Lincoln memorial... : :Speech of Hon. Joseph Taggart, of Kansas, in the House of Representatives, January 29, 1913 [on Senate joint resolution (S.J. Res. 158) approving the plan, design, and location for a Lincoln memorial]

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

Lincoln was tho Cornmnndoi- in Cliicf, 1)y virtues of ills office, of the
Army of (Jettysljurg, Ills namo isi inscparalily United witli tliat Army
and witli thiat battle field. If I could liave my own way, I would com-
memorate both together. I would build a highway to Gettysburg.

SPEECH

HON. JOSEPH TAGGART

IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 29, 1913

76834—11737

WASHINGTON
1913

SPEECH

OB'

HON. JOSEPH TAGGART.

On Senate Joint resolution (S. J. Res. 158) approving tlie plan, design,
and location for a Lincoln memorial.

Mr. TAGGART. Mr. Speaker, nearly four years ago Congress
appropriated $2,000,000 to be expended for a memorial to Abra-
ham Lincoln. A commission was appointed for tlie purpose of
suggesting to Congress the form and character of the memorial.
This commission was intrusted with the delicate task of sug-
gesting to Congress what might properly express the emotions
of the American people toward Abraham Lincoln, and in doing
so they eitlier had in mind, or should have had in mind, what
might appropriately fit the character of Lincoln. A monument
not only suggests to the beholder some characteristic of the
great personage to whom it is erected, but it expresses the senti-
ment of the people in their appeal to posterity.

It seems that the disposition to build monuments is mani-
fested about a half century after the death of illustrious men.

The Washington Monument was commenced in 1848, 49 years
after the death of Washington, and here we are nearly half a
century after the death of Lincoln trying to express our feel-
ings toward that martyred President. Perhaps this semicen-
tennial enthusiasm for monument building is due to the fact
that the generation then living learned in childhood from those
who knew the great men of their day the personal character-
istics of those whose memory is venerated. That generation
having reached the reflective period of their lives and recurring
to their childhood memories are moved to erect memorials lest
the idols of their childhood should be forgotten.

Surely nothing can be more generous than this expression
of the American people that $2,000,000 should be expended to
commemorate Abraham Lincoln. This is the largest sum ap-
propriated by any Government in the world for this purpose,
at least in modern times, to commemorate any person.

The commission appointed has suggested a monument in the
nature of a Greek temple, in which a replica of St. Gaudens's
seated statue should be placed, and the site selected is the
bank of the Potomac River at a point directly west of the
Capitol and of the Washington Monument.

The people that I have the honor to represent, I am happy to
say, are not without appreciation of the beautiful and are not
without reverence for art. In the region of eastern Kansas,
although it is located apart from the great cities where art
treasures are being accumulated, the very fact of that distance
simply adds to the appreciation of what has been done in the
world to express the world's sense of beauty. In that district
are hundreds of the old neighbors of Abraham Lincoln and
thousands of men who served in the army of which he was the
7(1834—117.37 ■ 3

commander in chief, and I will venture to say tbat not one per-
son can be found within the limits of Kansas who would not be
willing that we should do our utmost to convince future ages of
our love and veneration of Lincoln.

But we have a right to ask seriously, Does a Greek temple
represent our conception of anything connected with the life of
Lincoln?

We know that there is such a thing as the beautiful in archi-
tecture.' It is a fixed and unalterable thing, like harmony in
music. It always was and always must be. It is as absolute
as the pi'inciples of mathematics. Capable of the greatest varia-
tion of form and of many expressions, architecture must have
its proportions. It represents a structure formed and decorated
so as to please the eye, and it is scarcely possible that anything
new can be suggested with reference to it, no more than somer
thing new might be suggested in geometry.

. This commission has brought to us a complete illustration
of a marble structure of bewildering beauty. Of course there
.is no new idea in it, possibly there could be no new idea sug-
gested, and they have planned that it should be placed on the
bank of the Potomac River, a mile beyond the Washington
Monument. They wish the beholder of future centuries to
'Say. " The American people loved Lincoln tenderly. They
wished to express that love in bronze and marble, and to place
their memorial in the Capital of the Nation. They believed
that the ancient Greek architecti:re was the most beautiful
in the world. They chose a site for it beside the river where
formerly the tide rose over the ground and where there was
a marsh."

Now, I am not here to criticize this beautiful idea. I am
not a critic of architecture nor of art. Like many others, I ap-
t)reciate both, according to the emotions they arouse in me,
but I have studied Abraham Lincoln and followed his life as
far as I was able in its details from the cradle to the grave.
Of all the men who have ever lived he seems most like an old
•neighbor. He represents the inherent greatness of the mass
of the people. In past ages the common people were considered
not great, but simply useful. He, as well as his ancestors, as
ifar as known, were poor. They had borne the injustices of
the world until they had made a virtue of necessity, until
they endured wrong with patience, hardship with virtue, and
.poverty with heroic Christian philosophy, imtil industry and
Christianity working together wrought the miracle of the great
and tender heart of Abraham Lincoln. He was born in the
'wilderness. As if searching for light he left and went out
•upon the prairie where the thoughts of men widened with the
horizon.

He was chosen as a leader r.mong men because those who

-worked to develop a new country believed him to be honest and

-faitliful. He was chosen for the Presidency at the most critical

■ period in the history of our country. It became his duty to

exercise the executive authority throughout the United States,

' and by virtue of his otflce to direct the armies of the Nation

to restore that authority. It was the greatest task that was

i«ver thrust upon a mortal. And when the task was performed

^he was stricken down in the hour of victory. What stage of

'his life is expressed by fluted columns of marble and beautiful

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capiliilsV What did lie lionow from iiiicieut (',n'i-c<t or Uouii;'!
He never knew the Greek alphMbet He never re;id Liitin, ex-
cept to have perhaps an undersiandiiiR of tlie idiomatic i^hrases
of the law books. He does not correspond to a sinj^le character
in ancient (Jreece, and while some compare him to Marcus
Aurelius, Kmperor and philosopher of Il(»me, who was calle<l
the "schoolmaster," there is not the slijihtest i-esemhlance be-
tween them. Lincoln stands alone. With the exception of An-
drew Jackson, lie was the first common man from the biisom
of the common people ever elevated to a hifih place by popular
vote. His monument, therefore, should be orij^inal and not con-
ventionaj. It is unnecessary to appeal to future ages to re-
member him. He can not be forgotten. It is only the obscure
that require their names to be written where the public may
find them. A monument very often represents a rescue from
obscurity rather than a compliment to tlie dead. Therefore I
say that to go back twenty-five hundred veai's for a design to
commemorate Abraham Lincoln is to confess that we do not
have the originality fittingly to express our emotions toward the
most beloved character that has ever apjieared in our history

The visitor would have the privilege of walking about this
proposed monumenr and looking at it and enjoying it according
to his disposition, his taste, or Ids capacity for appreciation. It
Avould have a different message for each beholder. To one it
might be the magnificance of the architecture; to another it
might convey the L-uiguage of our affection for Lincoln: but the
message to the great mass of the people whom Liiu-olu knew
and understood, and who would know and understand Lincoln,
would be none other than there was a vast expenditure of money
to erect something beautiful and utterly useless.

What has become of the nations that were distinguished for
monuments? Architecture, as we know it, began in Tlgvpt. In
fact, it is the only thing we know of that the ancient Egyptians
achieved that is worth mentioning, and now in the valley of
the Nile is a race of slaves dominated by two empires. The
Greeks learned architecture from the Egyiitians and covered a
hill called the Acropolis, overlooking Athens, with magnificent
temples. It would be a vain show of iiedantrv to describe them
or to name them. Suffice it to. say that, with one or two ex-
<?eptions, they are leveled to the ground, and what was once
the Avorld's shrine of beauty is a scene of pathetic desolation.
The race of people that carved the Parian marble and wrought
those wonderful designs in architecture scarcely lift their heads
to look at the Acro])olis; but, on the other hand, permitted, and
under Turkish rule had to permit. Lord Elgin and other vandals
to carry away the most beautiful relics that remained of the
handiwork of their ancestors. With the exception of their
achievements in literature and oratory, their works in marble
were their most enduring monuments, but they have perished.
The memory of Phidias inspires no attic sculptor now. The
Greeks have gone down from a chisel to a shovel, from marble
to concrete and the wonderful language of Demosthenes studied
in our schools has even been vitiated until to-dav the ancients
would not understand their countrymen. Those of us who spent
patient and laborious hours trying to master the Anabasis now
see a caricature of what used to be the language of Xenophon
on the signs of saloons and restaurants in the unsavory quar-
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6

ters of great cities, unintelligible in all but the alphabet. Aftei-
Greece came the Roman Empire, whose purpose it was to
assemble in the City on the Ses'en Hills whatever was striking
and beautiful in the world.

It is a melancholy ■ fact that of all the ancient buildings
erected in Rome not one is in use at this day except the Pan-
theon. and it has been appropriated as a tomb for the royal fam-
ily of Italy.

This relic of heathen days and heathen thought was built
to be the housing of the gods. Within it were installed the
statues of the deities brought from all parts of the empire. It
is a standing rebuke to the architects of this day who require
us to spend the public money in putting unnecessary and use-
less ornamentation on Government structures. Lord Byron,,
whose sense of sublimity and beauty will not be questioned,
described the ancient structure in a single line :

Simple, erect, austere, severe, sublime, the Pantheon.

And what has become of that empire? Certainly its architec-
ture and its monuments did not even tend to preserve it. Those
monuments did not express the emotions of the people. They
were a part of the ornamentations and trappings of human
pride. The real monument of ancient Rome as well as Greece
is not anything that was built with hands, but the great
thoughts that were recorded and are now the subjects of study
in every seat of learning in the world. Henry D. Thoreau, the
New England philosopher, who perhaps had the most inde-
pendent mind of any man who ever lived, said he would like
to read the history of some country that did not build monu-
ments, but devoted itself to something more useful. He ob-
served that many nations did nothing but erect monuments.

If this commission had suggested a memorial building where
public exercises might be held, where the people might assemble,
where the visitor might be sheltered or might meet his country-
man, or the stranger within our gates might be entertained,
where the people of the future might see real memorials of
Abraham Lincoln that might lead them to understand his life
as thoroughly as we do, and if it was placed in some convenient
spot where the public might avail itself of its shelter and its
beautiful interior. I would cheerfully vote for it. But we are
simply giving a stone to the memory of one who described his
history as belonging in " the short and simple annals of the
poor." Instead of building what might seem an enduring
monument to Lincoln, we are asked to construct the most
fragile and destructible of all things. What is to prevent some
maliciously disposed person from placing explosives in a beau-
tiful structure of that kind and shattering it into fragments?
If you say a man could not be found now. and no one will be
found in future centuries, wbo would destroy these monuments,
I answer you and I sny that there was a man who sjient the
winter of 1S64 and 1865 in idleness, who had become half
crazed with fanaticism and liquor, and who while under the in-
fluence of liquor, as the evidence shows, walked into where the
President of the United States was sitting and destroyed the
temple in which dwelt the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. Twice
again was this horrible crime committed on the person of a
President of the United States, and who will say that some
crazed seeker of notoriety would not do less? There was a
76834—11737

magnificent toinr)ln in Ephesus in iinci<'nt days, and you per-
haps remember readint^ tliat a young man destroyed it for the
purpose of acquiring fame and notoriety.

One of the Uritish jjoets, writing of this, said that a man
would live as long in history for doing evil as doing good, and —
The aspirins- youth tliat fired the ICphesian dome
Outlives in fame the pious fool that raised it.

As against thi^s expenditure of .$2,000,tKX) for a memorial, which
may defy what Ingalls called " the corroding canker and the
gnawing tooth of time," but which would remain at the mercy
of those who may be so malicious as to wish to rebuke such an
expenditure by destroying it, I would prefer an indestructible
and useful memorial. It is SO miles from here to the battle field
of Gettysburg, and there is the most hallowed spot under this
flag. It is indissolubly associated with the name of Abraham
Lincoln. Fifty years ago this coming summer tha greatest battle
in the history of the New World was fought around that quiet
little town in Adams County, Pa. It was the turning point in the
greatest war of modern times. It was the only great battle of
the Civil War that was fought comjtletely in open ground.
There were no surprises at Gettysburg. Every movement of
each army was apparent to the opposing army. The third day
at Gettysburg was the greatest day of the life of Abraham Lin-
coln, for I wish to say to you that if the Army of tha Potomac
that stood on Cemetery Kidge had been carried away in the
stride of Pickett's division perhaps the place in history of Abra-
ham Lincoln would be irretrievably lost.

Mr. Speaker, I would not forget Gettysburg even to remem-
ber Abraham Lincoln. Every soldier's grave, every mound
that covers the heroic dust of every man w^ho fell at Gettys-
burg, is a witness heap that this Union is one and inseparable.
The men of Gettysburg did more than win a battle. They pro-
claimed the essential unity of the American people. Those who
bore the battle were not of any one race or clan or kind, but
whether their ancestors came from the Thames, the Rhine, or
the Shannon, or from whare the highland streams of Scotland
plunge over the steeps, they were as one at Gettysburg, and they
shall be as one forever. They were kindred as the oaks that
lift their heads in many a clime, as the rocks that defy the sea
on many a shore, shoulder to shoulder in life and side by side
in death they were brethren of the world's universal knighthood
of courage and fidelity.

In November, after the battle. President Lincoln went to the
spot and uttered the words that will li-se in the memory of men
until the sea gives up its dead. Although he said that the
world would not long remember what was said there, but never
would forget what was done there, we know that among the
treasures of the ages will not only be the memory of what
was done there, but of what was said there. IJncoln was the
Commander in Chief, by virture of his ofBce, of the Army of
Gettysburg. His name is inseparably linked with that Army
and with that battle field. If I could have my own way, I
would commemorate both together. I would build a highway to
Gettysburg.

To say that this road would serve only the rich who have
motor cars is to argue that present conditions will never
change. In France they are now running trolley coaches over
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8

the public roads carrying passengers for a nominal fare. It
is useless to argue with me that it might benefit the owners
of laud ou both sides of the road. I answer and say to you
that it would not benefit them any more than the $2,000,000
worth of marble would benefit somebody else. There would
be more labor furnished and the money distributed to more
l>eople in building a highway than a Greek temple. I would
condemn a highway to Gettysburg and have .the Government
own it and control it. I would make it not less than 100 feet
wide, and I would favor placing an arch to the memory of lAn-
coln here in Washington and an arch to the memory of Gettys-
burg on the battle field. Possibly all the people of the United
States would not use this road any more than all the people could
see a monument, but all of the people might avail themselves
of some portions of this road should they choo.se to see the
Nation's greatest battle field; and I will say, further, that the
inspiration of Gettysburg to the generation of young men who
might study it, and whose attention might be called to it, is
worth 50.000 men for the defense of the United States.

Gentlemen have argued here that this would be a monument
of war, instead of peace, but I answer and say that the ceme-
tery where rest the 4.0<;)0 dead at Gettysburg is the scene of
peace.

Gettysburg and a hundred other battles were the price of
peace, and let the day perish in which we forget those who paid
that price. If I would commemorate Lincoln as I would choose,
it would not be in stone, but along this highway I would plant
the longest lived and most enduring trees, and provide that they
be replaced as they should perish, so that as the years rolled by
nature would commemorate and keep gi-een the memory of
Lincoln.

There was a young man who spent his last dollar to go out of
his way to stop at Springfield, 111., to visit the tomb of Lincoln.
He walked out to the cemetery, a mile from the city, and went
to the iron-grated door of the sepulcher, inside of which was
the sarcophagus that then contained the earthly remains of
Lincoln.

The tomb is a huge structure of stone, with a tower rising
from some part of it. He scarcely looked at it, and it made no
impression on him whatever, but when his eyes fell on the mar-
ble case that contained the ashes of Lincoln and he read the
words upon it, "With malice toward none and charity for all,"
he was not looking for beauty spots nor monuments nor epitaphs
any longer; his eyes were filled with tears.

" In one sense we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we
can not hallow " the memory of Lincoln. His memory will live
while hearts are true and while hope will spread her wings.

We can only express our love and veneration for him and for
those who preserved the integrity and the liberty of their coun-
try. They were together in life, and in behalf of those who sur-
vive the great struggle in which he w:'s the leading figure I
will refuse to vote for this form of a monument to Abraham
Lincoln.

76834 — 11737

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