Gutzon made nine different models before he got the approval of every detail. There were arguments about the style of the lettering and the arrangement of the figures. One member of the Art Commission thought that the eagle’s legs were too gaunt and lifelike and should be enclosed in feather pantalettes.
Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon wanted to know why the motto “In God We Trust” had been placed over the heads of Lee and Jackson.
“Because they did trust Him,” said Gutzon, “and were sincere in their belief that they were right.”
The secretary smiled. “And the thirteen stars,” he went on. “What are they there for?”
Gutzon knew then that his trouble was over. “It all depends on which side of Mason and Dixon’s line you happen to live,” he said. “They could, of course, stand for the thirteen rebellious states.” And Mellon laughed and gave in.
The first coin was struck at the mint in Philadelphia on January 21, 1925. The first model had been approved six months before, and the memorial fifty-cent piece differed from it in only one important particular. The figure of President Jefferson Davis, a part of the first group projected on Stone Mountain, did not appear on the coin. That was one concession the victorious government declined to make.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MONEY
It became evident during the summer of 1924 that the Confederate memorial of Stone Mountain was on its way to a considerable solvency. The memorial half dollar would presently be minted, whatever the Yankee quarrels about the status of Jefferson Davis and the need for pants on eagles. In the meantime a new project of the inventive David Webb showed signs of lucrative popularity.
“The Children’s Founders’ Roll,” Webb called this new appeal for cash. And all he needed to recruit the eager children to the Founders’ Roll was a children’s medal that he could exchange for their donations. This, he thought, didn’t involve anything very difficult inasmuch as he had one side of the medal already depicted in the first model for the coin. The other side was to carry an inscription of the committee’s choosing. But he didn’t want the medal to cost too much, and there came difficulty.
The United States mint maintains a rigid high standard in its coinage, and Gutzon wanted the children’s medals to be equally fine. He turned his model over to the Medallic Art Company of New York, whose workmanship satisfied him. The company agreed to make the medals for six or seven cents apiece. They were to be sold to the public for fifty cents or a dollar.