Bisbee daily review., 1914-01-23
ARTISTS ID FOLLOW ENGINEERS IN WORK
 OM PANAMA CANAL
Decorations for the Huge
 Waterway Are Considered by Commission of Fine Arts

sNolONs Jdl. Ai.-NlNu tut digging nearly done. and the fortifi. cations well under way, the decora. tion of the Panama Canal Is a sub ject of renewed attention. abused particularly by the suggestion from France that the early work of Fer dinand De Iesseps. the French eng iDeer. be commemorated by a statue of him at some conspicuous point on the canal. This is but one of many ideas, however, and the whole ques- ton of establishment of the water way 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 beau tifying the waterway. One proposi- tion is for collosal pillars at the out ermost points of the Atlantic and Pa cihc entrances, surmounted by stat ues of heroic proportions of Colum- bus, Balboa, and others whose names have been indelibly connected with the discovery of America and the develop ment of the canal. Another proposal has been for state to Senator John Morgan of Alabama. one of the pio- neers in this country for Isthmian canal construction. De Lesseps, by the way, has not altogether been for gotten for the house which he once occupied at Cristobal is still pre- served. In front Of 1t stands small monument 10 CnristoPnei CV,u....',.- The government Commission o Fine Arts, made up of many of the leading sculptors and architects of th' country, has already studied the prob lem of beautifying the canal, but iti report which is awaiting action b, Congress has only one specific pro posal for a commemorative mor1 ment. This is presented as follows.
 "The Commission of Fine Arts be lieves that e memorial record of tn building of the canal should be mad in the form of an impressive instriI ton upon great monument snrfac at some point of prominence. and careful examination of the whol length of the canal led to the choic of the east wall at the point of dcci est cut 492 feet, at the continents dicide. While the size and design this monument should be the result careful study we are inclined to b slieve that 1t should be approximate 100 feet in height and somewhat mol in width; that it should be sever" simple in design; that the letta;'r should be done in Roman ' .NSp' letters and that the material shO1 be concrete applied as a massive fs ing to the irregularly r1Cturai tfi rock at the cliff. We strongly fecol mend this and regard it as oha
 the most important matters 10
 considered. We suggest alsu the r' snility of marking tte iighast roi of canal excava'isn on d HIl ! mediately over the pr, ,'+'i in'c' i'm, with somo form nf m"ndi q This should be o,liered earefu by the designer of the principal m' ument.
 This report. which Is based on sonal inspection of the canal zone Daniel c. French, the sculptor, a Frederick Law Olmstead, the Ia scape gardener. suggests that any ther ornamentation of the waterN should be undertaken only after ious consideration, bearing in m that the outstanding feature 'of
 canal Is utility rather than ado ment.
 "The canal" the report adds, " the pyramids or some imposing
 feet in natural scenery is impress from it's scale and simplicity and rectness. One feels that anyth done merely for the purpose or Dc tifying it would not only fail to
 complish that purpose, but would an impertinence. In such work
 most that the artists could hope do would be to aid in selecting, as
 tween alternative forms of sub italy equal value from the engin
 ing point of view, those which
 likely to prove most agreeable
 appropriate in appearance"
 If the foundation difficulties
 not too serious, the report sugg
 it might be advisable to erect
 ument in the form of a light-h'
 specially designed for the purpos