The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-20
HEPBURN GIVEN
 A SHARP ANSWER. Congressman Glass of Virginia
 Defends Character of Lee STATUE THERE BY RIGHT
MT. Glass Says That Virginia Will Not Present Resolution on Statue To Congress But Let Mat
 ter Alone.
BY PATTERSON sTEALEY.

Is
 Washington, January (special) In answer to the Hepburn resolution calling upon the Secretary of the Treas ury for information as to the closing of the custom house in Newport News, Va, today it is understood that the Secretary will state that today is a legal holiday in Virginia and it is the uniform practice of the departemnt to grant requests for the closing of any custom house on state holidays when 1t does not interfere with public business Senator Hepburn may then make the most of it, and any bloody shirt waving oratory against General Lee by him viii be all the more inexcusable.
 Representative Carter Glass of Vir- ginia, today announced that Virginia would not submit the customary reso- lution for the acceptance of the Lee statue. His letter which will be read with interest all over the south is ad- dressed to w. G. Evans of the Virginia Polytechnic institute and is as follows: T beg to express my appreciation of your letter of January II, approving what I said about the Lee statue. Had known my letter to MT. Tinsley would be published, I would have been a It.
 
 statues of eminent men are placed in Statuary hall gives each state the right to make its own selection with out the aid of any other state. The law itself does not contemplate public parade or ceremony. Representatives in Congress from some of the states have, however, made formal presentation of statues, while other states have simply com piled with the letter of the law and placed their statues in statuary hall without ceremony. In the case of Gen. eral Lee, whose fame canont be added to or diminished by anything that may be said or done here, few Grand Army camps have protested to northern con gressmen against permitting the statue of the Confederate general to be placed in Stat a-y hall take the posi- ton that. since the issue has been raised by these rnalignants, Virginia does not have to ask, and should not ask, northern congressmen to permit Lees statue to be put in the hall. As a sovereign state Virginia, exercising her right under the law, has selected George Washington and Robert E. Lee as her two most representative citizens, and his placed cir images in Statuary hall.
 "These statues are there by right and not by permission. They have been there, conspicuously placed, for four months; and are attracting more attention than all the other statues combined. All the bitter resolutions of all the Grand Army camps in America cannot get them out and I am, individually and as a repre- sentative of Virginia in Congress, opposed to any formal presentation which might sanction the idea that Congress has any right to reject either one or both of Vir- ginias statues.
 Frankly, do not think Congress would assume to reject or decline to accept, but the point l make is that Congress has no lawful right to do either under the federal statute which authorized Virginia to select and place these statues in Stat uary hall. The only thing that formal and unnecessary presentation would ac- complish would bo to disclose just how many northern congressman there are who fail to appreciate the greatness of General Lee as man and soldier 1 think there are precious few and I would not like to furnish an opportunity to any one of these obscure and vindic-. i've individuals to asperse the memory of General Lee.
 .As have said. the law under which Virginia acted did not contemplate any review by Congress. Had it been desir- able to make parade over the installa- lion of the statues of Washington and Lee. the Virginia commission designated by the general assembly. might have or dered a ceremonial celebration in Stat uary hall such as some states have. where such persons, southerners anr northerners, as might have desired to pay voluntary tribute to the genius and heroiism of virginia's greatest men might have assembled without discordant note to mar the occasion. But the Virginia commission last spring. unanimously voted not to have any public ceremonies and I make no question of the wisdom and good taste of this decision
 .syjrrinta's statues are in Statuary hall They will remain there; but, whether they were there or not, the eminence and the fame of the two patriots whom they represent so pervade the civilized world as to make them secure for all time. It seems to me that this is enough