New-York tribune., 1918-02-24
.reafiue and In
uenfiue Geniu.
Neglected by
Sculptors and
Woman, Appar.
emily, Doesn't
Exist in Coun-
try's Soul

the cry OF the bugle at the Eight
Street crossing. Pulaski sits aloft :,
Thirteenth Street, and Washington {.
on horse at Twtnty-third Street.
Massachusetts Avenue also scorn.
those makers of history who 20 afoot
Scott sits on jaded steed at the Sly.
teenth Street junction. Thomas ride,
a splendid animal at Fourteenth Street
and Sheridan, who. of all, is surely en-.
titled to ride, is astride the one livino
vital animal in the Capital
Borglum smashed the stupid tradition
Of the wooden horse whose belly the
awed populace must view from below,
and has set his horse upon the ground
on Massachusetts Avenue at Sheridan
Square, with Sheridan riding it spirit.
edly. One would think that ali +hs
other statues (Thomas's exceptedl
would be envious of that fbrous ana
nervous vitality.
Mcclellan has but an Indifferent sad.
die on Connecticut Avenue, and Nc.
Pherson sits woodenly on wooden
horse in his own square.
The Gods Grieve
For Jackson Horse
As for Jackson, in Jackson Square.
before the White House, let US weep.
The guidebook libcls the national taste
by asserting this to be .'the most popu.
lar equestrian statue in the capital
The gods grieve. 1t is prcposterous
There is no such animal. That frantic
extravaganza which is almost horse,
Boyhood impressions of King William
on his white steed of miraculous birth.
pictured forever on his hind legs, have
never beer effaced even by the logic Of
maturity which denies that Williams
horse crossed Boyne Water on his rear
legs. And so Jackson's horse forever
rants and ramps hideously in the i'm
agination.
But what is sacred to multitude is
indeed sacred, and laughter gives way
to humility IN the presence of this, the
most obtruslve and the least mcritori-
Gus OF the ration's symbols.
Inc United States showered favor.
upon its heroic Civil War defenders
and the new score of military heroei
Will have to go further afield for point:
or vantage for their memorials Some
OF them will be pictures in war auto
mobiles. maybe, and fttingly so, in
stead of in chain armor or on horse.
FOR II some one can vitalize the auto.
mobile, now embraced by poster art
but not yet by symbolic art, as Borglum
has the horse, true art concept will
rise IN the newer squares and circles
OF Washington when the heroes of the
War for Democracy return.
Greene's equestrian statue sits in
stanton Square, while Slerman's splen.
did memorial rears general and horse
against the sky south of the White
House.
Symbolic Peace
Is Afoot
Turn We then to the naval symbol
Ism OF the national capital Here
STANDS Farragut in his square, not even
aStrlde sea horse, with a marine glass
in his hand, his foot resting on a
ships block and tackle. And John
Barry. commodore, has for allegoricsl
suggestion the prov and fgurehcad of
a ship.
The statue of peace" on Pennsyl-
vanla Avenue is on foot. Perhaps this
way peace comes. Plassman has
dressed Franklin in the diplomatic garb
OF coprtier. Fortunately they did not
compel him to mount. Livelier tradi-
tlons picture him with a loaf of bread
under his arm entering Philadelphia.
The North has assuredly captured
Washington for its symbols. When the
proposal was renewed in Congress last
week to accept the bequest of the late
Mrs johnson (once mistress Of the
White House, of 100000 for the erec-
ton of memorial to President Bu-
chanan. 1t met with a storm of opposi
ton. Buchanan all but betrayed the
Union to the SOUTH" rose the Yankee
cry.
For that matter, softer spirit is
evlnced in Arlington Cemetery, across
the river. where repose the common
dead. There a beautiful memorial
stands for the Confederate slain.
However, if any one is looking for
real argument, It might be said that
better men than Buchanan are left un-
memorlalizcd, whether he faced North
or South
SO much for heroes and individuals
in national symbolism. A goodly COM
pany they, and fit inspiration for the
soldiers and sailors of 1918.
put there are yet other ways of Wis
uallzlng in bronze and marble the as
plratlons OF race. OF a more ale
gorical nature, in tribute to abstract
emotions, are the BartholGi Fountain,
'he memorial to Columbus, with It's
imagery by. dorado Taft; the Lincoln
Emancipation" statue, the Saint-Gsp-
Gems Peace of God" monument in Pock
Greek Cemetery, the beautiful Perry
fountain before the Congressional Ii !.
brary, and the whole interior of the
library itself.
I'll d u r..