The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-04
ADDRESS BY JUDGE SENER
Document Presented in Name OF Vlr-
ginia's University.
A MONUMENT TO THOMAS JEFFERSON
Representative Hay and Judge Sener Call at
The State Department to Present the
Document and Secretary Hay
MaktSFitting Respors.
Makes itting Respors :.
CRv the Associated Press }


Washington, July 3.-Representative
Hay of Virginia, called at the State
| Department today in company with
Judge J. d. Sener, of Virginia, and pre-
scented to the department an authenti-
Gated -simile reproduction of the De-
claration of Independence. Judge Sener
is president of the Alumni Association OF
| the University Of Virginia, founded by
Thomas Jefferson, and presented the
document to Secretary Hay in the name
of that institution of learning with an
appropriate speech bringing out the fit
ness of the time chosen for the presen-
| tation-the eve of independence day and
at the close of the 125th year of Ameri-
can independence.
Secretary Hay responded briefly, ex-
pressing the qualification of the de-
partment for the interest in the valuable
present, which was especially timely in
view of the fact that it had recently be-
come necessary, on account of the rapid
deterioration of the ink and parchment
of the original declaration itself, to
withhold it entirely from public exhibit
tion. He said that the gift would be es-
pecially cherished as coming from the
University of Virginia, one of the prin-
cipal monuments of Jefferson's fame, and
one of the institutions dearest to his
heart. The ac-simile bears the sigma
ture of Columbus Delano, Secretary of
the Interior, and NJ. d. Leggett, Com
missioner of Patents, and the following
inscription:
Presented to the Department of
State, of which Thomas Jefferson was
the first secretary, by James B. Sener,
president of the general Alumni Associa-
tion of the University of Virginia at the
close of the one hundred anw twentyfifth
year of American independence, July 8,
1902:
j G.. Sener's remarks We're as follows:
Mr.. Secretary: On this third of
July, 1902, at the close of the one hun
dred and twenty-fifth year of American
independence, the original copy of the
Declaration of Independence, now in
your office, being illegible and not shown
to visitors because of its general bad
condition, / am in your presence as
president of the general Alumni Asso-
citation of the University of Virginia,
and by reason of previously obtained
premsson so to do, to present to the
Department of State, over which you so
worthily preside, a fac-simile photo
litho copy of the Declaration of Inde
pendence. This copy was made more
than a quarter of a century ago whilst
yet it was possible to reproduce it, Mr.
Jefferson was your first predecessor as
prime minister of the United States, and
though he served as Vice President and
President of this great republic, yet in
his old age, when his end was approach
ing, he left the request that if it were
deemed desirable to erect any monu-
ment over him, it should be a simple
obelisk with the inscription:
"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, of the Statute of Religious Free
dom, and Father of the University Of
Virginia.
"The stone over his remains has been
erected with that simple inscription at
| Monticello, where it stands today in
sight of the great university which he
| founded and loved so well.
"It seems to me, Mr.. Secretary, since
the great declaration has faded from
view, that it is peculiarly appropriate
that a fac simile copy of it should be
placed in some big department of this
government, which Mr.. Jefferson did so
much to establish, and to develop, and
of all the departments of the government,
| that of the Department of State, OF
which he was the first secretary, is the
| one wherein such copy should be kept,
| that the people of his own country, as
of the world ,may,if they wish, be enabled
| to look upon a reproduction of that
great original State paper, and as Mr..
| Jefferson regarded the establishment Of
| the University of Virginia as one of the
three greatest accomplishments of his
life it is befitting for the alumni of that
institution, through it's president, to
bring to and present, through this offer
| ing to the State Department of our great
republic, and to ask that it may be ac-
cepted as the university's tribute to it's
great founder and to the republic whose
birth the Declaration of Independence
proclaimed"
j The difference between red headed