The Sunday Oregonian., February 16, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 2, Image 44

It Will Be
Roosevelt On
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FORTY-THREJ2 yeaia after his tragic
death a plan has been adopted for
enshrining the memory of Abraham
Lincoln after & manner that has no
counterpart In ancient or modern times.
iAa befitting the man's personality thlfi
memorial will ba no gorgeous pantheon,
no splendid tomb only tho log cabin In
which he was born and which, will be
sheltered by. a more or less ungarnished
building of Tennessee marble erected on
the spot of his birth near Hodsenville,
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Simple as are the plana it Is believed
that the Lincoln Farm Memorial will
have such a significance and endurance
as to make it a macca for American citi
zens so long as the Republic lasts.
Should this Nation swing away so far
as to cntlraly forget etrly traditions
Justice, piety and honesty the memorial
would still be a curloaity, ad, even then,
would perchance, bs a moral stimulus to
a decadent progeny.
When the organisers of the Lincoln
Farm Association rescued tho old planta
tion from various promoters, department
store owners and whisky agents who
wanted to use the place for a mercan
tile afiset they were somewhat at a loss
to know exactly what to do with it. The
task of beautifying 110 acres nieant a
tremendous expenditure and long delay
in completion.
The committee gave very. vague Instruc
tions to bidders for the 'work and the
man who wonJohn Bussol Pope, of New
York succeeded principally because he
combined sentiment with craftsmanship.
He did not attempt to adorn tho whole
territory, nor yet to construct a single
magnificent cenotaph. What ho did was
to portion oft' a strip of land 1000 feot
loiitc at Uie farm's western corner which
will b screened from the other land
scape by hedges and poplar trees. Even
tually, when funds arc sufficient, it Is
intended to beautify the whole area,
inoking It a National show place. But
whtm President Roosevelt dedicates the
spot next year, that being the 100th an
niversary of Lincoln's birth, the visitor
will see about what Is depicted In the
accompanying photographs, now printed
for the tirnt time.
Protecting the Cabin.
Facing ea.-h other, with an Intervening
spare of W feet, are the memorial
proper and a marble column, 50 feet high.
Dedicated by President
the Centenary of His Birth,
February 12, Next Year
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The latter marks the precise spot where
the cabin stood, while the cabin itself
will repose In a court of the building,
protected by a hermetically sealed
covering of glass. To give a semblance
of nature It is designed to plant grass In
the space surrounding the cabin ' that
separates it from the railing.
When the architect cast around for
building material he very speedily dis
covered that the super-quality light-gray
marble quarried in Tennessee was better
than any other, being indigenous, beauti
ful and practically imperishable. More
over, it Is near at hand. Both memorial
and shaft will, therefore, be constructed
of this etone. Likewise the statue direct
ly in front of the grand approach, the
character of which has not been deter
mined. The building complete, steps, porch,
reception-room and cabin court, is,
roughly estimating, half tha, size of the
White House. Above the entrance will
be engraved Lincoln's deathless senti
ment "With charity toward all, with
malice toward none," and above that a
dedication to show that the memorial
was erected with funds freely sub
scribed by the American people as unit
and not by a Government appropriation.
Contributions From the Poor.
This last element in furthering the
project haa served to bring forth the full
extent of Lincoln enthusiasm and appre
ciation for his life work and sacrifice in
a way that no other method could have
done. Already there has been received
at the association's headquarters In New
York nearly a' roomful of letters repre
senting the entire gamut of a great na
tion's populace. Those from poor people J
iar exceeu tnose trom the rich. Many
take joy in recounting their poverty; the
condition .of others again may be even
more accurately judged by the quality of
the stationery. Widows, children In or
phans' liomes, veteran sailors and sol
diers, even tramps, have contributed
their mite and written sentiments, some
of which are classical. In order that the
name of every donator may be banded
down to posterity a large space has been
me aside at the north end of the building
for -a voluminous cabinet. Parts o this
have already been eet up in the New
York headquarters. No. 74 Broadway,
each contributor having a card on which
Is inscribed his name, occupation and ad
dress. One may fancy the young Ameri
, cau and hU brido of 200 years later delv-
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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX,
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ing through this permanent record to seo I
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The lengtn uf time that elapsed between
LLuculii's death and a project to hukor
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16, 1908.
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J his memory in a visible manner does not
I iudicale, as foreign nations seem to be-
How the Farm on Which He was
Born was Rescued from Mer
cenaries for National Shrine
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lieve. that America is without sentiment
or ideals. It was not until 1858 that the
Mount .Vernon association purchased, for
$a00.000, the property on the banks of the
Potomao where George Washington was
born and died. The original estate, com
prising 200 acres, the mansion aiui tomb,
was then sold by John A. Washington, a
nephew of the Nation's first President,
the design of the association being to
"hold It in perpetuity as a place of pub
lic resort and pilgrimage." Washington
died in 1799, so that the American people
were even- tardier in honoring the
Father of his Country than the savior of
the Union.
It is, however,, a National reproach that
Lincoln's cabin was permitted to be
hawked about by a speculator as a side
show with a "Here you are, .10 cents one
dime to see the little log cabin, where
Abe Lincoln was born. It's th' . real
thing, ladies and gents, and It costs only
a dime." And another stigma that the
farm itself should have barely escaped
passing Into the control of a whisky firm
which Intended to exploit the name of
that great and good man as an advertise
ment. Bidding. Against Mercenaries.
A certain whisky agent and a depart
ment store representative were the bid
ders most feared by Mr. Richard Lloyd
Jones when he arrived in Kentucky a lit
tle over two years ago, commissioned to
purchase the original Lincoln homestead
by a wealthy New York publisher, to
whom must be given primary credit for
this patriotic notion. Each was deter
mined to outbid the other and freely ad
mitted the Intentions as they sampled
Kentucky lightning-rod in the hotel bar.
With diplomacy, hackneyed but service
able, Mr. Jones did not discourage these
libations, and early next morning, while
his competitors slept, he was making
good time from th.e railroad town to
Ileegenville.
Local attitude was summarised by the
hackdriver, who had heard that the place
was likely to bring JWO0 or 7000. "I
wouldn't give one month's taxes for it
myself," he S'aid. "It's a good enough
looking place, but too much rock and
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brush and gravel to amount to anything."
Another liveryman observed: "We peo
ple here think it mighty common, but
folks that come from away make a great
ado about It, and fuss around cutting
sass-fras sticks, canes and th' like."
When Commissioner Handly mounted
the courthouse steps, announcing: "Gen
tlemen, if you will close in around here,
I'll sell the Lincoln farm," a Hodgenvilla
citizen made the first bid 11500. But he
promptly retired in confusion as his
neighbors twitted him with such queries
as: "What'r'y going to do with it.
Hank, get a Carnegie library on it?"
Not so the other would-be purchasers,
among whrm were a G. A. R. veteran of
Racine, Wis., a Milwaukee newspaper
man, a New York lawyer and a Louis
ville gentleman. Hundred by hundred
the price advanced, while Mr. Jones near
ly collapsed with anxiety, keeping one
eye fixed on the turnpike, where every
moment he expected to see the whisky
and department store agent approaching
in a cloud of dust, his other eye on the
auctioneer. Finally, when each second
was critical. Mr. Jones had the satisfac
tion of bidding JSfiOO. about one sixty-fifth
of tho amount paid for Mount Vernon,
and upon returning from Hodgenville he
had the additional relish of refusing I1fl.-
000 cash from the whtaky agent who, wild
eyed and chagrined, was out-traveling
Sheridan at Winchester. Tbus. was Lin
coln't birthplace saved to posterity.
Prominent People in Charge.
Deed and title secure, the next move
was to select a board of trustees which,
after- several revisions, became pernia
ent, as follows:
Jos-cpli W. Folk. President.
Clarence H. Mackny, Treasurer.
Richard Lloyd Junes, tfecrtury.
Kobert J. Collier. Chairmau of the Ex
ecutive Committee.
Frederick R. Pierce. Assistant Treasurer
and General Manager.
Horare Porter. Henry Wattemon.
William T. Jerome. Samuel Gompers.
Jenkin Lloyd Jones. William H. Taft.
Charles A. Towne. August Belmont.
Edward M. Khepard. Samuel L. Clemens.
Lyman J. Gage. Cardinal Gibbons.
Ida M. Tarbell. Albert 8haw.
Norman Hapgood. Thomas Hatins.
Joseph H. Cboate. Oscar S. Straus.
Present Day Eulogies.
Immediately when it was known what
the Lincoln Farm Association intended to
accomplish, American citizens, high and
low, hastened to express their approval.
"Saving the birthplace of Abraham Lin-
coin." declared James Tanner, past oom-mander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of
the Republic, "from the group of sordid
speculative greed is as purely a patriotic
deed as has been performed In this coun
try for years. In the name of the quar
ter of a million members of the organlxa
tion at the head of which I have the
honor to stand, I thank the foundcr most
heartily.
"We, of the war days, stood, in a meas
ure, too close to Mr. Lincoln and his
time to properly gauge the mighty
strength and grandeur of his character.
But the years as they have receded have
given us a better perspective as our
minds and power to view and measure
life and its real import have alike
enlarged, till now we bow with all In
dulgent mankind reverently at his shrine,
and view as almost sacred scenes and the
material matters with which he was Inti
mately associated. By all means, let us
dedicate to patriotism forevermore tin
fields so familiar to his youth."
"By all means, let us have the Lincoln
Farm," said Archbishop Ireland. "The
laid upon which Abraham Lincoln was
born and upon which he spent his early
youth Is too sacred to be turned over
to vulgar every-day purposes. It must be
for all time one of America's venerated
shrines, over which the spirit of America
shall hold undisputed sway, and whiter
worshipers shall come from every clime
to honor it and inhale its sublime and
purifyins life. Let it be the freewill of
fering of the people of America, the gifl
of their hearts, the generous effusion and
expression of their very souls. Patriot
Ism allows naught else, by nautrht else
will patriotism be nurtured into best and
sweetest flowering."
President Roosevelt practically voiced
the expression of all State and. Nutiona'
legislative bodies with: "I heartily ap
prove of the movement to make the birth
place of Abraham Lincoln a National
park, so that the building in which he w as
born may be preserved to Illustrate thf
real conditions of, his birth and childhood.
1 am ftlad that the schema of preservatlor
contemplates an appeal to Individual
Americans. Lincoln's memory, like Wash
ington's, is one of the hallowed and
priceless heritages of all our people. Most
-assuredly his birthplBce. Khould be pre
served in such shape as will enable us. as
a Nation, tp realize vividly the conditions
from which the second of our great Presi-
CCuH'.ludcd on Pago Xli
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