The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-07-02

IT'S History from ATS deception % she
Present Ti1nss


IT'S History from AIS IHeeptIOn - she
Present Tf1nss
Everybody has heard and read about
the Washington monument, and al Wis
tiers to the national capitol have seen
the unsightly and half completed struct-
ures yet many are ignorant Of its history
more than that it was designed as mon
ument to the memory of Washington and
the design never carried out.
The project of erecting a monument
to General Washington is older than
the government itself. In August, 1888,
tie continental congress resolved that
ali equestrian statue of the successful
ccGnmandsr should be erected s. at the
place where the residence of congress
sllall be established, but nothing more
was ever done IN the matter. Washing
ton died on the 14th of December, 1899,
and ten days afterWard congress ordered
that marble monument be erected
by the United States at the city of
Washington, and that the family OF
General Washington be requested to
permit his body to be deposited under
1t. The permission was promptly
and cheerfuily accorded by the widow,
but everybody knows that the monu-
ment was never erected, and that the re-
mains of Washington still rest at Mount
Vernon. An attempt was made In 1900
to secure an appropriation for the mon
ument, but It failed, and In 1901 bill
apprOpriating $500, 600, which passed
the house, did not secure the sanction
of the senate. After that, no further
effort seems to have been made to full
fill the intention declared by the gov
eminent in the resolution passed by
congress.
After a lapse of more than thirty
years, the monument was again brought
to public attention by the voluntary &C
ton of the people, entirely independent
of their Representatives in congress.
The Washington monument society was
founded Ia 1888, with Chief Justice
Marshall as president, and it appealed
to the whole people for the funds nec-
essary to undertake the work. The
original plan was to give everybody an
opportunity to contribute, and the
amount to be received from any one
person was to be limited to a dollar. In
three years $28, O0N had been collected.
but the financial collapse in 1887 then
caused the temporary abandonment OF
the enterprise. In 1845, however, it was
again undertaken by the society, and at
the end of two years the amount receiv-
ed had increased to 1877, 900, which was
deemed sufficient to warrant the com
mencement of the monument. The work
was authorized, and q site coded by 8
resolution of congress, passed January
81, 184S. A month later the national
monumental society was incorporated,
and the grant of a reservation of thirty
acres for the site was confirmed. Work
was then begun, and on the 4th of July,
1913, the corner stone was laid with i'm,
| pressive ceremonies. For six years the
undertaking was pushed with reasona
bic vIgor, the Obelisk in that time beinC
raised to height of 10 feet. But the
funds of the society, amounting to $3.50,
600, were by that time exhausted.
1t was IN 1854, or just twenty
| years ago, that the Iplan of building
monument by popular subscription
proved total failure. The society hav
ing tried in vain to raise more money
fnally presented memorial to congress
on which report was made by a spec
ial committee, February %, 1856, re
commanding an appropriation of 5000,
600 to complete the structure. It il
probable that the appropriation would
have been made, and the monument
| long ago completed, had not troubles
arisen just at this time within the sOci
ETY., which resulted in a change of man
agement. These troubles were finally
arranged by the granting of new char.
ter, but public confidence in the society
seems to have been shaken by these
events. Since 1854 it has been able tC
add only four feet to the unfinished
shaft; but, although it has been mani
fest for twenty years that the society
would never be able to finish the mon
ument, congress has not yet taken il
in hand and made it a national under
foI-su,