Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-27
THAT WORLDS FAIR MEDAL
Mr.. St Gaudens Game to Talk With SEQ.
retary Carlisle.
He Objected to Any Change in the De-
sign - Practical View of
Treasury Omcials.

The plot Of the worlds fair medal come
dy thickens. and the situation is getting
more and more complicated with each move
on the part of the actors. Secretary Car
Isle and the quadro centennial committee
of the Senate hold that the design is i'm
modest and Objectionable for use on a pub
lie work. st. Gaudens, the artist who made
it, and Mr.. j. Boyd Thatcher president Of
the committee of awards which approved
1t, contend that 1t is a work Of art and free
from criticism in every respect. Secretary
Carlisle, backed by the Senate committee,
has decided that it shall not be issued in
the form of government medal unless
certain notifications are made in the male
figure Of America" on the diverse. He
wrote to MIR. st. Gaudens suggesting a
modifcatio Of the design to meet the views
Of the Senate committee, and Mr.. st. Gau-
dens came to Washington and undertook
to show the Secretary why the design
should not be changed.
1t is understood that he positively refused
to alter 1t himself on the ground that 1t
could not be done without marring the
artistic effect of the figure. According to his
view the responsibility in the matter ceased
when the design was accepted. He insists
that there is nothing immodest in the design
and intimates that 1t must be used as 1t is
or not at all. 1t Is understood that Mr..
Thatcher upholds him in this view of the
case.
A Practical View of the Case.
The officials Of the Treasury Department
take a more practical view of the case Ac-
cording to them. the design belongs entire
ly to the government and that Mr.. st. Gau-
dens interest In 1t ceased when he signed
the receipt for 5000 paid him for his work
on 1t. According to one of them, the Sec
retary of the Treasury can use 1t or not
as he sees fit: he can have it altered to
suit his ideas. II not by Mr.. ST. Gaudens,
then by someone else. or he can sell 1t to
the highest bidder.
1t Is the sole property Of the government
and can be treated as its agents think
proper. OF course. II 1t is altered Mr. st,
Gaudens would not be held responsible for
II and his name would not appear on it,
but If only one side is altered his name
might be allowed to stand on the unchanged
SIDE and the name OF another artist appear
on the other side provided. of course. he
made new design. If Mr.. st. Gaudens de-
sign for one side was only slightly changed
and he did not care to accept it in that
form IT would then be necessary only to
omit the name of the artist Although no
decision has yet been reached in the matter
1t is more than probable that the entire de-
sign will be rejected and proposals invited
for a new one
Geo. F. Page of Concord, N. H., president
of the company which published fac simile
OF the worlds fair medal, is in Washington.
The purpose of his visit is to investigate
the origin of the story that the Senate spe-
cial committee had objected to his copy OF
the medal rather than to the medal itself
and also to try to prevail upon the Treasury
Department not to order q change in the
design. He does not seem to regard the St
Gaudens suit seriously, but says that his
firm VIII sue him for libel. because Of the