Evening Star Newspaper, March 12, 1933, Page 59

and determination, judging by his accomplish- ments, is self-evident. In order to model the horse from life, he actually trained a horse to stand .on its hind legs that he might get the ocorrect pose. The difficult task of casting the statue in bronze was performed entirely by him—his own invention and construction. “When he posed to lose but little of it in that added that he got his wrong. He melted several tons of bronze ocannon jn his furnace, but; unfortunately, the brickwork was not strong enough to resist the heavy pressure. The melted bronze forced its way through the joints of the brickwork, and was_chilled. Nothing daunted, Mr. Mills dug out of the ground the great conglomerated mass of bricks and bronze, and sent fcr an- other firm of bricklayers, who built him a stronger furnace, in which the metal was melted and the Jackson statti® was stccess- THE statue was cast of cannons eapturei by Jackson at Pensacola, and the cannon- at the base were captured at the Battle of New Orieans. The late S. H. Kauffmann, in writing of this statue in 1901, exploded the myth that the bronze horse and rider are not “securely fastened to the base, and said: “The further observation may be allowed in this connection that Mr. Mills claimed .as one of the merits of this statue that its natural equipoise was absolute—that is, that the center of gravity had been so attained in the position of the horse and his rider that the group would rest securely on the hind feet of the rearing charger without any support or fastening whatever. This is the fact. It is, however, a fact, also, that when the group was piaced in position in Lafayette Square the hind feet of the horse were bolted or otherwise fastened to the base or pedestal, in order to secure it against the possible effects of high winds or other disturbing or mischicvous causes. But that the group was actually self- poised Mr. Mills used to demonstrate very conclusively by the exhibition of an exact miniature reproduction, which was so evenly balanced that it would stand firmly on a mardie slab or other smooth surface, and equally so with or without the rider in his place. “Mr. Mills’ claim as to the self-sustaining equilibrium of the group must therefore be regarded as well founded. Not so, however, his other claim, that this was the first eques- trian statue ever erected possessing that pe- culiar property. A mounted effigy of Philip IV of Spain, marked by the same character- SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 12, 1933 An early view of the W hite House showing the Jefferson statue in the left foregr. istics, was erected in Madrid about the middle of the seventeenth century, and still stands in one of the fine squares of that city.” Mr. Kauffmann’s conclusions regarding the merits of the statue are also worthy of re- peating here. He said: “Few things are easier to do or more com- monly done than finding fault; and it has been considered quite the thing to harshly criticize this work: Indeed, it has been the habit of some would-be wits to allude to it as being pretty much everything that a work of art should not be. But notwithstanding all ad- verse opinions, the group is yet mot without considerable merit. Unfortunately, it lacks the size necessary to give it due impressiveness; but not a few admirers and excellent judges of the horse have maintained that the noble animal is admirably represented in this group. To use the sculptor’s own language, as once expressed in the hearing of the writer, he claimed to ‘kmow as much about the anatomy and muscular action of a horse as any man living,’ and he added that the steed group was modeled, prancing directly from nature. as he horse to rear and remain in some time. As to the rider, conceded by those who remembered hero that the likeness of Jackson is ful and spirited. Tested, however, high rank with works of its-class.” R. MILLS was for many years interested in the uniformed military organizations of the District, and about the time of the erection of this statue, and for some years later, was active in the President’s mounted guard, and became its first lieutenant, usually riding the horse from which he had made the model of the statue opposite the White House. It is said that during the first parade of the guard the horse attempted to poise in front of the Treas- ury building, when he fell, but the rider re- ceived only slight injuries. Gen. Jackson, according to reports—like Theodore Roosevelt—was a wrestler and boxer and nothing pleased the intrepid fighter more than to witness a good set-to between two good athletes of either sport. Horse racing was an- other of his hobbies, in which he not infre- quently wagered a sum on the results, and in this connection a good story is told regarding “Old Hickory.” It seems that mail robberies were quite fre- prisonment in the penitentiary, while the other two were condemned to be hanged. Fortunately for one of the culprits, named Wilson, he had some years previously at s horse race near Nashville, Tenn., privately advised Gen. Jack- son to withdraw his bets on a horse he was backing as the jockey had been ordered to lose IDENT JACKSON believed that to victor belong the spoils and belief to such an extent that upon one members, Postmaster General McLean McLean, who had held this office in ceding administration as well as in the of President Monroe, was so urged by Jackson to make a clean sweep, including the removal of several of his most efficient subordinates, because of their pelitical action during the preceding presidential campaign, when even Mclean was recognized as a Jackson man, that finally he was forced to oppose his chief and flatly told the President that if he must remove those postmasters who had taken an . active part in politics, he would also impartially turn out those who had worked to secure the election of Gen. Jackson, as well as those who had labored to re-elect Mr. Adams. To this, we are told, Gen. Jackson at first made no reply, but rose from his seat, puffing away at his pipe, and, after walking up and down the floor several times, stopped in fromt of his rebellious Postmaster General and said: “Mr. McLean, will you accept a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court?” and Mr. McLean said “Yes,” and Maj. William T. Barry of Ken- tucky forthwith became Postmaster General and McLean a judge. =y Oltl can hardly speak of Andfew Jacksog without recalling his mother's last words, addressed to him, which he repeated to three members of his military family—Maj. Joha H. Eaton, Maj. William B. Lewis and Capk W. O. Butler—on his birthday anniversary, March 15, 1815. They were: “Andrew, if I should not see you again I wish you to remember and treasure up some things I have already said to you: In this world you will have to make your own way. To do that you must have friends. You cam make friends by being honest and you can keep them by being steadfast. You must keep im mind that friends worth having will in the long run expect as much from you as they give to you. To forget an -obligation or to be un- graterul for a kindness is a bace crime—not merely a fault or sin, but an actual crime. Men guilty of it sooner or later must suffer the penalty. ‘In personal conduct be always polite, but never obsequious. None will re- spect you more than you respect yourself. Avoid quarrels as long as you can without yielding to imposition. But sustain your man- hood always. Never bring a suit in law for assault and battery or for defamation. The law affords no remedy for such outrages that can satisfy the feelings of a true man. Never wound the feelings of others. Never brook wanton outrage upon your own feelings. If ever you have to vindicate your feelings or de- fend your honor, do it calmly. If angry at first, wait till your wrath cools before you proceed.” , What was intended fer Gen. Jackson’s tomb now silently does duty as an exhibit in front of the Arts and Industries Building of the United States National Museum.’ It is a sarcophagus and is supposed to have formerly been the resting place of Emperor Alexander Severus. Capt. J. D. Elliott brought it to the ., United States aboard the frigate Constitution and made a formal tender of it through the National Institute to Andrew Jackson in 1846. But though Mr. Jackson was quite feebie at the time, and died a few months later, yet diplomatically and gracefully hé declined the offer, saying: “The whole proceedings call for my maost grateful thanks, which are hereby tendered to you and through you o the presi- dent of the National Institute. But with the warmest sensations that can inspire a grate- ful heart I must decline accepting the honeor intended to be bestowed. I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repositery prepared for an emperor or a king—my re- publican feelings and principles forbid it—the simplicity of our system of government for- bids it.” two Lincoln statues were erected in this 1] city many years ago, the ome (executed by Lot Flannery) for the citizens of Wash- ington in front of the Court House; the other the Emancipation Statue in Lincoln Park, East Capitol and Eleventh streets. The Linceln Memorial is too well known to make further reference to it at this time. The Grant statue, by Henry M. Shrady, adorns the east end of the Mall, almost within the shadow of the dome of the Capitol. Its setting is an ideal one and will be demonstrated to be so when the Mall is improved through- out as planned. Close by the Grant Memorial is the statue of the lamented Garfield, and the statue to James Buchanan in Meridian Park was dedicated less than three years ago. Last Summer Analostan Island became Rooseveit Island, and it was secured as a me- morial to the famous “Teddy,” whom many of us knew personally. This is 1 public-spirited enterprise and some day maybe Congress will provide memorials to be erected in Washington to our former Presidents not at present recog- nized in this way. Of course, portraits of all, or nearly all, are to be seen in the White House, and several statues to former Presidents’ sre h_‘th; &n@d. P Fi Uncle Sam Brings Out a New Yellow “Wh_itex’:‘ Potato BY MARJORIE VAN DE WATER. OON you may have a new and appro- priate delicacy for your dinner table on St. Patrick’s day—our old friend the Irish potato in up-to-the-minute 1933 style with a creamy yellow color, new delicate flavor, and the addition of that present day requirement, the growth-promoting vitamin A. This colorful addition to tomorrow’s menu is alsn a symbol of today's agricultural prog- ress. For the farmer's problem is no longer the question of how to produce enough food to fill the hungry mouths of a growing population. Today there is plenty—perhaps more than plenty. The progressive agriculturist now is anxious to improve the quality, rather than teo increase the quantity, of his products, and to develop new crops suited more closely to the needs and tastes of the consumer. » This new yellow potato was bred by seientists of the Department of Agriculture as one answer to this demand. To Dr. C. F. Clark of the Bureau of Plant Industry belongs particular credit for the achievement. The yellow potato is not a sweet potato. It is just as “Irish” as the ‘“Murphy,” although neither one came originally from the Emerald Isle. Their first home was on the terraced farms of Peru and Bolivia. name “Irish potato” is, indeed, wrong on two counts. This vegetable is not the “Batatus” of Virginia. That name belongs properly to the sweet potato. It is, correctly speaking, the “papas” of the Peruvian Indians. And neither, of course, is it Irish, except by adoption. The confusion of both names and plants was first mace by botanists of the time of the early explorers who knew little of either vege- table except from hearsay. John Gerard,” who published his famous Herbal in 1597, wrote one of the first scien- tific descriptions of the potato. He.ecalled it erroneously “Potatoes of Virginia—Battata Virginiana” although his illustrations were draw- ings, not of the Virginia sweet potato, but of the round white potato. He claimed to have received one of the tubers from Virginia, and was so proud of it that he had his portrait appearing in the book holding in his hand a blossoming potato vine. Gerard’s description of the use of the potato is interesting to those who know them only as boiled with butter or “French fried.” He sug- gested that: “Of these rootes may be made conserves no lesse toothsome, wholescme, and daintie, than of the flesh of Quinces . . .. “These rootes may serve as a ground or foundation, whereon the cunning confectioner or sugar baker may worke and frame many comfortable delicate conserves, and restorative sweete meates. “They are used to be eaten rosted in the ashes; some when they be so rosted, infuse them, and sop them in wine: and others, to give them the greater grace in eating, do boile them with prunes, and so eate them. “And likewise others dresse them (being first rosted) with oile, vinegar and salt, every man according to his owne taste and liking: notwithstanding, howsoever, they be dressed, they comfort, nourish, and. strengthen the bodie.” This confusion of two American plants by Gerard was probably the basis for two similar legends to the effect that Sir Walter Raleigh, or Sir Francis Drake, toock the white potato ifrom Virginia and planted it in Ireland. No one knows just when the potato was really introdueed into Europe or by whom, but it was probably taken over there by Spanish explorers who learned from the Indians of Peru of its value as a food. NE Pedro de Cieza de Leon wrote in his journal in 1538 or thereabout of the papas, which he said was “a kind of ground- nut, which when boiled becomes as soft as a cooked chestnut, but which has no thicker skin than a truffie.” Cieza told also of how the natives dried the papas in the sun. These dried potatoes, which they called chuno, weuld keep all the year +w round. The Indians of Peru prepare their chuno, or chunyo, in much the same manner today. It was in 1719, more than a century after Sir Walter Raleigh made his voyage on which the oid myth said he discovered the potato. that that vegetable actually earned the rigiit to be called “Irish” Then some Scotch-Irish colcnisis settled in New England, bringing with them potatoes for planting. A previous importation from England by way of Bermuda was, however, made in 1621 or 1622. But the potatoes of Peru were not all white, although until recently only the white variety has been planted and cultivated and developed into a marketable product in Europe and America. d The natives of Peru enjoy potatoes of many shades—white, pink, red, yellow, and even deep shades of purple which are almost black. The particular favorite there is the vellow potato, which they also call the egg potato and the butter potato, because of iis rich gollen color and soft butterlike texture. It will not grow in the irrigated gardens of the lowlands, but is found om terraced farms high up on the slopes of the mountains—way up almost to the snow line. For this reason, and because the plants re- fuse to produce many tubers to the vine, it ,sells down in the eities at a very high price, and is comsidered a great luxury. Unfortu- nately, from the point of view of North Amer- ican tastes, this potato has very deep-set eyes, with prominent “eyebrows,” making peeling a wasteful operation. A new chapter in the history of the yellow potato was opened in 1899, when a young man named David Fairchild was lucky enocugh to be taken for a trip around the world as as- sistant to that patron saint of plant introduc- tion, Barbour Lathrop. They found in Peru the yellow potato, and brought it back to the United States for the Department of Agri- culture. . It so happened that this was the first Peru- vian potato importation recorded by the Divi- sion of Foreign Plant Introduction of the De- partment of Agriculture. In fact, it was one of the early introductions after that division ~ became an organized unit, for the office was then less than a year old. The men in that office quickly became interest in it, although it seemed to have no commercial future. Since then the yellow potato has been brought and sent to the Department of Agri- _ culture by many different persons. Dr. Wilson Popenoe was another great plant explorer who saw promise in this bright-colored vegetable, Consuls representing the United States in varie ous parts of South America have sent same ples of it home as a curiosity or as an inter- esting possibility for Nerthern farmers. But lately a discovery by chemists gave to the yellow potato a new value in addition to its excellent flavor. A yellow color in vegetables and other food products denotes the presence of vitamin A, the vitamin of growth, and preventive of a cer- tain type of eye disease. Thus carrots, yellow corn, eggs, squash, turnips contain vitamin A, as do also many vegetables, such as spin- ach, where the yellow is hidden by the green of the chlorophyll. Do yellow petatoes contain vitamin A, nutri- tion experts asked themselves. The answer was soon found. They do contain vitamin A, and this gives them a distinet advantage over the familiar white spuds. The advantage is so large that when this discovery was made, scientists of the Depart- ment of Agriculture felt well rewarded for the efforts they had made to breed an -emtirely new potato, made to order for the American marke§ and the American dinner table taste. Pirst it was necessary to change the rough gnarly skin into one smooth and perfect, The delicious flavor must be retained or. improved. The yield must be increased. Cooking and keeping qualities must not be overlooked, Finally, the yellow color which was found to accompany the precious vitamin must not be sdcrificed. L A task for a magician, you will say. But it was all in the day’s work, or, more ac- curately, several years’' work, for Dr. Clark. He Centinued on Ninth Page