The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-26
ALABAMA'S CHOICE.
pr. Curry Among the Favorite Sons of
 the State.

New York Tribune.
 Alabama has just acded to the col lection of favorite sons-and since Miss Willard's advent. perhaps one ought to say daughters-who grace Saturday Hall. in Washington, in the national capitol, a beautifully execut- ed effigy of Dr. J. L. M. Curry. an ad- opted son of Alabama, a native of Georgia. and man who won fame as a Confederate officer and later as Statesman, educator and author. The Curry statue. which is of heroic size was executed by Dante Sodini. an Italian sculptor. and depicts the Alaba- ma man in the, conventional garb of modern times. being one of compara- lively few thus shown.
 At the instance of Senator Merrill of vermont. the chamber in which. in the early history of the republic, the House of Representatives held It's sessions was in 1864 designated as "Statuary Hall" and each State was invited to send for its adornmeny the effigies of two of her chosen sons in marble or bronze. to be permanently placed there" Most of the States have com piled with the invitation. with the re- suit that here now grace the hall ef- figies of men whose combined biogra- phies would tell the history of the na- tion.
 From time to time there has been discussion, chiefly in the press, of the permissibility of admitting this, that or the other statue selected by a State but the sentiment has always prevail ed that here were no conditions at tached to the invitation extended by Congress and that it @as only proper to permit each State to determine who should represent it in this hall of A
 Marquette to represent her in Statuary Hall there was an outcry from the now defunct A. P. A, but little heed was paid to 1t. and when. four years ago, West Virginia sent to Washington the statue of John E. kenna, some ques- ton was raised as to whether it was permissible to give place to the eff figy of man who had ,aKen an active part In the war against the Union but 1t was then deciceu that no valid objection would lie, provided the citi- zens selecte~ by a state held title to distinction based on other qualities than his record in the army of the Confederacy.
 Dr. Curry played q more important part In the Confederate army than did Mr. Kenna. AlahamA's favorite son was . lieutenant colonel in tine Confederate cavalry. and an aid on the staffs of Generals Joseph Wheeler and Joseph F. Johnston. but after the war he made q notable record as statesman dfplo- mant, educator and scholar abundant ly demonstrating his rI2nt to the title which Alabama has placed on the pe- destal of his statue, "Statesman Edu- cator, Patriot, orator"
 During the thirty and thirty seventh Congresses h" was a menhnr of the House of Representatives He was appointed by President Cleveland Minister to Spain and served at Madrid with distinction, ana after his return to this country in 1hSR. took a prorni- nent part in educational and philan- thropic work, besides being the au- thor of several religious and other works. He disbursed, as trustee, d con siderable part of the Peabody Educa- tional Fund and was president of more than one Southern educational instt- tuition. He died in 1903, being then in his seventy ninth year.
 The handsome marble @tatuc of pr. aCurry has been placed m good com
 Any in Statuary Hall At his right