Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1899-10-03

bered that they were the result of Your
personal entreaty. and not a freevvill offer
ing, with the final outcome to be a matter
of public appeal from them to their people
through the agencies of the press and
banquets. And when you reflect that
even these uncertain promises were only
gotten recently, and after years effort
it does seem to be q poor result for the
Expenditure of six thousand dollars.
Now, sir. the foregoing statement has
has been forced from me by your letter,
but 1 do not mean, in anything that
have said, to criticise you personally.
Doubtless you did your best, which, like
previous experience, resulted in failure.
The only thing do think you wrong in
is to insist upon remaining IN the field
where expenditure promises only waste
fulness, if the future is to be judged by
the past. am sure the Board of Mana.
gers will approve my course when they
consider all the facts involved.
AS to the point you make that my
4Promise to pay six thousand dollars TO the
Memorial Collection Fund was without
qualification, and therefore perpetual in
its nature, reply that for me to have
given such pledge would convict me of
a folly not in accordance with my we'll
known business methods, Neither Gen.
Chipley, if alive, Col Dickinson nor Mr..
Smith, who were present at the interview
in my office, to which you allude, would
1 am sure, be willing to say that my gift
of five hundred dollars a month was any
thing more than one of grace and option,
to be terminated at my pleasure.
As to your complaint that the discon-
tinuance fmy contribution has hampered
you in your work, I do not see how a work
can suffer where no results were being
produced, Nor do 1 see why it was neces-
sary to expend three thousand dollars of
the six thousand amount, or ten dollars a
day, in such work as was done. You
surely must have had, when my contribu-
ton ceased, a considerable part of this
fund for expenses on hand.
In speaking as have of the Northern
contributions, l do not mean to say that
we should reject or spurn any aid from
Northern people. Far from it. l only
meant to say that we should not approach
them, indiscriminately, in the form of
personal appeal and entreaty, as you seem
to have done, There are many men and
women in the North and West who would
consider it a privilege to contribute to the
great Confederate Memorial, and where
this was the case the Offering should be
treasured as much as that from any other
section. But let the main fund come of
the small offerings contributed by the
men and women of the South. Let each
individual have the opportunity to give,
if only mite, to the great monumental
heartoffering. l might be willing to erect
that memorial myself, but what claim
have 1 to monopolize right which be-
of the Southland? AS well might one in
dividual have claimed the right to erect
the nations monument to George Wash
ington at the national capital, to the ex-
clusion of each and every American citi-
zen, as for one, or few individuals in
the South, much less few rich men of
the North claim the right to themselves
erect the memorial which was to honor
Confederate heroes and their achieve
ments as the heart. offering of the South
ern people How would it look for the
Revolutionary patriots and American
people, on the score of poverty, or for
any other reason, to have solicited the
people of England to aid them in erecting
the nation':; monument to George Wash
ington? Would tie spectacle be less
startling which saw the Southern people
appealing to those of the North to help
them, for the same reason, to build
memorial to their heroic dead?
In conclusion, wish to say that what
ever may be the mode adopted by the Con-
federate Memorial Association for collect
ing the one hundred thousand dollars
proposed, my subscription of like amour
is ready to be handed over to them the
moment they are ready to receive it, un-
der the agreement. am not only will
ing but anxious to do my part in the con-
summation of the great memorial project.
and this, too, cheerfully and promptly.
CHARLES b. RoUss.
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