Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-05-15

( washington borrowed Oh FRANCE uAe
men and the money that saved the day for the
freedom of the colonies. Wilson sent back to
France the men and the money that saved the day
for the freedom of the nations. We repaid La
fayette with Pershing. II
There is universal eagerness to build a fitting
memorial to the heroes of the war of wars. Monu-
ments will spring up all over the United States to
individual men, officers and organizations. But
there is insistent demand for great national
+ memorial
The only place for it is, Of course, the capital of
the country, and Washington has been and will be
in a large sense the capital of the world.
No memorial will be appropriate which has not
lasting value and dignity of usefulness as well
beauty and splendor. No statue or group of
statues could be reared which would express what
this memorial must express. No column of melted
cannon, though it made of steel barrels mile
high, would convey the message. An imperial arch
would imply nothing more than a gateway for con-
querors and would act simply Us obstruction
to traffic
The right memorial must be temple, a temple
of architectural grandeur, a museum for statues,
busts tablets archives and interesting relics,
place of daily resort, and meeting place for
J national gatherings.
1t is an amazing fact that Washington-the seat
Of our national government the center of world
activity, the Of congresses no large and
dignified meeting place, convention hall of any
dimensions.
The memorial described will therefore meet
pressing need.
What ideal should this memorial most wildly
express? OF what religion should the temple be?
a Surely the religion of freedom, of democracy, of
equality, and Of opportunity.
1t should express the triumph of the ideals Of
Washington and the founders of this Republic as
those ideals have spread through the worlds and
united in the recent bloody victory the spirit
Of autocracy.
BY strange good fortune these ideals can be i'm
mediatey realized. Construction can begin at once.
Since George Washington would accept no money
for his services to the nation two gifts were voted
to him, one consisting of sum in cash, which he
disposed Of as endowment to the university
now known as Washington and Lee; the other a
number Of stock certificates valued then at $25 600
The latter amount he set aside in his will to be
used as a cumulative fund for the diffusion of
knowledge In the vicissitudes of time the stock
he bequeathed lost its value and the dying wish of
the father of his country seemed likely to remain
forever unfulflled.
Recently movement was set on foot to fulfill
the wish The George Washington Memorial asso-
citation was formed and various projects were adj
yanced among them the foundation of university
But the country had fully blossomed with
universities, every state having its own. Mrs.
Henry +. Dimock, sister of William 9. Whitney,
who as secretary of the navy won the title of
Father of the New American Navy" was elected
president of the association.
With characteristic energy, Mrs. Dimock has set
about the acconplishmen of the ideal. A national
committee, including eminent men and women from
all sections of the country, has been formed and
nearly half a million dollars already collected in
addition to still larger amount pledged.
The association has procured from congress the
grant of an ideal tract Of land which was formerly
occupied by the Pennsylvania station, and at pres
emit covered in part by temporary buildings of the
war department. This is almost the only desirable
. site remaining unoccupied in Washington.
A competition in designs for the building was
participated in hy a dozen Of the foremost Amer