The Carlisle independent., 1910-03-10


 ton. The rear admiral was hero of the unfortunate Ieannette expedition which was led by De Long nearly 30 years ago. It was Rear Admiral Mel vile, then an engineer officer of much lower rank, who commanded one of the three whale-boats when the ex- petition retreated. It was due to his care, foresight and selfsacrifice that the boat was saved and his crew came out alive. while the crews of the oth- CT boats all went down to their death.
 Melville found himself finally with his boats crew on the storm-swept barrens in the northern part of Si- beria There 1t was that the crew rested and recuperated as well as 1t could in the midst of great priFations, for some time, and then led by Mel vile the men found their way back over hundreds of miles and succeed ed in recovering the records of the Jeannette's journey.
 Congress promoted Melville for his great work, and the fact that he was an engineer officer, holding a commis- sion in the staff, did not prevent his receiving signal honor. The engi- neer today has the rank of rear ad- miral.
 It was in the Fifty-f1rst congress that the senate naval committee, in reporting the bill for Melvilles pro- motion, said:
 ''In view of such record the com mittee feels that the proposed promo tion so long after the deeds which 1t is intended to recompense Is an act of tardy justice and hardly adequate" The promotion was given in "recogni- tion of his meritorious services in suc- cessfully directing the party under his command after the wreck of the Arc tic exploring steamer Jeanette, and of his persistent effort, through dan- ger and through hardships, to find and assist his commanding officer, and other members of the expedition, be- fore he himself was out of peril"
 It has been proposed to give Peary gold medal and the thanks of con- gress. It should be said that Mel vile was given a gold medal in addi tion to his promotion.
 National ValhalIa Wanted.
 A movement is gathering force in Washington to establish a real na- tional Valhalla. There have been so many adverse criticisms of the stat ues of the great ones which are now in the keeping of Memorial hall, the old room of the house of representa- lives In the capitol, that it may be in the future a separate building will be provided or great room set aside in one of the existing buildings. in which the statues sent by the states as memorials to their famous dead may be placed in a proper set ting
 Representative Mann of Illinois has called the present statuary hall in the capitol "a hall of horrors" Another member of congress says that he al ways shuts his eyes when he walks through the hall where the statues of the great are placed. Men who make no pretense to possessing artistic in- stinct say that they are affected pain fully wLen they look on the marble and bronze memorials in this hall of fame. Artists, also, many of them without any prejudice in favor of this sculptor or that sculptor, say that the collection of statues Is little more than grotesque.
 Some of the figures in Memorial hall are of heroic size, while others appear to be dwarfed by their proximity to the others and to give the impression that the men whom they represent were absolute physical pigmies. Some of the statues are of men who died comparatively recently and of neces- sity they are represented in the mod ern garb, and there is nothing in a frock coat and pair of trousers to give enthusiasm or an imaginative chance to the artist It is an invidious task to point out the differences, artistic and otherwise, between some of these me morials in this hall of the capitol It can be said, however, that only few of the states are in any way worthily represented in an artistic sense and 1t Is not going too far to say that some of the states have picked out men for honor who certainly were not their greatest citizens.
 One ventures to be bold, and to pick out Illinois. The great prairie state claims both Lincoln and Grant. and yet neither one of these men are rep resented in Memorial hall as a son of the state There is bronze figure of Gen. Shields, fine soldier and a good deal of statesman, but sadly enough nine people out of ten who look at the figure of the soldier have to be told who he was, and the guides are in large measure the sole authorities on tue subject in the capitol. The oth- CT memorial which Illinois has put in the hall is a statue of Francis E. Will lard, the great apostle of temperance. Miss Willard's memory Is worthy of honor anywhere, but even her friends in life and those who remember her lovingly and tenderly. do not go so far as to claim that she should have pre-empted the place which might have been given to Abraham Lincoln or