Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Washington was watching with in
terest the progress on the work at the
Washington Monument
monument half q century ago and
Growing. specializing on the length
quired for its completion. The Star Of
June 81, 1881, says:
To-day this imposing looking and
rapidly growing structure reached a
height of exactly 200 feet. OF this ele-
vation about 30 feet have been added
since work began upon it last Spring.
1t Is thought that not less than 80
feet and possibly as much as Is feet
more will be added before operations
are suspended next Winter. The latter
figure can easily be reached, with fair
weather and no bad luck, If the marble
is furnished rapidly enough. That it
will be Is by no means certain, however.
as it is not always supplied as fast as
the workmen can handle it. with the
new and improved machinery for hoist
ing, etc, now in use. Each course con-
sists of layer of stone precisely two
feet thick, which Is to be the thickness
of all the courses from the foundation
to the top. The stones are not, how
ever, all of one length or breadth. They
vary in these dimensions in order to
break joints and bind the work as
firmly as possible: but they are all as
long and wide as they can be procured,
as the more massive the stone the more
secure and lasting the structure will be.
The ultimate height of the Monument
is to be $50 feet, which will make 1t
considerably the highest artificial OBJ
ject in the world at the present time,
and the highest. it is believed, ever con-
Structed by man. 1t Is thought that
the whole shaft will be completed In
three years more time"
This estimate of the time necessary
for the completion of the Monument
proved to be sound, for the shaft was
dedicated on the 22d of February, 1885.
y X
The recent unwilling in the Capitol
Of the statue of Jefferson Davis gives
Jefferson Davis 70 Ss'' the following flowing
as a Historian. Star .. June %, 1881 !:
MFR. Jefferson Davis is paying the
penalty of writing a book. The critics
are tearing his history to tatters, and
the severest comments upon his work
come from the ex-Confederates. The
Southern side of the war is being fought
over again on paper in consequence OF
Mr. Davis structures upon some OF the
leading generals on that side. The pas"
sions engendered by the rebellion have
so far died out that the people of the
country now feel interested in getting
at the truth of history. and 1t is only
in this light that the Davis book and
the controversies over 1t attract atten-
ton. Confederate official records were
very incomplete, and 1t Is only from the
papers held by and the recollections OF
the chief actors on that side that the
missing links can be supplied. The
honor of having been Lees favorite
general has been awarded to perhaps
no less than score Of men who fought
under the rebel commander. 1t has
been easy to claim distinction as q
Confederate and to assert the claim fol
the reason that there were no RECORDS
Of regiments and commands TO either
establish or refute it, as is the case VIII
the Union Army"
X X
"The Bell telephone Is not to be left
much longer in the enjoyment OF Its
existing monopoly" says
Bell Phone The Star Of June 81
Has Rival. Invented hSSs By n Prof s'i Dot.
bear Of Tufts College, Mass, possesse;
anything like the merits claimed for 1t
Dolbcar's invention is described as be-
| ing very simple, consisting Of nothing
more than the apparatus usually en-
| ployed In medical application of cleo
| tricity-a battery connected with an in
duction coil. The receiver is one OF the
extremities of the telegraph wire, COM
ing from the induction coil. The Dol
bear invention has been tested with
highly satisfactory results, showing
that it works over long lines OF wire
with great ease and facility, the sounds