The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-02-12

WORK ON T. r. MEMORIAL
BEGUN BY COMMITTEE
Contributions and SUGGESTIONS Asked
For Permanent Monument to
Colonel.

New York, Feb. 1.-THE perman-
ent memorial to be erected by nation
wide popular subscription to the
memory of Theodore Roosevelt must
mot be merely thing of stone and
bronze but, like Theodore Roose-
velt himself. it must be dynamic"
Such is the aim voiced by the
Roosevelt Permanent Memorial Ma.
tional Committee, which has opened
Offices n the twenty.ninth floor of ]
Madison avenue.
In statement issued by the COM
mittee it was made clear that the
members of the committee will re-
main open minded for many months
on the exact form TO be taken by the
memorial and promise give all sug-
gestions from sources outside the
committee the most careful consider
alton. IL was further explained that
the administration expenses OF the
committee would be borne by sepa-
rate subscriptions. and that every
penny given for the memorial win be
spent for memorial"
Contributions to the memorial fund
are solicited aud will be nromnfly Z.
knowledged and deposited with the
treasurer, Albert II. Wiggin of the
Chase National Bank.
The statement issued by the COM
mittee says in part:
THE Roosevelt Permanent Memoir
iAl National Committee consists ex-
clusively OF men and women wh5
were In one way or another closely
associated with Col Roosevelt. They
knew him in public life and at home:
they knew better than any one else
outside his immediate family what he
loved and what he hated. what he
stood for and what he stood firmly
against; among them they represent
every phase of his extraordinary and
many-sided career If any group
therefore can say what would be y
wish of Theodore Roosevelt in re-
gard to national memorial to him,
this committee should be able to do
Il.
Theodore Roosevelt believed ia
the people; that means that he be.
lieved in the sound horse sense Of
the average American 1t is ONLY
Just to his memory. therefores that
the American people whom hp inI1
plicitly trusted and who trusted and
followed sbiin should haze every opS
Dorttinity tu4 express their prefer
eiice concernihg, fhe, form that QteiE
memorial to him cshpuldo takes w
The committee has no idea What
that foEmW Wilt be. TJN' knows only
thisnathat theNmenhoFiaI which the
Anierisanppeopk Ultimately dedicate
% Theodore Roosevelt must not be
merely -thlnz' 'of stone and bronze.
tAke Theodore RooseElf himself, it
must be dynamic Roosevelt never
stood stiIl, and It would be 2 ltreasap
10 his spirit IL this memorial should
not have in ii some of the creative
energy of the man 1t seeks to hon0,.
In some way IL must help TO build the
new and better America.
Roosevelt the man is dead, but
Roosevelt the energizing spirit is
very much alive. II is the aim of the
memorial committee, with the aid Of
Col. Roosevelt's friends and support
srs all over the country. to find some
effective way of putting that spirit
to work"
The honor of making the first con.
tribution TO the memorial fund fell TO
Capt. Edward f. Bourke of the Thirty
third precinct police station, who
served under Col Roosevelt when
the latter was Police Commissioner
Of New York city, and who accom-
panied SO contribution with Leg,
ter expressing his appreciation of the
Americanism of the former Presi-
dent
The little town of Greenfield Hill,
three miles north of Fairfield. Conn,
won the distinction of forming the
first local branch of the committee.