Evening Star Newspaper, February 24, 1935, Page 48

F-2 CALVE By John Clagett Proctor. HEY certainly did know how to build houses in ye olden days, both for comfort and for durability: not only to last for a lifetime, but to endure for generations to come. Indeed, structurally, there seems to be no comparison between a gentleman's home of a century or two ago and those being erected today; and, so far as beauty and comfort are con- cerned, the present type of home, at least to the writer’'s way of thinking, falls short in many respects of the better class of habitations of bygone days. Of course, the designers of many ' of our best homes have fallen back upon the so-called Colonial American architecture for their plans, but even | here they have omitted, to any con- | siderable extent, the spacious rooms, | the high cellings, the thick walls and other details once regarded as indis- pensable features of a well-constructed mansion such as the old Maryland | and Virginia planters erected on their | plantations, in which to rear their| families and to entertain their dis- | tinguished friends. Modern conveniences are nice things to have about the place and few ‘would care to give them up and revert to conditions of 100 years ago, but | where is he who would not like to| have a big. open fireplace and a kitch- | en at least big enough for three pecvle | to turn around in at the same time? Of course, in some of the big cities, | especially in the Eastern United | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. < time, or between 1794 and 1800, there | came to America a wealthy Belgian | named Henry Joseph Stier, who either |left his native country voluntarily or was forced to do so by the French, whose revolutionary army took pos- session of Belgium following the Battle of Fleurus, 1794, when he probably came to this country, since it is said: “He fled from his native country to escape the fury of Napoleon Bon- aparte, who, with his apparently in- vincible legions was galloping over the country, devastating property and confiscating whatever he imagined was useful to the state, which, as he held, was himselt.” | MONG the children of Henry J. Stier was a daughter, Rosalie Eugenia, who married George Calvert, son of Benedict (Swingate) Calvert, June 11, 1799, and it would seem most probable that the mansion was built about this time. At any rate their married life was a happy one, and they kecame the parents of nine chil- dren, as follows: (1) Caroline, who married Thomas Willing Morris of Philadelphia, Pa.; (2) George Henry, distinguished author and one-time mayor of Newport, R. I, who married Elizabeth Stewart; (3) Marie Louise, who died young: (4) Rosalie Eugenia, who married Charles Henry Carter, grandson of “Lighthorse Harry” Lee and nephew of Gen. Robert E. Lee; (5) Charles Benedict, born at “Rivers- dale” August 23, 1808, married June 6, 1839, Charlotte Augusta Norris. He States, wood for heating purposes is | was a Representative in Congress and almost unprocurable, and even if ob-| his biography, printed in the Biog- tainable, would be practically prohibi- tive from a cost standpoint. But that was not the case when many of us were youngsters, before the nearby farms were depleted of most of their | standing wood. UNDOUBTEDLY thousands of peo- ple never visited an old mansion, end an equal number has not the| slightest conception of just how beau- | tiful and grand these buildings must | have been at a time when their owners were rolling in wealth, had an abun- dance of servants, and had almost| everything that the heart could wish for. Many of these homes were furnished from the most noted art centers of Europe. Some few still retain their original exquisite furnishings, while others have been refurnished in keep- ing with the period for which they are noted, but even the bare walls of an old mansion have an attraction for those who dream of the glories of yes- | teryear as well as think of the things of today and of what may happen to- morrow—of which we know so little. | The writer has visited many an old home in his time and has always found something different in each one, and something. of course, to ad- | mire in all. Some have even sounded with the revelry of English royalty, before the days of the American Revolution, when powdered wigs, knee | breeches and buckled shoes were in | vogue. These old mansions are, most | naturally, of special interest, but even the near Colonial homes have their charm and fascination for the antiquarian, whose mind fits in with the past. | Recently the writer received a very nice letter from an equally nice lady, who was born and reared in the North- | ern Neck of Virginia, but who now | lives at Riverdale, Md., not far to the | northeast of Washington. Of course, she spoke feelingly of her native State, but was profuse in praise of the place in which she now resides. This lady was Mrs. T. W. Vene- mann, and she asked the writer to visit the old Calvert mansion, which once bore the name Riversdale, from which the town Riverdale gets its name, the letter “s” being dropped | from the word. | Things do not always work out just as one would like to have them, for hardly had the letter been received | and the trip to this little suburb| planned, when the recent heavy snow- storm set in, and automobile riding | was at a disadvantage. But neverthe- less, having in mind what some one has said, “Where duty calls, 'tis ours | to obey,” the writer decided to make | the trip, Snow or no snow. | At Riverdale Mrs. Venemann was met and made up the party of two, and soon we were being shown through this stately old mansion. erected, well, no one seems to know | just when, yet a conservative date wWould be about 1800, For, about this | raphical Directory of the American Congress, tell us that he *“ * ¢ * com- pleted preparatory studies at Bladens- Amelia, the ninth and last child, died | at the age of 3. | at Cherlottesville in 1827; engaged in | burg Academy, Maryland; was grad- A d 'O DOUBT Henry Joseph Stier was uated from the University of Virginia | @ man of importance in his na- agricultural pursuits and stock breed- | tive city of Antwerp, but, seemingly, ing; member of the State House of | little is recorded of his activities in Delegates in 1839, president of the Prince Georges remain very long after the final over- County Agricultural Society and the | throw of Napoleon at the Battle of Maryland State Agricultural Society; | Waterloo, June 18, 1815. Indeed, it vice president of the United States | is said he was absent from the United Agricultural Society; founded the first | States when his daughter Rosalie mar- Rosalie Eugenia Calvert, wife of George Calvert and daughter of Henry J. Stier, with her daughter, who married Charles Henry Carter, agricultural research college in Amer- | ried the handsome, methodical, rich ica (now the Maryland Agricultural | and educated George Calvert, who was College at College Park), chartered in | 19 years her senior. 1856; one of the early advocates of [ * Byt however brief may have been the establishment of the United States | tha time spent by Henry J. Stier at the Department of Agriculture; elected a5 | Cajvert mansion, yet it was during this a Union Whig to the thirty-seventh | time that he lavishly furnished it with Congress «March 4, 1861—Narch 3, | fyrnjture, bric-a-brac and works of 1863): was not a candidate for re- | ar¢ from abroad, for which he had a nomination in 1862; resumed agri- | fondness and good taste, a number of cultural pursuits; died’ in anrdal'e. his paintings being from the brush of Prince Georges County, Md, May 12| the "celebrated Rubens, with whom 1864; interment in Calvert Cemetery.” there was a distant relationship. In- (6) Henry Joseph Calvert died deed, Stier is said to have brought over young; (7) Marie Louise died in in- with him his entire gallery of paint- fancy; (8) Julia married Dr. Richard | ings which he installed at Riversdale. Henry Stuart and™ died in 1888.| Just to what extent the present fur- 1843 and 1844 | America, where he probably did not | Stairway of the RT MANSION ONE OF FAMOUS HOMES “Riversdale” Was Erected by Henry Joscph Sticr, Belgian Financier, About 1800—1It Was Frequently Visited by Henry Clay—~More Recently the Home of Tevo Members of the Senate. FEBRUARY 24, 1935—PART FOUR.: | iz I this old mansion and the main | guest room, with its high-post bed- | |stead, and then into the room occu- | pled for many years, off and on, by the great commoner, Henry Clay, | Speaker of the House of Representa- tives, United States Senator, Secre- | tary of State, candidate for the presi- dency and many other things. Mr. Clay was an intimate friend | of both George Calvert and Charles | Benedict Calvert, and the room as- signed him when he visited Riversdale | was the one over the reception room, and here, it is said, he wrott the | compromise of 1850, concerning the | Question of slavery in the then Ter- | ritories. A | After Mr. Clay's death this room | was allowed to remain for many years | just as he had left it upon his last visit—his shoes upon the floor, his pen upon his desk, his inkstand in its accustomed place and other per- | sonal belongings where he had left | | them. But now all these have disap- | peared and the room is modernized, | with the prevailing twin beds of the twentieth century pattern. Not even is Mr. Clay’s snuffbox to be seen, from which Dolly Madison frequently in- | dulged @ pinch with her dlmv.y] fingers. But the fact that the great Kentuckian frequently lodged here gave it an atmosphere of importance over other parts of the house and set the mind thinking of the political | stalwarts of a century ago, when the | Republic was going through its most | crucial test. It was George Calvert, friend of Henry Joseph Stier, Belgian finan- cier, who built Riversdale, the Cal~ vert mansion. — Calvert mansion. nishings of the house belong to the old | mansion, the writer cannot say, though they are beautiful and in keeping with its age, and some of them even much older than the building itself. One enormous mirror, with massive gilt frame, which hangs on the wall, and entirely too large for an ordinary home, is said once to have formed a part of the furnishings of the Arling- ton Hotel, which stood on the site of | the Veterans’ Administration Building, | Vermont avenue between H and I | streets. The building itself is said to have been designed by William Thornton, whose plans were accepted for the building of the original Capitol. It is | of brick, stuccoed, and of early Ameri- | can type, with large main building and wings. On the north and south fronts are stone columns which, tradition says, were intended for use in building the Capitol, but were rejected because they | were too short. ORXOINALLY the mansion is said | to have contained 40 rooms, but whatever was the number in the days of the Calverts, these have been re- duced since through the elimination of partitions and floors for the purpose of obtaining larger quarters, princi- | pally for social purposes. | One of the most attractive parts of the house is the broad and imposing stairway, with rails and banisters of solid rosewood, which only a real me- | chanie could erect today, for the old- | time stair builder is now a rarity. | Few of the old mantels that belong | to the house remain today, though good substitutes are in place. One particular mantel, which helped to decorate the drawing room, once cov- ered with mirrors, is said to have been | sold many years ago for $5,000, and | we are also told it was the finest piece | of workmanship of its kind that was ever brought to this country. This mantel is probably among | those taken down about 1889 by John | Fox, a wealthy New Yorker and a | member of the syndicate of the first | purchase, who shipped them East, | probably to adorn other homes. Those | removed upon this occasion from the | state dining room, according to an | early account, were made in Italy of |fine’ Carrara marble, with jambs | formed by two marble sphinxes most tastefully designed and delicately carved. It was really, and is still, & wonderful old mansion. A great many changes have taken place in the vast farm of nearly 2,000 acres which once formed the area of land belonging to the estate. The en- |trance to the grounds in the early days was 2 miles east of Bladensburg, 'and was carefully guarded by por- | tentious gates, flanked by two conven- tional watch towers or lodges. From here a long, winding roadway led to {the mansion, the front porches of which were then paved with white |and black marble. In front of this building was a fountain, edged by shells and surrounded by ancient | japonicas in great green tubs. N THE center of the basin,” ac- |8 white, | dolphin, through whose throat not a |drop of water has passed for these many years. “Back of the house was a pretty shining lake, in the center of which | was an island, and on tne island. a miniature castle, reached by a fancy | bridge. which long ego joined in the | general stampede to disintegration | and rotted away. | “The surrounding buildings, in- cluding those used as servants’ quar- ters., now gradually crumble out of | existence; the old reservoir, propped | high into the air, from which, through underground lead pipes, the quondam fountain, the well-appointed con- servatory and borders of rare and beautiful flowers were supplied with water; the old bell perched like a sentinel upon an outhouse, that summoned the workmen to and from their dally labors; dence and the social attainments of | the landed proprietor. | “Entering the center building. as it was in its pride and glory, one passed | through massive oaken doors to & ves- | tibule ornamented by grinning heads on the door jambs and pictures of demure-looking angels on the walls, the floors of which were hard, solid |and polished until they shone again. “On either side of the inner vestibule entrance arose broad, imposing stair- ways, with rails and banisters of solid rosewood. Straightforward from the vestibule was the reception room, painted a light green, with orna- mental designs on the walls and fur- nished with the prevailing fashionable | spider-legged furniture, with quaint brass trimmings anc¢ upholstered in this room was of glass, opened upon | the portico, and presented a scene of | picturesque beauty in the lovely lake, | its jaunty island, and a wide scope of | undulating meadows and woodland. { From the center of the ceiling hung a crystal lamp in the form of an urn and vase, ornamented by a most ex- | quisitely painted wreath of flowers. To the west was the drawing room, ! separated by solid mahogany doors.” | cording to an early writer, “was | wide-mouth, stiff-looking | Clay’s, who was the principal stock- holder in the National Hotel, about | 1826, and here Mr. Clay died June 29, 1852, in room 32. It was then probably conducted by W. H. Willard, & brother to the founder of Williard's | Hotel. When the building was en- larged, in 1831, Roger Chew Weight- man contributed his interest in this block, as did George Calvert and others, to an association to own the hotel, and of the stock Mr. Weight- man originally owned 68 shares, and it is believed Mr. Calvert owned a controlling interest under this ar- nangement. | ROSALIE EUGENIA (STIER) CAL- VERT, who went as a bride to | Riversdale, died there March 13, 1821, and her death is recorded in the Na- tional Intelligencer of March 15 as follows: “Died” and the numerous terraces | and thence to wide and spacious halls, | “At Riversdale, near Bladensburg. Mrs. Rosalie Eugenia Calvert, wife of George Calvert, Esq., and daughter of Henry Joseph Stier, Esq., of Antwerp, in the forty-fourth year of her age. In the death of this excellent lady her family, her friends and society have sustained an irreparable loss; for, in | mestic duty, she lived upright, in the fear of God, and in charity with all | the world. If intrinsic benevolence, | moral rectitude and exemplary piety could not ward off the early stroke, the queer octagonal barn, | well may we conclude that Heaven away off to the east, the path to which | designs the virtuous soul for nobler led through a bower of the Osage | oranges, were all in timely keeping | ments of sublunary change.” | with the stately grandeur of the resi- | purposes than the fleeting engage- George Calvert survived his wife by nearly 17 years and died on June 28, 1838, and, though a man of dis- tinction and prominence, yet the press of that period carried the following bare announcement of his death: “Yesterday, at his residence, near Bladensburg, Prince Georges County, Md., George Calvert, Esq., aged 70. “His funeral will take place this | morning (Monday) at 11 o'clock.” Both George Calvert and his wife | are buried in the little churchyard in | the town of Riverdale, as are other members of the family, and like near- ly all old cemeteries, it is probably allowed to take care of itself. Indeed, not long since, the writer was told a passer-by, imbued with curiosity, | lifted one of the slabs covering a vault |in this graveyard and to his amaze- | ment saw there a case of beer which expensive satins. The entire back of |some one had hid away. Naturally, | | to many, this would seem funny, but to the more serious-minded it would convey the thought that these old graves should be restored by some one, just for community and civic pride if for nothing else, for, after all, those buried here were members of that family of Calverts who founded the great State of Maryland, and are rep- resentatives of those pioneers who did much toward the spreading of re- the discharge of every social and do- | — NEAR CAPITAL ‘WAS really inspiring to go thmugh‘lig]o\m freedom through the length and breadth of this country. N THE tombs of George Calvert - and his wife are inscriptions: “Here Lies the Body of GEORGE CALVERT, Esquire, Of Riversdale, Youngest Son of Benedict Calvert, Of Mount Airy, Prince Georges County Maryland, And Grandson Of Charles Calvert, Sixth Lord Baltimore, Who Died January 28, 1838, Aged 70." “Here Rests the Body of ROSALIE EUGENIA CALVERT, Wife of George Calvert and Daughter of Henry J. Stier, Ecquire, of Antwerp, Who Died March 13, 1821, Aged 43. May she be numbered among the chil- dren of God, and her lot be among « the saints, We see the hand we worship and adore And justify the disposing power. Let me die the death of the righteous And my latter end be like His, Death ends our woe And puts a period to the ills of life.” The death in 1876 of Mrs. Charlotte { A. Calvert, relict of Charles B, Cal- vert, the last proprietor of the prop- erty intact and the great friend of Clay, necessitated the breaking up and selling off of the old homestead and everything therein. An account of the gathering upon this occasion states that Washington was represented by Gen. W. T. Sher- man, Mrs. R. B. Hayes, wife of the President; Hon. Bancroft Davis, Gen. Beale, Mrs. Waite, wife of the late Chief Justice; Gen. H. N. Barlow, Col. Audenreid and others. The chair and desk Mr. Clay used brought $19 from Gen. Barlow, who also got for {870 a fine old English clock, which dated back to the sixteenth century. A painting, “Romulus and Remus,” by a pupil of Rubens, which cost {82,000, went for $1.10 to Charles B. Calvert, jr. A magnificent French dinner and tea set, in salmon and gold, comprising 236 pieces, sold for | $250, and so on. “The Prodigal Son” and a garden scene were later purchased from Gen. Barlow by Mrs. Blaine. T THAT time it was stated there was in the possession of Mr. Charles H. Calvert of 1750 Corcoran street, this city, a surviving member of the family and one who spent the greater portion of his life at the old homestead, a bronze medal, a dupli- cate of the gold one presented by citizens of New York to Mr. Clay in recognition of his services to his coun- try. The original gold medal cost $3,000, but there being a defect in the bust, it was returned to New York to be recast, but in some mysterious way was lost en route and never recovered. Fortunately, however, at the same time the original was cast a few were struck off in bronze, one of which was given by Mr. Clay to his warm friend and host, Mr. Charles B. Cal- vert of Riversdale. On one side of the medal was the bust of Mr. Clay in on the other, surmounted by th, was the following inscrip- “Senate 1806. Speaker 1811, Ghent 1814 Epanish-America 1818-1822. Missouri Compromise 1821. Greece 1824, Secretary of State 1825. Panama Instructions 1828. Tariff Compromise 1833, Public Domain 1833-1841. Peace with France Preserved 1833. Compromise 1850." The old Calvert mansion has been in few hands since it left the Calvert family, when it was purchased by a syndicate as before stated, one of the principal members of which was a Mr. Pickford. For a while Senator Hiram W. Johnson made the mansion his home, and it was later purchased by Senator Caraway, Mrs. Caraway giving up the place after her hus- band's death and when she succeeded him in the Senate. GOLD DECISION TURNS EYES OF WORLD UPON SUPREME COURT By M. R. deGraffenried. EGINNING the continuous drama of historical crises which has marked its path, | the United States Supreme Court held its first session in the Royal Exchange Building, in 1790, at the foot of Broad street in New York. President Washington ap- pointed John Jay as the first Chief Justice to preside over the original court of six associate justices, who were John Blair, William Cushing, James ‘Wilson, Robert Hanson Harrison, James Iredell and John Rutledge. Of this number, the youngest was 38 years of age and the oldest 57. A newspaper of the day wrote of the first session, “The court room was uncommonly crowded,” though only three of the justices were pres- ent—Jay, Wilson and Cushing. They were attired in robes of red and black. | ‘There had been quite a bit of clever correspondence between the justices whether they shoula wear the judicial English wig along with the English gown, but they rebelled at this idea, and ultimately adopted the plain black gown which the court wears today. ‘The Supreme Court held its third gession in 1791 in Philadelphia at the City Hall, begirning a long series of moves which will be climaxed by | its final move into the new Supreme ! Court Building in June. After serving four years as Chief | Justice, John Jay was appointed Am- bassador to England to negotiate the famous Jay treaty John Rutledge succeeded him and took the oath of office for the term just beginning then in August, 1795. While Rutledge’s sppointment was still in the mail, he gave a flery speech at a town hall meeting in Charleston, denouncing the Jay treaty, that loved brain child of the Federalist party. When Congress met later in the year, the Federalists, majority party in the Senate, refused to ratify his appointment on the grounds of a rumor of intermittent at- tacks of mental derangement. LIVER ELLSWORTH was appoint- ed in his stead to the Chief Jus- ticeship in 1796. The Federalists and anti-Federalists were at the height of their heated dissention. Questions of neutrality, Federal common law, crim- inal jurisdiction, the right of expa- triation, the constitutionality of the alien and sedition laws, were repre- sented in cases arising before the courts in which the justices sat in circuit duty, and each of these deci- sions was rendered in favor of the doctrines of the Federalists. Later, when President Adams appointed Mr. Ellsworth to France, the anti-Federal- Ists became convinced that the judicial » | tention turned from agriculture and | shipping to manufacturing, which be- | gan about the close of the War of 1812. | the corporation. £ bench was simply being made an an- nex to the Federalist party. John Marshall was appointed Chief Justice in 1801, and the Supreme Court moved from Philadelphia to the new City of Washir.gton. For the fol- lowing eight years it met on the first floor of the Capitol Building in the Senate clerk’s office. Thomas Jeffer- son was then President, and during Jefferson's administration the execu- tive and judicial branches of the Gov- ernment were continually at extremes, 80, between the two illustrious figures, the Supreme Court was drawn into the boiling caldron of politics. Presi- dent Jefferson espoused the cause of | Federal Government for protection, with the strength of legislation vested in individual State’s rights, while Chief Justice Marshall laid the deep founda- tions of a centralized government, with | the letter of the Constitution superior | to State legislation. John Marshall was Chief Justice during the time that America’s at- The questions which came before the | court involved cases on notes, bills of exchange and insurance, and banking | questions. The second change in eco- nomic condition concerned the rise of Chief Justice Marshall presided at the term of 1830, known as “Daniel Webster’s term” because Webster ar- gued on one side or the other in prac- tically every case that was presented to the court. Webster's famous reply Latest photograph of the new United States Supreme Court Building. copyright by Harris & Ewing. to Hayne on the Foote resolution in- volving the right of nullification em- bedded the dignity of the court into regulating the coast trade, thus the famous “steamboat the consciousness of the people and broken. helped to shake off the preceding Jef- o monopoly” was | fersonian era of public opposition. In 1833 three of the greatest states- men of the time—Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster and John Marshall— stood in welded support of the national interpretation of the Constitution. During 31 years out of the 34 that John Marshall sat on the bench he had been out of sympathy with the political views then predominant among the people, and yet he had from the beginning been considered a great Jjurist., One of Chief Justice Marshall's greatest decisions involved the then new problem of the corporation. The case of Gibbons vs. Ogden concerned the 'egislative acts of New York giv- ing to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton exclusive rights of navigation upon ail waters within the jurisdiction of that State with boats moved by fire or steam. The Supreme Court’s decree held that this monapoly was in collision with the acts &f Congress J HEN the British burned the Cap- " itol in 1814 the court held ses- sion in the home of the clerk of the Supreme Court and in 1819 the re- building of the Capitol had been so far advanced that the body returned to the room just below the Senate, | where it had met for eight years fol- | lowing its move to Washington. In | 1860 the tribunal moved to its present | court room. formerly known as the Senate chamber, Roger Brooke Taney was appointed Chief Justice in 1837 and under his leadership the court reached the cli- max of its history in the confidence of the people. Only one issue—that of slavery—drew the court once more into partisan controversy. Chief Justice Taney was & Democrat in the broadest sense and for the first time in the his- tory of the Supreme Court the views of the Democratic party were involved in the decisions banded down. The 2 benefit of doubtful cases tended toward the individual rights of the States. His interest in the aspects of a case were economic and social, thus Chief Justice Taney approached questions from a human standpoint. His decision of the Dredd Scott case, which solidified the anti-slavery senti- ment of the North and split the Dem- ocratic party, was greatly criticized, This case concerned a Negro who had been taken by his master into Illinois, a free State, and later into a part of the Louisiana Purchase, where slavery was expressly prohibited by the Mis- souri Compromise of 1820. While on free soil Dredd Scott had been per- mitted to marry and with his wife and child was returned to Missouri in 1838 as a slave. Ten years later he sued for his freedom on the grounds that through his residence on free soil he had lost his status as’a slave and acquired that of a freedman. The court’s decision was that Scott, & Ne- gro, not being a citizen of, could not sue in the United States courts, for, having returned 3 had regained the status of a slave and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the Territories. Chief Justice Taney died before his wish was realized—to put the veto of the law on the proclamation of eman- cipation. His greatest decisions are as completely coupled with the ques- tion of slavery as his successor, Chief Justice Chase’s, are associated with the Civil War. During Chief Justice Chase’s time the question as to the validity of the reconstruction acts, which imposed a militant government in time of peace upon the offending States of the South, arose before the Supreme Court, clothed in sundry reconstruc- tion cases, about each of which that | body consistently declined to render a decision. Although the reconmstruction acts concerned the right of self- government of 10 States, the Supreme Court decreed that these acts fell within the performauce of the Presie dent’s official duty, as well as the political domain, afid could not be to slave territory, he | embraced within its judicial power. Chief Justice Marshall dealt monopoly such a crushing blow in his steamboat monopoly cases of 1824 it was not until 1878 that the question of the corporation again arose before rendered a decision in favor of mo- nopoly which aroused much public criticism. THt Legislature of Louisiana had passed a statute granting exclu- sive privilege of maintaining slaugh- tain parishes of New Orleans to one corporation. Since this statute de- engage in the slaughter house busi- ness, the right of a State to establish lenged on the grounds of an invasion of the rights of a citizen secured in the fourteenth amendment. But the Supreme Court decgeed that the Louisiana statute did not violate the fourteenth amendment in any par- ticular, The succeeding Chief Justics, Mor- the | rison R. Walthe, became famous for L the court. Then Chief Justice Chase | gress ter houses and stockyards within cer- | prived over 1,000 persons the right to | such a monopoly was vigorously chal- | | his interpretation of the fourteenth | amendment, clearly defined in the | widely discussed grange cases. These | cases were directed against the high rates charged by the railroads and corporations such as the grain eleva- tor. The Supreme Court decided that when property was used in such a manner that it affected the commu- nity of people at large the owner of such property must submit to be con- trolled by the public for the public good. Thus, Chief Justice Waithe | dealt with the corporation problem in 1877. During the following successions of Weston Fuller and Edward White to the justiceship, from 1888 to 1921, | legal questions arose from the new status of the United States as a world power in control of territorial posses- sions, and the ever-continuous consti- ago. The capitals of the columns are made in the shape of a bell and ex- tensively adorned with rows of acan- | thus leaves. AN EQUALLY elaborate pediment surmounts these splendid ecol- umns. The triangular unit of the pediment is adorned by a group of sculptured figures, some the likeness of living celebrities. The center fig- ure symbolizes “Liberty Enthroned,” with “Authority” on her left and “Order” on her right. On the left side of the pediment facing the central fig- ure are the likenesses of former Chief Justice Taft when a student at Yale, | Elihu Root and Cass Gilbert. On the right are Chief Justice Hughes, Robert tutlonal question of State or national Aitken, the sculptor, and former Chief supremacy of legislation. "Justlce John Marshall when a boy. And so down the line of great| The first floor of the Supreme Court statesmen in the Supreme Court to | Building is one story above the ter- William Howard Taft, who spent the | race, and the court chamber, & room last years of his active life planning | 64 feet square inside the columns and & Supreme Court Building to be un- | 45 feet high from floor to ceiling, rests rivaled in beauty and dignity by any on the main axis of the plan. It is Government building in the world. |elevated several feet above the ad- Some of the associate justices wished | joining rooms to symbolize the regal to remain in the historic room in the | importance of justice above all rela- Capitol Bulding, for the eloquence of | tive parts of the Government. America’s forefathers had echoed | Four sculptured panels, rich in against its walls. This was the scene allegory, depicting the history of jus- | of Webster’s debates. There Calhoun tice from the beginning of civilization | debated with Clay, and there sat the to the present day, adorn the walls Electoral Commission which decided |of this spacious court chamber, The the presidential campaign between | central figure in the panel for the east Hayes and Tilden in 1877. Nonethe- | wall represents “The Majesty of the less, Mr, Taft overcame all opposition, | Law” and “The Power of Govern= and the new building stands today, a ! ment,” with “Wisdom” and “State- lasting monument of his life's greatest | craft” on either side. A group sym- Work. ‘The original appropriation by Con- for the edifice was $9,740,000, bolizing “The Safeguarding of the Rights of the People” is on the right, while the left group illustrates “The including the cost of foundation work. | Defense of Human Rights.” However, the lowest bid for the super-| The stately friezes, noble in con- structure was $8,383,000, so the appro- | ception as well as ideal, are modeled priation was increased to $10,000,000. with strength and skill by Adolph This edifice cost more per cubic square | Weiman. There are no likenesses in- foot than any other in the new build- | cluded cn these walls to arouse the - ing program of Washington. | controversy which has centered about No building of other design could'the pediment adorning the west en- portray to such an advantage the|trance as to the propriety of using lofty majesty of the highest court in living likenesses. the land. It is in harmony with the| The easterly section of the main Capitol and adjacent buildings occu- ! floor is assigned to the conference | pied by the legislative body, yet it|room, robing room, chambers of the stands alone as afterglow of the | Chief Justice and the associate jus- highest ideais in ancient civilization, | tices, all of which are grouped around and & white marble vision of un- |the court yards. ‘The westerly section faltering faith in the future. is allotted to rooms for the Attorney It is approtched from the sidewalk | General, Solicitor General, clerk of by inclining steps leading up to an | the Supreme Court, United States impressive portico. The entablature, marshall and attorneys. Press head- or roof of the portico, is supported by | quarters consist of a large room, & » double row of Greek columns, con- | waiting room, & telephone and tele= sidered by authorities to be the most | graph room and & vast section eon= elaborate type perfected 2,000 years | taining special press booths. b f