Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-19

that will make all the welkins of Wash
ingtOn clamorouS.
The whole celebration has its origin in
an appropriation OF 100000 by Congress
for the erection of a monument to Co
lumbus. There has long been feeling
that the discoverer of America had not
been adequately honored. that there
should be a monument to him in the ma
TONS capital. This feeling took shape
when, in 1906, Representative Joseph A.
Goulden of New York introduced a bill
apprOpriating the stated amount of money
for Columbus memorial. 1t was that
year reported lavorably by the committee
on the library and was the following
year passed. 1t was March 4, 1907, that
President Roosevelt signed the bill that
made the money finally available.
The bill itself provided commission
for its carrying out. Under its provisions
the chairmen of the House and Senate
committees on the library, together with
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of
War and the supreme knight of the
knights of Columbus, should compose the
commission. Elihu Root was then Score
tary of State and William H. Taft was
Secretary of War. The latter gentleman
was made chairman of the commission
and 1T soon got down to business
Great sculptors at home and abroad
were asked to submit designs for the
memorial. In the end that of dorado
1aIt. the Chicago sculptor who has been
landing so many big commissions of late
was awarded this one, and it is from his
models that the memorial is being built
The structure is a combina ton of the
three ideas-a fountain. a statue and a
memorial. The lap of the fountain is to-
ward the Capitol. Back of It towers an
immense granite shaft. This shaft is sur
mounted by huge globe. upon which is
carved in detail the western hemisphere
At each corner of the shaft and support
ing the globe are heroic eagles.
The memorial stands with its back to
the station and facing the Capitol. The
prov OF ship, partakng of the charac-
teristics Of those built in the time of Co
lumbus. protrudes itself into the foun-
tain. This ship has the figure of a wom-
an at its prov. The figure here portrayed
is that OF Inspiration. 1t is that of the
goddess which led the discoverer on
There is the idea OF bearing onward in its
every curve.
The artists conception of Columbus is
regarded as particularly happy 1t is
morning. The commander of the first
ship to cross the Atlantic has just walked
from his cabin for first look at the hori-
zon. The date is October Il, 1892 The
occasion is the most hugely historic of all
the occurrences of a thousand years
Columbus steps from his cabin There
is behind him a lifetime of battling for n
theory that he has worked out There is
the striving for backing that he might
make try to the west. There are the
visits to the courts of many monarchs
the currying of favor of many courtiers.
the night-long arguments with doubling
men Of science who refuse to believe that
the world is round. There is the final
support of the good Queen Isabella and
the getting under way for the great west
There is muttering, discomfort, mutiny
aboard ship. Finally the fateful dawn
cabin. He sights the land. America Is
seen for the first time by the eyes of the
European.
-
This is the moment at which the sculp-
tor catches the figure OF the discoverer.
Columbus, In the mind of dorado Taft,
the artist, is In the attitude of discovery.
AS the discoverer looked out on America
for the first time so does the heroic
representation OF him look out upon the
very heart OF that America, the Capitol
building in the Capital city OF the United
States.
On one side of the great granite shaft
sits a figure of Indian, typical of
aboriginal America. On the other side
sits a bearded Anglo-Saxon patriarch.
Huge lions crouch at either wing of
the structure. It's back bears the medal
lion of Ferdinand and Isabella
tknA -