Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-06
LEADER CONFIDENT
LEGION WILL TAKE
UP K. OF C. OFFER
Site on Mall Near Sixth
Street Suggested for Me-
mortal Building.

| Confident that the American Legion
will accept the 100000 fund offered
| by the Knights Of Columbus with
which to erect a memorial building
| in Washington, Kenneth A. McRae,
| chairman Of the national memorial
| committee of the legion, today said,
the most pressing problem was that
of a site for the edifice, and added
that it had been suggested the legion
might be offered the plot on the Mall
at 9Th street donated by Congress
to the George Washington Memorial
| Association.
No formal offer of the site has been
made by the association. which is
headed by Mrs. Henry f. Dimock, but
Mr.. McRae said that many of his
| fellow officers of the legion hoped
/ that some arrangement could be
! made whereby the site in question
| now controlling the site was or
ganized before the war to erect
building in memory of George WASH
F, ington, but after the armist1ce us
| plans were changed and efforts made
to raise a fund of $1O,000,0O0 for a
war memorial building. of which some
100000 has been collected.
Discussion Is Premature.
discussion of a site is somewhat pre-
mature, for the offer of the Knights of
Columbus has not been formally &C.
cepted, nor can it be until the national
executive committee of the legion meets,
as it will do sometime late this month"
said Mr. McRae, who, in addition to
being chairman of the memorial COM
mittee of the legion, is commander OF
George Washington Post of this city
and is the leading factor in arranging
for the big Armistice day celebration at
the American League Ball Park next
month.
1--WE are so certain that the generous
offer of the knights will be accepted,
however. that the question OF the loca-
ton of the memorial building is upper
most in our minds, and, speaking for my
self there is no spot in the city that mas
the advantage of that on the Mall near
9Th street, where Congress already has
authorized the erection of a memorial
building.
I'm selecting site the legion must
take into consideration both the proper
setting for the memorial, which will
stand for generations to come, and the
future development of the city, which
will either enhance or detract from the
beauty of the structure.
Entitled to Central Location.
Those to whom 1 have talked feel
that the memorial proposed is big
enough and important enough to have
a place near the heart of the National
Capital. 1t should not be put in some
outlying place where those who wish
to visit would have to hunt it up. 1t
should not be so located that in after
years private buildings might en-
croach on it and shut off a proper per-
spective.
Furthermore, it is doubtful if two
large memorial buildings of this type
would be desirable in the city, and
just so soon as the national executive
committee of the legion and the Off
GERS of the knights of Columbus have
come to an understanding about the
large memorial fund the question of
architectural plans and a site will be
taken up. There can be no doubt that
only by motives of high patriotism
and deep reverence for those who died
in the service and to whose memory
we will erect this most fitting tribute"