Arizona republican., 1914-02-05
ID DECORATE
 PANAMA CANAL
Movement is Inaugurated to Erect Some Suitable
 Monument at the En-
 trance to the Big Ditch and Plans Are Advanced
ASSOCIATED PRESS p1sPATcH1

| ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH
 WASHINGTON, Feb 4.-With the 1 digging nearly done, and the fortifica- tions well under way, the decoration of the Panama canal is a subject of re- :, neWed attention, aroused particularly by the suggestion from France that \ the early work of Ferdinand De Les
 seps, the French engineer be comment orated by a statue to him at some con-
 spicuous point on the canal. This is
 but one of many ideas, however, and the whole question of establishment of
 the waterway is still open.
 Artists generally agree with engin-
 eers that the canal is a monument to
 itself, but at the same time there has
 been no lack of suggestion for beauti-
 flying the waterway. One proposition
 is for collosal pillars at the outermost
 points of the Atlantic and Pacific en-
 frances, surmounted by statues of he roic proportions of Columbus, Balboa, and others whose names have been in delibly connected with the discovery of America and the development of the canal. Another proposal has been for a statue to Senator John Morgan of Alabama, one of the pioneers in this
 country for Isthmian canal construc- tion. De Lesseps, by the way has not
 altogether been forgotten for the house which he once occupied at Cristobal is
 still preserved. In front of it stands
 a small monument to Christopher Co., lumbus.
 The government commission of fine
 arts, made up of many of the leading
 sculptors and architects of the country,
 has already studied the problem of
 beautifying the canal, but it's report
 which is awaiting action by congress
 has only one specific proposal for a
 commemorative monument. This is
 presented as follows:
 "The commission of fine arts believes
 that a memorial record of the building
 of the canal should be made in the
 form of an impressive inspection upon
 a great monument surface at some
 point of prominence, and a careful ex-
 animation of the whole length of the
 canal led to the choice of the east wall
 at the point of deepest cut, 492 feet, at
 the continental divide While the size
 and design of this monument should
 be the result of careful study we are
 inclined to believe that it should be ap-
 proximately 100 feet in height and
 somewhat more in width that it
 should be severely simple in design: that the lettering should be done in Roman V-shaped letters and that the material should be concrete applied as a massive facing to the irregularity fractured trap rock of the cliff We strongly recommend this and regard it as one of the most important matter to be considered. We suggest also the possibility of marking the highest point of canal excavation on Gold Hill inn mediately over the proposed inscrip- tior with some form of monument. This should be considered carefully by the designer of the pricipal manument" This report, which is based on per sonal inspection of the canal route by Daniel F. French, the sculptor, and Frederick l.. Olmstead, the landscape gardener, suggests that any further ornamentatiOn of the waterways should be undertaken only after serious con- sideration, bearing in mind that the outstanding feature of the canal is utility rather than adOrnment.
 "The canal' the report adds, Hike the pyramids or some imposing object in natural scenery is impressive from it's scale and simplicity and directness. One feels that anything done merely for the purpose of beautifying it would not only fail to accomplish that pur- pose, hut would be an impertnence. In such a work the most that the ar lists could hope to do would be to aid in selecting, as between alternative forms of substantially equal value from the engineering point of view, those which are likely to prove most agree able and appropriate in appearance" If the foundation difficulties are not too serious, the report suggests it might be advisable to erect monu- ment in the form of a lighthouse spec- tally designed for the purpose at either side of the canal at the Atlantic en- . trance. The report points out that the present aids to navigation in the canal. including lighthouses, small range lights and tripods, all made of rein forced concrete, "are nearly all open to