The Washington herald., 1912-07-13

! cello interfere with her nght TO have
the United States Government acquire
the home OF Thomas Jefferson. In a
statement which Mrs. Littleton prepared
for The Washington Herald she outlines
her reasons for believing that Congress
man Levy will eventually submit to pub
lie opinion and permit the government
to take over the property. Mrs. Littleton
says:
'Oh, fudge. This talk OF MIR. Levy
about not answering the facts 1 pre-
scented to the Library Senate Committee
is wearisome. 1t was a public hearing
before the Senate Committee to which
Mr.. Levy should have appeared, and
| made these statements which he now
is feeding out to the public through the
press.
| The fact l am a woman does not pre-
vent him doing this-why should II have
prevented him saying IL 10 the Commit
| tee? His lawyer and friend. Judge Duke.
| of Charlottesville, was present, and did
not dispute any facts 1 presented. What
ever facts / offered 1 proved by records
| and photographs 1 did not thrust my
opinions upon Senator Wetmore and MS
| committee. Nor do 1 claim freedom from
opposition because 1 am a woman. There
| is nothing in all such tri1ing little re-
| marks and side issues. Mr.. Levy Is
| trying to scare the Senate and House
| away from further favorable action by
saying he Will not sell Monticello.
People Have Claim.
When the time comes and Mr.. Levy
makes that an issue 1 rather guess that
the people OF the United States VINO feel
they should have some claim upon
Thomas jefferson and his grave-the
Democratic party of which MIR. Levy Is
a member and the entire government
will meet that issue by simply telling
Mr.. Levy that he has got TO sell Mon
ticello.
Mr.. Levy cannot answer the facts
which were presented 10 the committee
by being absent and assuming an air OF
injured innocence. The question Is not
whether not Mr.. Levy properly keeps
up Monticello. The question is this: Is
Mr.. Levy the only human being in the
whole world who should have the right
to enjoy Monticello? Is he the only
human being in the world who should !
have the right Of access to the grave of |
Thomas jefferson? And are the people
Of the United States willing TO let him
retain that right for the purchase price
OF slO.(60 which he paid his relatives TO
get il when they succeeded in breaking
does not like 10 part with Monticello. |
Neither did John Augustine Washington |
like 10 part with Mount Vernon. Neither |
did the Lees like 10 part with Arlington. |
nor did the Jacksons like TO part with |
the Hermitage. But they did so when |
the people Of the United States wished to |
honor these great men by preserving |
their homes and graves as memorials for /
all times and genera tions TO come
Il presented enough letters and reso- !
lutions 70 the committee from patriotic |
people and societies from every State in /
the Union 10 prove that there is a uni |
versal sentiment for the public owner-l
ship of Monticello. ! could hardly carry I
there all the editorials from the press OF
the country.
Risk i. Too Great.
Monticello has no business being lived |
in or used as a summer home by any
body. The risk is too great. II 1t were .
burned up there is no way under heaven |
of bringing II back again. We have no /
Westminster Abbey in America, but We
have Mount Vernon and Monticello-our |
two most precious possessions. And Mon
ticello should be preserved and saved !
from danger and saved from the desecra-
ton of being lived in by anybody. the /
same as Mount Vernon.
After Mr.. Jefterson's death. Month
cello. with all buildings and 21s acres OF
ground, was sold TO DR.. Barclay for |
5000 Later rriah Levy bought it for /
the sum Of $500. I have a copy OF these
deeds He afterward willed 1t 10 the
people OF the United States. but his rela-
tives broke the will and came into pos
session of the place. Mr.. Levy did not
Inherit the home Of Thomas Jefferson,
nor is he related TO him. as so many
people suppose.
About the time they broke the will. /
Jonas Levy. brother of Criah Levy and !.
father OF the present owner of Mr.. JET
ferson's home. wrote a letter TO Wash Il
ington to the Committee on Public L
Buildings and Grounds asking that the
bronze statue OF Thomas Jefferson by
David-presented to the people OF the
United States by Criah Levy in his II
lifetime forty years before, and which
now stands in the Capitol-be restored H
to Uriah Levy's heirs-that meant him
and Mr. Levy and all the rest OF them
with as little delay as possible and in
as good condition as II now appears in. -
But they did not return it. Instead. the
House OF Congress passed another reso-
luton keeping Il
During all the years when the Levys
kept Monticello in the courts trying TO
get possession OF tit almost went to
destruction. That is the reason do not
believe they deserve great credit for
putting on a new roof-and putting in
window panes. 81
Monument for Grave.
During this time of lawsuits and
on the anniversary Of Thomas Jeffer
sons birth. April 10. 1878, Representative
Sunset Cox of New York succeeded in
passing through the House. without a
dissenting voice. a resolution appropriat-
ing 5000 for the erection of a monu-
ment over the grave Of Thomas Jeffer-
son. The grave was in a shameful con-
dition Of neglect and decay, and NOR
tifying to those who know the origin
of our independence. The Secretary of
State, Mr.. Evarts. had gone so far -as
to have contracts for the work ready
to be signed, when the present Mr. Levy
wrote to him and stated that the heirs
Of Thomas Jefferson had no right nor
claim to his grave nor to the grave
yard: that both belonged to the heirs
Of the late owner, Uriah Levy, of Mon
ticello, who objected to the erection of
a monument.
Immediately the Attorney General, OF
The United States, Hon. Charles Devens,
passed upon the title of the burial ground
the grave Of Thomas Jefferson
md declared It did not belong to the
Levys, but to the heirs OF Thomas Jeffer-
son.
Then. on another anniversary of the
birth OF Thomas Jefferson. April 13 1882,
our years later, another resolution was
,assed. appropriating $4,000 to build the
II stands there now. No