Evening star., 1920-06-24

The Lincoln Memorial in Washing
ton is going to have neighbor
Let whoever has shivers of artistic
apprehension at this announcement,
| lest that great work of art be un-
worthily companioned. rest at ease.
For the memorial to John Ericsson to
be erected beside it has the dignity
and beauty that bring it into key
with the majestic Lincoln. and make
IT mt the ensemble that includes the
Elipse. the Washington Monument.
the State. War and Navy building, the
treasury, White House, Corcoran Art
Gallery and it's dignified neighbors,
all the way to that little gem, the
Fan American building.
The Ericsson memorial is to be To-
Gated south of the Lincoln Memorial
at the point where the driveway along
the Potomac river turns into the Lin
coin Memorial circle.
The artist in the case is James Earle
fraser. whose most familiar pieces
are The End of the Trail" the Roose-
Welt bust and the buffalo nickel"
Inc contract was won by him in COM
petition with two other sculptors of
national fame, the judges being
george Gray Barnard and Andrew
oConnor, sculptors; Harvey Corbett.
archltect, and August Franzen and
henry Reuterdahl, painters.
me project took shape soon after
PRESIDENT Wilson was elected. Con-
gress Appropriated $4,000. with the
understanding that the Swedes of
America should raise the rest Then
the war interviewed and action was
delayed. Later. however, the Swedish
societies all over the United States
named committee of fifteen to rep
resent them. and thus raised $4,000.
Then committee of three was
named, consisting of Henry Reuter-
dahl. August Franzen and Costa
Bergquist, the latter an engineer. and
these co-operated with the National
Fine Arts Commission in Washington
OF the memorial. 1t took them one
year to decide upon and secure the
site.
More Than n Tribute.
The memorial will stand for more
than an artistic tribute to one man.
1t will, in fact, be national ex-
preston of the Swedish element Of
the population. Not that the gov
ernment is selecting one group of
oring man who first applied to
navigation the principle of con-
densing steam and returning the
water to the boiler; who invented
the screw propeller, thus revolu-
tionizing navigation: who built for
propelling warship Princeton, that
was the pioneer of modern naval con-
struction, and who built the Monitor.
The Three Inspirations.
The mental attributes of this Swed-
ish-American inventor were, as Mr..
Fraser conceives, vision, adventure,
labor. Vision for the man who, in his
minds eye, saw what had not yet
been. Adventure for the man who
Jared forth into this unknown realm
to bring therefrom new liberties and
capacities for man. And labor for the
man whose day-by-day effort. whose
minute patience cut the road between
him and achievement. These qualities
are represented by three figures
grouped compactly about the Tree
Yggdrasill, the world tree" of Morse
mythology.
The base of the memorial is a cir
cular floor 50x50, upon which are in
laid in bronze the points of the mari
ners compass. Set in the middle of
this is square base, 20x20, which in
it's turn supports a smaller square.
The seated figure of Ericsson is
placed on the larger square, so that
the back of his chair is against the
smaller one, which is indented to ad-
init it. His entire figure is contem-
plative. The elbow of the left arm
rests on the smaller base, but the
hand, which is closed, IS posed against
the body in a way that suggests read
mess for instant action whenever the
mind shall demand it. Around the top
of this smaller base runs the inscrip-
ton: TN appreciation. John Ericsson.
Inventor and Builder of the Monitor:
He Revolutionized Navigation by His
Invention of the Screw Propeller"
Set upon this base is the circular
pedestal from which rise the three
symbolic figures, towering high above
the man whose mind and genius they
typify. The center of the compact
group is the Tree Yggdrasill, which is
stunted, gnarled. massive, as trees of
the far north often are. OF the three
figures, Vision rises directly behind