Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-07
THE DIFFERENT STATES
Distinguished Citizens Who Are Rep
resented in Statuary Hall.

Citizens Who Are Rep
resented in Statuary Hall.
A majority of the states have been very slow
in honoring their favorite sons by placing their
carved images in the gallery of the great at the
Capitol. 1t was in July, 1864, that Congress
passed the law setting aside the old hall of rep
resentatives as a place where might be placed
by the states at their own discretion statues of
their most distinguished citizens. deceased. not
to exceed two from each state. Up to this time
but ten states have taken advantage of this
privilege. The rest are still unrepresentsd. 1t
may be that some of the living statesmen think
men are not yet deceased who are worthy of
being preserved to p~osterity In imperishable
marble at the expense Of their respective states.
Ii may be that the states arc not all ready yet
to make the necessary appropriation. What
ever the reasons, there are many vacant spaces
where there ought to be statues of distin-
guished men. And incidentally il may be re-
marked that these vacant spaces are more
credltable than some OF the STATUES that stand
as a encouragement to art.
The statute sets aside this hall for the ex-
elusive purpose of a repository for statues in
marble or bronze which may be erected by the
states. Any other statues that may be there.
as the cast of the Houdon statue OF Washing
ton. the statues of Lincoln, Jefferson and
Baker, stand there merely by sufferance and
must be moved whenever their space is wanted.
The plaster cast of the Father of Our Country
must be carted out when the place IS crowded
and Montana wants to erect a statue to Russell
Harrison or Senator Sanders. for that and the
other three statues mentioned belong. by pur-
chase, to the United States and have no bust
ness there. There is a very general impression
that the statue OF Washington is the original
Houdop. which WAS erected at Richmond by
the state of Virginia, and that it was taken
possession OF by the United States during the
war and never returned to the state. 1t il a
common thing to hear southern people ex-
press their opinion of this transaction while
looking at the cast. The fact is that 1t is
merely a plaster cast made by Hubbard, for
which the government paid the scuiptor's
widow $1,000. The original still stands at
Richmond.
THE FIRST STATE REpREsENTED.
Rhode Island was the first state to place the
statues of two of her distinguished citizens in
this hail. For this extraordinary honor she Sc
iected Nathaniel Greene and Roger Williams.
and now all Rhode Islanders are excluded from
this hall for the rest of time-Rhode Islands
quota Is filled. Mr.. Aldrich may never be re-
warded for his work on the tariff by a statue
of protected marble in staiuary hall. In 1872
Connecticut followed the example Of Rhode
Island and presented Congress with statues of
two OF her most distinguished cltiZens-Jona-
than Trumbuil and Roger Sherman. Then in
1873 New York did the injustice to Mr.. Depew
OF filling up her space before his death. She
had placed in statuary hall two statues. one of
George Clinton and the other of Robert r.
Livingston. Bat possibly with an eye to the
possible claims Of some of her citizens who
have yet to die and be put in marble, New York
has never formally presented these statues to
the government, as all the other statues have
been presented. In 1876 Vermont presented
the statue of Ethan Allen and in 1881 the statue
Of .larnh Cnllampr fnrpvnr aynl1Hlnu har r.at
men of later date, among them Mr.. Edmunds.
There is no room for Eliza Morse, for Massa-
chusetts has filled her two places with statues
OF John Winthrop and Sam Adams, two gentle
men who had something to do with the early
history of that state.
In SO Pennsylvania placed a statue of Robert
Fulton in statuary ball, and a year later pre-
senfed one of Peter Muhlenberg, the preacher
statesman-soldier. Maine has yet a place for
Reed. In 10 she presented Congress with a
none to keep him company. The statues of
William Allen and James A. Garfield represent
the human greatness of Ohio. New Jersey is
represented by Gen. Phil Kearny and Richard
A statue of Lewis Cass was pre-
scented by Michigan in 'S9, and that is the last
up to date. Julius Caesar Burrows may vet
stard there in rigid stone. his smile and his
never-disturbed dignity being preserved to
posterIty, There 10 no room for Mckinley
and his tariff bill.
NONE FROM THE SOUTH.
Not a southern state is represented in this
hall by a statue. but it is the desire of Con-
gress that all states should be represented, and
each state may select those two Of its citizens
which 1t most delights to honor. Congress has
nothing to say about the selection the only re-
being that the man so honored shall
be a distinguished citizen of the state present.
ing the statue. There can scarcely be a doubt
that when Mississippi sends her two statues one
of them will be of Jefferson Davis, and this
statue cannot be denied a resting place among
the rest. III it were sent tomorrow ii could
claim a place in the hall and the architect of
the Capitol would be obliged to accept it.
When asked about this Architect Clark pointed
to the terms of the law and said that if a stain.
Of Davis were sent by Mississippi he would ac-
cept 1t as within the provisions o. the act. 1t
Is hardly to be supposed that when the south
ern states begin sending in their statues they
will refrain from sending those of the men
they most honor because they took part in the
and perhaps were not reconstructed.
statues OF a number of ex-confederates are
apt to find their way into the statuary hall at
the Capito, and TO be honorei with the rest Of
the great men i'll marble there.
Thus far but one statue has been refused,
and the refusal in that case was not because
the subject was unworthy, but because he was
not a citizen of the state, nor, in fact, lived 20
see the nation formed. Wisconsin voted $50, 900
for the erection of II statue Of Pere Marquette,
the missionary and explorer. who at some time
during his wanderings was where the state of
Wisconsin now is.