The Loyal Legion offered to donate $300,000 toward the memorial on condition that Congress would give a suitable site in the City of Washington. A bill was accordingly introduced in Congress to carry the plan into effect by appropriating $300,000 for the purchase of ground. Everybody was favorable and all conditions seemed auspicious.
Those who have had opportunities to observe legislation in the making, are familiar with the fact that the only certain thing about it is its uncertainty. A resume of the career of this particular measure affords a shining example in point. The bill was introduced in both Senate and House in the spring of 1912, and was referred to committees in the usual manner. The Senate committee gave prompt consideration to the bill, and of its own accord increased the amount of the proposed appropriation to $400,000, after which it reported it to the Senate, which passed it without opposition. The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds of the House, after hearings, submitted a unanimously favorable report to the House on the last day before adjournment for the summer of 1912.
When Congress met in December, 1912, the status of the Red Cross building bill seemed most fortunate. It had passed the Senate without opposition carrying an appropriation of $400,000. The House Committee had unanimously accepted the Senate bill and had recommended it for passage. All that remained was for the House to pass it and the President to attach his signature. The road looked straight and easy and not very long, with a bright blue sky overhead.
And then something interfered slightly with the forward movement. Many other bills with many active congressmen behind them crowded into the foreground. There seemed to be no opening for the Red Cross bill to slip through. Big bills for the support of the vast governmental departments had to be given precedence. Time flew and congressmen began to refer to the fact that it was a short session with much to be done. Also the leaders began to urge economy in appropriations.
It was found impossible to get a definite place or date set for a vote on the Red Cross bill. At one time it was proposed to try to call it up by unanimous consent, but nothing came of that. Then those in charge thought better to abandon it as a distinct measure and insert it as an item in the big Public Buildings and Grounds Bill, which contained appropriations for many buildings. Later the cry of economy became more strident and the plan for the Red Cross bill was again changed. Now it was decided not to bring it forward in the House but instead to pass the Public Buildings and Grounds Bill in the House without it and let it be inserted by the Senate when the big bill reached that body.
It is customary for the Senate to add numerous items to bills of this character after the House has passed them. Then the bills as amended by the Senate must go back to the House for the House to accept the Senate amendments. If the House declines to accept the Senate amendments a committee is appointed from each side to confer and try to agree on the items in dispute. Usually both Senate and House accept the recommendations of the conference committees.
So the House passed the Public Buildings and Grounds Bill without the Red Cross item and the Senate was asked to insert that item. It did so. Then opposition arose because the Red Cross building was a memorial to the loyal women of the Civil War. It was argued that the Confederate women were just as brave and devoted and self-sacrificing as the women of the North; that no memorial should perpetuate sectional feeling. The proposition was made that the word loyal be eliminated and that the building be a memorial to all the women of the Civil War. This could not be done, however, because the gift of $300,000 by the Loyal Legion was conditioned upon the retention of the word loyal. A sharp discussion followed with the result that the Red Cross item was entirely stricken out. A little later the subject was reopened and the Red Cross item was again inserted and remained there when the Senate passed the bill.
The House refused to accept the Senate amendments and a conference committee was appointed. Several important Senate amendments, among them the Red Cross item, became the subject of prolonged discussion. Congress must adjourn on March 4th. It was now March 3rd and it became imperative that an agreement should be reached. Finally the dispute had narrowed down to this:
The House conferees would consent to the passage of the Red Cross item if the Senate would abandon the item for the purchase of the Rock Creek Valley in Washington for park purposes. The Rock Creek Valley purchase was of the utmost importance to Washington. It had been urged for years and there was no question that it was of greater public value at this time than the provision of a Red Cross building. The Senate forced to this hard choice wisely held on to the Rock Creek Valley item and the Red Cross item was lost.