At the next session the select committee of the last Congress was reappointed, and on May 1, 1874, submitted a report comprehending its former one, and to which was appended a transcript of the complete accounts of the Society. The report concurred with prior ones in Congress, commending the Society's past management and efforts to erect the Monument.
A report by Lieut. W. L. Marshall, Corps of Engineers, bearing on the sufficiency of the foundations to support the Monument at a height of 600 feet was also submitted as a part of the committee's report, Lieutenant Marshall making his report as a result of a request preferred by the chairman of the select committee to the Chief of Engineers, U.S.A. It was stated by Lieutenant Marshall:
"It seems inadvisable to complete the Washington Monument to the full height of 600 feet. The area covered by its foundations is too small for a structure of the proposed dimensions and weight, causing an excessive pressure upon a soil not wholly incompressible."
And he recommended the height be less than 500 feet.
The committee's report recommended the passage of a joint resolution "that it is the duty of Congress to provide by a sufficient appropriation for the completion of the unfinished Washington Monument, at Washington City, by the 4th of July, 1876, the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence."
The report was ordered printed, and recommitted to the select committee on the Washington Monument. No further action was had on the report before the adjournment of Congress.
Abandoning hope that Congress would aid in the resumption of work on the Monument that it might be under way by the "Centennial year," the Society proceeded to appeal to the country. Mr. Frederick L. Harvey, Sr., was appointed its General Agent, and charged with the execution of a plan he had proposed and which the Society had adopted. This plan was to appeal to all organized bodies and associations in the country to make a "contingent" contribution of funds towards building the Monument, one-half to be payable to the Treasurer of the Society on official advice that the total sum estimated to be required, $500,000, had been subscribed, the balance to become payable in equal installments from six to twelve months later. The interest of the country was to be aroused by frequent articles in the daily press and by lectures. Contributions to be sought also from churches and schools and by placing contribution boxes in the exhibition buildings on the Centennial Exposition grounds, in the City of Philadelphia, when opened.
Mr. Harvey proceeded most actively and energetically to execute the plan. The press of Washington and elsewhere earnestly commended the work and urged contributions.
Rev. Dr. Otis Tiffany, an eloquent pulpit orator, was commissioned to visit the larger cities of the country and deliver an address on the life and character of Washington, and this gentleman spoke in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and other cities, thus helping to awaken public attention to the Monument.
President Grant and his Cabinet attended the lecture in Baltimore, going from Washington.