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Show FATHER - MARQUETTE AXD AMERICAN . ' ; . ; : . ; BIGOTS, . The marble statue of the Jesuit pioneer,-Father Jacques Marquette, will be the subject of a controversy con-troversy in congress this winter between those who favor and those who oppose the formal acceptance by the governmenfc-of this beautiful gift of the state of Wisconsin as one of her two contributions contribu-tions ta thetatuary hall in the Capitol. - When the statue was first placed in the Capitol, there was objection made by bigots against the government gov-ernment accepting statue picturing a priest in his roles. of' office. ,-A conflict was waged for several years and involves 'the 'defacement of the pedestal 'of the statue by anti-Catholic bigots who did not want-to see. it. remain in the Capitol. The subject died out and the statue remained in its place until the present day without further consideration of the question, which has been left open by congress , several sessions. , It was said at the Capitol today that the question ques-tion of acceptance of the statue will be revived within a few weeks by members of the Wisconsin delegation congress, who are preparing ''to introduce intro-duce a concurrent resolution for its acceptance. The statue tfas placed in its present position in the Capitol in 1S96. On :March 19 of that year the then governor of Wisconsin, W. H. Upham, sent a communication to congress stating .that the statue had been placed in position in the Capitol as one of the two contributions of that state, under the -law. to the collection in Statuary hall. He explained ex-plained that the legislature of Wisconsin passed a resolution in 1S87 providing for the modeling of a statue by Chevalier Trentanove, a well known Florentine sculptor. On April 29, 1896, the letter-of Governor Upham was read in the senate and notable speeches were delivered there by Senators William F. Vilas and John L. Mitchell, of Wisconsin, Wiscon-sin, favoring the acceptance of the statue. Sena- . tor' John McAuley Palmer of Illinois introduced a concurrent resolution reading as follows: . "Resolved, by the Senate, the House concurring, That the thanks of Congress he gjveu;to the people ,of .Wisconsin for the statue of Jacques Marquette, . .... the "renowned missionary, explorer and discoverer of the Mississippi river.""'"" ' "Resolved, That the statue be accepted to remain re-main in-the .Xational .Statjuary hall, and that a copy of these resolutions' ba.'f orwarded to His Excellency, Ex-cellency, the governor of Wisconsin." This resolution passed the Senate but struck a snag in the house, and thr;' statue never has .been formally accepted, although. has been allowed to . remain in the Capitol. , The statue is purely kleal. It is regarded as one of the most, artistic in its conception of all the works of the kind sent to Washington, with the possible exception of the two bronzes of Charles Carroll and John Hanson, contributed con-tributed by Maryland. .. It. is of choice marble, carved with great skill, and '-mounted on a highly ornamented pedestal. It represents the missionary-explorer missionary-explorer clad in the robes of a priest holding in his hand a chart of the Lac des Illinois. Upon h is inscribed ''Wisconsin's' tribute. .Tames Marquette, S. J.; who,' with Louis Joliet, discovered the Mis-. Mis-. sissippi at Prairie du CJiiem June 17. 1763." So great was the rage -of" certain bigots at the statue of a robed priest being placed in Statuary Hall that for a long time special guards were needed to keep the work of art from defacement. Even with this the vigilance of the officers has been only partially successful. In 1S99 it was discovered that vandals had broken off the' ornamental work upon the pedestals. |