STATUE OF LIBERTY "FREED"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 49, 20 November 1937, Page 15

STATUE OF LIBERTY "FREED"

First Time for 50 Years

For the first time in her carreer tht Statue of Liberty now knows what lib .. . *ty is like. She has stood iu New Yorl Harbour for 50 yeara as a symbol oJ freedom, hui she herself was not fre( until September 25. Despite the Bymbol of independence that 6he holds high in her hand, she always was under guard of a platoon oi United States soldiers. They called hei goddess, but just the same no visitors reached her door-without first passing armed sentries, Even the island fihe Btood on did aot belong to her. It belonged to the anny. All she could call her own was the stone pedestal under her feet. But now, at last liberty has come tp the Statue of Liberty. The last of the soldiers — 55 there were — left her island on September 26, left the great lady of bronze unquestioned queen of her 12-acre home in thc harbour. f . Now there are no more guns, no more bugle calls, no more marching feet to disturb her contemplations or , to turn >away admirers who come to watch her face in the moonlight. There are only half a dozen leisurely rangers of the Nation al Park Serviee. Before long th© army's barracks will be torn •way and all of Bedfoe's Island will

i be turned into a park in compliance - with a proclamation by President c ftoosevelt. Trees will be planted. A E yacht basin will be installed. The enJ trance to the statue will be Bhifted from front to back and a network of walks j will be laid leading up to it. The whole } island will be open to visitors for the first tipie. v Liberty's return to civilian status — i the people of France paid for her and • the people of the United States bought the granite pedestal on which she was i erected in 1886 — marks the eruf of a 137-year era in Bedloe's Island history. The army took over the 12-acre dot of land jn 1800 by building a fort on it When Liberty arrived she was placed on the fort's foundations. At first her torch was considered an aid to navigation, md the lady became a ward of the lighthouse serviee, althoTugh the island remained with the army. Poor visibility in the harbour soon proved the torch no lighthouse, and Lady Liberty passed to the army signal serviee, and thence to the military police company of the regular army's first division. It is fitting that to-day Liberty's torch shines brighter than before, that new glass magnifies its beams." For Lady Liberty at last knows what liberty is like.