The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-08
TO RESTORE THE NAME ! OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
After Forty Years It Will Be Replaced Upon Pub- lie Tablet on Cabin John Bridge,
 WaShingt0n.l }

i the interest of history and truth, that tablet should be restored to its original lcondai1ns He has talked the matter I frlendss and quite movement is already ulden way to have the matter brought tup inl Congress in the fall. It may not | tie y{ndalism was unofIicial, an1 a sim pie pgdsr of the Secretary of War might l be su}fci4nt In case the Secretary docs
 not f9el Iikv taking the initiative in suSn Ia delicate matter. the subject will surely llSe Thought Up ln Congress in the faii, : and will undoubtedly be favorably com sidered. While Barrett is :Northerner in blood and sympathy. he is broad minded and generous in his feelings toward the South | and its traditions of both peace and war.
 interests him he does not relax his ef- | forts to accomplish his purpose until nc is .sueeesful. Although born and brought np in New England. he is well known in 1 the South. While working his way | through Dartmouth College, New Hamp- shire. he travelled in 1888 all through the South as a special correspondent ot
 Northern papers. to describe conditions | from a Yankee standpoint, and took course of lectures at Vanderbilt Univer' | sity to come in contact with Southern young men. The late Henry w; Staay .ha, | he Had done more than any other Nor l therner to make New England realize the | true social and political conditions of the against the South.
 Barrett had preferred to give no pub | licity to his interest in the restoration of Jefferson Davis name and hoped to see this justice done to the former Sec retary of War in quiet way, but ur-
 on hearing that his intentions in the mat ter were known and might otherwise be misconstrued, he made the following ! statement My interest in the Cabin John Bridge tablet Is first historical and
 secondly sentimental. The bridge was | AaA nd pleted before the Civil War broke out
 Jefferson Davis, whose administration as
 Secretary of War, was responsible for
 the aaucduct held this important place
 eight years before the re oellion began. | The bridge had no connection whatever
 with the war. and at that time Jefferson
 War for the North as for the South. without reference to later differences. ''The Washington aqueduct in other ! words, was started historically under the I direction of Jefferson Davis and not of l a blank space as the tablet now indi-
 cates. Therefore for historical reasons 1 alone his name should be restored. The | irrevocably belongs and will forever be- | kng, no nnatter what position he held
 later or what feeling there may hayo | existed against him In war times. No tsct uf Eon:.ress order of Government | officials. much less no hand of an ex-
 cited partisan could ever change the sim pie, fact that Jefferson Davis was then
 
 name was on the tablet.
 Viewing the defaced monument in Q sentimental light, what fitting recogni- ftion it would be on the part of the North of the reunited spirit that binds the South and the North in one common teountry, if a Northern government off Ger. Northern Senator, or a Northern Congressman took the initiative in re-
 storing the original lettering! am glad | to say that all Northern men of promin- | ence or influence whose attention I have | n
 pressed the opinion that the tablet should
 be now restored, either by informal
 order of those in charge or by official
 pie to take the step if it were a monu.
 ment directly associated with the issues | of the war. they all agree that neither valid reason for not restoring record
 effaced by private act, and not by any
 record official or authorized order.
 In the North welcome and cheer Gen l Joe Wheeler Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, Gen.
 John E. GC-don: wien we invite Mrs.
 brat,ons of Gen. Grants birthday. and | to festivities of the Legion of Honor, but
 to quiet summer visit up in the heart l of Vermont; when we remember the re- | Apostle of the New South by Boston l and New York. we certainly can join in
 perpetuating a historical truth that can ! not be questioned in fighting a wrong l that had its only inspiration in the mind
 of an excited partisan, and in restoring after forty years a tablet mutilated without official authority. Mir. Barrett believes that the matter should receive early consideration by Congress in order that the restoration | may be accomplished during the lifetime 1 of Mrs. Jefferson Davis. She is far from well at the present time. Mir. aBrrett | has been a guest at the Davis home on | several occasions, and feels sure that 1t
 would be a great joy to Mrs. Davis to | have the name of her husband restored
 to its rightful position on the great | stone bridge. WILL A. PAGE