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S.M.A. 1041, 1903. 

HEADQUARTERS 
UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY
WEST POINT, NEW YORK

September 3, 1903. 

My dear General Alger:-

I have your letter of Tuesday and in reply, I regret very much to be obliged to write that under the law a tablet to the memory of James McNeil Whistler - I take it he is the World's distinguished man to whom you refer - cannot be placed in Memorial Hill. The Act of Congress accepting General Cullum's bequest reads:

"Section 6. That the Memorial Hall to be erected under the provisions of this Act shall be a receptacle of statues, busts, mural tablets and portraits of distinguished and deceased officers and graduates of the Military Academy; of paintings of battle scenes, trophies of war, and such other objects as may tend to give elevation to the military profession, &c."

West Point would certainly be an appropriate place for a memorial to Whistler and I would be greatly pleased, as I am sure all others interested in the Military Academy would be also, to have a tablet to him here. I would like very much to suggest that the Chapel would be a most appropriate place for one - better, I think, than Memorial Hall, 

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