A CONCRETE STATEMENT LOOKING TO THE PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA PRESENTED IN THE FOREGOING PAGES:
OBJECT: It is here proposed that in the city of Washington there shall be erected a national memorial to commemorate the heroes and events of the great war, seeking to keep the chief emphasis on the esthetic and moral side rather than on that of physical triumph of armed force.
DESCRIPTION: A memorial building of monumental architectural proportions, to include as an essential embellishment a bell-tower at least 200 feet high to the bells and of sufficient lateral dimensions to provide a bell-chamber 25 feet square.
COST OF MEMORIAL BUILDING: It is proposed that the cost shall not exceed $5,000,000, to be appropriated by an Act of Congress for such purpose. (If the memorial were in the form of a bell-tower only, the cost should be between one and two million dollars.)
DESCRIPTION OF CARILLON: This should consist of about 50 perfectly tuned bells, giving a range of four octaves or thereabout, and a complete playing mechanism for both concert and automatic play.
MATERIAL FOR BELLS: Copper to the extent of 60,000 pounds, sufficient for a carillon of 50 bells, would be derived from captured enemy war materials. (In the absence of bronze cannon among the American captures, this copper would be obtainable from 86,000 pounds of shell-cases, to be furnished by the War Department at the direction of Congress.) The requisite tin, some 15,000 pounds, might best be supplied under terms of contract by the bell founders.
COST OF CARILLON: Such a carillon complete with playing mechanism would be obtainable at a cost not exceeding $40,000.
USES: Such a memorial would afford ample opportunity for every type of memorial treatment: Architecture, sculpture, inscription, tablet, mural painting, and the housing of relics and records etc.; in fact possess every advantage that an arch or other memorial structure could possibly give and avoid the objectionable sentiment that many people feel toward the triumphal arch idea.
Music, whether played automatically or by hand, is always under control and can be played soft or loud as the bell-master may decide. Some wonderful snatch of melody would play automatically morning and evening or during the noon hour, changed from time to time for the sake of variety or to suit the particular season, while on one evening each week the bell-master would present a formal concert.
LOCATION: A memorial of this kind should be well in the midst of the city, that many might enjoy its music by the mere opening of a window or a door, and that other thousands might have ready access to concerts without long journeys for that purpose. (As many as 30,000 people are said to have gathered for a concert of this kind at Malines, Belgium.) Preferably, tho not necessarily, such a building should be on elevated ground, and near sufficient open space such as a park would afford, to accommodate large numbers of people who would gather for the concerts. Many have suggested Sixteenth Street Park as an ideal setting for it.
AS A BUSINESS ASSET: While most people will prefer to dwell upon its esthetic and cultural values, finding in it a never ending source of inspiration, it will not be amiss to consider it as a business asset as well. It is doubtful whether a single additional visitor or resident would be drawn to Washington by reason of the erection here of ever so fine a triumphal arch or other similar memorial. On the other hand a memorial such as is here proposed would, by reason of its unique character in America, and by virtue of its excellence, soon become an appealing object of interest in every village and town thruout the United States, and be the means of drawing many thousands of additional visitors to the capital and holding them longer once they were here. It could undoubtedly be made the greatest single attraction in this city of attractions.