Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-15
TO HONOR D|SCOVERER
Commission Will Discuss Site of
Columbus Memorial. :
PROPOSED GATE TO CITY
No Work Here Worthy the Fame OF
the Great Sailor.
OBJECT OF ACT OF CONGRESS
Measure Passed Largely Through the
Efforts Of the Knights Bearing the
Name Of the Great Genoese.
OBJECT OF ACT OF CONGRESS
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
| Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
| Herald
Several monuments are to be erected II
Washington during the next few years.
committee appointed for that purpose II
trying to agree upon design for an eques
trian statue of Sheridan; the money has
been raised for statues to John Wither'
spoon and Henry w. Longfellow; monu'
ment to BARN Steuben is to occupy tne
northwestern corner of Lafayette Square
and on the closing night of the late SEES
sion of Congress an appropriation OF sloo'
600 was made for a memorial to Cnrlsto
pher Columbus. committee CONSISTING
of Secretary Root, Secretary Taft, ex-sen'
ator Wetmore of Rhode Island, ex-Repre-
sentative McCleary of Minnesota. now sec
| ond assistant postmaster general, and Ed
ward L. Hearn of Boston, Mass. supreme
knight of the Order of the Knights of Co
lumbus, will meet in Washington Saturday
| May 10, to select site and take steps to
| obtain models.
Knights Of Columbus.
| The bill for this appropriation was IN
| troduced in Congress and pushed through
by the energy of Representative Joseph
A. Goulden of Fordham, N. Y. at the sug-
gestion of the knights of Columbus, lay
of the E Street Baptist Church. near 9th
I recently purchased the old but ding and lot
of the Street Baptist Church near 9th
street northwest, and remodeled it for a
| club house The order is strongly repre-
sented in this city, Mr.. Francis P. Sheehy.
| the lawyer, being the state deputy Tor the
| District.
| The order was founded at New Haven
| in 1882 by the Rev. Father Michael McGiv-
| ney, James T. Mullen, who was elected the
| first supreme knight, and other Cathohc
| laymen, and has developed SO rapid y that
| there are now 1852 names on the roll
/ of members, scattered in every state OF
| the Union, in Canada, Mexico and the Phil
ippine Islands. 1t is now proposed to make
it international, and organize lodges in
| Europe.
The objects of the order are social liter
airy and philanthropie. 1t has an insur-
Haven, and $3.50 policies outstanding
among it's members. secured by reserve
fund of more than 100000: in New York.
| Philadelphia. Chicago, Washington and
work of various kinds. and not long ago
| when the Catholic University at Wash
ington was in financial trouble, the knights
| raised generous fund for its benefit. 1t
has no restrictions and can engage In
any movement for the promotion of the in
| terests of the Roman Catholic church and
the welfare of mankind.
| 1t took the name of the discoverer OF
| America because he was an ideal pioneer
and Catholic, and 1t seemed fitting to its
| members that there should be some appro.
pirate memorial at the capital of this ma
ton to the man who discovered America.
Columbian Memorials Here.
The only reminders we have of Columbus
| at present are a bust in the main vestibule
of the White House, the origin of and au.
thorship of which have been forgotten
| and marble group on the eastern portico
Of the Capitol. The latter was carved In
| Italy by Signor Persico in 1916; it cost
$4,000, and was the first piece of statuary
| purchased by the government of the United
States. 1t represents Columbus clad in
he was a sailor. He stands in dramatic
posture, holding a,oft in his right hand a
small globe upon which is carved the
word .Americ ca nude Indian girl
Several bills have been introduced into
| Congress from time to time, and occa-
| sionally have passed one house or the
| other providing for the erection of a suit
| vival on the 4OOth anniversary of the dis
| covery, bill ipassed the Senate for an
appropriate memorial to be erected on the
| grounds of the Botanic Gardens, at the
| foot of Capitol Hill, but its passage was
defeated by controversy over. the loca-
ton. There was a strong pull and a
| long pull on the part of the inhabita
| of 10th street for an arch on that broad
| highway at the boundary. Other people
| wanted 1t at the crest of the hill on 16tf
| street; other citizens who took an interest
| in the matter held different views, and, az
is often the case. too many cooks spoil
that broth.
The memorial bill which passed on the
morning of the 4th of March, 1907, give.
| the committee named full authority to Sc
lect site and suitable design and tt
contract for and superintend the construc
! ton of said memorial" The knights O.
Columbus having inspired and promoted
| the movement, will, of course, have
voice in the location and are represented
on the committee by their chief executive
Several plans have been proposed. TIL,
| one which has been most strongly urge
| and which appeals to many people al
appropriate is to erect a monumental arcl
on Delaware avenue between the Capito
and the new union railway station. Of
design harmoniZing with the architecture
of both. 1t would be sort of gateway t.
the city
Many Statues of Columbus.
1t is rather strange that no monumen
has ever been erected to Columbus il
Washington. although it is still NOR
strange that we have none to Grant an,
no appropriate memorial to Lincoln. Blu
1t is nevertheless a fact that the eff1g,
of The Admiral of the Indies has beel
painted and carved more often, perhaps
than that of any other man except tn
Savior of mankind. The world is re
minded of its obligations to him by NOR
monuments than have been reared to tn
honor of any other hero of history. Their
are no less than Twenty-Five statues an,
monuments to Columbus in America alone
there are six in Spain and seven in Italy
The other nations of Europe have thus ia
neglected to pay tribute to his memory
because, perhaps, they had no associa
! lions with his career.
There are influmeruble portraits Of Co
lumbus representing the ideals of various
artists more or. less famous but we can
not safely claim that any of these are gen
uine. Although Columbus twice mentioned
In his Voluminous will that he was a natiy,
Of Genoa, a dozen places still claim the hono
of his birth and at least three offer plausi
BILE evidence. Nothing is certain about hi
parentage, and his age is a subject of seri
| Gus dispute. The same doubt encircfes hi,
burial. His remains now rest in two places
In the ancient cathedral at Santo Domingo
and in that of Seville, where, under {
beautiful monument by Arthur Mel.da, re
poses the lead casket which was removed
from the Cathedral of Havana at the tim,
| when the Spanlards evacuated C,Iha