The Commoner.
WILLIAfl J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
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1.
Vol. 3. No. a4.
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 3, 1903.
Whole No. 138.
DrDiram Kinnard Jones.
On another page will be found a copy of the
resolutions prepared by Rev. A. B. Moroy and
others of the Literary union of Jacksonville, I1L,
on the occasion of the death of Dr. Hiram Kin
nard Jones, also an abstract of the address deliv
ered at the funeral by Dr. W. F. Short I add a
brief comment, impelled by a profound apprecia
tion of the uprightness, modesty, wisdom and
greatness of the man and by a deep sense of per
sonal obligation to him for the stimulating and
strengthening influence he exerted upon me dur
ing my college days when I was for six years a
member of his family. While he was a distant
relative, the connection was so remote that I can
speak of him without reserve. No one within
- the range of my acquaintance or observation more
nearly approached the ideal in all that goes to
make up the highest type of manhood. He in
herited a strong constitution and preserved his
vigor by a regular and temperate life. The en
vironment of his youth was such as to give him
a broad view of life, implant lofty purposes and
encourage htm to great endeavor. Early taught
the advantage of mental discipline, he prepared
himself for. his work by a thorough and liberal
education. He chose the 'medical profession and
applied himself Co" it so diligently that he soon
rose to eminence.' Imple in bis life and economi
cal in his tastes, ho gradually accumulated a sum
sufficient to keep him in comfort during his later
years, but his accumulations were a scant return
for the "vast service which he rendered to so
ciety. Even while he was laying aside for old
age, he responded generously to the demands of
the church, charity And education, and after- giv
ing with increasing liberality as his own needs
grew less, he remembered in the final disposition
of his estate the institution that most appealed
to him. He was a thinker of national fame and
delivered lectures at the Concord School during
its existence. His philorophy was all-comprehending,
and his conception of life included both
the here and the hereafter. Heaven was as real
to him as earth and death but the entrance to im
mortality. Like Socrates, he spent his time in
the search for truth, determined to follow where
it led. To him preparation for the present life
was likewise preparation for the life beyond, and
ho went to hiB rest "like one who wraps the drap
ery of his couch about him and lies down to
pleasant dreams."
Dr. Jones was fortunat: in the choice of a
wife who proved to be a congenial companion a3
well as a helpmeet and who was his intelligent
and devoted co-laborer in every good work. Their
home from its first establishment became a cen
ter of virtue, purity, love and light a center
from which eminated helpfulness and inspira
tion. Tho influences which they t-us set in mo
tion, transmitted from generation to generation,
will be more valuable to tLe world than money
and more enduring than marble. If service ig
the measure of greatness and sample the method
by which service can best be rendered, then Dr.
Jones and his wife deserve to be numbered among
the really great and their lives were knit- to
gether by a love that spanned the grave.
As the body of the sage, flower-covered and
enshrouded in the affection of mourning friends,
-lay in the library where he had studied for half
a century, Dr. Hayden read Longfellow's tributa
. to Bayard Taylor and it seemed a fitting con
clusion of the funeral exercises:
Dead he lay among his books;
The peace of God was in his looks.
Aiid those volumes from their shelves
Watched him, silent as themselves.
Ah! his hand will nevermore
Turn their storied pages o'erj
Novermoro ins lips repeat
Songs of theirs, however sweet.
Let tho lifeless' body rest!
He is "gone, who was its guest;
Gone as travelers haste to leave
An inn, nor tarry until eve.
Traveler! in what realms afar, . '
In what planet, in what star, Z -"'
In what vast aerial space ;-
Shines tho light upon thy face?
In what gardens of delight
Rest thy weary feet tonight?
Lying dead among thy books,
The peace of God in all thy looks.
JJJ
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& & &&&&&&
&& Alt
The Liberty Bell.
, (Proclaim Liberty throughout all tho
land unto all tho inhabitants thereof.)
O, that once more your throat could tell
Sweet Freedom's song, ye olden bell;
That with a deep, melodious chime
To men of ev'ry land and clime
Once more tho glad news you could tell
The glad news that throughout the earth,
In lands oppressed and stricken sore,
Sweet Liberty has had new birth
,. And .kingcraft doomed to rise no more.
Of that once more your tongue could tell
The grand, good news, ye olden bell!
O, that once more you could repeat
The melody divinely sweet
That bid downtrodden men arise
And grasp tho greatest, grandest prize
That ever humankind did greet
Would that the tale you told our sires
Might bo retold, and told again,
Until sweet Freedom's altar fires
Should light again the souls of men.
O, that once more you'd ring the knell
Of tyranny, ye olden bell.
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JJJ
The Bancroft Address.
In another column Tho Commoner reproduces
the address delivered by George Bancroft in Aug
ust, 1835, at Williams College.
It would be well if every American citizen
could read and re-read this splendid speech. Its
reproduction Is at "this time particularly pertinent
to the celebration of July 4. The lessons Bancroft
sought to convey are now more Important to the
welfare of the American people than they were i
1835. The men of today should know just as t
men of Bancroft's early days were told that "
principle once promulgated has ever been for
gotten. No 'timely tramp' of a despot's foot ever
trod out one idea. The world cannot retrograde;
the dark, age cannot return. Truth Is Immortal;
it cannot long be resisted. Wherever moral truth
has struck into being, humanity claims and guards
the greatest bequest"
When you haye read the Bancroft address, ask
your neighbor to read it and to seriously consider
the pertinent truths therein presented.
JJJ
The Commoner is glad to kno7 that Its sug
gestions are being adopted by its readers. One
writes that he has just bought a copy of "The
Simple Life," spoken of recently, and inquires
where he can get Reed's Collection of Speeches,
entitled "Modern Eloquence," and Lloyd's "Wealth
Versus Commonwealth." "Modern Eloquence" is
published by John Morris k. Co., of Philadelphia;
"Wealth Versiis Commonwealth" by Harper V
Bros., New York city.
Harmony hsmg Organizers
David B. Hill recently appeared before the
Now York court of appeals in opposition to tho
franchise tax law of that state. In his arraign
ment of that law, Mr. Hill said that Its passage
was duo to "tho clamor of certain minor organi
zations, semi-political and largely socialistic in
their character, self-constituted, irresponsible and
noisy associations, mostly toon-taxpayers," and
that tho "serious consideration, much leas the
passage," of tho Ford bill "had not boon regarded
by thoughtful men as imminent"
The New York World, a publication that has
insisted that tho Hill brand of democracy is the
genuine, says that It "feels It to bo a duty to cor
rect so glaring a misstatement" Tho World in
sists that tho bill was subjected to a thorough dis
cussion. One petition for the passage of this bill,
according to the World, was signed by 12,000 tax
payers or rent-payers In New York alone, and
when presented to tho legislature, that potitlon
contained 20,000 names representing every large
city in tho state. Tho measuro, according to the
World, had the indorsement of tho organizations
of real estate owners and dealers; and laboring
organizations with a membership of 350,000
adopted resolutions in it3 favor. A special train
went to Albany to urge Mr. Roosoyolt, then gov
ernor of New York, to release the bill from the
"hold up" in Mr. Piatt's assembly committee and
on this train there wero delegates from fourteen
commercial, financial and other public bodies hav
ing a membership of 110,000 and representing $80,
000,000 of capital. The World says that every
newspaper of standing in Now York favored the
bill; that it had the indorsement of every repub
lican county committee in the state, together
with tho leaders of Tammany Hall and of tho
sixty-three democratic assemblymen. The World
further points out that when Governor Odell re
cently sought to secure tho repeal of this law,
public opinion was so strongly in its favor that
the governor abandoned his purpose.
Then with an utter disregard for Its boasted
anxiety for harmony, tho World adds:
"Mr. Hill's sneer at socialism comes with
peculiar grace from tho politician who last
yjfjar thrust into tho democratic state platform
lank favoring national ownership and oper-
ion of the anthracite coal mines! the most
radical socialistic measure ever proposed in
this country. And his course now in denounc
ing a moderate franchise tax dn corporations
that reap golden harvests from public privil
eges virtually given to them is of a piece with
his vote as a senator who boasted 'I am a
democrat' against the only tariff bill passed
'by his party since tho war, solely because
it contained a tax on Incomes the most just
and easily borne of all taxes."
It Is top bad that the disciples of "harmony"
cannot provide the benighted democrats of the
south and of the west with a better sample than
they are now presenting; and yet by Its severe
criticism of Mr. Hill, the World confesses that It
is the duty of 'newspapers, as well as of individ
uals, to disregard all other considerations in
standing up for the things they believe to be of
utmost importance to the people. And it is also
significant that according to the testimony of one
of the leading organs of tho reorganfzers, Mr. Hill
is engaged in a desperate effort to destroy a law
which is championed by the people of his state,
regardless of politics, and which merely requires
in behalf of the people simple justice at the hands
of powerful corporations.
In ta light of ta'eee facts, and in the light
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