rTHte AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL jeffi 'I wV rflfL L r tAar iHilli 1 , dfc ® - - m WASHINGTON CATHEDRA! The Apse, or Eastern Exterior APRIL, 1929 BANKING AND INVESTMENT SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD The National City Bank of New York and Affiliated Institutions ... ... I -a++ ' •: . • * r -* i THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK r / CAPITAL, SURPLUS AND UNDIVIDED PROFITS $166,993,905.98 (AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1928) HEAD OFFICE THIRTY BRANCHES IN 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK GREATER NEW YORK Foreign Branches in ARGENTINA . BELGIUM . BRAZIL . CHILE . CHINA . COLOMBIA . CUBA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC . ENGLAND . FRANCE . INDIA . ITALY . JAPAN . JAVA . PERU RORTO RICO . REPUBLIC OF PANAMA . STRAITS SETTLEMENTS . URUGUAY . VENEZUELA. INTERNATIONAL BANKING CORPORATION (OWNED BY THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK) Head Office: 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK Foreign and. Domestic Branches in UNITED STATES . PHILIPPINE ISLANDS . SPAIN . ENGLAND and Representatives in The National City Bank Chinese Branches. BANQUE NATIONALE DE LA REPUBLIQUE D’HAITI (AFFILIATED WITH THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK) Head Office: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI THE National City Banl t of New ^ orkand the International Banking Corporation, are equipped to supply evefy banking facility for international trade, including the issuance of commercial and travelers' letters of credit for use in any part of the world, and the purchase and sale of ex¬ change. The National City Bank also offers highly developed trust services for individuals, cor¬ porations, estates, and for insurance companies and like institutions. It acts as executor and trustee of estates, custodian of securities, agent in the management of property and as fiscal agent for foreign governments and foreign corporations. THE NATIONAL CITY COMPANY <■ (AFFILIATED WITH THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK) HEAD OFFICE OFFICES IN 50 LEADING 55 WALL-STREET, NEW YORK AMERICAN CITIES Foreign Offices: LONDON . AMSTERDAM . COPENHAGEN- GENEVA . TOKIO . SHANGHAI. Canadian Offices: MONTREAL . TORONTO. The National City Company; through its offices and affiliations in the United States and abroad, offers a world-wide investment service to those interested in Dollar Securities. .-LONDON,OFFICEi 34 BISHOPSGATE, E.C. 2. FOREIGN S JOURNAL PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION VOL. VI. No. 4 WASHINGTON, D. C. APRIL, 1929 Washington Cathedral—A National Shrine By ALEX W. BURGER SINCE the days of George Washington, who The aim was more than an impressive church recommended that a great “church for na¬ structure, however beautiful. Instead it was de¬ tional purposes” he erected in America’s sired that there be created a power-house of re¬ “federal city,” thoughtful citizens have recognized ligion which would give new significance to the an incompleteness in the architecture of their national declaration “In God We Trust.” These capital city. aspirations were cogently expressed in the charter It has been far more than an artistic lack as which was granted by Congress in 1893 to the Henry James, returning to the United States Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the some years ago after a long sojourn in Europe, District of Columbia providing authority for the pointed out when he remarked that in the capital erection in the District of Columbia of “a Cathe¬ of our country, which “already bristles * * * dral and institutions of learning for the promo¬ with national affirmations * * * the exist¬ tion of religion and education and charity.” ence of a religious faith on the part of the people From this inception, Washington Cathedral is not even remotely suggested.” has had a broader appeal than that of a local insti¬ What this keen and sensitive observer found tution. In essence it is, of course, like any lacking in Washington, with its many churches, cathedral elsewhere. The difference, it is pointed its impressive public buildings and its inspiring out, lies in the opportunity for nation-wide influ¬ memorials was a Cathedral. The absence of a ence and service. Its sponsors believe that “as St. Paul’s, a Notre Dame or a St. Peter’s impelled Washington goes, so goes the Union” might easily him to declare by inference that the spiritual become a commonplace of American Christianity. ideals of the people were much more adequately Since its early days the enterprise has been ac¬ expressed in foreign capitals—in London, in corded the support of thoughtful men and women Paris and in Rome. from all parts of the land. Today a great Gothic edifice is rising on the Speaking at the annual meeting of the National most commanding elevation in the District of Cathedral Association on May 17, 1928, Assistant Columbia to fill this void. Its official designation Secretary of State William R. Castle, Jr., said: is the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, al¬ “4 his country of ours is founded on Christianity. though it is more popularly known as Washing¬ It has grown and prospered and become the most ton Cathedral. The building is not a new idea. powerful nation on earth because we have held The thought was first voiced by President Wash¬ fast to Christian principles. It will he the bul¬ ington. and in 1891 a group of Washington lay¬ wark against war, the apostle of peace and justice men determined to give expression to what God only so long as it holds true to these principles. means to the American people by building a And because we are human we need, in the rush majestic temple on the heights of Mt. St. Alban. of modern life, a daily reminder of this pro- 109 foundest truth, we must have a symbol—a symbol of the World War president, Woodrow Wilson; visible from afar, a symbol that in its sheer one of America’s great admirals, George Dewey; beauty reveals truth. the first Bishop to be consecrated on American “The dome of the Capitol expresses to those soil, the Right Rev. Thomas John Claggett; the who like to think in symbols the rounded fullness distinguished patriot and ambassador, Henry of careful legislation. The Lincoln Memorial White and others. stands for the symmetry and unadorned strength That the Cathedral may become the West¬ of American character. The White House sug¬ minister Abbey of America is the thought of gests dignity and simplicity of the executive office. many. The Right Rev. James E. Freeman, the The new building of the Supreme Court will third Bishop of Washington to consecrate him¬ stand nobly for the outward and visible sign of self to the building of the Cathedral, has definite human justice. But the spirit back of all these views on the subject. He believes that while the expressions of different phases of America, of Church of England differs from that in America the real basis of American strength and character in that it is a state church, this does not preclude and nobility of purpose, we have in Washington the possibility of making Washington Cathedral no adequate symbol. The Capital City should all that the abbey is to England. embody the finer traits of the whole nation. It “Could we have in America anything approxi¬ can never do this without the cathedral.” mating in richness and sentiment the great The building of a cathedral is a long and costly ahbey?” he asked. “We believe that this question undertaking and consequently although construc¬ has been answered and already the hundreds of tion was first started in 1907 on the Washington thousands who visit the Cathedral yearly have edifice much remains to be done before the final come to find in it that which appeals to the deepest stones are placed in its soaring towers. Yet it and finest sentiment. That there is something in already is becoming a shrine of increasingly na¬ human nature which responds to that for which tional and even international significance. Sir the Cathedral fabric stands is demonstrably true.” George Armstrong, editorial adviser of the The visitor to Washington Cathedral enjoys Chronicle Group of Newspapers, London, Eng¬ the rare privilege of seeing how some of the land, gave voice to the international ideal in an famous European Cathedrals of the Middle Ages address at a dinner of the Carnegie Endowment must have appeared while in process of construc¬ for International Peace in Washington on No¬ tion. For Washington Cathedral is being built in vember 22, 1928. He said : the architectural style known as fourteenth-cen¬ “* * * I, in company with my colleagues, tury Gothic; and not for 600 years has there been yesterday had the great privilege of visiting your a building operation really comparable to it. Cathedral and we had the inestimable privilege of The original design was prepared by Henry being conducted over that Cathedral by your Vaughan, of Boston, and Dr. George F. Bodley, Bishop. I think I am right in saying for us all of London, England. Mr. Vaughan now rests in that it was the most impressive spectacle that we one of the crypt chapels. The present architects have witnessed in our tour, and the thought that are Froman, Robb and Little, of Boston, with rose in some of our minds was that this wonder¬ Cram and Ferguson, also of Boston, as consulting ful Cathedral standing on its massive foundations, architects. The edifice will not be a copy or an built in a way which could face thousands of years adaptation of any similar structure in England or to come, might one day be the Valhalla of the on the continent. English speaking races. The day may come when In accordance with ancient custom, the ground Westminster Abbey, by reason of its age may plan is in the form of a cross, of which the arms gradually crumble into the dust, and when that are the north and south transepts.