Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-05-22
Erected atthe
! rationale Capital and
DediCatedtoO urBous
WhofIaveFought,S SUI
fered and Given Their
Lives for The Freedom
Of the World.

sEzsruEEzzrTN EN- of IT and '76! The men OF l9l'
"a AZ have maintained the legacy left by
ENSE the men of 1776, and have paid the
~ = debt incurred. The odd coincidence
E@%ESTWS1T in numbers stands as the symbol OF
Sss1zs a real bond.
SEMzzz&a@ washington borrowed of France the
men and the money that saved the day for the
freedom of the colonies. Wilson sent back 10
France the men and the money that saved the gay
for the freedom Of the nations. We repaid La
fayette with Pershing.
There is a universal eagerness to build a nttlng
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 an ~insistent demand for one great natonai
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
a lasting value and a dignity of usefulness as wen
as 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 were made of steel barrels a mile
high, would convey the message. An imperial arch
would imply nothing more than a gateway Tor con-
Nuerors and would act simply as an obstruction
TO traffic.
The right memorial must be a temple, a temple
If architectural grandeur, a museum for statues,
7usts, tablets, archives and interesting relics, a
Mace of daily resort, and a meeting place for
4 ational gatherings.
1t is an amazing fact that Washington-the seat
of our national government, the center OF world
activity. the mecca of congresses-has no large and
dignihed meeting place, no convention hall of any
dimensions.
The memorial described will therefore meet a
pressing need.
What ideal should this memorial most wildly
express? OF what religion should the temple be?
Surely, the religion of freedom, of democracy, of
equality, and of opportunity.
It should express the triumph of the ideals of
Washington and the founders of this Republic as
those ideals have spread through the world and
united in the recent bloody victory over the spirit
of autocracy. t
By strange good fortune these ideals can be i'm
mediately 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 a sum in cash, which he
disposed Of as an endowment to the university
now known as Washington and Lee; the other a
number Of stock certificates valued then at $4,000.
4The 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
Mo heoueathed lost It's value and the dying wish of
+be father of his country seemed likely to remain
forever untulflled.
Recently q 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 a university.
PIT the country had now fully blossomed with
universities, every state having its own. Mrs.
Henry f. Dimock, sister Of William G. Whitney,
who rs secretary of the navy won the title Of
4Tother of the New American Navy" was elected
nresident Of the association.
with characteristic energy, Mrs. Dimockh has set
ohout the accomplishment of the ideal. A national
COMMITTEE. including eminent men and women from
nj sections of the country, has been formed and
nearly half a million dollars already collected. in
addition to a 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
ent covered in part by temporary buildings OF the
war department. This is almost the only desirable
.s,ta remaining unoccupied in Washington.
a competition in designs for the building was
participated in by a dozen Of the foremost Amer