At the meeting on the 22d of February, 1866, for election of officers, there was a large attendance. The President of the United States, Mr. Andrew Johnson, presided. Replying to some remarks of welcome, he said:
"Gentlemen of the Association: It is no ordinary pleasure to me to have it in my power to meet you here on this occasion and participate in your proceedings, intended to resume and progress in the completion of a monument, if I may speak the language of his eulogist, to him who was 'the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen.'
"I repeat, it is no ordinary pleasure to me to meet you here on this occasion, on the birthday of the Father of his Country, and participate with you in your efforts to complete the Monument intended to commemorate his name. * * * I hope and trust the work will soon be completed. I hope and trust if there are any States which have not yet contributed and placed their pledges in that Monument of the Union bearing their inscription, it will go on until all the States have done so. I will here remark, it will continue to go on notwithstanding we have disturbed relations of some of the States to the Federal Government; that it will continue to go on until those relations are harmonized and our Union again be complete. Let us restore the Union, and let us proceed with the Monument as its symbol until it shall contain the pledge of all the States of the Union. Let us go on with this great work; let us complete it at the earliest moment practicable; let your Monument rise—if I may speak in the language of that celebrated and distinguished statesman who made the greatest effort of his life in vindication of the Union of these States—'let this Monument to Washington rise higher and higher until it shall meet the sun in his coming, and his last parting ray shall linger and play on its summit.'
"I thank you, gentlemen, for the compliment you have conferred upon me in inviting me to attend on this, the birthday of the Father of his Country, to participate in your proceedings, and I hope and trust your efforts will be crowned with success."
Little progress, however, was made toward resuming work on the Monument in this year. The receipts from all sources, chiefly at the Monument and Patent Office, and accrued interest, amounted to only $1,281.06. Early in 1867 the Society again memorialized Congress, as on former occasions.
July 17th, Mr. Driggs, in the House, offered a preamble and resolution, which was adopted, reciting that the Society "had been in existence twenty years without having accomplished anything beyond the partial erection of a square column on the public grounds; that large sums of money had been collected, and that collections are still continued in the Patent Office and other buildings, and directing the Secretary of the Interior to inform the House what became of the money collected in the Patent Office and as to the present condition of the Association."
The memorial was referred to a committee of the House, and there filed.
On the following day the Secretary replied to the House with the information requested, showing present resources of the Society, disposition of its funds, current expenses, present condition and purposes.
March 26, 1869, Mr. Nye (Nevada), in the Senate, introduced—
"A bill to insure the completion of the Washington Monument."