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VOLUME 11,. NUMBER 2
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The McCabe Memorial
Bolow will bo found an address, delivered
by Mr. Bryan at Williamsport, Ind., May 7, 1911,
at the momorial exercises hold In honor of tho
late Judgo James McCabe:
Mr. Chairman, Ladios and Gentlemen:
Engagements which I could not break with
out great injustice to others, prevented my
being horo at tho time when Judgo McCabe's
body was laid In tho grave. I am very glad
that this day has boon sot apart for momorial
exorcises and that it is possible for mo to join
with you in paying this tribute of respect.
For some fifteen years I knew Judge McCabo
as a political associate and as a personal friend.
Tho acquaintance was so intimate that his homo
was ono of tho homos which I visited without tho
formality of an invitation or rather it was ono
of tho homos to which I had a standing invita
tion, and whenovor circumstances permitted I
would notify him that at a certain time it
would bo my pleasuro to visit him, and theso
visits aro delightful memories.
I am glad to add my tribute to those that
havo boon paid to him. I was not here to
watch his progress in his profession. I could
not know him as thoso havo known him who
met him every day and associated with him as
ho performed tho duties of his profession and
of citizenship. But I learned to know some
thing of tho great principles upon which his
life was built, and this afternoon I can do no
better than to emphasize the fundamental things
that manifest themselves in the career of this
exemplary husband and father, this distin
guished lawyer, this faithful friend and con
scientious citizen.
I shall begin by giving you four words that
might be called the four corner-stones upon
which his life rested. They were God, home,
society and government. He recognized his
responsibility to a Creator; he recognized that
he was a part of the Divine plan. Had he not
done bo, he could never have understood why
ho was here or formed an intelligent conception
of life. One who does not recognize that there
Is & higher power, one who does not feel that
there is' a Creator, one who does not know
(hat in the very depths of his heart there
is an eye that never sleeps, that there is
a conscious presence always about him, and
who does not feel a sense of responsibility, for
every thought, and word and deed, cannot have
the strength that man needs in the temptations
and struggles of this lifo. When I find a man
who does not believe in a God, I do not know
how to reason with him. I think, therefore,
that the first thing that I might present as an
explanation of that life of rectitude, that life
of honor, that life of usefulness, that life of
friendship, that life of love, is that back of it
was the sense of responsibility to a Creator.
You cannot put enough policemen around a man
to keep him in the path of rectitude, if he has
not within him that monitor that is better as
a guardian of the law than any outside office.
The man who feela that he must maintain
his own self-respect is quite sure to have the
respect of thoBe about him. The man who re
fuses to sin, not from fear that others may find it
out, but because ho will know it himself, is the
man who la strongest to resist temptation, and
there is nothing that can take the place of this
inner strength. We all need it. We are weak
enough in the presence of temptation when we
have it; we are helpless if we have it not.
The second word that he knew was the word
home, and his home life, is evidence of God's
wisdom when he planned for man and for man's
caTeer. The home 1b the fittest earthly type
of heaven. No one, can when he knowB a real
home doubt that God was all-loving and all
wise, as well as all powerful. The evidences of
design in this world are so abundant that a man
must shut his eyes to the most obvious facts,
not to believe that back of the design there was
a designer, that back of the plan of this great
universe there was an architect, and one of the
best proofs of the wisdom of love of God, is the
. home in which two hearts are brought together,
the home in which two lives are welded into one.
The partnership that is entered into, not with
the idea on either side of securing tho advan
tage of tho other, but when tho contract is one of
of mutual forebearance it 1b a priceless partner
ship. The home is the center from which
the good influences flow out. It is the
home that man finds his strength for work
outside. If you would destroy a man, strike
him first in his home and he will not have
much strength left to meet you outside. But
while a man is strong' in his home, while thore
The Commoner.
is ono thoro to whom he can go and open his
heart, to whom he can tell all his trial
and from whom ho can gainer bu-buisui,
encouragement and Inspiration give him that
and you cannot over-estimate the strength of a
human being. Judge McCabe enjoyed tho
strength of a home. Ho enjoyed tho strength that
comes from entwining one's lifo with the life
of another.
Ho began married lifo when he was young, and
for nearly fifty-eight years that married life con
tinued, and in that home thore was not only tho
inspiration that comes from the companion,
sympathetic, congenial, and helpful, but he
found in his home the strength that comes
from responsibility. Our children educate us
while we educate them; while helping them,
they give us an interest in our fellowmen, that
wo cannot, without that, so quickly feel. They
teach us sense of responsibility to society. The
man who has about him the hostage that he has
given to the future is a sane man for society,
when he appreciates the responsibility of his
position. Judge McCabe had an ideal home; a
home in which there was a wife who was a help
mate, a homo in which there were children
who stimulated him to the utmost limit of his
strength, that he might provide for them; chil
dren who inspired him with a desire to lead an
exemplary life, that he might be an example
unto them. He was thus fortified in his home
relations and mado strong to meet the world
outside.
Aiid his was a successful life. Let no one
think that because his name is not upon tho
list of those who died leaving their millions,
his lifo was a failure. His life was eminently
successful. The husband and wife, who can
give children to society not only to take the
place of themselves, but more, are doing some
thing for the world; and not only that, but they
are perpetuating their influence.
It has been said here this afternoon that
he had built a monument more lasting than the
monument that loving hands will rear. It is
true. The most lasting monument that one
can build is the influence that his heart exerts
upon the hearts of others, and he who has made
an indelible impression upon the hearts of those
who grow to manhood and womanhood abbut
his fireside, in addition to the impression that
he has made as a friend, neighbor, and citizen,
has left an influence that will not die. Man Is
related to the generation that went before him.
He is influenced now by those generations which
passed away before man's thoughts were spread
upon the written or the printed page. The tra
ditions that were handed down orally from
parent to child have molded generations from
tho very beginning of human history, and these
impressions, these personal impressions, are
lasting impressions, and wo are not able to esti
mate in words or describe in value the influence
of the example of. Judge McCabe in his home,
on his children, and upon those about him.
But Judge McCabe knew also the meaning of
the word society. He understood that he was
a part of society. He recognized that there is
another tie besides the one that binds one to
those of his own flesh and blood. He recognized
that he owed a duty to society, that there must
be a relation between him and society, and I
believe that one of the secrets of his influence
one of the reasons for the universal respect felt
toward him; one of tho things that explains the
widespread sorrow at his taking off was that he
had fixed between himself and society a rela
tion that was Just and equitable. He under
stood that every one is Indebted to society and
that unless he would repudiate that obligation
he must make payment to society. He has been
described as one who in his youth lacked the
advantage that some obtain from the schools.
Isuppose he might be called, and the language
would not be regarded as extravagant in the
sense in which it is used, a self-made man. And
yet Judge McCabe was too wise a man to give
himself too large a share of the credit for what
he was and what he did. He was too just a man
to forget that he was Indebted, and largely in
debted, to society for all that ho was or could
hope to be.
The debt we owe to society is one that is
quito difficult for us to calculate accurately.
What are we except that which we borrow from
those who havo gone before and from those
about us. Take the triple blessings included
in American citizenship, namely, universal edu
cation, popular government and our conception
of religion; for I regard these as the three
greatest blessings that come to us by inheri
tance when wo aro born into this land of ours.
From what source do they come? They come
to us without money and without price. Tho
educational system -that is a part of our lives
camo down to us because of the intelligence of
former generations; because those wJio lived
before us understood the Importance of the
school-house; because thoso who lived before
us put a high value upon mental training, we
have the educational opportunities that we have.
Our government, in which we are so proud
to participate, is the result of sacrifices made
by millions. All the civil rights that we enjoy
and we sometimes think of them as if they were
trifling, have caused the blood of patriots to
flow. Millions and tens of millions have died
that our government might be what it is. Civil
liberty is a growth and every one in all the ages
past who has stood up and sacrificed that people
might be free, has put us under obligations
to him. '
If you visit Grand Canyon in Arizona, you will
find a great gap in the earth through which a
river runs. It is some eight miles -wide at the
point where you look upon it and it is more
than half a mile deep. When you go down, by
a tedious journey till you reach the stream
below you are amazed at the work that the
water has done in ages past; every drop of water
that in all these years has passed that way has
left its impress on the bank on either side, an
impress that is not perceptible, an influence that
you cannot calculate or weigh, and yet each
drop has done its work. And so when you go
back through history, we find that every drop
of blood that man has shed for man has had
its part in the making of this world that we
now enjoy.
Whon we come to the benefits of our religion
and the enjoyment of religious liberty and put
a valuo on the conception of life, we feel that
our indebtedness runs back through the ages,
and wo cannot calculate it.
American citizenship is a priceless thing and
those who have given it to us have passed be
yond our power to reward them. Judge Mc
Cabe understood this. He understood that he
came into this world a debtor, and it was his
ambition that he should retire from it with a
surplus in his favor from society, that he might
not feel that at his death he was a' bankrupt.
Back of his ceaseless industry, back of his tire
less interest in everything that was good, was
this consciousness that he was indebted to all
the generations past and that he must pay that
debt to the generations living now, and to all
the generations that are to come after him.
He recognized that there must be a measure
of value, that a man must be prepared to apply
it to his life and that he must so live that he
can apply that measure without being ashamed.
And what is that measure? It is one that we
cannot afford to overlook. It is one that we
dare not ignore; that is, that a man has no
right to draw from society except in proportion
as he contributes to the welfare of society.
Judge McCabe spent his long and illustrious
life trying to give to society a dollar's worth of
service for every dollar that he drew from it,
and if this were the purpose of every life, if this
were the animating motive of every career, how
soon injustice would disappear, for the world's
Injustice today largely measures the amount
that some secure from society without giving
to society a value in return, and it is offset by
what others give to society for which they re
ceive no adequate compensation.
Judge McCabe, I repeat, understood the word
society. He understood his obligation to it and
he tried to perform his duty to society.
Ho also understood the word government.
Ho recognized that wo have to have organized
government. He understood that people have
to co-operate in the doing of those things neces
sary for the protection of human rights, for the
advancement of human welfare, and he under
stood that there are only two theories of govern
ment that had been promulgated among men.
One is that tho government is a sort of a not
that is thrown over people as a net is thrown
over a bird, that a government is a thin outside
and apart from the people, used to enslave and
oppress those who do not participate in its
management, a government resting upon force
and administered for the bqnefit of those who
administer it, However conscientiously people
have tried to administer the kind of government
that rests upon force, and many have tried con
scientiously to administer wisely and benefi
clently that kind of government, back of it all
is, the sense of self-interest in the administrator,
and history is red with the record of tho blood
that has been shed by those who havo conscien
tiously attempted to administer a government
by force, and felt justified in killing those who
am noi line tne way it was administered. Now
that is one form of government. The other form
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