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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1898)
Conservative. THE IATK SENATOll IlllICE. Mr. Erskino M. Phelps , one of the leading and most astute wholesale mer chants of Chicago , recently paid his tri bute of personal friendship and respect to the late Senator Brice in a fervid and sincere eulogium. Among other things appropriate to the occasion Mr. Phelps said of Mr. Brice : "His.first'great enterprise was the put ting together of the Lake Erie and Wes tern road , of which ho was president at the time of his death. He was the head and front and really conceived the plan of the Nickel Plato road , which was afterward sold to the Vanderbilts. The amusing incident that resulted in the sale of that road and saved Brice from financial ruin is worth repeating. "Brice invited Gould to take a ride over the lino. The great railroad king was placed in a chair on the rear end of an observation car. Brice and Burke in vited the newspaper men to take the trip with them and fixed it with them so that word should be telegraphed from every station that Gould was making an inspection of the road , with a view to purchasing. The Vanderbilts bit at the the bait and closed the deal for the pur chase of the road within forty-eight hours. Mr. Gould remarked when the story was told him that it was the only time in his life that ho had been 'worked for a sucker. ' "I have been associated with Brice in politics and business , and the longer ] knew him the more I admired the trans cendent genius of the man. He was strong as an organizer and a man of great breadth. In the second Cleve land campaign he was chairman of the national committee and was associated with such men as Arthur Sowall oi Maine , William O. Whitney , Senators Ransom and Gorman and myself. Ho spent $150,000 of his own money in the campaign. # # * "Only a few days ago it was my gooc fortune to meet him at a dinner givei in New York to Chief Justice Fuller by J. W. Doaue. There were such men present as General Schofield , M. E. Ingalls , Daniel S. Lament and ex-Gov ernor Flower of Now York. Brice was the light and life of the whole dinner and kept the guests in a continuous roai of laughter by his shafts of wit. "Take him all in all he was one of the most remarkable men that I have ever met or ever expect to meet. When you met him it was like coming into sun shine. Ho was cheery , never despoil dent , always loolung up , never looking down ; always looking forward , nevei loolung backward. Ho was never dis couraged , never blue and always had i cheerful smile for all. He was a wonderful dorful conversationalist , probably the most charming after-dinner talker ii the country. When Lord Coleridge visited this country lie made the re mark that Brice was the best convor if ntionnlist that ho had had the pleiumro of meeting. The senator was a good tory teller and delighted in telling good ones on himself. NO MONEY FOU TAILOK. "I have always remembered one he ; old mo on himself several years ago. Ho said that when his wedding day ar- ived ho did not have enough money to lay for both his dress suit and the min ster , and finally compromised by pay- ng the parson and standing off the tailor. "A great man is dead. Probably there are very few men so universally respected and beloved in all phases of society as Calvin S. Brice. His death will bo a shock to all and he will be mourned by thousands whom he helped , who loved and adored him. He was a man of small stature , Titian hair , bushy , was quick and active , almost to nervous ness , with an eye as bright as a diamond and a nose like one of Napoleon's field marshals. He was well informed on every subject , religion , politics , science or finance. He was a ready debater and quick at repartee. He was a late riser and one who burnt long and late the midnight oil. He used to reach his office at 11 o'clock and seldom wont to bed before 2 in the morning. His word was as good as his bond , and nothing was ever too large for him in the way of a scheme. Ho was never appalled by millions. He would talk about $20- 000,000 deals as unconcernedly as you 01 I would mention a.$20 transaction. " The average farm in North Carolina contains 120 acres , and the average value of improved land is $14.25 per acre , and of iinimproved $5.75. I > KA1 > IN THE YEAK 181)8. The last hours of this year are draw ing near. During the twelve months millions of human beings have passec from life to death. But only a few , a very few , are world-missed or world- mourned. In the great stream of hu inanity which pours along the surface ! of the globe the individual is like the drop of water hurled by obstructive rocks from a mountain torrent , lost bu not missed. Gladstone and Bismarck in the Old World and Thomas Francis Bayard ii the New are among the renowned of earth who have gone during this year Of the two first much has been said and published. Of Mr. Bayard not so mucl as his long , honest and efficient service to the country would warrant. There fore , as an admirer and personal friem of Mr. Bayard , the editor of Tun CON snuvATivn takes upon himself the sacrec duty which sincere friendship always imposes , of telling the world something of the aims and ambitions of the life that has gone out. Thomas Francis Bayard was born ii Wilmington , Delaware , October 29,1828 * and was the son of James Ashoton Bay ard and Anne Francis Bayard. * * * At the ago of 13 years ho went to the chool of the Rov. Francis L. Hawks at Flushing , Long Island. During the few years when his father lived in Now York , young Bayard entered the mer cantile house of his brother-in-law , Mr. Schermerhorn , and his business training was supplemented in the house of S. Morris Wain , of Philadelphia. At that ime it was the intention of his father to ; raiu him for mercantile pursuits , but upon the death of his elder brother , Richard Henry Bayard , his father de- ided to train him for the legal profes- sion. Upon his return to Delaware he was entered as a student at law in the office of the older Bayard , and was ad mitted to the bar in 1851 , and at once engaged in active practice in copartner ship with his father. In 1858 he was appointed United States district attorney for Delaware , but resigned this office the following year and associated himself with his friend William Shippen , in Philadelphia. Mr. Shippen died in 1858 , when Mr. Bayard returned to Wilming ton , which city he made his homo al ways afterward. Ho soon acquired an extensive legal practice. Like his father , Mr. Bayard was an active , conscientious democrat , and took a prominent part in the stirring political events that immediately preceded the civil war. Ho was not , however , in favor of secession , but was what was then known as a peace democrat , signal izing his convictions in this direction by a famous speech at a peace meeting in Dover , in June , I860 , in which ho advo cated a settlement of the pending ques tions without resort to war , and earn estly opposed the severance of the rela tions of any of the states with the Federal Union. Mr. Bayard's interest in local politics continued unabated until , in February , 1869 , he was elected United States sena tor to succeed his father , upon the same day and by the same legislature that chose his father to fill the uuexpired term of George Read Riddle , which ended upon the 4th of March following. The career of Mr. Bayard in the United States senate is a matter of pub lic record. But their are few men who recall his antagomsiu to the roissuanco clause of the law which provided for the of three hundred and non-bonding forty- six millions of dollars of greenbacks. In the senatorial discussion of that ques tion Mr. Bayard was more than a match for John Sherman. Time has verified the patriotic wisdom of Bayard and con demned the position taken by Sherman. The greenback circulation and its con tinued reissuance are a primary and major cause of all the financial fallacies and monetary evils which have befallen the United States since 1879. In 1884 Mr. Bayard was urged by many democrats as a candidate for the presidency. But the national convon-