Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-11
MEMORIALS NEW AND OLD
BY Frederic j. Haskin

MCIlOIldlS W WoiASh VI AAoAo a
twenty-ninth President of the United
States, are being projected by a
group of his admirers. according to
an announcement made by Presi-
! dent Coolidge. 1t is planned to place
a Harding statue in the former
| Presidents home town, and it is X
pected also, that a memorial of diff
ferent type will be erected at the
national capital.
The announcement invites atten-
ton to a remarkable growth in the
fashion of erecting statues and me-
MORALS to great Americans. In the
last ten years there has been a not
| able increase in the raising of grace
full statues or stately edifices to per-
| petuate the fame of men who have
/ performed great public services.
An interesting contrast in the type
and size of memorials today and a
half century 6 is furnished IN
| washington. Not long after the Civil
War, a conflict of magnitude and
great Significance, "a peace Hlonu-
| ment, was erected at the western
, edge of the Capitol grounds. 1t was
regarded at the time as a splendid
memorial. Today this monument
seems of comparatively insignificant
proportions, 1t is a column with a
few figures grouped about its base
and Is so small that one would
scarcely notice 1t in passing We're 1t
not for it's location. 1t may be re-
garded as an interesting measure OF
the increase in wealth of the Amer
lean nation, of it's capabilities for
building and it's taste in monumental
art, that a half century later me-
MORALS connected with the same
event. the Civil War, dwarf the old
Peace Monument into significance.
=
The Lincoln Memorial. built at a
cost of millions; the Grant Memorial;
the great marble amphitheater at Ar
lington; the large marble building,
used as Red Cross headquarters,
which was erected as a nor to
the women of the Civil War, and a
number of other monuments and edl-
fees, all rising out of the national
conflict, are greater than the original
peace monument.
The Washington monument re-
mains the greatest and most impress
sive memorial ever built by the
American people. A new George
Washington memorial auditorium is
TO be erected at Washington n one
is in course Of construction across
the Potomac in historic Alexandria,
The Woodrow Wilson Foundation
has been started, during the life
time of the former President, n II
is expected some great monument
will be erected to Mr.. Wilson.
1t seems that once a nation starts
the fashion of erecting memorials
and statues, it persists in it. This
was true in the days of ancient
Greece, and later, in Rome. Gibbon
the historian Of the Roman empire
asserts that in the time of Constan-
tine, the dead population of Rome
was greater than the living popula'
ton. By this he referred to the facl
that by actual count there were more
statues of men and gods standing
around Rome than there were living
t men, women and children in the
special department the sole duty o
which was to care for the statues
In those days 1t was the custom O.
! n Roman emperor, during his life
time to erect many statues OF him
self.
He also erected statues of his ia
vorite pagan gods.
On the palazzo before the capito
, at Rome stood a statue to represen
! each Roman province. There was al
ancient legend to the effect hat /
a a revolt occurred in any province,
5 bell attached to hat province
statue would ring and warn the Ro
man senate.
a When the Romans conquered
Greece, they brought over some o
the finest statues carved by sucl
famous sculptors as Phydias ant
. Praxiteles and used them to adorl
the Roman palaces. Some centurle
later when Belisarius was defendinl
' the tower of Hadrian against tn
Goths under Vitiges, his men tool
scores of ancient Greek statues the,
g found in the tower and hurled then
down from the battlements upon tn
teseigers.
From the time of Constantine few
= statues were built. The golden age o
c Reno had passed and the
times were oiscouraging 20 the pro
duction of works of art. When tn
r Arch of Constantine was built, stat
QeS were taken lIOil SOhlS VI -
older edifces to adorn it becaus
q there was no living sculptor WI
$ could do work good enough.
The destruction of statues, me
n MORALS and works of art was tire
y mendous throughout the Roman do
minions during the last 500 years 0
the empire. Gibbon says that TIL
Q Christians destroyed more temple
and statues of pagan emperors an
gods than even the barharlans. IN
Christians destroyed chiefly tn
: statues of bronze or other metals
leaving or only defacing the marbi
statues. The reason for this was tina
q the metal in the statues OF bronz
q and such material could be beate
into swords and cast into cannon
whereas the marble statues were no
useful for such purposes. However
many a memorial was broken u
and the pieces used as mere build
ing material for the walls Of house:
e The great Temple of Venus whtc
Z the Emperor Hadrian had built o
the site of the Crucifixion was de
: stroyed by the Christian Empero
Constantine, who used the materia
to erect a Christian church on tina
II holy spot.
Justinian was one Of the lates
builders. Z His capital was at Cor
stantinople and there he built S
: Sophia, completing the work in tn
d incredibly brief period of six years
n He also built twenty-five othe