Evening star., 1901-10-23
THE MEMORIAL ARCH.
Washington Rather Than Canton Was
McKfnley's Home.

HoIcs
From the New York Tribune.
Grief at the loss of the President has
set various minds in different parts of the
Union at work on the problem of a monu-
ment foundation for public usefulness
has been suggested, but the monument that
appears to have found most favor is a
triumphal arch. There is talk of raising
a fund for that purpose in Chicago, while
a committee is reported from Canton, Ohio,
which is already soliciting subscriptions
for an arch to decorate McKinley's home.
1t is we'll that funds should be collected
at once but not at present for a specific
monument in a stated locality. People who
are genuinely eager to honor Mcniniey's
memory should give for a monument to be
erected wherever it will seem best to COM
petent judges acceptable to the various
committee who collect the funds, not for
the side purpose of ornamenting Canton or
adding to the few good pieces of sculpture
in New York Chicago. In Canton
triumphal arch would be about as aLpro-
pirate as museum in the Mohave Desert.
Mckinley had relations with Cpicago or
Boston or Philadelphia or New York, cities
which have the necessary population to
warrant triumphal arches; but no fair
claim on monument to President McKin-
ley, none at least to national mnIument
of the scope suggested There is only one
city in the Union where such arch
would be fitting, and that is Washington.
Washington rather than Canton has been
the home of Mckinley, owing to his long
service in Congress prior to his election
to the presidency. 1t is the scene of his
triumphs as of his labors, so that mis- monu-
ment should be there by virtue Of historical
necessity. while Canton may we'll 3e con-
tent with some modest memorial setting
forth that it can claim him her most
illustrious son. The case Of Grant was diff
hnno Nnv Vnr1y s,,- .L0y--
expressed in unmistakable terms. There is
| little doubt that if such a question had
been put to Mckinley he would have IN
dcated Washington as the place for any
grand memorial the country might wish
to erect after his death. Indeed. &. may
be safely prophesied that the country at
large will not respond to appeals for cen
tributionS II the monument Is to be b ir-
| led amid the rustic charms of Canton.
At Washington there are several places
not Ill adapted to a memorial arch. One
| Is the proposed monumental bridge across
| the Potomac, which will furnish three or
four chances for the erection of triumphal
arches as parts of the whole. Among the
designs made for that bridge were classic
| suggestions into which such arches would
| fit. One of them might be popular ex-
| preston Of the feeling of the nation for
| the third President who has fallen at his
post while performing his part in the gov
! ernment of the country to the best of his
ability with malice toward none" Wash
| ington, Lincoln, Garfield and Mckinley
| might be commemorated by four arches in
as many chief piers Of the bridge, those in
| honor of three Presidents remaining as a
| testimony and a warning that the people
| which chooses it's chief Magistrate cannot
| be frightened by the threats of fanatics
| into anarchy on the one hand OF into tyr
amy on the other.
Honors this scale are the least that
we can offer to our Presidents, exposed
1 as they are by reason of their temporary
| eminence to the peris of assassination at
| the hands of half-crazy creatures like
| Booth, Guiteau and Czolgosz. It will be
| something for them to feel, while exercis-
| ing their high office, that IL they fall they
| win be remembered In stately fashion as
| men who deserved well of the republic.