Evening star., 1929-06-30
BY CUTzoN BoRGLUM.


should rise at a point exactly mid
Il way between our East and West
coasts. Standing with him in the
eternal granite of the Black Hills ot
south Dakota will also be the heroic
ARures of jefferson, Lincoln and Roose-
Velt the makers and preservers OF the
American Republic.
The work of carving this monument,
originally undertaken by South Dakota.
has now been backed by the Federal
Government and last March President
Coolidge, as one of his final ofhcial acts
aopointed a commission of twelve TO
undertake its direction. The commits
sion, called together by President Hoo
yer, met for the flrst time on June and
completed its organization.
Mount Rushmore, whereon the heads
of our four Presidents are being cut, is
an upthrust of solid granite lying about
SlS miles west of Keystone and about
1000 feet above the valley of that little
mining hamlet. The portraits OF the
four patriots will be more than 200 feet
In height and will be visible for dis
tancs of more than Is miles. The ris-
ing sun will light the group and, until
I O'Clock, all the faces will be in tull
light. At that hour the sun begins tu
drop into the west and only the profiles
are visible, the light lingering. longer
on Washingtons face. which rises lar
above the other figures.
Each Individual Problem.
Each of these four great men. whose
spirits and personalities we shall en-
deavor to express, presents en- mol
vidual problem. Roosevelt the man
seems fairly to have leaped with. life,
to have kidnapped energy and carried II
into the Nations home. Death Itself
had to catch him unaware In moment
of exhaustion. while in sleep. He re-
mains as yet undrawn his spirit is still
at large, uncaptured. by artist OF
sculptor.
But Lincoln, in contrast, walked long
and alone through the quiet nights as
he pondered a Nations illness. In his
contempiative sorrow he has been an
easier subject for the chisel ana the
brush Of the artist.
washington was the victim OF an age
of Georgian wigs and powder, when cold
form and manner chilled the whole
period into a dead, bloodless arrange
Ynent of department and rule. With the
exception of the "Anthenaeum" portrait
by Stuart, there is no record OF him in
art, to my thinking. that shows this SUI
preme, we'll rounded man of the world
as he really was-that displays the we'll
lived, rich life, capable Of unrestraint,
which he confessed, capable Of fun and
hulnor, and filled with human under
standing.
No man in cur ceuntrys history has
furnished the pulpit with so much food
fer virtueus reflection, and no man of
greater human sympathy, charged with
passion and with temper capable of
service when It was needed, has been
bled so white as this same Washington.
With q kind of personal familiarity,
we still call him George. It's less than
four generations since he passed this
way; so short time ago he rode these,
the streets of our National Capital, with
LEnfant and Jefferson. laying out the
crude lines In what was then wilder
ness and what is still today but vii
1age among Americas great cities.
Less than four generations-three
hands might touch. reaching back into
the past. and find his-since he
tFanped these streets, listened to and
teid stories worth hearing, laughed at
the hurnor Of life and did not hesitate
to curse when its hlunders became in
toierabie.
can't imagine that he swore as I
have heard some of our Presidents
swear. Washington's anger was real
honest-to-God anger. And with 1t
came . language accompaniment that
the mules would have needed.
Lashing Of Gen. Lee.
never have heard anything about
Washington that endeared him more to
me than the reported lashing of Gen.
Charles Lee, at Monmouth, when, upon
finding that Lee had failed to push an
advantage against the retfeating Brit
ish, he called him a damned pol
t1oon."
washington had a keen sense of
humor. too, and was capable of real
waggishness. While he was presiding
at the Constitutional Convention some
one proposed that there should never
be q standing army of more than 10000.
He whispered to a member: "Offer a
resolution that no foreign enemy shall
ever invade the United States with
more than 5000"
When he was elected Commander-in-
Chief by the Continental Congress. he
turned to Patrick Henry and whispered:
This will be the commencement OF the
decline of my reputation"
For is years preceding this time he
had led the life Of country gentleman.
He was fond of good horses, owned
and bred them, sported fine livery. was
q good rider himself and rode to the
hounds in the manner and dress OF
the Geofgians OF that day He was
not a famous blade; and shooting. be-
cause Of the flintlock. was not yet a
Ilt1S dIJ, anu GIlC UOIC Wdo bOO BLCdS
for accurate work. But somewhere ]
have read that he could lift 1000
pounds deadweight. Jefferson, a
siighter and thinner man, lifted 800;
and Lincoln, with his feet inches,
never weighing over 178, did the same
These three men were all giants In
height. Washington alone carried
weight that belonged naturally to his
length.
Enjoyed His Leisure.
He enjoyed his leisure, was fond of
sports and q great dancer. 1t is re-
corded that he danced for three hours
on end with the same lady and did not
take q seat during that time. What
sport she must have been!
During the Continental Congress he
was chairman of every committee that
had to do with military matters. When
war did come he became the inevitable
head Of the Colonial Army, His posi-
ton In the early Indian wars and fam
lily ties and friendships explain much
of this. but when the war was over
when the task of framing Constitu-
ton that was to build the separate
States into q union was to be constd-
cred, with so many men held IN esteem
in civil and judicial matters, why was
Washington chosen to preside? This
reason seems very clear. Washington
had become the Arthur in this galaxy
of knights errant. and they all con-
ceded that he had pre-eminently the
selfess interest the task demanded.
Our later histories are trying to in
ject more OF humanity and impulse
into the bloodless pictures of WASH
inEton-to let q little rose color creep
rer the pale engraved cheek.
The fact is that he was too big for
the mass of his time to understand
He lived In dreadful age, an age .!
fYightful ignorance and bigotry the