The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKR. Dlrecsor.
Washington. ID. @.
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON
MEMORIAL.

great memorial auditorium in this city
/ The project is called the George
Washington memorial because it was
started "a years ago for the purpose
of carrying out one of the unfulfilled
provisions of washingtons will. The
war broke into the slowly developing
plans, and afterward the idea of the
double memorial took shape.
Now. plans are going rapidly for
ward. Congress has approved the
project and donated a site in a. central
| location where some of the temporary
| government offices stood during the
war. The corner stone was laid by
few days after the unknown soldier
was honored in the capital. Mrs
! Harding has been made honorary
| president of the George washington
/ Memorial association, and the $1,000
600 necessary to erect the building is
being raised among States and organ
/ izations- Governors of all the states
have Endorsed the plan, and Tennes-
see has authorized a bond issue or
100000 as its share in the fund Con-
struction work will begin next year. II
is hoped.
| Plans for the memorial have been
Improved by the National Commission
on Fine Arts. A model stands in the
hea dquarters of the memorial associa-
ton. 1t shows a four-story, square
building so broad as to appear very
/ low set The material. like most pub
/ lie buildings in Washington VIII pc
white stone. and the usual Greek Ell
/ feet of a colonnade OF pillars is useo
at the front and back
| The central feature of the building
/ is the large auditorium seating 1000
/ with suitable accommodations Ior ma
| tional and international gatherings
| The lofty dome of this auditorium
/ is to be the specific memorial to the
soldiers and sailors and marines OF
| the world war. Each man who fell in
| the war is to be represented by gold
star in the dome. and all others by
blue stars. These 4.SO0.0O0 stars are
/ to be personal memorials because the
/ initials of the men they represent are
| to be on them. and it is planned that
4 by use of q diagram and 11eld glass
/ visitors to the hall will be able to 10
cate the names of their own var
/ heroes.
The dome of stars is expected to
prove of increasing interest with the
! passing of time. In speech at the
| corner stone ceremony, Admiral
Coontz, chief of naval operations, re-
I ferred to the dome of stars as the part
of the project that appealed to him
most.
Can you not imagine" said the
admiral, 'the children, the grandchil-
| dren and the great-grandchildren OF
/ the great war making Washington
mecca to visit, to look for their an
| cestor's star. 1 am a great believer
in tradition, for it is only in the con-
| temptation of great and noble deeds in
| the past that we are led to the same
| in the present and the future.
| Around the auditorium are to be a
| great many rooms, all dedicated to
patriotic and national uses. On the
| first floor there will be smaller meet
ing halls and two museums which will
contain collections of war trophies and
relics. documents, uniforms, guns and
souvenirs of famous mep
/ The second floor is to have large
| banquet hall were state banquets can
be held and distinguished statesmen
entertained. There will also be re-
ception rooms and a long row of
rooms where patriotic societies viii
| establish permanent headquarters
| Such organizations as the Colonial
| Danes. Sons of Veterans, and Daugh-
tiers of 1912 are to make use of the
rooms, and some societies have al
ready set aside funds to furnish ana
I maintain rooms here.
| Above. on the third floor rooms are
to be reserved for each of the states
/ and territories, to be furnished by
] them and used for state societies and
| is arranged in more offices for patrl-
i otto and national societies
a Long Felt Need.
The need for this type of public
/ buildings has long been apparent.
Members of the patriotic societies
come to Washington at times for con-
/ ventions, to promote special leglsla-
| ton, to consult government records,
and TO use the fine genealogical col
lection at the Library of Congress. But
most of the societies have no head
| quarters, no special place where MEM
| bers can get information. or hold
/ meetings. Worst of all, Washington
I lacks a suitable auditorium for meet
/ ings of large. important bodies
| 1t was because a patriotic bu1Iu-
ing" was needed and because II
seemed to fulfill, in spirit at least. the
almost forgotten desire expressed IN
| Washington's will, that the George
! Washington Memorial took this FORM
The first president had long cher
| ished dream of a national university
/ to stimulate high ideals in the youth
of the land. In his last message TO
| congress he urged that BODY to pro-
| mote Institutions for the dissemination
/ of learning In his will he said he re
GREETED that American students should
/ go to other countries to receive higher
! learning and foreign ideas at an i'm
/ questionable age when they should be
| i'm bibins the principles of PATRIOTISM
He expressed an ardent wish that
/ there should be founded a nadonaI
/ university free, as far as reasonable,
from local attachments and state
| prejudices. and he LETT S2o,OOV 10
/ esta bliSh that university
The $4,000 bequest mysteriously
| disa ppeared. some say thru failure
| and reorganization of the Potomac
company in which the bonds were in
vested. 1t has also been said that
the money lapsed back into the es-
tate Attempts of the treasury de-
partment some years ago to trace the
| money were futile. Invested at COM
pound interest. the bequest would now
amount 70 more than 100000, but
/ it has permanently vanished.
Interpreting washington's Wishes
| r-ors-nSs has ar intervals discussed
l the establishment of a national uni
versity. and the tendency now is to-
ward a very learned institution for the
scientists and scholars of the country