Part 7

"The committee have become fully impressed with the belief that the present time is not only opportune for Congressional action in the matter, but that the _honor_ of the Nation demands it. * * * "Some question has been made as to the security of the foundations, and the committee caused an examination to be made upon this point. The Chief of Engineers was called upon to detail an officer to make an examination and report. His report is appended hereto, and shows that no perceptible change has taken place since the Monument was raised to its present height. * * *

* * * "An opinion has also obtained some credence that the funds of the Society, though considerably increased from year to year, are absorbed in the payment of sinecures. The committee have had before them _the accounts of the Society from its organization to the present time_. * * * It will there be found that the Society _has no salaried officers connected with it_. Their services have been gratuitous, and they are much to be commended for their faithfulness and their patriotic zeal in this great work. There are less than fourteen thousand dollars, funds of the Society, in the hands of the Treasurer, most of which are invested in interest-bearing securities."

It was estimated that $700,000 would be required to finish the shaft, constructing also a suitable base, and that the work might be completed by the 4th of July, 1876.

The report concluded:

"In considering the question as to what action Congress shall take in this matter, three views are presented: First, Shall the responsibility for the completion of the Monument rest wholly upon the efforts of the Monument Society? Second, Shall Congress assume the entire responsibility, and to that end repeal the charter of the Society? Third, Shall Congress aid the Society by an appropriation, leaving it to continue its efforts to raise funds for the completion of the Monument?

"As to the first, the committee find that the Society has made _every reasonable effort_ to revive public interest and to secure subscriptions, but its efforts have failed and will _continue_ to fail without _some expression of confidence on the part of Congress_ in the form of material aid.

"As to the second view, the committee are unwilling to recommend the disbandment of an association which has already done so much, and is still willing to continue its patriotic efforts to redeem the plighted faith of the Nation.

"The committee have taken the third view--that of recommending an appropriation by Congress and of the continuation of the Society for the purpose of soliciting further subscriptions under the original idea upon which it started." * * *

The present consideration of the report, however, was postponed until the following "Wednesday, at two o'clock," and made a special order. But on the appointed day the committee failed to secure recognition, and not obtaining the floor at any time during the remainder of the session, addressed a letter to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate asking an amendment to the sundry civil appropriation act of $200,000, to be expended as provided in the bill it had reported to the House. But Congress adjourned without action on the report.

At the next session the select committee of the last Congress was reappointed, and on May 1, 1874, submitted a report comprehending its former one, and to which was appended a transcript of the complete accounts of the Society. The report concurred with prior ones in Congress, commending the Society's past management and efforts to erect the Monument.

A report by Lieut. W. L. Marshall, Corps of Engineers, bearing on the sufficiency of the foundations to support the Monument at a height of 600 feet was also submitted as a part of the committee's report, Lieutenant Marshall making his report as a result of a request preferred by the chairman of the select committee to the Chief of Engineers, U.S.A. It was stated by Lieutenant Marshall:

"It seems inadvisable to complete the Washington Monument to the full height of 600 feet. The area covered by its foundations is too small for a structure of the proposed dimensions and weight, causing an excessive pressure upon a soil not wholly incompressible."

And he recommended the height be less than 500 feet.

The committee's report recommended the passage of a joint resolution "that it is the duty of Congress to provide by a sufficient appropriation for the completion of the unfinished Washington Monument, at Washington City, by the 4th of July, 1876, the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence."

The report was ordered printed, and recommitted to the select committee on the Washington Monument. No further action was had on the report before the adjournment of Congress.

Abandoning hope that Congress would aid in the resumption of work on the Monument that it might be under way by the "Centennial year," the Society proceeded to appeal to the country. Mr. Frederick L. Harvey, Sr., was appointed its General Agent, and charged with the execution of a plan he had proposed and which the Society had adopted. This plan was to appeal to all organized bodies and associations in the country to make a "contingent" contribution of funds towards building the Monument, one-half to be payable to the Treasurer of the Society on official advice that the total sum estimated to be required, $500,000, had been subscribed, the balance to become payable in equal installments from six to twelve months later. The interest of the country was to be aroused by frequent articles in the daily press and by lectures. Contributions to be sought also from churches and schools and by placing contribution boxes in the exhibition buildings on the Centennial Exposition grounds, in the City of Philadelphia, when opened.

Mr. Harvey proceeded most actively and energetically to execute the plan. The press of Washington and elsewhere earnestly commended the work and urged contributions.

Rev. Dr. Otis Tiffany, an eloquent pulpit orator, was commissioned to visit the larger cities of the country and deliver an address on the life and character of Washington, and this gentleman spoke in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and other cities, thus helping to awaken public attention to the Monument.

President Grant and his Cabinet attended the lecture in Baltimore, going from Washington.

Between July and September, 1874, over two hundred pledges were received by the Society from organizations in every part of the country, chiefly, however, from the Masonic Order, Odd-Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Red Men, Temperance, and other fraternal bodies. Subscriptions ranged from five to fifty dollars each. Circular letters were prepared and sent directly to the executive officers of all organizations. Interest seemed once more aroused in the completion of the Monument, the contingent subscriptions continuing to be made.

February 22, 1875, the Society adopted an address to the country, which, referring to the plan of contingent contributions payable direct to its Treasurer, continued:

"The result of their first appeal in this direction has been such as to strengthen their faith. * * * The organizations which have been thus far reached have responded with subscriptions which, if generally and promptly emulated in amount by kindred institutions throughout the land, would secure the completion of the structure during the Jubilee Year. Had their recent appeal fallen dead upon the country and yielded no fruits, they would have been inclined to despair of ever reaching success in the great undertaking so long entrusted to their care."

A special letter to the railway and banking corporations embodying the "contingent" plan produced many substantial subscriptions.

In June, 1876, the Society published a further appeal, signed by its officers, U. S. Grant, _ex officio_ President; W. W. Corcoran, First Vice-President; Robert C. Winthrop, Second Vice-President; J. B. H. Smith, Treasurer, and John B. Blake, Secretary, requesting collections in churches and Sunday schools throughout the country on the 2d of July following. This appeal was endorsed and signed by the pastors of the different religious denominations in the City of Washington. Application to the management of the Centennial Exposition to place contribution boxes for the Monument in the Exposition buildings was denied; but permission having been granted by proper authority, boxes were placed in the State buildings on the Exposition grounds in June, 1876. By the prosecution of this plan some $90,000 had been contingently subscribed when the inflow of subscriptions was arrested by unexpected action by Congress in the matter. The "contingent" plan had been one of the most successful the Society had ever pursued, and had given every assurance of final success.

Deferring to the opinion of Lieutenant Marshall the height of the Monument was reduced to 485 feet.

While pursuing its "contingent" plan of contributions, February 3, 1876, the Society appointed a special committee, composed of Rear Admiral Levin M. Powell (chairman), Hon. Walter S. Cox, Dr. John B. Blake, Dr. Charles F. Stansbury, and Fred D. Stuart, to prepare and present to Congress a memorial praying an appropriation in aid of its efforts as a contribution toward completing the Monument.

February 6, 1876, Hon. George F. Edmunds offered in the Senate the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent, agreed to, and referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds:

"_Resolved_, That the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds be, and it is hereby, instructed to inquire into the expediency of making an adequate provision for the speedy completion of the Washington Monument in the City of Washington, and that it have leave to report by bill or otherwise."

February 10, 1876, Mr. Edmunds laid before the Senate a memorial of the Society, presented by its committee, which was read and referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.

It being understood that plans were suggested in some quarters looking to a demolition of the uncompleted Monument, and the, use of the materials of it in the construction of a different style of monument to Washington, at a meeting of the Society on March 30, 1876, among other things, it was resolved "that all idea of surrendering the character of the Monument or allowing the structure, as far as completed, to be taken down, should be positively and emphatically disavowed."

In view of the resolution of the Senate of February 6th, the chairman of its Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds received plans for changing the Monument to a Lombard Tower, and for erecting an arch of its materials. Bat the committee made no report.

ACT OF AUGUST 2, 1876.

On the 5th of July, 1876, Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, offered in the Senate a joint resolution declaring, after an appropriate preamble, that the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, "in the name of the people of the United States, at the beginning of the second century of the national existence, do assume and direct the completion of the Washington Monument, in the City of Washington." This resolution was unanimously adopted in both Houses of Congress.

On July 22d, the Senate passed a bill appropriating $100,000, "to continue the construction of the Washington Monument in the City of Washington."

In the debate in the Senate there was some criticism of the design of the Monument as an obelisk, and preference was expressed for some other form of Monument.

It was said by Senator Bayard:

"I do not believe that the impression we desire to produce upon them (the people) will in any degree be assisted by the continuance of such a blot upon architecture, as I must consider this obelisk which stands here half-shorn of its height."

It was remarked by Mr. Sherman:

"I think it is the misfortune now of this Washington Monument that it has been talked of in Congress for one hundred years. We have made promise after promise, and the very moment we come to do anything like the execution of the promise we are met by these delays."

The question of the sufficiency of the foundation of the Monument was also raised, resulting in adding a section to the bill providing for an examination of the foundation before commencing work on the Monument, and if the same should be found insufficient no work to be done until the matter was reported to Congress.

The bill also provided that before the expenditure of any of the appropriation the Society should transfer and covey to the United States, in due form, all the property, rights, and privileges belonging to it in the Monument.

The construction of the Monument was placed under a joint commission consisting of the President of the United States, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, and the Architect of the Capitol.

In the House of Representatives the bill was referred, on July 24th, to the Committee on Appropriations, and reported back by Mr. Foster, of Ohio, on July 27th, with amendments. As amended, the bill provided for an appropriation of $200,000, payable in four equal annual installments, to continue the construction of the Washington Monument, "and provided that nothing in the bill should be 'so construed as to prohibit the Society' from continuing its organization for the purpose of soliciting money and material from the States, associations, and the people in aid of the completion of the Monument, and acting in an advisory and co-operative capacity with the Commissioners hereinafter named until the completion and dedication of the same."

The Joint Commission was increased from the three members provided by the Senate to five by adding to it the "Chief of Engineers of the United Staten Army and the First Vice-President of the Washington National Monument Society."

It was explained by Mr. Foster that the sum had been raised to $200,000, with an annual expenditure of it of $50,000, and the Society continued; "because we hope by continuing the Society in existence they can raise from the people the balance of the sum needed, and as it will take at least four years to complete the Monument." He further remarked: "This puts the appropriation of $200,000 in the form of a donation, while at the same time it secures to the United States all the property and rights or every name and nature of the Society. * * The present purpose is to complete the Monument within live years," and to dedicate it "October 19, 1881, being the centennial of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the last 'great act of Washington's' military career, and the closing act of the war."

In considering the bill, several amendments were adopted at the instance of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, and other members.

The bill passed the House July 27th, and as amended, was passed by the Senate the next day and was approved by President Grant on the 2d of August, 1876.

September 7, 1876, the Society adopted and issued an appeal "To the People of the United States," which was signed by its Secretary, John B. Blake.

After referring to the act of Congress appropriating $200,000 to aid in the completion of the Monument, the appeal recited:

"The occasion is deemed a fitting one to address the citizens of the United States upon that subject, and to exhort them, in the name of patriotism, not for a moment, on that account, to relax their efforts to hasten the accomplishment of that long delayed but much desired result."

No response, however, was had from the appeal. The country evidently now looked to Congress to assume the whole amount required to finish the Monument.

January 19, 1877. Mr. W. W. Corcoran and Dr. John B. Blake, as officers of the Society, conveyed by deed to the United States the property referred to in the act of August 2, 1876, which deed was duly recorded in the land records of the District of Columbia.

Of the funds in the possession of the Society was later erected the memorial building on the Monument grounds for the office of the custodian, the deposit of the Society's archives, and for the accommodation of the visitor.

The relations of the Society to the Monument were now limited as provided in the law. Such States as had omitted providing memorial blocks to represent them in the Monument had their attention called to the omission and supplied them.

In accordance with the proviso in the act of Congress the foundations of the Monument were examined. The board of officers detailed from the Engineer Corps of the Army by the President to make the examination reported adversely as to their sufficiency to sustain the weight of the Monument at its proposed height, and the matter was reported to Congress.

Under authority of joint resolutions of Congress of June 14, 1878, and June 27, 1879, authorizing it, the foundations were strengthened.

This difficult work was successfully accomplished by the eminent engineer, Lieut.-Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey (later Brigadier-General), Corps of Engineers, who had been detailed by the President, at the request of the Joint Commission, as engineer officer in charge of the construction of the Monument. Capt. George W. Davis, U. S. A., was detailed as Assistant Engineer. He had been recommended and endorsed for the position of engineer in charge by the Society. Later, Mr. Bernard R. Green, C. E., also acted as assistant to Colonel Casey.

Many important features of the work performed emanated from suggestions made and worked out by these officers, and which were adopted. To Captain Davis was assigned the duty of observing and superintending the execution of the details of construction as the work progressed and the performance of the contracts for materials. The immediate direction of work and workmen on the grounds was the duty of the master mechanic, Mr. P. H. McLaughlin. To Mr. Green is to be ascribed the conception and working out of the plans for placing the pyramidion or top on the shaft, plans adopted by the Engineer-in-Charge and approved by the Joint Commission.

The detail plans of construction were drawn by Mr. Gustav Friebus, of Washington, D. C., an architect employed in the office of the Engineer-in-Charge, and under his direction.

The work of strengthening the foundations approaching completion, the fact was reported to Congress by the Joint Commission, and an appropriation recommended to begin and continue the erection of the shaft.

In support of this recommendation, and to secure adherence to the original plan of a simple obelisk and to meet the objections frequently raised, both in and out of Congress as to that form of monument, the Society, after some correspondence with Colonel Casey, at a meeting held on the 1st of April, 1880, appointed the following committee "to take charge of the interests of the Monument before Congress:" Robert C. Winthrop, Joseph M. Toner, James G. Berret, Horatio King, John B. Blake, and Daniel B. Clarke.

This committee carefully prepared a memorial, addressed to Congress, which was adopted at a special meeting of the Society on the 26th of April, 1880. The memorial was presented to Congress by the committee on the 20th of April, 1880, referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia, and ordered printed. The memorial recited, in part:

"The undersigned are not unmindful that strong efforts have been made of late to throw discredit on the design of the Monument, and that various plans have been presented for changing the character of the structure. Nor has the Association, which the undersigned have the honor to represent, ever been unwilling that such modifications of the design should be made as should be found necessary for the absolute security of the work. With this view they gave formal expression a year ago to their acquiescence in the general plans of the accomplished American artist, Mr. Story, who had kindly given his attention to the subject: but now that the strengthening of the foundation has been successfully and triumphantly accomplished by a signal application of skill and science, they cannot forbear front making a respectful but urgent appeal to Congress to give their final sanction to the prosecution and completion of the work without more delay according to the plans recommended by the commissioners appointed by Congress with the President of the United States at their head and by the engineer under their direction. Any other course, they are convinced, would be likely to postpone the completion of the Monument for another generation, to involve the whole subject in continued perplexity, and to necessitate vastly larger appropriations in the end than have now been asked for. * * *

"It has been objected in some quarters that the ancient obelisks were all monolithic--massive single stones, cut whole from the quarry; but our country has been proud to give examples of both political and material structures which owe their strength to union; and this Monument to Washington will not be the less significant or stately from embodying the idea of our national motto, '_E pluribus unum_.'

* * * * *

"Something more original and more ornate might have been conceived at the outset or might now be designed, but there are abundant fields for the exhibition of advanced art in other parts of the country, if not here. This Monument and its design will date back to the time of its inception, and will make no pretensions to illustrate the arts of 1880. It was not undertaken to illustrate the fine arts of any period, but to commemorate the foremost man of all ages. Indeed, it will date back in its form and in its proportions to a remote antiquity. It is a most interesting fact communicated to us in the letters, hereto appended, of our accomplished American minister at Rome, the Hon. George P. Marsh, as the result of his own researches, that the proportions of this Monument, as now designed, are precisely those of all the best-known Egyptian obelisks. The height of those monuments is ascertained by him to have been uniformly and almost precisely ten times the dimensions of the base, and _this proportion_ has now been decided on for our own Monument to Washington, the measurements of the base being fifty-five feet, and projected elevation five hundred and fifty feet. * * * It seems to the undersigned sufficient respectfully to suggest that the question before Congress at this moment is not whether the original plans might not have been improved to advantage, but whether this long-delayed work shall be finished within any reasonable period or be left still longer as a subject for competition among designers and constructors.

* * * * *

"By the adoption of the recommendations of the Commissioners and Engineer the work may be completed within the next four years. * * * While the structure would make no appeal to a close and critical inspection as a mere work of art, it would give a crowning finish to the grand public buildings of the Capital, would add a unique feature to the surrounding landscape, and would attract the admiring gaze of the most distant observers in the wide range over which it would be visible. It would be eminently a monument for the appreciation of the many, if not of the few, and would thus verify the designation originally given it, of 'The People's Monument to their most illustrious Benefactor.'"

In a letter to the chairman of the committee of the Society by Colonel Casey, dated April 19, 1887, he stated: