Evening star., 1933-03-12
it the CAPITOL The
staueh has in he Smiths ian Infifu 1908

oman lnSiIluItOn StHCP lSUO.
completed he pronounced it a most faithful
counterfeit of the man.
In 1884 Lieut.. Levy presented the statue
to the Federal Government but its acceptance
by Congress was withheld for many years. In
ARTS and Artists of the Capitol Of the United
States of America" Charles E. Fairman has
this to say On the subject:
Lieut.. Levy presented this gift by a let
ter cne copy Of which was sent to the Speaker
OF the House of Representatives the other
copy to the Vice President. The letter, upon
being read was in each case referred to the
Library Committee for a report. The report
was favorable and 1t seems to have been the
intention o. Congress to accept the statue, and
the Library Committee practically anticipated
the action of Congress and sent to Mr.. Levy
a letter of thanks for his gift. It appears
that a resolution passed the House accepting
the statue and requesting the concurrence OF
the Senate therein ans that an almost identical
resolution passed the Senate in which the
concurrence Of the House was asked. For
somc reason or other it does not appear that
final action was taken upon either Of these
resolutions, although both branches of the
Congress had practically voted to accept the
gift.
Just why it happened that the statue was
placed in the rotunda when Congress had
voted to place it in the square at the eastern
Is there any definite record, 50 far as has
been found, showing the means by which the
statue was taken from the rotunda and placed
in the grounds Of the Executive Mansion. After
the lapse Of 40 years, Mr.. Jonas p. Levy ad-
dressed letter to the Committee on Public
Buildings and Grounds in relation to this
statue and requested that If it was not the
purpose Of the Government to accept the
statue 1t should be turned over to the heirs
Of Lieut.. Levy. who had presented it to the
Government. The letter was referred to the
Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
and Senator Morrill, presented the report OF
that committee. From this report much in
formation Is obtained. 1t appears that the
statue never was placed in the grounds east
Of the Capitol the location selected by the Con-
gress at the time Of the introduction OF the
resolution of acceptance. resolution was in
troduced February 16. 1885, nearly year after
the statue came into the possession of the Gov
eminent. which throws some light upon the
subject but does not wholly explain how it
happened to be located in the grounds Of the
Executive Mansion. The resolution referred
to is as follows Resolved, That the en-
missioner on the public buildings and public
grounds be directed to remove the bronze statue
. of jefferson from the rotunda to some suitable
place for It's preservation until the final dis
position of it is determined by Congres~.'
Mr.. Fairman also tells us:
There had been from time to time con-
siderable objection to the acceptance of this
statue which, however. never materialized as
bearing the support of majority of the MEM
bers of Congress. One of the objections was
based upon the theory that if Congress de-
sired to have a statue of this distinguished
man (Jefferson) it would be more consistent
with propriety to procure one for themselves
than to be indebted to any person whatever.
At the time that the resolution was introduced
providing for its removal from the rotunda,
one of the members in discussing the question
said that a present ought not be accepted
from any but distinguished source After
being absent from the rotunda for about 40
years the statue returned to the Capitol
and has since been considered valuable ac
cession to the art works of the Capitol"
A FTER the Jefferson statue had been in the
White House grounds for few years. the
bronze lost its luster and became dark, which
caused it to be referred to frequently as the
BLACK Thomas Jefferson"
Thus two statues which formerly stood in
the open, were finally placed where they would
have a minimum Of conSpicuouSnesS-the
washington statue in the old chapel of the
Smithsonian Building and the Jefferson bronze
figure in the rotunda of the Capitol surrounded
by many statues, some of which are not SO
good and some whole lot better.
north windows Of the White House he will be
able to see the statue of Gen. Andrew Jackson,
seventh President of the United States. Many
efforts have been made to have this bronze
work Of Clark Mills removed and even occa-