CORNER-STONE OF THE NEW CAPITOL.
The SPEAKER announced the special order for this hour to be consideration of the Senate concurrent resolution, that a memorial be placed in the new State House building which shall be a fit memento of the gallant part taken by the Indiana soldiers in the War for the Union.
Mr. HUSTON offered a substitute, that the Commissioners are authorized to proceed at the earliest moment to remove the corner-stone of the new State House and re-lay the same with such public ceremonies as may seem proper, and deposit in the corner-stone such fitting records and commemorations as shall honor and perpetuate the memory of the citizen soldiers of Indiana in the late war for the suppression of the late Rebellion.
Mr. CAUTHORNE--I hope the amendment will not prevail. I am willing to vote in any way to perpetuate the memory of Indiana soldiers, but I do not think it necessary to open the corner-stone and put a record of their services that will never be seen. I am willing to commemorate their memory by building a monument, but I am not willing to do anything that will hazard the contract for the erection of the building.
Mr, HUSTON said I offered the substitute because I thought it due to the soldiers of Indiana, that there should be some evidence or some record preserved of the services that they rendered during the War for their country. Other States wherein corner-stones have been laid held memorial exercises, and invariably there was deposited with other matters a record of their soldiers. In this corner-stone not one single word was mentioned that Indiana ever did have a soldier engaged in putting down a rebellion, or rendered any assistance. Is it reasonable to suppose, after doing what she has done, that Indiana should at this late day ignore an apparent mark of respect to her dead soldiers? It is as important a feature that a correct record be preserved of the War in which Indiana was engaged as it is to perpetuate or keep any other item of history.
Mr. CAUTHORNE offered an amendment to the substitute, that the Governor is hereby authorized to advertise for plans and specifications for the erection of a monument as a memorial for the services rendered by the soldiers of Indiana upon the field of battle in the Indian War, the Mexican War and the War of the late Rebellion; said monument not to cost to exceed $75,000, to be built in Indianapolis in the Governor's Park, and that the same be inserted in the specific appropriation bill.
The amendment to the substitute was laid on the table.
Mr. NEFF said the State House Commissioners are more than anxious to have this Legislature to place a construction upon the original contract. There is no man who has more admiration for the gallant men who fought for this Union than I. So far as I am concerned it makes but little difference to me whether you put their names in the corner-stone or not. I understood that any citizens had the right to go there and deposit whatsoever he desired. The point is this: Shall this Assembly pass a sweeping joint resolution to tear up a portion of the building, thereby giving the contractors an opportunity for a loophole to recede or vary from their contract? I am in favor of the joint resolution as it came from the Senate, or any other resolution, to perpetuate the memories of Indiana soldiers.
Mr. THOMPSON said: Four years ago when the bill came up, it was agreed that there should be two Republicans and two Democrats on the State House Commission, One of these Commissioners is a military man. and if he has overlooked the interest of the soldier in laying that corner-stone, I censure him. So far as I am concerned, I wanted the history of the Indiana soldiers placed there, but since the work was done as it is I am willing that it shall remain. I voted for the substitute of the gentleman from Knox (Mr. Cauthorne) because I think it is a fairer representation of what is necessary to perpetuate the memory of the soldiers than to put it in a rock where it will never be heard from again. The State House Commissioners have a contract for the construction of that building, and I do not wish for any purpose to invalidate the contract. I do not think the Legislature has any right to dictate what the Commissioners shall do in that respect. It is just as necessary to perpetuate the memories of those who fell in the Indian War, War of 1812, or the Mexican War as in the late Rebellion.
Mr. RYAN moved a substitute for the amendment, that a proper and fitting statute be prepared and fixed in the center of the colonade of the Capitol of the State as a commemoration of the deeds and memory of the dead soldiers, as a fit commemoration to the devotion and patriotism of the Indiana soldiers, etc. He said if a monument is erected it should be placed where the last generations of time can see it, and be subject to the vision of the sons and daughters of Indiana. It should be such a monument and so placed that time can not claim or deface it; will be not only a fit monument, but it will be so placed and situated as to not only be an everlasting example to the people, but it will continue to be a shrine at which the people of Indiana can pay their devotion so long as Indiana remains a State.
Mr. FRAZER was opposed to the substitute had amendment, also to the joint resolution, because it is indefinite and means nothing. He moved to refer the resolution to a Special Committee of three.
Mr. BUSKIRK--I desire to say in connection with this subject that the soldiers of Indiana do not need to be comnmemorated in any such way. Their deeds are printed in such broad letters that they do not need to be commemorated in any corner-stone. Deeds of Indiana soldiers will not die. They remain in the minds and hearts of the present generation, and as long as the State of Indiana lasts the Indiana soldier of the late War will be remembered the same as soldiers of any other country. I say this is all flaptrap, and we have taken up too much time on this subject already.
Mr. MITCHELL said the soldiers of the Rebellion, who fought to preserve the Union of the page: 109[View Page 109] American States, have already written their names in the character of light in the memories of the American people--written their names in such bold and indellible characters that they will never be defaced. We may erect a statue containing all the names of the Union soldiers, and then, I tell you, that they will not last so long as the monument they have built for themselves.
Mr. WRIGHT said that it seemed strange to him that, in running over the list of things that were placed in the corner-stone, the names of citizens who assisted in the preservation of the Government, and fell in so doing, should be so utterly forgotten. He thought if there is a single record of that corner-stone which deserves to stay where it is, it ought to be turned up and at least a record of the Indiana soldiers placed in there.
Mr. CARTER said as a soldier he served in the late Rebellion, and considered the laying of the corner-stone in the manner in which it was conducted an insult to the soldiers of Indiana. The soldiers of Indiana demand that provisions be made by which a record of their deeds be deposited in the corner-stone, so as not to be ignored entirely.
Mr. MARSHALL said that the soldiers of Indiana demanded that a copy of the records of their service in the late War be placed in that stone to preserve and perpetuate them.
Mr. GIBSON said: I think this is a subject that was born in demagogism, rocked in the cradle of flap-trap and fanned by the winds of nonsense. I am one who believes that a monument would not throw one bright ray of light upon the deeds of any soldier of the State of Indiana. What is the history of all this flap-trap? Where did it originate? In a message delivered to the Assembly. The history of the soldier is not a history of Indiana; it is a National history, and our corner-stone was laid to perpetuate mere local things.
Mr. MEREDITH said this matter was fully discussed throughout the campaign, and it was the desire of the soldiers of the State that the corner-stone should be re-laid, as it can be done at a cost of several hundred dollars.
The motion to refer the resolution to a Committee of Three was agreed to.
