The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-13
USEFUL" MEMORIALS.
Argument Against Them and in Favor of
Monuments.

All Of this talk of useful buildings for
memorials comes from misunderstood.
ing Of what a memorial is Nor and why il
should be erected at ALL 1t has been
shown in the foregoing that these memo
rails should not be for the express pur-
pose OF providing some badly needed
building for community; they should
not be primarily a part OF some civic i'm
proyement Of the city or town The first
thing to be remembered is that they
should not be put up at all for the con-
yenience and use of the people Of any
community. They should be erected in
memory Of those who took part in the
greatest struggle for right and justice
the world has ever known.
In addition 10 that they should in some
way express the American ideals for
which we fought. They should not only
be erected in memory OF those who
fought in the war, but they should be
so constructed that TO each generation Of
wborn citizens they shall stand as a
constant reminder of what this republic
means; to keep ever bright the fame Of
patriotism for the land Of the free and
the home Of the brave.
One bright individual speaks of the
many fine Civil war memorials as sheet
iron" memorials and casts a reflection on
many of the beautiful monuments in the
country His great lack % appreciation
of art leaves him a laughing stock TO
those who know, while he himself fails
to see the spirit of patriotism these very
monuments have engendered in the peo-
pie Of this country. No man with brains
would refer TO the Shaw memorial on the
Boston common as a sheet-iron memo
rial. What a silly, incompetent remark
it would be to say that the statue Of the
Minute Man, typifying those brave souls
who fought in the Revolution at the bat
ties of Concord and Lexington--to say
that monument was of the sheet-iron va
riety
Can you behold the statue of the Min
ute Man, the Shaw memorial the Wash.
ngton memorial, the many Lincoln me.
MORALS, the many state memorials on the
battle fields of the Civil war, the soldiers
and sailors monuments in every part of
this country-can you look at any one of
them without feeling that you should
take off your hat, and not have your
heart swell with pride that this country
of yours has produced such brave men
that it has always stood for the rights
and freedom of the weak as we'll as the
strong?
The big lessons of this the greatest
war in all times should be craven in rock
everlasting, in the most conspicuous
places, to make them daily reminder
that these lessons shall never be forgot
ten. Selfish, materialistic, useful, com
mercial ideas about these memorials
seem petty, small and insignificant when
we come to realize just what these me.
MORALS are for.
The man who has made the subject of
memorials a life study knows these
things 1t is a delicate matter for him
to come out himself in the public prints
with such ideas. But there is not re-
tail dealer in the country who is not
closely associated in his locality with
men Of influence who will be glad to 20
to the front and tell the people some OF
these important points. Let me urge
you, when you have read this article
through, to put on your hat, put this
paper under your arm and go at once tc
one of these men. Ask him to read the
article and then give him your own per
sonal ideas. If he is friend of yours
he will write letter to your principal
newspaper to show the false attitude OF
your public And he will do this, not
because you ask him to do it, not be
cause it may possibly bring you som,
business, but because it will bring the
public back to full realization of its
own smallness in the matter, and Caust
them to seek after something in the way
of memorial that shall foster a higher
patriotism and be a memorial in the tru,
sense of the word. The war has taught
us that after all the real things of this
life are the moral and spiritual things
we must not let the public forget thi,
lesson by being materialistic on almost
its first task after the war is over
| Granite. Marble and Bronze,