Memorial

South of the White House, the austere, vigilant column that commemorates President Washington pricks the sky, a granite bayonet; west, at the end of the Mall, the Lincoln Memorial dreams above its grave lagoon. Now there is to be another memorial in Washington-- one to Theodore Roosevelt. Last week, the Roosevelt Memorial Association appropriated $1,000,000 for this project, invited famed architects, sculptors, landscape designers to compete in submitting designs. Entire freedom was given to the imaginations of the competitors, the one stipulation being that the memorial "shall adequately commemorate the character and significance of President Roosevelt." The site, already chosen, presents complexities. The scheme upon which the city is laid out involves two axes: the first from the Dome of the Capitol through the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial; the second a cross-axis to a terminal balancing the White House on the south. The site for the Roosevelt Memorial is at the end of this axis; the edifice, when erected, will be this required balance, this terminal. Those who have been invited to submit designs are: Architects William B. Faville, C. Grant La Farge, McKim, Meade & White, Charles Platt, Irving K. Pond, John Russell Pope, Egerton Swartwout, York & Sawyer; Sculptors Herbert Adams, Carl Akeley, James E. Eraser, John Gregory, C. P. Jenne-wein, Lorado Taft; Landscape Experts James L. Greenleaf, Charles N. Lowrie, Frederick Law Olmsted, Ferruccio Vitale.

Under the august dome of the Capitol, some distance to the northeast of the Roosevelt Memorial site, other strenuous Americans are commemorated. There, upon a frieze that belts the dome 75 feet from the floor, a fresco depicts scenes from U. S. history beginning with the landing of the bold Italian adventurer, Cristoforo Colombo. Work upon this design was started long ago by Constantino Brumidi, Italian artist, carried on by Filippi Costaggini, another Italian, but suspended in 1899 and never resumed. A gap of blank wall breaks the complete circuit of the frieze.

Stirred from the lethargy of 25 years, Congress recently passed a resolution, appropriated $40,000 for the completion and restoration of the frieze. Last week, the Joint Committee on the Library sat to determine what latter-day pioneers will fill the remaining space.