Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-12-16
.hs washisgt ton Monument.


...~. ~ou...s
The ce'ebraaen OF tne oohpie.ou Oh
the Washington monumen winch VIII
sake place On MONDAY, tne twehty-tnird
day o. Feorusfy, Will DO An event
fraught witA no iess interest 10 the
country than the inauguration OF fresi-
dent Cleveland, when follows only ten
days later. There Will In all propa-
oility be out the one ceieoration OF the
completion Of monument 70 the
Father OF MS country, put there VIII
we hope % many more Fresidentiai IN
augurauons. coming 30 Close together
II is believed that one event Will add TO
the interest OF the other and that many
who come 70 washington 10 see the
celebration VIII remain over TO witness
the In 'uguration, and that many who
intend going to the Inauguration will
60 ten days sooner 10 witness the cele-
0ration
The corner stone OF this great mas
sive ohe'isk, the highest IN the known
world, WAS iaid py PRESIDENT FOLK on
the Atm OF july lS4S, In the midst OF
she most imposing ceremony OF that
DAY ana IL ID mat'er OF interesting
nste hat the Hon. Robert Z. winthrop,
OF Ma-sachuseits, who was then We DO
heve speaker OF the House OF hepre-
sentaives, 10 SILL living In well pre-
served heaitn ana age, VINO delivered
che Grafton - the corner stone laying Is
20 deliver inc GRAFTON on the com plstion
OF the monument In the Hall OF the
house OF representatives. Ihis monu-
ment mas oeen over tnirty SIX years In
building, space OF ume that covers
the most important period OF our coun-
ny history sihce our country became
nation, ana towering as 1t does above
every surrounding OBJECT within the
reach OF the eye ana above every work
OF man nsnds IN the world IL serves
As connecsing INK between two great
spoons In tho history OF our country
its history under slavery, ana its his
tory under freedom. When the corner
stone was iaid lour million OF human
beings rattied the manacles OF slavery
ABOUT their nmOs. thousands OF human
slaves oenelo sne laying OF the corner
stone Oh tnls great monument to the
memory OF the man who fought for
nperty, oas Where was the liberty for
tnem. II snoso piack thousanus who
pehelo the event and had the intelli.
gence 70 thlnk, what must they have
considered the proceedings but the
ver1est farce-but q mockery of liberty /?
~ seems rroVidennai that The work on
Inc monuments should have been de-
layeu uhui siavery,the black curse, was
Wlpso out, even py crimson sponge,
until time wnen all, irrespective of
color, Greco or nationality can come to-
gether and In celebrating the compile
-ion vi 'no monument celebrate an un-
toe1rlcteu orA OF ireedom. The cause
tor winch warrington fought was never
completely successful until General Lee
handed General Grant his sword under
Inc apple tree at Appomattox.
Inns great monument, 52O feet high,
the highest ~ we have already said, In
the world, rests upon base of only 63
rect square, and it only tapers ten feet
from the base to he capstone. 1t was
~ nrst intended 70 be erected by volun-
tary contributions from the people. AM
effort was made TO get each pupil IF the
puplc schools in the United States to
contribute one cent, but whether the
penny contribution is a part Of the
t2O0OW raised by the monument as-o-
citation, we are not informed from any
ua'a we nave seen The total cost of
sne monument IN round numbers is
Sl'4oo,ooo, $soo, 900 of which was APP
propriated from time to time BY Con
greaS. Pa rlotc as the people are at
unies, the monument would never have
oeen completed had it depended upon
voluntary contributions. In 1854. when
The Monument had attained the height
OF u" ie-t. WORK was stopped, and not
unul ls79 was it resumed again. A
yer! table event occurred in 1854
winch may have had some hing to do
with stopping contributions, and .nb.e-
quently Of stopping the work II w.s
IN mat wear that Pope Plus TX pre-
scented the society with a block of nar.
bic 10 place on the monument but This
being h. period when Know Nothing
Intolerance was at its height. the stone
was broken into p-c-s and thrown in
the Po'emao, From that time until
Congress assumed The responsibility of
finishing the shat, the society had I'm,
very little II any public announcement
for riuisaing III. design. II il worrhv
in order 10 show the rapjd nrogr.s. -
religious liberty, to say that while erai.
neer Ca.ey and his assistants in H.
of the work were setting tbs non1,ase
on Saturday. December g 1SsI the
shirt pleuary Council of ,ba Ca,t.e Vo
church IN m. Irni,ad