DEEPLY IMPRESSED. MAJESTIC GREATNESS OF YOUR COMPOSITION TRULY WONDERFUL. PRESIDENT’S FIGURE SPLENDID, SUPERB, INSPIRED. POLAND’S ENCHANTING IN VIGOR AND YOUTH. ENTIRE CONCEPTION EXTREMELY POETIC AND BEAUTIFUL. HOWEVER AM AFRAID PLACING POLAND’S FIGURE WOULD CREATE SERIOUS TROUBLE AND ADD TO EXISTING POLITICAL STRIFE. MANY MEMBERS OF PARTY NOW IN POWER, WHO HAVE BEEN FIGHTING ON WRONG SIDE, WOULD SURELY INTERPRET YOUR IDEA AS HOMAGE TO AND TRIUMPH OF THEIR DISASTROUS POLICY AND WOULD AROUSE INDIGNATION OF VAST BUT TEMPORARILY PARALYZED MAJORITY. CONSEQUENCES MAY BE FATAL. ARTIST MYSELF, KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO PART WITH CHERISHED IDEAS, TO MODIFY PLAN CONCEIVED IN LOVE AND MATURED BY LONG MEDITATION. AND YET AM FORCED, PRO BONO PUBLICO, TO ASK SACRIFICE IN ELIMINATING POLAND’S FIGURE ALTOGETHER. PRESIDENT’S FIGURE, NO MATTER HOW EARNEST, WILL PLEASE EVERYBODY AND HURT NOBODY. HIS NOBLE GESTURE WILL SEEM BENEDICTION GIVEN TO INVISIBLE SYMBOL OF REBORN COUNTRY FOR NEW, HISTORIC LIFE. THAT GESTURE COULD BUT ENHANCE, INTENSIFY DEEPLY RELIGIOUS, ALMOST APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF HIS IDEOLOGY. PLEASE FORGIVE AND LET ME KNOW THAT I HAVE NOT OFFENDED YOU. SORRY TO SAY, CANNOT BE IN AMERICA BEFORE OCTOBER. MY BANK CABLING TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. AFFECTIONATE REGARDS TO YOUR DEAR WIFE AND BOY. So here was another crushing blow to Gutzon. To him it was like asking Beethoven to eliminate one of the movements of the _Fifth Symphony_. But he accepted the verdict with grace. And so he cabled Paderewski. From Morges Paderewski had sent to the sculptor a group of photographs of the ancient square of Poznan where the statue was to be placed. Gutzon studied them closely to estimate how much light would strike his figure. Later, after wearisome correspondence with a Mr. Rucinski of the Official Council of Building Department, it was decided to move the memorial to the newly created Wilson Park. Off and on, all winter, the sculptor worked on the model in his San Antonio studio. When completed it was generally acclaimed as a great portrait of the President. It had in it the idealism and the spiritual quality that the sculptor could give it. But he was never reconciled to the loss of the figure of Poland. He felt that the monument lacked something beautiful and significant that he could have given it. Gutzon took his whole family abroad for the unveiling of the monument in 1931. It was his first visit to Europe in thirty years. Because he had to attend to its erection and the preparation of the pediment, they were several weeks in Poznan. One of the most interesting, and rather tragic, denizens was an old countess who had recently returned to her ancestral home. The place was more than a thousand years old, several miles out of town, and was on exhibition certain days of the week because of its historic interest.