"The Purchase" commemorates the part
of France in this achievement. Columbia is purchasing the title from her
sister republic. American workmen, led by Enterprise, take up the tools
that French laborers have relinquished.
Ideals of Emigration
Arch, Nations of the East
The mural panels in the Eastern arch are devoted to the ideals and
motives that brought men across the sea. They are by Edward Simmons and
show that fresh juvenility of touch, that exquisite lucid tenderness of
color and gentle lightness of motion that give his work its delightful
poetic quality. But Mr. Simmons' art has always a deep accent and the
imagery in these panels touches fundamentals. "Visions of Exploration,"
the upper as here pictured, are Hope and Illusory Hope - she who casts
bubbles behind her - Adventure, following the lure of the bubbles; then,
in a dignified central group, Commerce, Imagination, Fine Arts and
Religion; these, followed at a little distance by Wealth and The Family,
potent motives of the immigrant of today. In the background, the Taj
Mahal and a modern city indicate the ideal and the practical. On the
opposite panel, called the "Lure of the Atlantic," the Call of the New
World, a youth blowing a trumpet, summons the brave explorers, the man
of Atlantis, of the Classic Age, of Northern and Southern Europe, the
Missionary Priest, the Artist and the Modern Immigrant.
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