Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1910-03-03
Proposed Indian Monument to be
Erected in New York Harbor.


A bill introduced in both Houses of
Congress providing for collosal stat
ute of the North American Indian to
be placed in New York Harbor was
reported in the House on March l.
This measure was introduced by Re-
preventative Joseph A. Goulden and
Senator Chauncey M. Depew, of New
York, and provides that there shall be
erected without expense to the United
States Government, by Rodman Wana-
maker, of New York City, on United
States reservation in the HaEbor of
New York, a memorial to the memory
of the North American Indian. 1t is
further provided that Commission
consisting of the Chairman of the Com
mittee on Library, of the Senate, the
Chairman of the Committee on Lib
ary, of the House, and the -Secretar-
les of State, War, Navy, and Interior,
the Attorney General and Robert O.
Ogden, of New York, shall be created
with full authority to select the site in
the Harbor of New York and a suitable
design, and to contract for and super
intend the construction of the memoir
rial.
This Bill is the result of suggestion
made by Mr.. Rodman Wanamaker, at
a celebrated dinner given last May at
Sherry's, New York, in honor of Col
Cody, the famous Indian. The idea of
erecting statute of an Indian, with
arms outstretched in welcome at the
gateway of the New World met with
such instant enthusiasm, that there is
little doubt, but that the measure will
meet with unanimous support.
While the ways and means of pro-
viding money to finance the enter
prise have not yet been decided upon.
it is expected that the statute will be
National Monument to psrpetuate the
memory of the First American, and an
opportunity will be given to every one
who desires to contribute; it lie eeti-
mated that one penny from every
man, woman, and child In the Uuited
States will furnish ample means for its
erection.
Already various tribes of the Order
of Red Men throughout the United
States have taken steps to contribute
their share to the general fund. 1t is
planned that each of the five hundred
Thousand members of the Order of Red
Men represented in the four thousand
tribes in the United States shall con-
tribute two cents each, which would
amount to $4,000. A pile of copper
cents amounting to $40, 900 is far more
imposing than single check for that
amount donated by some one indivi-
dual to whom it would mean 80 little
The idea of this statute originated
with Mr.. Rodman Wanamaker, of
Philadelphia, during an expedition
made by him in 1908, for the purpose
of studying the Indian on his own
ground. His first impulse was to pre-.
sent the statute to the country, but the
consensus of opinion is that it should
be national gift, and that every child
in the country should be allowed to
contribute one penny in memory of a
race that is fast becoming extinct.
The bill is backed by the entire New
York delegation both in the House and
in the Senate, and is receiving the sup
port of the President, the Vice Presi-
dent, and many prominent men in
political and financial circles. Very
valuable aid is being given to secure
the passage of the Bill by Senators
Owen, of Oklahoma, and Curtis, of
Kansas, and by Representative Car
ter, of Oklahoma, all of whom trace
their ancestry back to the noble Red
Man of the Forest.