Imperial Valley press., 1922-01-17
LEE MEMORIAL ROAD Is AN
INTERESTING STORY
Famous General Was Greatly Inter-
ested in Fine Highways; Appropri-
ate Significance Conceded by Those
Who Know His Loyalty

WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. IT.
Fifty-two years ago at Lexington.
Virginia, General Robert E. Lee died,
loved by Southerners' in a degree
amounting almost to religious ador-
alton and accorded place among the
greatest by intelligent public opinion
abroad. In many Southern cities
statutes have been erected to per-
petuate his fame. A better memorial
is Washington and Lee University at
Lexington, Virginia, of which from
the autumn of 1865 to his death in
1870 he was president. Nothing COM
mensurate with the greatness of Lee
and the grandeur and nobility of his
character, however, has as yet been
done. 1t is fortunate that nothing
adequate has been attempted for it
took the perspective of time to enable
the North to realize that, paradoxical
as it may seem, no man has rendered
greater service and probably no one
has rendered a contribution to the
national unity equalling that of Lee
For, from Appomatox to the end, he
placed his life on the altar Of his
country. While other Southern lead
ers sat apart, or even expatiated
themselves, he threw an almost sup
Crhuman power of leadership into the
task Of rebuilding the South into the
life of the nation. Nothing finer was
ever said than his counsel to a
Southern mother: "Recollect that we
form one country now. Lay aside all
bitterness and make your sons Amer
leans" Thus, by his example and
counsel he set the South on the course
that led straight to the results shown
in the Spanish and in the World War,
and in union that has forgotten the
existence of "Masnos and Dixons"
line. Had some great memorial, to
Lee been attempted at an earlier
stage, it would have been sectional,
not national; now, however, the
whole nation knows not only his sup
erlative military genius and the
strength and nobility of his charac-
ter, but also that when the call came
he was found building sound and for
all time the structure of the union.
Consequently the nation can now
unite in creating Lee Memorial that
will be fitting and worthy, both Of
the world-character whose name and
inspiration are to be transmitted to
posterity, and of the. nation that
serves itself when it honors it's great
est. sons.
The Logical Form of 1t
The form that this memorial is to
take is that of a highway. Logically
so because this was the form Of the
greatest of the Lincoln memorials and
because, in America, the really great
things exist not singly, but in pairs,
each the counterpart of the other.
There are two great oceans that set
bounds to our national domain. There
are two mighty mountain ranges that
give character and climate to the
continent, that fix the course of
streams and the lines of transporta-
tion and thus determine history, the
Appalachian in the east and the Rocky
in the west. There are two great men
that stood prominent in an important
era of our national life, Abraham
Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. 1t is fit
ting, therefore, that there be similtr
memorials to bear to posterity the
name, the fame and the inspiration
Of these two great Americans, two
highways spanning the continent,
from New York to San Francisco, the
one throug the land of Lincoln, the
other through the land of Lee, and
at the two together, encircling the
ional domain, should bind together
nth and South, Feast and West in
the bond of an indissoluble union.
Trocod <D Twn Courcoc