The Washington times., 1901-06-30
4 PARADISE FOR VANDALS.
The National Capital a Favorite
Field for Relic Hunters.
The Congressional Library and the
Corcoran Gallery Particularly
Inviting - Buildings Carefully
watched-Mount Vernon spotters.

Nearly every tourist who visits Wash
fngton wants TO take away a souvenir.
Souvenir store in the National Capital
are plentiful, but your true souvenir hun
ter wants something that he has culled
himself BY preference he viii hammer,
hew, or slice il off from some monument
or landmark That is why il costs Uncle
Sam a young fortune TO guard his treas
ures of history. wonder, and beauty.
Whatever public building you enter,
your cane umbrella, or whatever you
may have that would make 4 good ham
rer, is taken from you and checked; and
at the Congressional Library and Corco-
kran Art Gallery you are watched very
closely lest you might get an opportunity
to use your heels These two places are
particularly enticing TO the vandal, with
all their statuary and carved marble
Unfortunately. the Washington Monu
nent has not been so well guarded, con-
sequently If IS badly SCARED by the dep
relations of the souvenir fiends. Inside 1t
Is very dim in spots, the light being sup
piled by an occasional incandescent lamp,
along the stairway 1t is in this atmos-
phere that vandalism fourishes.
Like white squares amid the blacks OF
a huge checker board stand the memorial
ION at the time of the Monument erec-
tion, and, by the societies and o-ganiza-
ttons of the country wishing their names
20 be immortalized at the National Capt.
tai. There are more than l5o Of these.
and many of them are in distressful
condition of mutilation.
Missing heads, arms, legs, and drapery,
from the statuary, bear eloquent witness
70 the appreciation OF visitors who were
m fayorabIy impressed with the Monu-
nent that they couldn't tear themselves
away without taking something with them
20 remember il by. Just exactly what
uaIue. real or sentimental, the left ear
lobe of the Goddess of Prosperity, for in
stance, can have for any person Is hard
far a sane man to understand. Somebody
got IL, however
Most of the slabs presented by the
states bear simply names and dates in
large bold letters that defy umbrellas and
the Ike. and these remain untouched.
save By pencils that mark their owners
names, only TO have their traces washed
of on the n -xt cleaning day. But of the
delicate carving there is little left. The
bandsomest slab. though one Of the small
est. measuring 3x5 feet. is that presented
nv the American Medical Association, rep
resenting a group OF the fathers of medi-
cine IL is about midway up the Monu-
r,ent, about where the climbers rest, and
about four feet from the hoor-a conYen-
tent reach. Hence the condition of the
figures, two headless and three armless.
Two landings above is a slab represent
ing locomotive The locomotive looks as
~ II hAd got the worst Of a collision. The
souvenir hunter did it. Not far away is a
large slab occupying the centre of one
-taI for a height of six feet. In its pres
ant condition II would do for puzzle pic
ere. Before the enthusiastic tourists got
st IL with their umbrellas and canes it
representsd q fire engine of the old type.
A volunteer fire department of some city
yresenued it. Probably the name Of the
city is In some old record. 1t isn't on the
slab Once it was, but the souvenir
.barks got it. One thing that they haven't