The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-01-25
(By Winfield Jonesl

rather tnan mere Sldlue a. 'h'
capitol is the plan now urgently
proposed to honor the memory OF
Abraham Lincoln. Indications are .
that the fight betwee nthe nation
al highway adherents and those VINO
want a monument erected to Lincoln
at the United States capital will be
a prolonged and bitter one.
Speaker Clark has lent the weight
of his influence and opinion toward
the highway idea. Congress has
authorized an appropriation of 81
100000 to build a permanent memo
rial to the martyred president, nut
the fine arts commission is leaning
toward a memorial in Was
rather than a national highway
The law, in fact, now provides that
the Lincoln statue shall be built in
the District of Columbia, but there
has been such a change of sentimen!
recently that congress may he asked
TO amend the law so that Wash
ingtcn to Gettysburg road may be
built.
President Taft mas assured mem
bers of the Lincoln Highway Memo
rial Association that nothing will
he done until both sides have had
an opportunity to be hea'
Those who favor a national h'
ward named after President Lincoln
point ont that the Washington mon
ument would dwarf any memorial
erected in Washington The memory
of the president of the stormy six
ties. they say with a good deal OF
common sense, deserves more mt
ting and lasting tribute than can be
obtained by the erection of another
statue in Washington. The national
canital is now overrun with statues
70 various heroes Nearly every park
and street corner contains monu-
ment to the memory OF some hero
Of peace or war.
At one end of The Mall stands the
Washington Monument. towering 900
feet high. To place a smaller statue
of Lincoln in this vicinity would
mean that the latter would be
dwarred and it is not deemed wise
that there should be such differ
ence between the memorial to the
man who made the union possible
and the man who had most to do
with preserving it.
lust at the foot of the capitol and
the entrance to the Mall there is
now in course of construction mon
ument to General Grant. In way
this is an an imposing piece of mar
| bic and stone, but it does not stand
out in the bold relief given the mon'
ument to Washington. The Lincoln
| Highway Memorial Association will
fight to see that the memorial to
! Lincoln is at least one that may IA
| yorablv be compared to that of the
| Father of His Country"
AT present" says Speaker Clark
"the law restricts the location OF
| the memorial to the City of Wash
| ington. There are several sites
suggested here, but if the law car
: be changed so that the memoria
may go outside the District of Col
umbia | am in favor of the Gettys
8 burg road plan. This would be 8
mon lment that would endure forever
and It would be a credit to the entire
nation. Tourists coming to Wash
ingtor would journey over it.
think that it would be peculiarly
appropriate to /rect a memoria
of this character extending from
the capital of the nation to the
battlefield of Gettysburg"
Another plan. which is also regard
ed fayorably, in event the statue
idea may he abandoned is TO erec
great memorial bridge across the
Potomac river. This bridge, senti
mentally speaking, would be con
Meeting link between the North anC
South now united Still another plal
is to build a national roadway from
! Washington to Richmond. Virginia
= the capital of the Southern Confed
eracy. This road. too, would have
I almost as deep a significance az
the highway from Washington to &c,
tysburg. the battlefield where thu
J long struggle between the Nortl
/ and the South was virtually decided
and where the future preservation
of the union was assured.
II \ delegation of the Washington Il
Gettysburg road came to the whit.
house recently to urge Presiden
Taft to use his influence for a Lin
i colin memorial out of tha ordina ",