engineer who completed the Monument, also delivered an address, and the oration prepared by Mr. Winthrop was read by John D. Long of Massachusetts because of the iliness of the distinguished former Speaker of the House. In Col. Casey’s remarks he alluded to the work he had performed, and said, in part: “Two years had now elapsed since the crea- tion of the joint commission. They at once secured the services of an engineer and his as- sistant, and directed the chief to prepare a project for strengthening the existing founda- tion, so that the obelisk could be carried to the desired height. * * * The weakness of the old foundation lay in the fact that it was too shal- low and covered an area of ground insufficient to sustain the pressure of the completed work. The strengthening consisted in the enlarge- ment of the foundation by spreading it over a greater area and sinking it a greater depth into the earth. The work of excavating beneath the Monumsnt was commenced January 28, 1879, and the new foundation was finished May 29, 1880. It was impossible to properly enlarge the foundation with the funds granted in the joint resolution of June 14, 1878. A careful estimate of the cost, which accompanied the original project, amounted to about $100,000, and, ac- cordingly, by the joint resolution of June 27, 1879, a further sum of $64,000 was granted to complete the foundation. This proved to be more than sufficient, as the foundation cost but $94,474. “As completed, the pew foundation covers two and a half times as much area and extends 131; feet deeper that the old one. Indeed, the bottom of the new work is only two feet above the level of high tides in the Potomac, while the water which permeates the earth of the Monumert lot stands six inches above this bottom. The foundation now rests upon & bed of fine sand some two feet in thickness and this sand stratum rests upon a bed of bowlders and gravel. Borings have been made in this gravel deposit for a depth cf over 18 feet without pass= ing through it, and so uniform is the character of the material upon which the foundation rests that the cettlements cf the several corners of the shaft have differed from each other by only the :mallest subdivisions of the inch.” "I"HERE was always scme fear of the Monu- ment being injured by lightning, and the peorle did not have to wait long to find out what the resuit would be, for on June 5, follow- ing its dedication, it received a substantial test, It was durirg the afternoon of this day that a severe thunderstorm passed over Washington and “about 15 minutes past 3, according to Science, “there was a single burst of thunder of some violemce, which was about the only notable electrical disturbance of the afternoon. Ale though it had successfully passed through dise turbances apparently much more violent on one or two previous occasions, this time the Monu« ment was ‘struck’ and some damage done to one of the stones near the apex. Two men who were inside the structure, at the base, describe the Centinued on Tenth Page