New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-06-17
THE CASE or MISS VINNIE REAM

THE CASE or MISS VINNIE REAM
We shall say as little rs possible about the
young woman whose fancied wrongs have
reused several ktten-heartcd Washington cor
respondents of newspapers in this and neghbor-
ing cities to a pitch of Indignation that could
find its natural vent in nothing short of spasms.
The gentleman in Washington who does this
sort of thing for The JFOrld-evidently fond,
dOting, faithful creature-wrOte about this
matter in q way that would have moved us TO
tears, if we had not carried in our bosom a
heart of stone. For him, twas part
to tear cat in. and make all split,
and we are bound to say that he gave
his employers, who pay him at a runous rate
for this sort of thing, the full worth of their
stamps. But our tears refused TO fall at the
picture he drew of the demoniac RAIDS, "who
"seem to have no instinct sensitive enough to
shrink from the immolatien of helpless girl
"upon the altar of a lost and shameful cause
orr tears fell, or felt like falling, for our
selves, and at the melancholy prospect before
us of having, first, TO pay for Miss Ream's
statue, and then to look at it whenever we 90
to Washington, which, in view of the works of
art and architecture that are collected in that
region, we are thankful is but seldom. 1t was
in 1866 that Congress passed the resolution to
give Miss Winnie Ream ten thousand dollars
for statue of President Lincoln to be exc
cuted in marble; five thousand to be paid on
the completion of the clay model and its ac-
ceptance by the Committee appointed for that
purpose, and the remainder on the delivery of
of the finished statue On this subject we will
make but two remarks: First, this young
woman, who is spoken Of as "a helpless girl,r
had shown herself abundahtly able to look
out for her own interest, by the most
persistent, unwearied, and successful lobby
ing in Washington for whole Winter for
the purpose of procuring this commission She
lobbied as only woman can; and every Senator
and Representative in Washington knows, by
fearful experience, the terrible force of what
has come to be known as chen powerr And
while we are willing to admit that woman
has as good right to lobby as a man has,
and that she is no more to blame than n man
is for doing the discreditable work effectually
we insist that she shall share, without COM
planning, all the obloquy that may follow the
work she has performed, and shall ask no
quarter for the sake of her sex. And, second.
Congress passed this resolution with its eyes
wide open. with full knowledge of the facts,
and in the face of the circumstances of the
only men in the whole body who by educa-
ton and culture were entitled to an opinion
on the subject. 1t was shown, in the fullest
manner, that Miss Ream had no qualification
whatever for Ithe task she had sought. She
had never modelled a full-length statue in her
life! She had never done anything in the way
of sculpture but model few heads in plaster,
which were at that very time on exhibition in
the Capital to prove her utter-her ludcrous
incompetency. We appeal to every unpreiudced
man of education who has seen these busts,
to every man who has seen good sculpture.
and who has compared these performances with
what he remembers of the finer work, to say
whether we do not speak the words of truth
and soberness in saying that these heads alone
are sufficient to prove that Congress committed
a great blunder in putting so important com
mission into the hands of Miss Ream
However, Congress did this thing; and the
only help for the evil is that it has reserved to