"To those who are aware of the care which was taken in laying the foundation of the Monument, both in the selection and preparation of the bed and in the execution of masonry work, it will be scarcely necessary to enter into any statement in regard to its present condition. * * * For five years during which the work has been suspended, the foundation has been bearing about four-sevenths of the pressure that it will ultimately be required to sustain, and, in a recent examination, I was unable to detect any appearance of settling or indication of insecurity. * * * Whether the height of 600 feet can be attained without endangering the stability of the obelisk, a computation is herewith subjoined, from which it would appear that, without taking into consideration the adhesion of the mortar, the weight alone of the structure would offer a resistance nearly eight times greater than the overturning effort of the heaviest tempest to which it would probably ever be exposed."
The conclusions of this report set at rest at that time all doubts that had existed as to the stability of the Monument completed and of its foundation.
A proposition, submitted by Lieutenant Ives, to raise funds by erecting contribution boxes in the post-offices throughout the country, constituting postmasters agents of the Society for their care and supervision and the transmission of money thus collected to the Treasurer of the Society, was adopted, and Lieutenant Ives was charged with the execution of the plan. Amounts collected from the boxes were sent directly to the Treasurer, and memoranda of the same to Lieutenant Ives, a record being also kept at the Washington City post-office of all letters addressed to that officer as Engineer of the Monument.
May 17, 1859, the Society published and circulated a general appeal to the public. Collateral to the raising of funds by the "post-office plan," agents were appointed, under bond (allowed the usual 15 per cent. on the amount of collections to defray their expenses), in defined districts to solicit contributions, and a circular appeal was specially addressed to corporations, literary and benevolent institutions, to schools, organizations, the Masonic fraternity, and to officers of the Navy in command, asking their aid to bring the subject before the officers and men under them.
At the end of the first four months under Lieutenant Ives' plan returns were had from 841 post-offices, the sums aggregating $2,240.31 (some 28,000 offices making no response at all), an amount far short of hope. It had been estimated that $45,000 a year would be required to keep the work on the Monument in fair progress when again resumed.
Aside from the post-office receipts, the most considerable items collected in this year were: Contribution box at the Monument, $822.40; box at the Patent Office, $396.26; California, $1,000; from collections in the City of Washington, $49.73. The entire receipts for the year were $3,074.96, while the expenditures made in preparation to resume work, printing, &c., amounted to $1,429.39.
On the 15th of March, 1859, at the Masonic National Convention held in the City of Chicago, a number of the wives, daughters, and sisters of Masons in attendance upon the Convention, assembled in the "Richmond House" and formed a "Ladies' National Washington Monument Association to aid in the completion of the Washington Monument now being erected in Washington, D. C." Mrs. Finley M. King, Port Byron, N. Y., was elected President, and Mrs. John L. Lewis, Penn Yan, N. Y., Secretary and Treasurer, and Vice-Presidents were appointed, residents of different States, among the number Mrs. Reuben Hyde Walworth, N. Y.; Mrs. Robert M. Henderson, Mo.; Mrs. Floride C. Cunningham, S. C.; Mrs. William Sheets, Ind.; Mrs. Margaret C. Brown, Fla.; Mrs. Elbert H. English, Ark.; Mrs. Giles M. Hillyer, Miss.; Mrs. Jane Van Wagoner, N. J.; Mrs. Martha E. Holbrook, Or.; Mrs. Gilbert C. Morell, Neb.; Mrs. William S. Long, Cal.; Mrs. John G. Saxe, Vt.; Miss Sallie Bell, Tenn.; Mrs. Richard Vaux, Pa.
The Ladies' Association proceeded actively to work to raise funds by various plans, but with small result. In the year 1860 there was issued an "Appeal of The Ladies' Washington National Monument Society to the judges and inspectors of elections of the various towns, wards, precincts, and election districts in the United States, to every paper and periodical published, and to the whole people." After reference to the unfinished Monument and a glowing tribute to the memory of Washington, the address requested "judges and inspectors of election" in every place in the ensuing Presidential election (or any person, if they fail to do so) to provide boxes in which to receive contributions, and appoint suitable persons to take charge of them, and "every voter" was earnestly entreated to deposit in the boxes any sum, "however small," and the press were asked to give the appeal notice.
Money collected was to be transmitted by draft or "in postage stamps" to the Secretary or to any one of the lady Vice-Presidents in the several States, the amounts collected to be finally published in the daily papers.
The success achieved by the association of ladies was but indifferent compared with the expectations in its formation, and it collapsed in about two years. In 1860 it paid to the Treasurer of the Society, as shown by his account, $458.50.