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*LIBER
P R O M I S E *
During its first 20 years, the U.S.
Bureau of Lighthouses administered
the Statue. But Miss Liberty never
functioned well as a lighthouse: The
lights in her torch were too dim to
warn ships of danger. Custody of the
Statue was transferred to the U.S. War -
Department in 1902 and, eventually,
to the Interior Department.
As originally constructed, the
Statue's head was placed off center by
two feet and the arm was misaligned
by 18 inches. The shift in the arm
forced workers to connect the
shoulder to a different part of the
supporting structure than Gustave
Eiffel, the statue's engineer, had
planned. This created high stress on
the skeleton.
Flag waving, $129.95
dolls pinned with the
same type of tag that
children wore at Ellis
Island.
Photo courtesy of Appletown Creations.
More than 100 stamps from 24
countries have featured the Statue.
Recent restoration of the Statue_
included replacing 1,025 of the
original armature bars of the skeleton,
refurbishing all seven spikes, adding a
new torch (gilded with $5,000 worth
of gold donated by the French
government) and replacing spots of
corroded copper on the nose, right
eye and hair. Restoration costs have
so far totalled $31 million. The cost
of the original statue was $250,000.
To raise money for the Statue,
Bartholdi used ingenious fund-raising
gimmicks. He once had lunch served
to 20 newspaper reporters on a
platform inside the statue's right leg.
The pedestal for the Statue on
Bedloe's Island was not finished in
May, 1885, when the Statue was
shipped from Paris. In five months,
though, Joseph Pulitzer's New York
World raised the $100,000 needed to
complete the pedestal. Pulitzer
accomplished in less than half a year
what genteel haggling of the
American upper crust had not
accomplished in nine years.
The island chosen for the Statue
had been owned by Isaac Bedloe,
then bought by the federal
government. It was used by the Army
and also as a quarantine station for
travelers with contagious illnesses.
Fort Wood, the island's garrison, was
built from 1808 to 1811. It never
saw action.
Craig Terkowitz
The Selling of The Lady
In recent months, we have been
bombarded with images of the Statue
of Liberty. We have seen her on
beach towels, on the back of cereal
boxes, on snuff boxes and belt
buckles, and on the pendulums of
grandfather clocks. We'll probably be
seeing even more of her as we get
closer to her July 4th unveiling.
Some lovers of Miss Liberty say The
Lady has been bandied about as if she
was some cheap floozy, ready to go
arm-in-arm down Madison Avenue
with anyone who can meet her price.
For a small percentage of the sale of
their Statue-related products.. about 40
companies are allowed to use the
official logo of the Statue of Liberty-
Ellis Island Foundation.
That might be a dandy way to raise
money. But its no way to raise
respect. The Statue embodies
America's highest ideals â Liberty,
Democracy, Freedom â and, in a
sense, tarnishing her image by putting
it on swizzle sticks and air fresheners
and charcoal briquettes tarnishes
those ideals.
Grant the Lady some dignity,
please. Anyone 100 years old deserves
it. â A.J.M.
Timing it right: a $5,000
Ridgeway clock with the
Statue's seal on the
pendulUm and her torch
etched between each
number on the dial.
Photo courtesy of Ridgeway Clocks