mental ideals of freedom-loving Americans. You can not alter or amend our Declaration. Thus they proclaimed it; thus it stands both as the foundation of our Republic and as an inspiration to the lovers of liberty throughout the world.

Abraham Lincoln, in speaking of this great document and of our everlasting debt to Thomas Jefferson, said:

All honor to Jefferson-to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and sagacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times and so embalm it there that to-day and in all coming days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling block to the very harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression.

Second. We recommend that this commission continue to support the nation-wide effort to raise the fund required to assure the preservation of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, as a patriotic shrine, and to continue the nonpartisan and truly American work of patriotic education conducted by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Beautiful, beloved Monticello, sitting on the mountain top overlooking Charlottesville, Va., is known throughout the world. A steady stream of visitors from every part of our land and from France, England, and the other nations of Europe climbed the mountain to sit at the feet of the Sage of Monticello. Here came Madison, the father of our Constitution, and Monroe, who proclaimed the great Pan American doctrine. Here Jefferson first outlined his thoughts for American independence. Here he drafted the great law for religious freedom that thrilled the whole world. Here he devised the law for universal education and planned the free State University of Virginia. Here he conferred with George Rogers Clarke before sending him out to conquer the Middle West for us. Merriwether Lewis and William Clark received their instructions here for the exploration of the great Northwest. Here he labored for over half a century to create a world empire without the force of arms or the loss of human blood; based on the fundamental ideals of freedom and equality, placing both faith and power in the common man.

At Monticello is the grave of Thomas Jefferson with the tombstone on which are carved the most inspiring words, just as Jefferson wrote them in his instructions for his epitaph. No record there of his worldly honors, titles, or achievements, but only a glorious reminder of the three fundamental ideals of our Republic-civil liberty, religious freedom, and universal education.

The many thousands who have visited this sacred American shrine since it has been acquired for the Nation by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation have found not merely a relic or museum but a living dynamic force for better patriotism, and thus Monticello should be preserved for all our future generations.

May we add, too, that Monticello deserves to be preserved by the Nation also because it was designed and built by the father of American architecture, and its gardens were laid out by one of the first and foremost landscape gardeners of our country, for Jefferson led both in architecture and in gardening, as he did in so many other walks of our early American life.

Indeed, Monticello is filled with historic associations vital to all of us, but even more vital to the Americans of to-morrow, who, in the

centuries to come, will hold us strictly to account for the preservation of such patriotic shrines as the Mount Vernon of the Father of our Country, and the Monticello of the Father of American Democracy.

Third. We recommend the establishment of an appropriate shrine in the city of Washington wherein may be preserved all the records and relics pertaining to the adoption of the Declaration of American Independence, which shall be dedicated as a memorial to its author.

It is an amazing fact that in the Capital City of our Nation there is no memorial in honor of the author of the Declaration of American Independence and the author of the Bill of Rights, which was made a part of the Constitution of the United States.

The Nation may well be proud of the beautiful monument erected in the city of Washington to the Father of our Country, and of the other memorial more recently erected and dedicated to the martyred Abraham Lincoln. There remains but a third corner to complete a glorious triangle of patriotic inspiration. That space should be devoted to the erection of a suitable building in harmony with the other two great monuments, and should stand as our national tribute to Thomas Jefferson.

In the creation of such a memorial building serious thought should be given to the suggestion that there should be gathered and preserved therein every available relic and record pertaining to the Declaration of our Independence. The vault that now contains the original Declaration of Independence might well be moved into such a building, and with it may be gathered there the original draft of the Declaration of Independence in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson and the desk which Thomas Jefferson designed and ordered made for him in Philadelphia for the glorious purpose of writing the Declaration of Independence upon it.

We owe a duty to ourselves, and even a greater duty to future generations, to jealously guard every sacred relic pertaining to the drawing, signing, adopting, and proclaiming of that immortal document. We can perform our trust to the satisfaction of the generations to come if we gather these inspiring tokens of our freedom into one memorial building, so that the visitors who come to the Capital City of our Nation may therein find not only a great source of inspiration but an ever-living proof that patriotic Americans are loyal to the fundamental ideals of our Republic, and that they hold in deepest reverence the great and immortal name of Thomas Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence, exponent of our ideals, father of the law for religious freedom, and champion of

universal education.

Fourth. We recommend that this commission be continued in office and be instructed to make plans for the further consideration of these recommendations, and for the carrying out of the plans in furtherance of the same as the Congress of the United States may order and direct from time to time.

Respectfully submitted in behalf of the Sesquicentennial of American Independence and the Thomas Jefferson Centennial Commission of the United States.

Attest:

STUART G. GIBBONEY, Chairman.

CLAUDE G. BOWERS, Secretary.

SCHEDULE 1

[PUBLIC RESOLUTION-No. 20-69TH CONGRESS]

[S. J. Res. 30]

Joint resolution authorizing the establishment of a commission to be known as the Sesquicentennial of American Independence and the Thomas Jefferson Centennial Commission of the United States, in commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independ

ence.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United State of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established a commission to be known as the Sesquicentennial of American Independence and the Thomas Jefferson Centennial Commission of the United States, in commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (hereinafter referred to as the commission), and to be composed of nineteen commissioners as follows:

The President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ex officio; eight persons to be appointed by the President of the United States; four Senators by the Vice President; and four Representatives by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 2. The commissioners shall serve without compensation, and shall select a chairman from among their number, and no appropriation shall be made by Congress to carry out the purposes of this act.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the commissioners to promulgate to the American people an address relating to the reason of the creation of the commission and of its purposes and to prepare a plan or plans for a program in cooperation with the officers and board of governors of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, and the other National, State, city, civic, and patriotic committees, and other Jefferson centennial committees appointed throughout the country for the purpose of properly commemorating those signal events which have brought this commission into being; and to give due and proper consideration to any plan or plans which may be submitted to them; and to take such steps as may be necessary in the coordination and correlation of the various plans which may be submitted to the commission; and if the participation of other nations be deemed advisable, to communicate with the governments of such

nations.

SEC. 4. When the commission shall have approved of a plan of celebration, then it shall submit for their consideration and approval such plan or plans, in so far as it or they may relate to the fine arts, to the Commission of Fine Arts, in Washington, for their approval, and in accordance with statutory requirements.

SEC. 5. That the commission hereby created shall expire within two years after the expiration of the celebration, December 31, 1926. SEC. 6. This joint resolution shall take effect immediately. Approved April 26, 1926.

SCHEDULE 2

MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SESQUICENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE THOMAS JEFFERSON CENTENNIAL COMMISSION OF THE UNITED STATES

Held at the White House, Washington, D. C., Thursday, May 13, 1926, at 3.30 p. m.

Present:

Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States.

Nicholas Longworth, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Senator Joseph T. Robinson, of Arkansas.

Senator Simeon D. Fess, of Ohio.

Senator Royal S. Copeland, of New York.
Representative Finis J. Garrett, of Tennessee.
Representative John Q. Tilson, of Connecticut.
Representative R. Walton Moore, of Virginia.
Representative Robert L. Bacon, of New York.

Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, president of the University of Virginia.
Claude G. Bowers.

Mrs. Anthony Wayne Cook, retiring president, general national society, Daughters of American Revolution.

Stuart G. Gibboney, president Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Theodore Fred Kuper, national director of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, assisting.

President Coolidge called the meeting to order and presided. He stated that he had called the meeting for the purpose of organizing the commission, electing officers, and for such other action as the commission might desire to take in furtherance of its purposes.

Senator Copeland thereupon moved that the meeting proceed to the election of officers. The motion was regularly seconded and carried. Thereupon there was an election of officers, and President Coolidge declared the following to have been unanimously and duly elected:

Honorary chairman, President Coolidge.

Honorary vice chairman, Dr. Edwin A. Alderman.
Chairman, Stuart G. Gibboney.

Vice chairman, Charles Francis Adams.

Secretary, Claude G. Bowers.

Executive committee: Chairman, Senator Royal S. Copeland; vice chairman, Representative Robert L. Bacon; Senator George P. McLean, Representative Finis J. Garrett, and Felix M. Warburg. The President read a telegram received by him from Mr. Felix M. Warburg regretting that it was impossible for him to attend the meeting, and stating that had he been present he would have taken the liberty of inquiring whether the President would have deemed it proper for him to make the suggestion that the memory of Thomas Jefferson could not be more fittingly honored than by the preservation of Monticello, and that to commemorate the Jeffersonian principle of religious liberty the President might suggest that three patriotic Americans-a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Jew-might each contribute $100,000 to help complete the acquisition of Monti

cello and the contents of Jefferson's home. Mr. Warburg concluded his telegram with the statement:

My genuine interest and my belief that this anniversary should not pass without perhaps such an action on your part, this tribute being paid to the memory of a distinguished Democratic President by an illustrious Republican President, must be my excuse for laying this question before you.

The President referred the telegram to the executive committee, with the request that the committee give Mr. Warburg's splendid patriotic suggestion serious and careful consideration, and then take such action as it deemed best regarding the matter on behalf of the commission.

The President asked for a report and suggestions from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and its associate committees. Thereupon Mr. Stuart G. Gibboney, president of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, presented his report in writing in the form of a letter addressed to President Coolidge, and transmitting therewith a letter or report from Hon. Breckinridge Long, chairman of the National Jefferson centennial committee, and a letter or report from Mr. Joseph Miller, jr., chairman of the national educational committee. Copies of these letters and reports are hereto attached.

Upon motion duly made, seconded, and unanimously carried, it was resolved that the commission adopt the program for American independence week, and the chairman was directed to address letters to governors, mayors, and patriotic citizens throughout the country urging a whole-hearted and nation-wide observance in accordance with the program as proposed by Mr. Joseph Miller, jr., on behalf of the national educational committee, to the end that the week prior to Independence Day be celebrated in an appropriate patriotic and educational manner, and every man, woman, and child be afforded the opportunity to witness the ceremony to be known as the "Echo of the Liberty Bell," and to pronounce the official "Patriot's Pledge of Faith."

Upon motion duly made, seconded, and carried the chairman was directed and authorized to print official stationery for the use of the commission, with the understanding that there would be no expense attached to the same on the part of the commission, an offer by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation to pay such expense being accepted by the commission.

Upon motion duly made, seconded, and carried, the chairman was authorized and directed to establish offices in the city of Washington. Upon motion duly made, seconded, and carried, it was resolved that there be created a subcommittee to consist of the following persons: Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, Claude G. Bowers, and Representative Robert L. Bacon, to prepare an address relating the reason of the creation of this commission and of its purposes and to refer the same to the honorary chairman and the chairman for approval and promulgation to the American people over the names of the members of the commission.

Mr. Stuart G. Gibboney, on behalf of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, reported on the progress made in the establishment and preservation of Monticello, Jefferson's home, as a national memorial to the author of the Declaration of Independence, and expressed to the President the deep gratitude of the officers and gov