Mexico Missouri message., 1910-03-03


Jeannette's journey.
Congress promoted Melville for his
great work. and the fact that he was
an engineer officer, holding a commits |
sion in the staff, did not prevent his |
receiving signal honor. The engi- |
neer to-day has the rank of rear ad- |
miral
1t was in the Fifty-first congress
that the senate naval committee, in |
the bill for Melville's pro-
motion, said:
an view of such q record the COM
mittee feels that the proposed promo
tion so long after the deeds which it
is intended to recompense is an act of
tardy justice and hardly adequate"
The promotion was given in "recogni-
ton of his meritorious services in sue
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"
1t has been proposed to give Peary
a gold medal and the thanks of con-
gress. 1t should be said that Mel.
vile was given a gold medal in add.
ton to his promotion.
National ValhalIa Wanted.
A movement is gathering force in
Washington to establish a real ma
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-
tives in the capitol, that it may be
in the future a separate building
Will be provided or a 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 Wien 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 Gwarfed 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 1t is an invidious task to
point out the differences, artistic and
otherwise, between some of these me-
MORALS in this hall of the capitol. 1t
can be said, however, that only few
of the states are in any way worthily
represented in an artistic sense and II
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
i yet neither one of these men are rep
resented in Memorial hall as a son oil
the state. There Is bronze figure OF
Gen, Shields, fine soldier and good
deal of a statesman, but sadly enough
nine people out of ten who look al
the figure of the soldier have to be
told who he was, and the guides are
in large measure the sole authorities
on the subject in the capitol. The 9th
er memorial which Illinois has put II
the hall is a statue of Francis E. VIII
lard, the great apostle of temperance
Miss Wizards memory is worthy o.
honor anywhere, but even her friend!
in life and those who remember he
lovingly and tenderly, do not go 81
far as to claim that she should have
pre-empted the place which might hav,
| been given to Abraham Lincoln o.
Ulysses S. Grant.
Recently Idaho put into the hall
statue of one Of its great sons, Shoup
1t is figure of heroic size, but it 4
{ to be doubted If this son of the ives
} looking down from his window II
heaven will smile with anything Xix
, appreciation upon the statue which 1
supposed to represent him as he was
| There are other figures in the hal
/. which are of towering and command
+ ing size all too big for the room 4
/, which they are placed. On the othe
: hand, take one of the statues whic
Texas has put in the hall as a memo
! rial to Houston. The figure OF thi
[ man, who in public mind was cast i
J. natures heroic mold, is small and del
> cate. Unquesuonably It is work Q
a art hut Il looks, overshadoWed as IL