The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-26
CORRESPONDENCE.
Monument building,

CHICAGO, Apr. 10, 1888.
To the Editor of the Bdnner,-DEAR
SIR:-Anticipating the injurious effect
upon the reputation of Vermont and
Bennington that any serious defect in
the building of the Bennington Battle
Monument would occasion; and as the
work Of its erection is OF more import
ance than any other public work ever
attempted in Vermont; and as its dUra.
bility and reputable perpetuity is almost
wholly dependent upon the quality Of
material used and the capacity and fl
deity of those who superintend their
use and use them, YER ture to send you
| for publication a few extracts from pub
lished reports in regard to the Lincoln
Monument at Springfield, Ill. Says an
eminent artist: THE agents most de
structive and which cannot be too scru-
pulously guarded against in the erection
Of monuments in frigid climates, are
frost and water. II they are allowed to
penetrate a wall, its destruction is only
matter OF time"
In the above and what follows no
criticism is intended. The contractor
aud the gentlemen having the building
OF the monument in charge are worthy
of confidence, but it has been said that
eternal vigilance is the price of
safety" G. w. r.
The following is the excerpt mentioned
above:
II asked Mr. Stuart how the contract
OF ever managed to palm off on himself
as one OF the committee such a piece OF
dishonest work, He replied that the
defects were all more or less covered up,
and the committee had trusted to
superintendent who claimed to be an
architect and we had confidence in the
contractor as an honest man. Do you
think that this might have been averted
il the supervision Of the work on the
part of the committee had been more
vigilant? Yes there can be no doubt of
it, and no other person feels 30 much
mortified as the members of the com
mittee that their confidence should have
been so woefully betrayed. The ex-
posture of this fraud may be a humilia-
ton to the Lincoln Monument Associa-
ton and the people Of Illinois. Already
there are thousands of dollars in the
hands Of responsible parties for the
building of a monument to James A
Garfield. The men having that work in
charge should be careful to make no
mistake in trusting to the honesty and
patriotism of any man to do good work.
To repair the Lincoln Monument will re
auire ten times the amount of money
saved to the contractor by his fraudulent
work. "-[Chicago Inter Ocean, July 10,
1884.
George Napier was employed to su
perintend the laying of the foundation.
He was a man Of large experience, con-
scientious and competent in every re-
spect, Doing work well 10 from the
very nature of the case expensive. but
is always economical in the end. The
contractor, in his efforts to economic
and by methods he seemed to well I'M
derstand, got rid of the competent super
intendent after he had laid the walls up
to the ground line and part of the super
structure. Another superintendent was
then put in charge of the work. de
was good builder, but proved to be I'M
satisfactory to the members of the asso-
citation for the reason that they did not
think he sufficiently guarded the inter
ests of the association and was discharg
ed. When the question of employing
another superintendent arose, the con-
tractor proffessed to be greatly interest
ed in doing the work well and having
the confidence OF the members of the
association, proposed to superintend 1t
himself without charge to the associa-
ton, thus saving that expense, which he
did. Consequently the whole Of the in
terror walls were reeking with moisture
and at times water ran from them in
streams.-[Illinois State Register, Dec,
4, 1887.