The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-08-30
BARTHOLDI'S GREAT STATUE.
An English View of It's Art Value-Con-
structton Details
London Daily News, July 3.

structtOn Details
London Daily News, July 3.
Tomorrow M. Jules Ferry will so
elmly hand over to the United state
minister in Paris the colossal statue
Liberty for the Bay of New YORK, O
which the French have been at work TO
the past eight years. 1t is out an
away the largest statue OF moderl
times. The Colossus OF Rhodes, as VII
be presently seen, was nothing to it !
could carry the bavaria" or the "Her
man. in its arms. It towers to tn
skies from the factory yard of the Ru'
de Chazelles, and the view from it
coronet sweeps clear Of the six-stor.
houses and right beyond the walls O
Paris. 1t is to stand on Bedloe''
Island, in the Bay of New York, and i!
to bear in its hand torch lighted BY
electricity, which is to Symbolic "Lib'
erty enlightening the world"
The statue has had all sorts OF vicis'
STUDIES. Its conception is due to the
great French sculptor, Bartholdi, who
has a passion for working on the colos.
sal scale; but he and few faithful
friends had no little difficulty in per-
suading the public of two hemispheres
that thew were in want of this work. A
Franco American committee was
formed in France with very influential
names-M. Laboulaye, M. Oscar de
LAFAYETTE, M. de Rochambeau, M. Paul
de Remusat, M. Waddington, etc.-and
the Franco-American committee duly
issued its proposals for subscriptions in
France and in the United States. They
were put in a very seductive form-the
republic of France was to make this
pretty gift to her elder sister OF Amer
lea. Everybody said it would be a
good thing, but few put down the
money. However, by dint OF vigorous
beating Of the big drum OF platform
and press, by concerts and lectures and
balls and fancy fairs, as well as by gen.
erous donations, the money was got to-
gether; and the statue of Liberty now
stands finished in its Paris workshop,
the most extraordinary work OF its kind
of all time.
The moment after the presentation
the workmen will begin to take it to
pieces for transport to America, where
It will be riveted together again to
stand for eternity. The dimensions are
almost increduiously large. The fig
ure alone in sheer height, clear OF all
reckoning for the coronet, stands 100
feet; the extreme length from the sole
of the foot to the end Of the torch IN the
outstretched hand is 1877 feet 8 inches;
the pedestal of granite will be ~ feet
high, and the two together give grand
total of 220 feet for the entire work.
The monument of Fish-street hill, the
loftiest isolated column in the world, is
but 2O2 feet high; while the far-famed
Colossus of Rhodes stood only about
40 feet without his stockings. The |
work has been going on all these years,
slowly but surely, at the copper foun-
dry of Mondint ct Gle, near the Pare
Monceau, in a great work shop built
specially for it. The further the cop
persmiths advance with their task the
more liliputian they become in relation
to it. What were men, for instance, or
the children of men, in that awful eye
thirty inches from corner to
cornerp A six-foot man standing on
the level of the lips only just reached
the eyebrow. While they were work
ing on the crown of her head they
seemed to be making huge sugar
cauldron; and they jumped with ease
in and out of the tip of the nose. Fiji
teen people might sit round the flame
of the torch, and they would reach that
elevation by spiral staircase within
the outstretched arm.
The details of the construction are
hardly less curious. Something hight
was wanted for transport to the other
side of the globe, and something strong
as we'll, to enable the statue to resist
the wear and tear of the elements, for
at Bedloe it will stand in very ex-
posed place. 1t was decided therefore
to make it Of plates of very thin copper
only an eighth of an inch thick
forming an inner and an outer skin ;
about foot apart, and to I'LL the space
between them with sand, especially :
coward the base, so as to give the
statue the requisite solidity. The
colossal statues of the past were either !
If solid metal, or were filled up with ]
masonry or woodwork. 1t was inn !
possible to adopt that plan in the
present instance; the cost OF the
metal would have been too great {
md the difficulty of transporting insup- '
,rable. AS it is, the small plates can
,e easily unriveted, packed on board t
hip, and riveted together again when I
hey reach their destination. The sand t
AN be as easily poured in or drawn off '
or repairs for any particular part. c
The two skins are to be kept in their I
places by gigantic skeleton frame c
york in iron, running four-square from F
he basement to the very crown OF the b
lead, exactly like the framework of Ii
lift, and meant to serve that additional f,
when the statue reaches its g
estimation. This solid iron frame is ii
0 be carried up into the extended arm, Il
7hich has all along presented me- e.
hanical problem of peculiar difficulty, tt
s leverage with the weight of the sy
orch being very great indeed. The O
therefore, runs down almost d
, the centre of the body and well be- al
w the centre of gravity. Some peo- Sc
le-and among them Mr.. Story, the in
reat American sculptor-think the til
atue will never stand, and that the cs
inds and waves will play havoc with di