SHRINE OF DEMOCRACY

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32430, 17 October 1970, Page 13

SHRINE OF DEMOCRACY

(By

TERRY McGOVERNE)

One would have had to see it to believe it. At the very base of the shrine of democracy in the United States I saw a bunch of Red Indians put up a sign saying “Go home, Yankee.” They were not young Indians. They were old matronly ones, demanding that the white Americans get out of the Black Hills of Dakota which is regarded as sacred Indian land. The faces on the shrine of democracy on Mount Rushmore —Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln—looked down on the incongruous scene of hundreds of white tourists milling about buying souvenirs while the Indians staged their feeble demonstration. Mount Rushmore

(see photograph) is in Custer State Park, South Dakota. All around the base of an ampitheatre they had hung their placards. Besides the "Go home, Yankee” one, was another which red “Wasichu (white man) you took our lands, our hills and mountains and put the faces of your folk heroes in our granite.” Another read, “Give us back our land,” and a fourth, “The great Sioux nation continues to fight for equality before the law. We demand payment for the destruction of our lands.” I spoke to some of the Indians about their demonstration. They claimed they had never been compensated for the loss of their lands. If they ever got the chance they would cover the faces of the four Presidents with Indian flags. Compensation is not what they want. They want the lands returned to them for their own use. Few people seem sympathetic to this claim although they are pre-

pared to assist the Indians in many other ways. Mount Rushmore is situated almost in the centre of America and is now one of the main tourist attractions, drawing more than two million people in a holiday season of about four months. It is a monument “commemorating the founding, expansion, preservation and unification of the great American Republic.” The mammoth work began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. It cost nearly SUSIm and involved moving 450,000 tons of stone now lying at its base. The four heads, each 60ft high, were sculptured during a most trying period of American history, encompassing a drought, depression and the years leading up to the Second World War. .It is described as the symbol of independence, justice, equality, freedom, audacity, self-reliance and perseverance. The work does not

single out any pages of history to eulogise for posterity but commemorates the 200 years in which the Republic grew to nationhood. Maybe the Indians identify themselves with the rubble which lies at the base of the amazing sculpture. The work was commissioned by the Federal Government and given to the noted sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who died soon after he completed the massive work. No-one knows how long the work will last, but geologists talk in terms of millions of years. Physical disintegration is more to be feared. Should cracks get into the stone, letting water in, there will be serious trouble. The winters of Mount Rushmore are very severe and the faces come to life when the snow begins to melt after a storm. One viewer from London said the faces were so perfect it appeared that they were well used to after-shave lotion.