In the result of this first renewed attempt to raise money to complete the Monument the Society, however, was not discouraged. The matter was noticed in a daily paper in an article which, after referring to the former dispossession of the Society and the long "silence" at the base of the Monument, said: "It was not till this state of things unhappily took place that the popular enthusiasm drooped and cooled, and it is hardly fair to expect a resuscitation in an hour or a day. We trust, however, that the night is far spent; that the day is at hand, and even the tribute of the voters of Washington on Monday last, small as it was, is an evidence of new life and returning vigor. "It will require on the part of the Monument Board the exercise of patience and forbearance as well as industry to restore matters to the condition they once were in." In April, 1859, the Society applied to the Honorable the Secretary of War for the detail of an officer of the Corps of Topographical Engineers to assume the duty of Engineer of the Monument and to superintend its construction. June 7, 1859, a letter was received from the Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, stating that in compliance with the Society's request he had detailed Lieut. J. C. Ives, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, to act under the direction of the Society as Engineer and Architect of the Monument. Subsequently, Lieutenant Ives reported for duty to the officers of the Society. In his letter advising of the detail of Lieutenant Ives, Secretary Floyd stated: "The favorable auspices under which the enterprise has been resumed encourage the hope that this reproach will be removed. Composed of gentlemen of well-known standing, * * * the Society has a claim upon the confidence of the public that is the surest guarantee of the success of its labors." Doubts having been raised as to the stability of the material which had been employed in building the Monument and as to the sufficiency of its foundations to support the shaft at its proposed height of 600 feet, Lieutenant Ives, on the 10th of August, 1859, made a report upon the subject after a careful examination of all the conditions, which recited, in part: