Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1922-05-30
His Statue In Marble

| Inc most important object IN the
| memorial is the statue OF Lincoln III
marble. by Daniel Chester French.
New York sculptor. placed in the CEN
trail hall where. by virtue of its i'm
posing position in the place of honor.
| il predominates all else. The statue
Is colossal in size and yet distinctive
ly personal. 1t represents Lincoln.
seated, in a thoughtful mood. and is
The first thing that meets the eye as
one passes through the immense col
onnaded entrance. Smaller halls. one
at either side of the central hall, con-
| tain monumental tablets in which
deeply inclsed letters reproduce word
FOR word. Lincoln's Gettysburg adj
| dress On the left wall and the address
made by him at his second Inaugural
ton on the right wall. Above these
are two large mural paintings by
Jules Guerln, New York artist, one
typifying Emancipation" and the
other typifying Reunion" Their
| production occupied three years time.
| ~utS uittSNHt NOAoh6dOS
Surrounding the exterior of the
walls inclosing these memorials is a
magnificent colonnade forming a SYM
tCl of the union. each column repre-
senting one of the &C states existing
at the time of Lincoln's death. On
the outer walls above the collonade
and supported at intervals by eagles
are As festoons. one for each state
existing at the present time.
The movement for the construction
of the memorial was begun in 1902
and in 1910 the late Senator Shelby
NJ. COLON, of Illinois,. a friend of Lin
coin, introduced in the Senate the bill
for its erection. The bill was ap-
proved by Congress February 3, 1911
The law created commission and
named as its members William H.
Taft, Shelby NJ. COLON, Joseph G
Cannon, George Peabody Wetmore
Samuel Walker Mccall, fernando d.
Money and Champ Clark.
! Site Chosen BY Commission
! The commission was authorized to
procure and determine upon a loca-
ton, plan and design for a monument
or memorial in Washington The aid
of the government commission OF Fine
Arts was invoked in the selection OF
the site and plans. On the 105th an
niversary of Lincoln's birth, February
II. 1914. the late former Senator JOS
cph c. S. Blackburn. then resident
commissioner of the memorial COM
mission and who was a Southern Off
Ger during the Civil War, broke
ground for the memorial. saying as he
Ibid so:
This memorial will show that Lin
coin is now regarded as the greatest
of all Americans and that he is SO
held by the South as well as North
The cornerstone was laid on Lin
,coln's birthday, in 1915, without cere-
monies. Among the articles placed
; within the stone was history of Lin
caln. signed by his living son, Robert
T. Lincoln. The building of the me-
mortal was somewhat delayed during
the AOTlI war anu It's CONSTRUCTOR,
which was expected to be completed
! in three years time, has taken about
six years.
Memorial Bridge. Maybe
memorial bridge across the Poto-
mac river from a point nearby the
Lincoln Memorial and extending TO
the Arlington National Cemetery is
contemplated in the plans as well as
a boat landing on the river directly
east of the memorial
Temporary buildings erected in
Potomac Park for war purposes and
occupied by the Navy Department
have encroached upon the memorial
grounds as planned by the commits
sion of fine arts. which declares:
Until the buildings are removed
the memorial will be dwarfed and
made of small importance, and the de-
velopment of the landscape features
upon which the memorial depends for
effectiveness will be made impos sible
The continuation of the buildings
works sacrilege to the memory of