The Republican journal., 1921-06-23
What Is Best
EDITOR JOURNAL.

EDITOR JOURNAL.
Dear Sir: A question seems to have
arisen touching the most fitting place for
erecting tablet in memory of those who
fell in the World War; Whether upon a
structure erected entirely for other pur-
poses. in an unsavory locality and ap-
preached by dirty, crooked street,
through surroundings far from being dig
nitied and impressive, and where if one
wished to make examination of the tab
let, they would be obliged to do so in the
dust, danger and discomfort of the high
way: or, whether such tablet should form
a part of a real memorial, erected for that
purpose by voluntary contribution, in
some suitable place in the city, where its
purpose would be understood at glance
and where the inscriptions could be ex-
amined by those VINO wished without dis
comfort, peril or blocking the traffic.
One such spot would seem to be on the
property of the county, southeasterly of
the court house, available and easily
graded and in the vicinity of the Me-
mortal Building which will naturally, at
the regretted fading away OF the Grand
Army of the Republic, become the home
of the American Legion. 1t will be near
the mementoss of other struggles in the
cause OF liberty, and in the shadow of the
structure long since dedicated to the
cause of the furtherance of justice
among men, in the maintenance of the
higher principles of which our heroes
gave up their lives on the soil of France
or it may be that some other fitting place
may be suggested.
No one makes any criticisms concern
ing the intentions of those who happened
to suggest the use of the roadside at the
bridge for the placing of the tablet, as
bridges have in some instances been used
in such manner, but it is fair to assume
shat the conditions in those cases were
such as to render such action proper. All
Undertakings and the improvements made
thereon by mankind, originate from and
by, first suggestions; and the wish of all
is, or should be, that the most fitting
tribute be chosen, and it hardly seems
chat this would be best represented by
vast aggregate of material in the shape
of an ordinary commercial bridge, the
sole object of erecting which was press
ing necessity, and the location enforced
by an unfortunate combination of cir
cumStances.
1T should be borne in mind that while it
a quarter million dollar memorial, and we
should not be deluded or dazzed by rea-
son of the great monetary cost of the
structure, the use of which is proposed,
neither lose sight of the fact that the
simple slab marking the last resting place
of the peasant child conveys usually
more touching impression than the maui
soleum of prince.
IT iS true that some pf the on
the bridge on the side next the tablet
might catch sight of the bronze and
realize its import, while those passing on
the other side would scarcely discern
whether it was a list of heroes or a
roster of those in high places.
In place of an artificial composition,
not free from liability to crumbling and
dislntegTation, would it not be more IN
keeping with the veneratlon we feel for
the memories of those who are sleeping
the last long sleep "neath the peoples in
Flanders fields" that from some of our
quarTieS within the county, simple base
and shaft of natural granite as large as
consistent with the possibilities of trans
J portation be chosen, and erected in its
ashlar state, typifying the rugged New
England character of which we boast, its
rability symbolic of the eternity of
, those principles of humanity for which
| they died, and solely by its majestic SIM
plictty suggesting those sentiments which
arst in the human heart to which the
/ tongue of a Demosthenes must fail to
| give utterance, which the pen of a Mac
aulay could not transcrlbe, nor the genius
or inspiration of Bartholdi express and
perpetuate,
1t would seem that such memorial
would appeal to all in greater degree
than: any structure the sole qualifica ton
of which is cost, and whose use for the
purpose under consideration savors more
of the appearance of cheap show (though
not so intended, rather than of venera-
ton. 1t would especially seem that this
would be the position taken by those
boys of the American Legion who honor
the memories of their comrades who fell
by their side.
Respectfully,
HIRAM P. F'ARROW