LIBERTY 



3400 



LIBERTY BELL 



trading and military life to agriculture, coffee 

 being the only product that is cultivated ex- 

 tensively. Therefore, as the only source of in- 

 come is customs duties, the people are usually 

 deeply in debt. Palm oil, palm kernels, rubber 

 and ivory are the chief exports. 



In 1913 there were over 200 schools, including 

 Monrovia and Liberia colleges, and several 

 religious institutions. English is the official 

 language of the country, and British money, 

 weights and measures are used. They have 

 numerous churches (most of the civilized na- 

 tives being Episcopalians) and newspapers and 

 a postal system. White men cannot vote in 

 the republic, and may hold land only with the 

 government's consent. The capital, Monrovia, 

 was named for President James Monroe. M.K. 



LIBERTY, STATUE OF, a colossal bronze 

 statue, executed by Frederic A. Bartholdi and 

 presented to the United States by France in 

 1885. It was intended to symbolize the historic 

 friendship between the two republics and to 

 typify the idea 

 of freedom and 

 brotherhood 

 which underlies a 

 republican form 

 of government. 



The statue was 

 formally pre- 

 sented to the 

 United States on 

 July 4, 1880, 

 through the 

 American minis- 

 ter at Paris. It 

 was erected on 

 Bedloe's Island, 

 inNew York 

 Harbor, and was 

 unveiled in the 

 presence of dis- 

 tinguished repre- 

 sentatives of France and the United States, 

 October 28, 1886. The statue represents a 

 proud woman, clad in a loose, graceful robe 

 which falls in generous folds from her shoulder 

 to her feet. The right arm holds aloft a 

 blazing torch. The left hand grasps a tablet 

 on which the date of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence is inscribed. The head is crowned by 

 a diadem. The allegorical meaning of the 

 work was emphasized for several years by 

 using the statue as a lighthouse at night; the 

 torch in the raised hand of the figure contained 

 powerful lights. "Liberty Enlightening the 



World" illuminated the path of the sailor in 

 the congested harbor of the second largest 

 commercial city in the world. The light was 

 discontinued when the arm seemed to be 

 weakened, and the stairway to the torch was 

 closed. 



The statue cost about $250,000. It is the 

 largest ever made, and the most celebrated 

 example of repousse work that is, thin sheets 

 of hammered brass on a framework of iron. 

 Three hundred sheets of brass were used, each 

 between one and three yards square, all 

 weighing eighty-eight tons. The statue is 151 

 feet in height and from the foundation of the 

 pedestal on which it stands it is 305 feet to 

 the torch. There are 100 tons of bronze con- 

 tained in the figure, and the total weight is 

 450,000 pounds. The head will hold forty per- 

 sons; the torch held twelve people. No one 

 is now permitted higher than the diadem which 

 crowns the head; from this height a magnifi- 

 cent view of the harbor, the city and the New 

 Jersey suburbs is obtained. An elevator car- 

 ries passengers up the pedestal to the foot of 

 the statue, from which point a closely-winding 

 stair leads to the head. In January, 1917, an 

 explosion on an adjoining island damaged the 

 statue. After repairs were completed electric 

 lights were placed so the great statue could be 

 illuminated at night. 



Bartholdi, Frederic A., who designed the 

 statue, was a native of Colmar, in Alsace. He 

 served in the corps of Garibaldi in the war of 

 1870 and the following year visited the United 

 States. His second best work is the great Lion 

 of Beljort, a figure about 91x52 feet in dimen- 

 sion, which is carved from a block of reddish 

 Vosges stone. Bartholdi understood the re- 

 quirements of colossal sculpture thoroughly 

 and sacrificed all unnecessary details. His 

 other work includes a statue of Lafayette in 

 Union Square, New York, and a bronze group 

 of Lafayette and Washington in Paris, France, 

 unveiled in December, 1895. He died in Paris, 

 October 4, 1904. M.B.T. 



LIBERTY BELL, a relic of the early days 

 of American independence, on which is en- 

 graved the words "Proclaim liberty throughout 

 all the land until all the inhabitants thereof," 

 (Leviticus XXV, 10). It is now in the hallway 

 of the old State House in Philadelphia. Beside 

 the bell is a printed card bearing this informa- 

 tion: 



BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY of the Province of 

 Pennsylvania for the State House in Philadelphia, 

 Pass and Stow, Philadelphia, MDCCLIII. This bell 



