Jackson, Tenn., has erected a tall shaft 70 feet high, including the figure of a Confederate soldier at parade rest. It is in the court-house yard.
Hon. D. N. Kennedy, of Clarksville, kindly furnishes us the following data about a monument in course of erection there: It is to be 48 feet high, 9 feet by 13 feet at base; will be capped by a bronze statue 9 feet high. There will be two granite statues 7 feet high, 12 feet above the base. The monument is being constructed from Barre granite. It is to cost $7,500, and to be completed in the early spring, and to be dedicated in May. In a strong speech for that movement at the last Confederate reunion there Mr. Kennedy made the effective point that he would not be willing to omit having a part in it. [It is a fact worthy of note that Mr. Kennedy is president of the oldest bank in Tennessee. It was established in 1854 and never suspended, not even during the war. He and the vice president, Mr. James L. Glenn, have ever been associated in the institution.]
Savannah, Ga., has a Confederate monument that would be a credit to any city and to any cause. An extended description of it may be expected in our next issue. The cost was about $35,000.
The greatest monument to a Confederate that has ever been erected, size and quality of material considered, is the Lee monument in Richmond. In the reference to it elsewhere no idea of its magnitude can be had except that it cost $75,000. A more accurate description may be expected hereafter.
Macon, Ga., has a superb Confederate monument in the most prominent street crossing in the city. It is of very white Italian marble, is 37 feet high, including the statue of a private soldier, 10 feet 6 inches. The base is of (Georgia) Stone Mountain granite. The inscriptions: Great seal of the Confederacy, by copy belonging to Charles Herbst, a Kentuckian, but "resident of Macon almost long enough to be a native," to quote from the Irishman. Then it is ornamented with the coat-of-arms of Georgia, cannon and other implements of war. It is decorated on all memorial days by the ladies and cared for constantly by Mr. Herbst. It cost $4,500. Hon. John P. Fort, then of Macon, paid the expenses of its dedication in 1878 — $500.
HOMELESS VETERANS IN GEORGIA.
The general public, interested in such matters, knows how zealously and successfully our people in Georgia worked to secure a Home in the vicinity of the capital for disabled Confederate veterans, and that the State Legislature has refused again and again to accept the property, coupled with a provision to appropriate a maintenance fund. The trustees, not content to surrender the cause, have considered several plans for carrying it on. Col. Brewster submitted a plan to them, which meets with general favor, for organizing a stock company of persons who will take the property, giving so much annually, as necessary to its support, and then to own it when its special uses are done. The "Constitution" says : " It is fortunate that the trustees of the Soldiers' Home have been called together for an early meeting. "Public sentiment has crystalized into the proper shape for action, and we are gratified to see that the suggestion of Colonel Brewster, in regard "to organizing a stock company to run the Home is very generally indorsed. Other good suggestions will doubtless be made, and it is to be hoped that the trustees will feel encouraged to make another effort to save this splendid charity for our needy and homeless veterans."
The Richmond Dispatch says: " It is a lamentable sight to see a battle-scarred soldier of the Confederacy in a poor-house. It is well- calculated to arouse the suspicion that there is more buncombe than heartfelt sympathy in the often-heard praise of the men who fought our battles. If these Soldiers' Homes did no more good than to save a few of these veterans from the poor-houses, we could well afford to maintain them. It is disgraceful that any worthy veteran of the Confederate Army should be forced to live the life of a pauper. It is a fact, too, that many veterans who have homes, so- called, are neither welcome nor comfortable in them. To these, also, the Soldiers' Homes offer shelter, food and respectable companionship. We shall not presume to offer any advice to the gallant people of the great State of Georgia, but we can truly say that the Confederate Home here has been of vast service. It could be of greater service still, if it had more funds at its disposal.
"This we know from what we saw of the Georgia soldiers in the battles around Richmond, that no provision the Legislature of that State could make for caring for them in their old age and helplessness would be beyond their deserts."
The St. Louis Republic urges the Trustees not to give up the Home, and hopes that the people of Georgia will support it freely and voluntarily. It thinks that the ladies of the State would take care of it.
"From every quarter come expressions of surprise and indignation at the defeat of this patriotic enterprise. In self-detense — in order to set Georgia right before the world — our people must come to the rescue of the home, and show that they do not propose to have any of their old defenders sent to the poor-house while they have it in their power to aid them.
"We are not committed to any particular plan, but we hope that the trustees will give the situation their careful consideration, with a view to opening and maintaining the Home for the next twenty years. A stock company organized on the proper basis can make the institution a success, and get its money back out of the property with a good profit."
"Comment upon the situation by the Sunny South : The Legislature is of fifty days and full of buncombe; it assembleth with great dignity and adjourneth with much joy, and four dollars per diem ; it maketh a trip to the World's Fair, and payeth its expense out of an appropriation ; it cometh back and sitteth down on the old veterans with a loud noise; it appropriateth much lucre to educate the colored man, but verily it knoweth it to be a good investment, for it shall return after many days through the convict lessee."
If New Orleans can erect $150,000 worth of Confederate monuments, and Richmond near that amount, should the entire South hesitate in an undertaking to cost only $250,000?
