MRS. DANIEL MANNING,

WASHINGTON CITY, February 23, 1899.

President General, Daughters of the American Revolution. Dear Madam: I have the honor to inform you that at the annual meeting of the District of Columbia Society, Sons of the American Revolution, held in this city on the 22d instant, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

WHEREAS, In the recent Spanish-American War the Daughters of the American Revolution organized a magnificent corps of trained nurses, over one thousand in number, for the Army, and in addition collected and distributed to the soldiers a large amount of delicacies and clothing; therefore be it

Resolved, That the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution congratulate the Daughters of the American Revolution upon the noble, patriotic, and self-sacrificing work which they adopted in behalf of the sick and wounded soldiers; and they further desire to commend the Daughters of the American Revolution to the public as worthy descendants of illustrious sires.

Witness my hand and the seal of the Society this 23d day of February, 1899.

JOHN PAUL Earnest,

Secretary of the District of Columbia Society, Sons of the American Revolution.

Miss FORSYTH. I move that this be spread upon the minutes of the Society, with the thanks of the Congress, and be published in the AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Seconded.

Motion carried unanimously by rising vote.

Mrs. MCCARTNEY. Would it be out of order for me to say that the Daughters of the American Revolution accept with thanks these congratulations?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. That was the motion.

Mrs. MCCARTNEY. Not "with thanks."

Miss FORSYTH. I moved that it be placed upon the minutes with the thanks of this Congress.

Mrs. MCCARTNEY. I did not hear.

Miss FORSYTH. It may not have been very well expressed, but the thanks were there.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. We are waiting for the minutes, and while we are waiting Mrs. Keim will speak to us for a moment. Mrs. DEB. RANDOLPH KEIM. Madam President, ladies of the Congress: With the approval of the President General and

at the request of several ladies of the Continental Hall Committee who served with me two years ago, I am asked to explain a little matter which it is very important for you to know, we all think. On December 8, 1895, with the approval of the Board and the Continental Hall Committee, an appeal was presented to the United States Congress asking for a grant of a plot of ground upon which we might build a memorial to our forefathers and foremothers in this city. The impression has gone abroad that that plot of ground was never granted. The Congress of the United States, in less than two months a very few working days, as the Christmas vacation intervened did grant to this Congress such a plot of ground, and three days before the dispersion of our Congress, they discovered that the plot they had given us, having specified a particular location, was not within their power to give; and they said, if we asked again for some other plot of ground, it would be their pleasure to recognize this grand Society. I wanted this to be understood, that it was not within the power of the United States to give this plot of ground. In the original plan of this city, designed by L'Enfant, the French engineer, large plots of ground were reserved not only for public buildings, etc., but for churches, schools and colleges, as you will find from the original plan preserved in our archives. Such grants of land have been made from that time to the present day. Those plots included the Baltimore and Ohio depot and Center Market. You will be surprised to know that these were given to these corporations for the good of the general public by our Government. Why has the National Government decided to recognize this grand Society? Because we are the first society of women organized for patriotic work alone. They desire as a body of honorable men to recognize this grand Society. What has been done in the past may again be done.

Aside from the question of dollars and cents, which would be saved if the Congress saw fit to again present an appeal before the honorable body, it becomes a grand opportunity for this Society to receive recognition of the National Government as a patriotic body of women. That precedent alone would be beyond compare in the history of this Nation and the

history of this Society. The power for good, which we have exercised already in our short years of life, would be doubled and quadrupled. Withdrawal of the one plot of ground at that time don't necessitate the withdrawal of every plot of ground. I simply explain this matter so that the Society may understand that they have not been ignored but fully glorified by the National Congress.

The Senator who gave me this information said that it was quite within their power, and it was their urgent desire, to grant us a better plot of ground whenever the committee should again appear before it. This is in no sense a plea for the Continental Hall Committee that certain ground should or should not be purchased, it is simply that certain things might have been. In this city there are eighteen equestrian statues, all of them of heroes of the Civil War save one. In the whole city there is only one of a revolutionary hero, and that is of General Greene and that is so located that it is doubtful if you could find it. We have no recognition of our revolutionary forefathers and foremothers in any sense. It is most fitting that we might be able to build, with the recognition of the Government, a memorial of any kind that we may choose to put upon it, in which we may put all our revolutionary relics, in which we could recognize by our own endeavors and our own genius the foremothers and forefathers; and in that splendid building we should have bronze statues to our foremothers. No recognition has been made of those women who sacrificed both property, money and lives for this Nation, which has become a place of refuge for the oppressed. I think this is a vital point for the ladies to know.

Miss WASHINGTON. I move that the Congress present Mrs. Keim a vote of thanks for her explanation of the matter.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. All in favor of this motion will please say "aye;" opposed, "no." It is carried.

Miss MILLER. As a member of the Continental Hall Committee, may I make a little further statement in regard to the plot of ground of which I spoke the other day? I was asked some little time ago to present to this Congress these facts about the Corcoran art gallery. Since I spoke of it here the other day I have been approached by one of the gentlemen

who has it in charge, who says that in case we decide to consider this matter the trustees will make a reduction of $25,000 in our favor off the price of the hall, and that they will allow us to pay down, if we should decide to buy, as much as we have in hand, say $50,000, and the rest to go at interest at four per cent. They are very sure that they can raise for us the sum of $20,000 outside of our Society. It is simply in justice to these gentlemen, who have worked very hard to get these particulars for me, that I come before you with this extra explanation.

Mrs. KEMPSTER. If the minutes are not yet ready, may I ask a suspension of business simply that a report of a few minutes can be read during the interval?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. I think the house will not object to that report, as we have been waiting for it.

Mrs. BALLINGER. May we have the minutes? PRESIDENT GENERAL. The minutes are ready. (Reader begins to read minutes of Friday.)

Mrs. THOMPSON. Where are the Thursday evening minutes? We have not heard those.

READER. They are here and will come after these. Mrs. THOMPSON. Wouldn't they come in order before these?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. The Chair rules that it does not matter; these are ready and the others are not quite ready.

Mrs. THOMPSON. They will come immediately after? My question was, would they be read immediately afterward? RECORDING SECRETARY GENERAL. Yes.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. The Thursday night minutes are ready and will be read first.

Miss MILLER. May I announce another subscription to the Continental Hall fund of $50 from Julia Trumbull Ripley, a lineal descendant of Brother Jonathan Trumbull.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. $50 from Julia Trumbull Ripley, a lineal descendant of Brother Jonathan Trumbull. The minutes of Thursday evening will now be read.

(Reader reads minutes.)

PRESIDENT GENERAL. You have listened to the reading of the minutes; what is your pleasure in regard to them?

Mrs. NESMITH. I move they be accepted.
Seconded.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. All in favor of accepting the minutes will please say "aye;" opposed, "no." Carried.

(Reader starts minutes of Friday.)

PRESIDENT GENERAL. It is customary to wait until the minutes are read for the corrections, but the minutes are long and if there are any corrections please make them.

Miss HARVEY. I would like to make a correction just here. I am very sorry that I was not in the house when Miss Forsyth made the statement about the flag. It is not strictly correct. Miss Forsyth was very kind to present it as well as she could in our absence; but the flag is not on behalf of Merion Chapter, but Mrs. Thompson, a member of Merion Chapter. May I ask that that be read, so that I can quite understand what it is?

PRESIDENT GENERAL. The correction will be made, Miss Harvey.

Miss HARVEY. Beg pardon, but I did not hear the last part of that sentence; I did not catch the wording of it as it is in

the report.

(Reader reads part of minutes again.)

Miss HARVEY. Instead of saying "presented" say "exhibited." It is still the property of Merion Chapter. She very kindly allowed us to exhibit it. It does not belong to the Chapter, but it is Mrs. Thompson's. We are very glad to have such an energetic member, but the Chapter is not entitled to the credit, it is her property.

(Reader continues minutes.)

Mrs. MCLEAN. In the minutes recorded for yesterday morning, I notice that the resolution offered by Mrs. Jewett, at least worded by her, is recorded as carried, and no record made of what I understood to be my substitute motion to the effect that the President General is pre-eminently ex-officio the proper person to represent this body at the Paris Exposition, and therefore that this Continental Congress do request her to do so. I understand that to be carried.

PRESIDENT GENERAL. That is understood in the first motion, I think, Mrs. McLean.