The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-12

IL Uue dppllCuUlOub W puTCuhbo ulSCudIBo
are many and the establishments few.
The Senators and the Black Goddess.
In the course of the great debate in the
Senate upon the question of coating with
gold leaf the Goddess Of Liberty which
surmounts the Capitol dome, Gen. HAwLEY
Of Connecticut made the surprising re-
marks here quoted from the Record:
n President. I am possibly in ignorance. but I
desire to be informed as to whether any gold statue
Is known in the world, or whether anybody ever
heard OF taking splendid bronze statue and cover
ing 1t with gold. Bronze is the appropriate metal.
the durable metal. and in every way the right metal
for q statue. 1t is so decided by the world in general.
I am sure l should be very sorry to see o glazing gold
statue up there. I think It IL bad taste"
Hardly less singular than the circum-
stance that Gen. HAwLEY should ask such
a question is the fact that nobody in the
Senate rose up to answer 1t. Has Gen.
HAwLEY never seen the shining gilt figure
that catches both the morning and the
evening sun at the top Of the Cam
panile of st. Marks in Venice, one
of the noblest towers in the world7 Has
he never gazed upward at the summit
of the Giralda at Seville, or inspected
the figure floating on the Madison square
tower in this town. Has he never heard
of the chryselephantine ZEUs Of PHIDIAs,
or the chryselephantine ATHENE that
dominated the Acropolis9 Does he not
know that from the earliest times of art
gold was a favorite material with the
artists who could get it, We are astonished
at Gen. HAwLEY's question.
The debate was upon a joint resolution
appropriating Sc, to enable the archi-
tect of the Capitol to gild the statue of
Liberty. This resolution was called up
with great earnestness by the venerable
Mr.. MORRILL, of Vermont, who reminded
the Senate that in her present condition
the Goddess was mo better Than a lump of
COAL" and stated that the only possible
remedy was to have her gilded. MI.
STEWART of Nevada was on his feet in an
instant with the passionate remark:
"Inasmuch as we have no other god now but gold.
let It be blazoned on the dome Of the Capitol. where
all can see whom we worship. and let every ono un.
derstand that we worship nothing else"
Mr.. CHANDLER Of New Hampshire an
nounced his preference for bimetallic deco
ration he wanted the Goddess plated in
stripes of gold and silver. Mr.. GRAY
of Delaware asked what the statue repre-
sented, and on being answered that it was
Liberty, rejoined:
"some have thought over hero that It was an Indian
chief or an Indian squaw. / did not know what It
did represent"
MI. ALLEN and Mr.. KYLE engaged in an
argument upon the chemical possibility of
restoring the original bronze hue, now
become, in the phrase of Mr.. MORRILL,, like
"a chunk of coal :"
"Mr. KYLE-wnl the Senator from Nebraska e1.
plain the character of bronze. and state whether such
a statue can be rebronzed2 P"
"Mr. ALLEs-I am not a chemist, II IL requires q
chemist to determine those things. and I do not think
the Senator from South Dakota is much moro OF 4
chemist than / am. I have no doubt that we could
apply to the Goddess OF Liberty. II that statue Is In.
tended to be q representation OF the Goddess of Lib
erty, what is commonly known as bronze, and by
that means improve its appearance and preserve It
from rust TO a very great extent.
"Mr. KYLE-Willt the Senator from Nebraska allow
me just a moment2
NJ ALLEs-Certainly.
"Mr. KYLE-Is 1t not like o fundamental metal, that
can be FURNISHED and cleaned
"Mr. AILES-That depends largely upon its compo-
sition. l presume that is true II It Is like pot metal
and n great many other compositions that we have in
this country. II the body OF 1t is some base metal,
while the surface 10 simply ronzed. / presume It can
be FURNISHED up; that It can be polished In some way;
that something can be applied to It to preserve It for
a great many years and TO improve Its appearance.
II that can be done. why go to the expense of apply.
ing gold leaf?"
c HAwLEY thereupon grunted out
something about "a liberal dose of SOAP
II sand for the Goddess and, an amend.
ment having been lost to "rebronze" in.
stead of to gild, the resolution went to a
vote. The pairs were gravely announced
Upon roll call thirty Senators voted for the
gliding of the Goddess, and twenty-five,
including Gen. HAwLEY, against it.
The curious thing about this vote Is that
the Senators divided themselves very gen.
orally according to their views on the cur.
rency question, sound-money men voting
to gid, and silveritcs voting not to Sild,
Gen. HAwLEY's opposition being purely on
aesthetic grounds. We observe with In.
terest that Mr.. GoRMAN of Maryland, Mr..
SMITH of New Jersey, and Mr.. MURPHY of
New York are recorded as not voting.
Thus 1t appears that some of the Sen.
ators actually did not know what the i'm
posing figure on the top of the Capitol
dome Is intended to represent few of them
had any ideas as to the chemical and artis.
tic aspects of the proposed restoration /;
and not one of them possessed any informa.
tion about the physical constitution of the
Goddess of Liberty, whether she is made of
pot metal or not.
The House had better take expert advice