Evening star. [volume], December 06, 1931, Page 9, Image 93

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Washington Monument Finished 47 Years Ago
BY CH4RI.ES B. DEGGES.
MEN leaned on singing wind that
afternoon while rain clouds
that had poured their torrents
all morning were scudding across
the low-ceilinged sky. Wet
timbers that seemed frail like
matchwood aloft there in the elements shivered
under the blast. Damp ropes rove through
ponderous blocks were like hairy bars as they
vibrated from the ton-and-a-half burden of
dull white they supported.
A thousand glasses-—fi~ld glasses and tele
scopes they were, and even opera glasses—
were trained on the lofty drama from more
secure places below.
From somewhere up there, a man's voice,
almost god-like in its power so near the
streaking clouds, sang out its command above
the tumult of tre winds:
“Lower a-waaa-a-a-a-y 1"
The sheaves in the great blocks turned. The
hempen bars lengthened The wind-lashed
men held their breath. A great stone pyramid
settled slowly on newly-spread cement. The
tackle was quickly unshipped and the pyramid
was crowned with an aluminum tip. The Flag
of the United States broke out to the wind
from somewhere above the timber frame and
cannon thundered in salute below.
The Washington Monument was finished!
And then, meeting in the top of the shaft
as near as possible to the capstone that had
been set a few minutes before, the Washington
National Monument Society, which had steered
the memorial project through multitudinous
trials to that successful climax, adopted a
resolution which officially proclaimed the
monument's completion. It was:
“Resolved. That we are thankful to have had
the opportunity of this occasion, and at this
elevation, to congratulate the American people
on the completion of this enduring monument
of our Nation's gratitude to the Father of His
Country."
And this—47 years ago this afternoon.
THE setting of that 3,300-pound capstone with
its aluminum tip on December 6. 1884,
marked the end of a struggle through the mire
of dilatoriness, political and religious erup
tions, and indecision which, but for the stal
wart determination of the gentlemen who con
stituted* the Washington National Monument
Society might have produced a national dis
grace instead of a Nation's tribute to its hero.
As it was. 101 years elapsed between the reso
lution of the Continental Crngress to erect a
memorial to George Washington and the place
ment of the metal tip on the peak of the fin
ished shaft.
In its resolution of August 7, 1783, the Con
tinental Congress expressed its determination
to erect an equestrian statue of Washington,s
meaning then to honor him as the man who
led the Colonial armies in the Revolutionary
War The sculptured general and his horse,
the early Congress agreed, were to be mounted
on a pedestal on the four sides of which were
to be carved representations of the "four prin
cipal events of the war in which he commanded
In person.”
The changes through which that original
Idea passed in tf.e memorial's evolution from
an equestrian statue to a stately marble shaft
555 feet in height are rivaled only by the swift
change In American national events which
paralleled them. Confronted with an impend
ing revolt of the unpaid soldiers even when it
resolved to honor the commanding officer of
those soldiers, the Continental Congress became
virtually a fugitive body, meeting where and
when it could. Washington himself prevented
the threatened revolt by a personal appeal to
his old troopers. The Constitutional Conven
tion was held in Philadelphia and under the
instrument It produced Washington became the
first President, serving his country with a dis
tinction which heightened his right to be hon
ored by a memorial.
Prom the original idea for a statue, the
memorial ran the gamut of men’s inspiration.
There was a proposal shortly after Washing
ton's death, in 1799, to build "a marble monu
ment” in which, with the permission of his
family, the patriot's body was to be entombed.
It subsequently was proposed to enshrine
Washington’s body in a crypt beneath the floor
of the rotunda of the Capitol and erect over
that grave a sculptured likeness of the man.
Another idea called for the construction of a
great pantheon out of which would be reared
a 500-foot obelisk, the whole structure to be a
stately tomb for Washington's body that was
to rest in its center.
in ibz.1 president John Quincy Adams re
minded Congress of the congressional resolu
tion of 1799. But the reminder was unheeded,
and in 1832 the question was introduced to
Congress again, when it was proposed to trans
fer Washington's body to a tomb beneath the
Capitol rotunda. This idea failed of ac
complishment when differences of opinion
arose over the moving of the body.
At last, though. Congress agreed to place a
sculptured likeness of the patriot in the ro
tunda and In 1841, it actually was erected
there. This statue was moved subsequently to
the east park of the Capitol and later trans
ferred to the Smithsonian Institution where it
stands today
Then in 1853 Congress appropriated *50,000
for the creation of an equestrian statue of the
First President by the then eminent sculptor,
Clark Mills. This bronze sculpture, representing
Gen. Washington at the Battle of Princeton,
was placed In the public circle at ’Twenty
third street and Pennsylvania avenue, now
Washington Circle, where it has remained.
But those two statues were not the kind of
memorial Congress had several times pledged
iteelf to erect. Thinking citizens became rest
less at the legislative body's dilatory attitude
and when, in September. 1833, the National
Intelligencer, leading newspaper of the Cap
ital at the time, printed a paragraph calling
for a public meeting of the citizens of the Cap
ital the people themselves took the first step in
the determined march that led to the setting
of the capstone of the monument 47 years ago
Dramatic Incident of Setting the Capstone on
December 6, 1884', Marked Completion,
AfterLongl delay, of the Memorial Shaft
%
and the End of a Hurculean Task.
7 he flag of the United States broke out to the wind from somewhere above the
timber frame, and cannon thundered in salute below. The Washington Mon
ument was finished/”
OUT of that meeting grew the Washington
National Monument Society. On Oc
tober 31 of the same year the society's by
laws and constitution were adopted and its first
officers were selected. John Marshall, the great
Chief Justice, who then was 78 years old, was
named president of the society and Judge Wil
liam Cranch, eminent jurist of the time, was
chosen vice president. Other officers elected
at the same meeting included John P. Van
Ness, mayor of Washington, second vice presi
dent; W. W. Seaton, third vice president;* Sam
uel H. Smith, treasurer, and George Watterson,
secretary. The original board of managers,
named at the same time, Included Gen. Thomas
S. Jessup, Col. James Kearney, Col. Nathan
Towson. Col. Archibald Henderson, Matthew
St. Claire Clark, John McClelland, Thomas
Munroe, Col. George Bromford, Robert C.
Weightman, Peter Force. William Brent, Wil
liam A. Bradley and Thomas Carbery.
The new society lost no time in launching
the task it had undertaken. It voiced an ap
peal to the people of the United States to “re
deem the pledges made by Congress,” and In
order to give a large portion of the Nation's
population the opportunity to aid in the rear
ing of the monument, the society limited in
dividual donations to $1. Progress in collect
mg mnas at nrst was considered slow, for by
1836, only $28,000 had been donated. Never
theless, it was in this year that the society in
vited American artists to submit designs for the
memorial. No specification was made as to
the "form” of the memorial, but it was de
termined by the society that any plans sub
mitted "should harmoniously blend durability,
simplicity and grandeur.” The estimated cost
was placed at not less than $1,000,000.
Robert Mills, a prominent architect of the
day, submitted the plan which was selected.
His idea called for the erection of a 500-foot
obelisk rising out of the center of a 100-foot
high pantheon. This pantheon was to form a
vast rotunda, 250 feet In diameter, which was
to house statues of the national great. Be
neath the shaft was to be the tomb of George
Washington, while the whole structure was to
embrace a form of catacombs to receive the
bodies of other American characters who might
be honored by burial there.
The pantheon structure, however, was never
formally adopted by the Washington National
Monument Society, which set its purpose first
to secure funds for the erection of the great
shaft.
In 1838, the society appealed to Congress to
name a site for the proposed monument on the
Mall. During discussions on a bill in the Sen
ate to this end bitter criticism was leveled at
the society. Upon being told that $30,000 had
been collected and invested \t interest. Senator
Allen of Ohio retorted that t\iat much had been
collected in his own State. In a subsequent
itemized statement, it was revealed that Ohio
had contributed, up to that time, *6,391.19.
More time was consumed during the period
which followed in renewing appeals to the
public for funds. In 1845 the dollar limitation
was lifted and the total receipts encouragingly
increased. In 1847, Mrs. James Madison. Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton and Mrs. John Quincy
Adams effected an organization of prominent
women which did much to add to the growing
monument fund.
It was not until January, 1848, when the so
ciety was on the verge of seeking private lands
for the purpose, that Congress authorized it
to erect the monument “upon such portion of
the public grounds or reservations within the
City of Washington, not otherwise occupied as
shall be selected by the President of the United
States and the board of managers of the said
society.” The present location of the monu
ment was designated as the site and the comer
stone of the great shaft was laid on July 4,
1848. ’
unnice tne day, 47 years ago, when the cap
stone was set, that July 4 was ideal. Rain had
fallen in the morning and served to “lay the
dust and infuse a delicious freshness in the
air,” as the National Intelligencer reported. A
groyp of notables, including the 91-year-old
Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Mrs. Dolly Paine
Madison and George Washington Parks Custis
witnessed the ceremonies. And so was con
struction of the shaft definitely launched.
The Washington National Monument So
ciety redoubled its efforts once construction
was under way. To give every State a definite
part in the physical shaft, it invited them to
send stones to be placed within the rising
tower itself. Appeals for funds went out at
intervals addressed to school children, to banks.
Masonic bodies, the Navy’s officers, and other
specific groups. Six years after the laying of
the corner stone the shaft had reached a
height of 156 feet.
Donations of funds received a setback in
1854, when unidentified vandals seized a marble
block which the fope had sent for placement
in the shaft. While it never was learned def
initely what became of the stone after it was
hauled from the Monument grounds, it is be
lieved that it was defaced and then dumped
into the Potomac River. Likewise, while the
vandals never were apprehended, despite the
vigorous efforts of the Monument Society to
identify them, it is popularly believed the des
ecration was the work of members or agents
of the ' Know-Nothing party.” The business
and political unrest of that year further weak*
ened enthusiasm for the monument which the
destruction of the papal stone had creat d.
Hence the Monument Society was left with
virtually no money on hand and no new fundk
°n the horizon.
THEN the society appealed to Congress to
take any action it deemed proper. Fol
lowing a careful review of all the society had
done, a House Committee recommended that
$200,000 be appropriated to aid in the com
pletion of the shaft. Appropriation of this sum
was halted, however, when an unauthorized as
sembly of men purported to elect new officers
for the Monument Society. Evidence indioated
that the plot was evolved in the lodges of the
“Know-Nothing party” and that the persons
who voted in the pretended election balloted
on the face of certificates of membership from
which no money ever reached the society's
treasury.
This “Know-Nothing” board of officers suc
ceeded in seizing the Monument project and
actually adding two courses of previously re
jected marble to the shaft. Further, this
board remained in force until October, 1858,
when it relinquished control after failing mis
erably in it3 efforts to collect funds. Congress
finally came to the rescue of the real Wash
ington National Monument Society on Febru
ary 22, 1859, when it granted a charter to the
organization, incorporating it “for the purpose
of completing the erection now in progress of
a great national monument” to Washington.
Congress sought to aid again that year when
at the request of the society, it appointed »n
engineer officer to superintend the construc
tion. Lieut. J. C. Ives was detailed to the work
and he undertook to aid in raising funds. He
also recommended'that the height of the shaft
be reduced from the originally proposed 600
feet to 500 feet and at tbe same time approved
the shaft's foundations. Lieut. Ives remained
in the assignment until 1860, when he was re
lieved.
Meanwhile time dragged on and the shaft
remained at a standstill. Congress, again be
coming interested, in 1873 appointed a com
mittee to confer with the society on the status
of the pending work. No appropriation was
made then, however, but in 1876 Congress
passed an act in which it took over the task
of completing the monument. Once more
structural work was resumed and after a pause
of more than 20 years the walls of the obelisk
“»cir siow cumo to completion.
Under the skillful guidance of Lieut. Col.
Thomas Lincoln Casey of the Corps of En
gineers, U. S. Army, the foundation was
strengthened and the masonry walls with their
crowning pyramidion were reared into the sky
At lasL—December 6, 4884—the final stone
was to be set. It was a great pyramid weigh
ing 3,300 pounds. The top was flattened and
hollowed. Heavy timbers formed a pyramidical
crane directly over 4fie center of the shaft and
the capstone was slowly hauled aloft. It had
rained furiously all morning, but at 2 o’clock
in the afternoon, when the capstone was sched
uled to be set, only the wind and scudding
clouds remained of the storm. Instruments on
the scaffolding showed a wind velocity of 60
miles an hour, but the work went ahead.
Bracing themselves against the storm, the
men on the scaffolding spread cement on the
bearing surface of the converging walls. At a
given signal the capstone was lowered gently
into place. So accurately had it been meas
ured and cut, not a chip had to be removed
once the stone was in its place. Cement was
spread over the shoulder of the capstone and
the aluminum tip was fitted snugly into the
hollow at the stone’s peak. That metal tip
itself a little pyramid, tells an eloquent story
in the engravings on its four faces. On one is
inscribed: “Chief Engineer and Architect,
Thomas Lincoln Casey, Colonel, Corps of En
gineers; Assistants, George W. Davis, Four
teenth United States Infantry; Bernard R.
Green, Civil Engineer; P. H. McLaughlin, Mas
ter Mechanic.”
On a second face is engraved: “Corner stone
laid on bed of foundation July 4, 1848. First
stone at height of 152 feet laid August 7, 1880.
Capstone set December 6, 1884.”
A third face bears: "Joint Commission at
setting of capstone. Chester A. Arthur, W. W.
Corcoran. M. E. Bell, Edward Clark, John New
ton. Act of August 2, 1876."
And on the final face: “Laus Deo”—Praise
be to God.
/
Chemists See Coal
As Th Tee Substances
^OAL to the average person is divided into
two classes, hard coal and soft coal, but
to the chemist coal in reality is a mixture
of three substances, and the percentage in
which the two more important are present
deterTines the employability of the coals.
These three substances are anthraxylon, at
tritus and fusain. Fortunately for the users
of coal, the fusain is the least in quantity, for
this is the material which causes clinkers. The
origin of the fusain has long been debated,
and so far to no satisfactory conclusion. It is
apparent, however, that it originates in woody
tissue of the plants from which the coal was
formed.
Coal, under the microscope, consists of two
general types—one in which the form of the
original plant life is preserved, and the other
in which all form has been lost, either through
crushing or the action of micro-organisms.
Anthraxylon is the part of coal which pre
serves the original outlines of the plant ma- ’
terial. It represents the undisintegrated woody
tissues which, under the microscope, clearly *
show the original cell structure. Bright bands
of coal are usually anthraxylon, the bands
varying in thickness from a few millimeters
to several centimeters. The gloss varies with
the rank of the ccal, and the higher the rank
the higher is the luster. Coals which coke
well are usually rich in anthraxylon. for the
structure of the coal readily perrits the passage
of air under heat without fusing as is tlic
case with coal rich in attritus.
The attritus has many of the properties and
components found in peat, although in a much
more compressed toon.