Immediately after abolishing the Council of Fine Arts President Taft undertook to interest Congress in the establishment of a permanent Commission of Fine Arts. A bill was accordingly presented in the United States Senate by Hon. Elihu Root. In the House of Representatives the bill was sponsored by Hon. Samuel W. McCall. Various amendments were made to the measure in both the Senate and House of Representatives and it was finally adopted by the act approved May 17, 1910, as follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a permanent Commission of Fine Arts is hereby created to be composed of seven well-qualified judges of the fine arts, who shall be appointed by the President, and shall serve for a period of four years each, and until their successors are appointed and qualified. The President shall have authority to fill all vacancies. It shall be the duty of such Commission to advise upon the location of statues, fountains, and monuments in the public squares, streets, and parks in the District of Columbia, and upon the selection of models for statues, fountains, and monuments, erected under the authority of the United States and upon the selection of artists for the execution of the same. It shall be the duty of the officers charged by law to determine such questions in each case to call for such advice. The foregoing provisions of this act shall not apply to the Capitol Building of the United States and the building of the Library of Congress. The Commission shall also advise generally upon questions of art when required to do so by the President, or by any committee of either House of Congress. Said Commission shall have a secretary and such other assistance as the Commission may authorize, and the members of the Commission shall each be paid actual expenses in going to and returning from Washington to attend the meetings of said Commission and while attending the same.
Sec. 2. That to meet the expenses made necessary by this act an expenditure of not exceeding $10,000 a year is hereby authorized.
The duties of the Commission of Fine Arts have been enlarged since then from time to time by Executive orders. Congress has also stipulated in many recent enactments that the plans for certain designated buildings, monuments, etc., must be approved by the Commission before they can be accepted by the Government. The act of May 16, 1930, gives the Commission control over certain portions of the District of Columbia in the matter of private buildings, under what is known as the Shipstead-Luce Act. Reports are published periodically.
The duties of the Commission, therefore, now embrace not only advising upon the location of statues, fountains, and monuments in the public squares, streets, and parks in the District of Columbia, etc., but in fact all questions involving matters of art with which the Federal Government is concerned.
CAPITOL GROUNDS AND UNION STATION PLAZA, 1917
THE MALL, 1930
The Commission has been in existence 29 years, during which time many great artists of this country have served as its members. The membership comprises three architects, a sculptor, a painter, a landscape architect, and a lay member. Congress permits the Commission to hold meetings, including committee meetings, both in and outside of the District of Columbia, thus enabling it to give attention to works of art in any part of the country in which the Government is interested. A meeting of the Commission is usually held in Washington each month, where the public-buildings program and other great projects under way for the development of the National Capital are requiring its particular attention.