Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-02-19

work dns TO : long suspension Of activities owing
to. laeh OF funds. The whole project Of providing
!. what IL accounted the nations monument to
Warrington was . long.drawn-out Undertaking,
!; but this seeming hardness Of action has been
satoned for by the beauty Of the structure, which
has few rivals in height save some Of the newer
\ alyscrapers In New York, and which is SO jeal-
ously guarded by q proud people that congress
not 30 very long ago felt compelled to refuse
the request Of the navy department that permits
sion be granted to establish q wireless telegraph
station at the top Of the monument, as has been
done on the Eiffel Tower In Paris. 54s.-sg44
sl@ The project to provide 70 tribute TO George
Warrington Ut the seat Of government dates from
the year 1885, when the Continental congress
voted sto erect an equestrian statue and, oddly
enough, selected for. its site the very location
that 10 now occupied by the national monument.
However the project progressed no further and
there was no further action until Washington
died at the end Of the century, when congress
passed another resolution for "a monument-this
Il bill providing for testimonial in marble or
granite beneath which should fepose the remains
Of the nations greatest hero. Here, however, the
4 widow Of General Washington interposed with
her very natural preference that the body should
rest at mount Vernon, and accordingly the whole
project again lapsed until 1923. when number
of patriotic citizens Of Washington formed an or
ganization known as the Washington Monument
association and undertook to revive interest In
the undertaking. t#s b
s& The scheme was to provide funds by popular
subscription for erecting q monument and, this
canvass was pursued more or less energetically,
but 1t was not until 1s48. when total of $4,000
had been collected that the offcials of the or
ganization considered that the funds in hand
justified the commencement Of actual work The
cornerst was laid with due ceremony and the
work went forward for some years, but additional
subscriptions did not come in at a very lively
rate and finally work had to be suspended for
lack Of funds. Thus the partially completed
obelisk-a stump" Of monument 1t was termed
stood during all the years intervening between
1883 and 1880 until congress finally took up the
matter and appropriated funds to finish the
gigantic shaft. 8 3sss5855
ing money to carry out the work already started.
The United States army engineers who were put
in charge when the national legislature took
hand in the matter speedily discovered that the
original foundation provided for tho monument
was hopelessly inadequate, considering the height
and weight OF the mass which 1t WIS proposed
to place on it. Thereupon they set about a
mighty ticklish engineering project-nothing
less than the provision Of a new or rather an
enlarged foundation for the monument. N, OF
course the perplexing part OF 1t was that the
new foundation had to be slipped under the
great mass Of stone az 1t stood, for, naturally.
and money in tearing down the monument and
re-erecting 1t. TN;
Ell The engineers dug out at the corners and
sides of the monument much as they dared
! Of the old foundation. meanwhile supporting the
partially undermined structure by means OF
beams and braces of various kinds. All the
stone thus removed was replaced with concrete
and the concrete foundation was also extended in
every direction beyond the base lines Of the