Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-27
Interrupted by Laughter.

project planned by the House ana
stirred up lot of agitation for the river
side proposition.
Mr.. Speaker" said Mr. Mccall, there
| is a difference of opinion about the char
| acter of a memorial which should be
erected to abraham Lincoln, and also as
to it's location. but there is no difference
| of opinion whatever as to the propriety
| of making the 18th of February. 1909. d
| legal holiday So we reported this resO-
/ luton which should pass at once. in
order that a proclamation may imme-
diately be issued.
Does Not Wonder at Confusion.
! Il do not wonder gentlemen are some
what confused account of the multi
! tude of protests, so called, that have
been printed in the newspapers against
a scheme which does not exist There Is
a great advantage in not knowing any
thing about ones subject, because one
/ is not hampered by facts. but can give
| free rein to his imagination: and these
various protests that have been recently
printed from architects throughout the
/ country are not directed to anything
pending in the House of Representatives.
| During last May the committee on the
library reported a bill for q memorial to
Lincoln which contemplated doubling
the size of the Capitol grounds, some
thing that is very desirable because of
the fact that the long axis of the grounds
is too short and needed also to give the
appropriate entrance to the Capitol; and
we believed that somewhere on that forty
acres of land the resources of American
art might be equal to devising and build
ing some appropriate memorial to Abra-,
ham Lincoln. This bill was reported last
May, and public attention was directed
to it in the newspapers of the country.
There was ample opportunity for the de-
velopment of Indignation then, but none
came. There was no ripple of Indignation
seen during the summer or fall.
Decide to Become Indignant.
"On a sudden, during a single week
in January. seven months afterward, so
cieties of architects in widely separated
parts of the country-in Boston and Sc
attic, in New York and New Orleans-all
decided to become indignant at the same
time. This would be curious psyche
logical phenomenon If gentlemen had not
had some experience. When you hnd
that Indignation has been triumphantly
repressed during seven months, and 1t
then comes from everywhere all at once
you know that somebody has pressed
button and that is simply what has been
done in this case. The man who pressed
the button did not know anything about
the subject and he communicated his
ignorance to the rest OF the country.
MIR. Speaker, as l have said there are
three or more propositions for memorials
to Lincoln. One is by the construction of
a road to Gettysburg; another is a me
mortal upon a location down below the
Washington Monument, and almost under
it's shadow, the Potomac, and still an
other is upon the location to which have
called the attention of the House. The
location on the Potomac river is one thai
| appears in the so-called 'Burnham plan
for the artistic development of Washing
ton. and undoubtedly in the scheme Of
that park it is location fitted to some
admira BILE work. When it is question of
| =, nf Unrk n art n a civ an
location that is one thing, and the opi1-
ion of artists upon it is of very great
value; but when they come and say the
| place shall be to Lincoln. or to any other
particular statesman that is d question
that appeals to the historical imagination,
of which the artist has no monopoly.
Regarded as Important.
There is something I think important
to bring to the attention of the House
and the country. which may somewhat
| surprise some gentlemen who are 81
simultaneously and unanimously defending
| the Burnham plan, and that is a cable
| gram received some days ago from gen
| tleman to whom my friend from Illinois
/ alluded-Mr. Burnham. one of the great
! architects of the world-a man who prob
Il ably more carefully than any other archi-
4 tect, has made a study of the question
\ how to beautify Washington-a man
/ whose own name is imperishaby iden:i-
] fled with the plan TO which l have al
luded."
Mr. Mccall then read the Burnham
cableSram.
d That is signed by d. II. Burnham,
" Mr. Mccall resumed, and | commend ii
=. to the attention of some of our archi-
tectural brethren as bearing upon the
: question whether that por ion of the city
: is susceptible of artistic treatment.
What Committee Has Done.
Now, Mr.. Speaker the committee on
!. library has not recommended a peri
II style: they have not recommended an
: arch nor any other form of art any
e location except in the most general way
" but they believe when this necessary
>, extension of the Capitol grounds is made
:. when We provide for proper approac CT
- of the nation to it's Capitol. the artists
20 of the country may be able to erect upon
~ some portion Of ii suitable memorial
- to Lincoln. But We are willing to avail
, ourselves of any new. light and none
certainly has been shed by the angry
:. denunciation of some of the architects
a The so-called Burnham plan shows
memorial to Lincoln near the banks o1
,s the Potomac. The same place might alsc
ar be devoted to some other great char
a acter Why it might be asked, should
i Lincoln be fronting the south? He hat
=, no designs upon the south; he was SUI
in premely IL friend of the south. He /:
" almost the one man among the anti
IS slavery men who in all that controverS,
~ said no bitter word about the masters
l. but who recognized the burden of the in
IS heritance of slavery which they had re
st ceived from past generations, and who's
desire it was to break the chains tina