Evening star., 1937-04-25

| He present row over lQe llOmaS
Jefferson Memorial throws into sharp
focus the struggle that preceded the
construction of the Lincoln Memo
rial in the then Potomac swamplands.
John Russell Pope, the outstanding
New York architect. who has been
selected by the Thomas jefferson
Memorial Commission. also made de-
signs for the Lincoln Memorial 1t is
said Pope received three 'otes to
the four given the late Henry Bacon
by the Lincoln Commission.
Opponents of the l tomas jefferson
Memorial plan say the Lincoln Com
mission was required to report back
to Congress on its plan, whereas the
present commission was empowered
by law to pick the location, choose
an architect and proceed with con-
struction Of the memorial.
After Lincoln's assassination, prof.
ects were put forward from time to
time to honor the Great Emancipator
with fitting memorial. The NC
MILAN Park Commission of 1901 fixed
the site OF the Lincoln Memorial and
where the Thomas Jefferson Memo
rial is now slated to be built, on the
south side of the Tidal Basin in
Potomac Park, that commission en-
visioned structures of park dimen-
sions.
The genesis of the Lincoln Memo
rial really goes back to the Columbian
Exposition at Chicago in 1898 Daniel
Hudson Burnham was the architect
for that exposition. Bacon, who
represented the New York architec-
tural firm of McKim. Mead & White,
which built the Arlington Memorial
Bridge here in later years, was active
in the Chicago Exposition. Bacon's
work impressed Burnham. McKim
was Charles Follen McKim, eminent
architect who died September IA,
1909. Between Burnham and McKim
a warm friendship grew.
Burnham and McKim were leaders
on the commission of 1901, which
mapped out comprehensive program
of development for the National
Capital and its environs.
In 1910 the National Commission
OF Fine Arts was set up and Burnham
named chairman. Congress, by act
of February 9, 1911, authorized the
construction of the Lincoln Memorial.
President Taft was chairman of the
Lincoln Commission.
Burnham already had in mind the
selection of Bacon as the man fitted
| by thought and experience to execute
the Lincoln Memorial Back in 1901
McKim, Augustus Saint -Gaudens, the
eminent sculptor, and DR.. Charles
Moore, now chairman of the Fine
Arts Commission, plowed through
the deep grass, got the dome of the
Capitol and the Washington Monu-
ment in straight line and drove a
stake in the ground on the banks
OF the Potomac in West Potomac
Park.
Here" they said, "the Lincoln Me-
mortal will be built"
And so it was.
But not without more than a dec
ade OF mulling over the subject-not
without host of schemes being
suggested. One of the principal plans
was that the memorial to Lincoln
should take the form of a highway
to Gettysburg, Pa, the site of one of
the famed Civil War battles and his
own famous address. Opponents OF
this plan, however, sensed a real
estate steal" The late Senator Elihu
Root Is credited with exposing this
| plan.
Representative Joseph G. Cannon
the picturesque Uncle Joe"-had no
love for the 1901 commission. He had
his own ideas on the memorial to
Lincoln, and said that If erected in
the Potomac swamps it would shake
itself to pieces with loneliness and
ague." He secured authority to en-
ploy Pope, who made designs for a
number OF other sites. These were
presented to the Fine Arts Commits
sion, but that body still adhered to
the Bacon plan and the location on
the axis of the Capitol and the Wash
ington Monument.
Among the sites discussed were the
grounds of the Soldiers Home and at
Arlington National Cemetery. The
theory at Arlington was that the
Great Emancipator should rest among
his soldiers of the Civil War.
Francis D. Millet. the noted painter
who was lost on the Titanic, was q
resourceful member of the Fine Arts
Commission. He had a friend who
spoke to Speaker Champ Clark, advis-
ing him that in the days of the
Romans it was customary to place
memorials on the lands of the con-
quered. Cannon had settled On