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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1906)
38 THE SUNDAY 0REG0XIA2 PORTLAND, JAXTJAHY 14, 1906. ji ; : r j J"' ' ' ! T" I A NUTSHELL VIEW OF FRANKLINS ' CAREER . 1706 (Jan. 17) Born in Bostdn,a youngest son, and the loth .child of 17. 1716 Taken from school to help' 'his jcanoUe-iaaMng father;. 1718 Apprenticed .td'tii'S brother' James,.a printer. "I tvas rjesolved I should not be bred.tfo divinity, and my "bookish inclinations .determined niy; father to, make mq a printer." : V.- r '.. : . . 1722 Began secret contributions in th6 " Goubant' signing "Silence Do- 1723 (October) Ran away .to Phiradelphln whtfre lie became a journeyman .printer. ....;;..' ' ' i - . 1725-26 First visit: to djondoiv printing while there his "liberty and'Ncccs- 1729 Set up business. of his own (Philadelphia );, 4)Uy5ng the Pennsylvania Gazette." ; t . . , v ., 1730" (September 1) Marri'. De Wall ReHd, tfughter-of his landlord. 1731 Founded a debating sQciet)',?"The jun.tb;' acL the'Pliiladelpln?, library.. 1732 Began ''Poor Richard's; Almanac.'" (Richard Saunders, Philoiriath.) 173-1 "Suggested "organized fire, companies, ad m$njcipar stteet' lighting. 1736 Elected clerk.oi the. Philadelphia Assembly. : . . r . j 1737 Made. Postmaster of Philadelphia. ( . .. ci' : " '. - 1742 Invented "an open stove for the better wanning of. rooms;''; 1743 Developed the Ainerican Phn '' 1748 Retired from business. . - .'..'set; .".?.- .-., 1749 Founded the Academy of- Jlifladclpliiii, .lKi(?r: the UnSversiiy ;o' Pen'n- sylvauia. . : - - f 1752 Discovered the identity of ljgHuin'gikl' electrhirty, and invented the lightning-rod. ' -There arc no "bounds jtq-the force man 'may raise -and use inr an electrical way." ; . 1753 Made Deputy Postmaster-General of the. colonies, ejected in, membership in the Royal Society (London), and given ;the Copley Medal- ' ( 1.754 As Delegate, from Pennsylvania to the Cbloiial Conference ;j,t sVlbany, brought forward the first coherent scheme for securing a permanent Federal I Union pf the thirteen colpnies. : 1 1756 Chosen Colonel of a regiment of voluuleer militia of his own raising. 1757-62 Successful political missipnto England. ; 1762 Given the degrees of LL. D. by Edinburgh and Oxford Universities. 1762 Introduced the yellow. willow into this country. 1764-75 As Colonial Agent in England of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, ; Georgia and New Jersey, opposed the passing of the 'Stamp Act, and assisted ! in its ultimate repeal. . - 17J4 fDismissed by, the Crown, frqin his post qf Deputy Pojsiiaster-cncrai. 1774 (December 19) Death .of D.eborah (Read)H?ranklin. . ...... 1 1:775 (May 5) Weleonied home i'p Philadelphia. . . ' fc ... llo.-rEJectecl a. member of the Contincntiil Congress. f" 7?6 drved with Jeffersop At(ains, Sherman and LivhigstpUe on a com i; inittee .to draw up the Declaration of lndeiTendcice.' ahd ignetl tlutt docu 5 iheht. ''We must all hangr together or -vve shall all hang" Separately. 'y . ' n.776 December 21, Landed in France. '; " - ' 3777 Issued (by authority of Congress), commissioiis' to fbrcigii naval officers. t,a.77S (February, 6) Obteined, the 'Treaiy nf Agreement with" France, under Ij Which that couiitry was ledged to Assist th colonies wij,h meij and money. 3.72 (November 30) With Jay and Adams, signed the preliminaries'' of the -treaty of peace. with-Great Britain. " ': " . ; i783."(5eptijmber-3)The definitive treaty of peace (with England -signed in : iBaris 1 ': ' t ' , . , , . . . i i J -7-. jl785 (September) Sailed again for AmcricJi. c : t"i.-.-. 1785-86-87 President of Pennsylvania. ' "' v ' 1787 Delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia." .'; -t 1788 Finished his "Autobiography." (First published in 847- 1789 Invented the ' 4 Armonica." . . , -, 1790 (February- 12) Petitioned Congress to abolish the .slave irade and emancipate all slaves held in this country. 1790 (April 17) Died in Philadelphia, aged 84 years and 3 mPnths, 1 ?. His self-Avritten epitaph (which, however, was never used);?.. 'X The body of "' " ' BENJAM;iN FRANIvIjIN, Printer, Its coutcnts torn out, and stripped of its lettering and'gilding, lies here, food for worms, But the work shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once, more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author. Benjamin Franlilin, Scientist .and PKilosopKer, Statesman and Diplomat, Man of Letters and itV-' :1706-1790 a .: ; :. benjamin franklin "He was some five feet nine inches tall, with fair complexion, gray eyes and a 'figure inclined to stoutness. In manner, speech and dress, he was at once plain .and pleasing. "An- omnivorous reader, Defoe, Bunyan Addison and -Locke were his fa vorite authors. In spite of a busy life, he taught himself Spanish, Italian and French, in addition to his schoolmaster's Latin. ..." "He rarely went to churchy he doubted the divinity of Jesus, but believed implicitly in God, and held that the most acceptable service we can render him is to do good to his other children.' ' HIS ADVICE TO THE WORLD Time is money. , "Make- haste slowly. Forewarned, forearmed. Little strokes feli 'great oaks. There are no gains without painsi j fLJk He has paid dear for his whistle, y. )R W. A good example is the best sermon. Three "removes are as bad as iire.-'. .One today is worth twpvtomorrows, j :Qod helps them that help themselves. . Constant dropping -vears. away stores., i'i' , . Married in haste,. xepent at leisure; .THe that goes a-borrovihg'goes a-sdrrowing." ' Fools make "feasts and wise men; eat them. ; . God heals, and the doctor takesthe fees. Keep thy shop and thy shop will -keep thee,."- " There never was a good war'or a had peace." " ; It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. ' . " . '." , TVhen the welFs dry we know tlie worth of water Dost tliou love lifel. Then do riot squander-time. , : In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. ITever leave that tiU tomorrow which you can do today. If you'd have-a servant tliatypu like, serve yourself. If you would 'have your business done, go! If not, send! f Those have a . short Leut who owe money to be paid at Easter. Beware of little expenses ;a small leak will sink a great ship. : Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other. . . Idleness ahdpride tax. with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments'. ; Early to bed and .early to rise, v" Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. "Vessels large may venture more. 1 But little boats should keep near shore. THE WORLD'S OPINION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Franklin is the world's best type of good sense. Professor Fisher. Antiquity woidd have rraised altars to his mighty genius. Mirabeau. Her invented the iightning-rod, the hoax and the Republic II. de Balzac. That crafty American is more than "a match for all my Ministers. George HI. "Where is the. master who could have instructed Franklin Every great man is unique. Emerson. , . He snatched the thunderbolt from heaven, and the scepter from the hands of the -tyrants. Turgot. J-v " - This' self-taught American' is th$ most rationalfof sfll philosophers. He never loses sight of common sense. Lord Jeffrey. . . ' . Franklin is brfe of that very small class of men who can-be said to-havc added something of real yalue to the art of living. Lecky. Franklin-, type of the age, of the movement of Locke and Rousseau; a phil osopherbut philosophy with a religious element. Martin. He is one whom all Europe holds in high -esteem for his knowledge and wisdom, ranking him with our Boyles and Newtons. He is an honor not to the English nation only, but to hiiman nature. Lord Chatham. America has sent us many good things: gold, silver, sugar, tobacco and indigo, but you are the first philosopher, and, indeed, the first great man of letters, for whom we are beholden to her. Hume. The subject of this inquest conducted an advice factory in the shape of an .almanac. His product was unusually good. His specialty was to advise everybody to get busy, keep busy, and save all he could. G. A. Post. A singular felicity of induction guided all his researches; by very small means he established very great truths. The style and matter of his .publica tions arc almost as worthy of admiration as the doctrines they contain. He has written equally for the uninitiated and the philosophers. Davy. It is quite certain that Franklin had a genius for putting things which made him almost independent of schools. In clearness, in precision of state ment, in capacity to clear his current writing of all useless words, he was. I think, about 'the first among Americans to prove himself a master of art in language. D. G. Mitchell ("Ik Marvel"). s ECTION 1 of the fourteenth amend ment to the Constitution of the .United States Is as follows: AJ1 persons born or naturalized In the Vnltcd States and subject to the Jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of th United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property with out due process of law. nor deny to any person within Us Jurisdiction the equal pro tection of the lav8. Several propositions had been made in both houses of Congress containing' In one form or another most of the Ideas incorporated in this amendment, but the section as it now stands in the Constitution -was reported from the committee on reconstruction, of which I was a member. I o not claim to be the author of this section, as has been stated, but I had as much to do with, its preparation as an$ other m6mberl of the committee. I consider this sec tion the most important and most val uable provision in the Constitution of thfc United States, so far as-individuals ar,c concerned. According to the Drcd Scott decis ion, the Afritan race -In this country and their descendants ivere not citi zens, though they were free persons, nor were they entitled to any of the rights or privileges of a citizen of the United States. It was further held that a person might be the citizen of a state and not a citizen of the United St?ites, but this section abrogates all these refined distinctions and makes every person born or naturalized in the United States a citizen of the Unit ed States and also a citizen of the state in which he resides. According to the above-named section, a man ac cuped e a capft&i crima has a right t be heard in a tribunal established by law before he is condemned; if he is charged with a crime Involving his lib erty he has a right to be heard before he Is committed to prison; if It is pro posed to take his property he has a right to have it Judicially determined whether or not It shall be taken, and these rights are equally effective for the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the white and the black, and all clashes and conditions of persons. Magna Chnrta of tlie United States. This section is the magna charta of the United States. It is no" respecter of per sons, but puts all alike under an equal protection of the laws. The making of this section a part of the ConsUtuUon of the United Slates, if our Civil War had produced no other result, would be some compensaUon for the losses of that war. There was a protracted discussion in Con gress over this section, or over a proposi tion of a like nature, the chief objection being that it was an infringement upon the rights of the states. Another ques tion raised was as to whether . or not it made Indians clUzens, and- over this there was a long debate. Numerous amend ments ctverc prepared, intended to emas culate the sccUon, but they were all voted down; the solid Democratic eleven voUng for everything intended to weaken or defeat tho section, but it was finally adopted as it now stands in the Consti tuUon. No question was before Congress in re construction ttmes that elicited so. much controversy and so much discussion as section 2, of the 14th amendment. Mr. Stevens opened Uie subject in the House on the 0th of December. 1SC3. by propos ing that legal voters should be the basis of representation in Congress, and Uie matter was not .finally disposed of unUI the 13th of June, 3S66. Most of the inter vening time was taken up by speeches, 4a wfelck this subject was znadd the text f or Personal Recollections of Judge George H. Williams, No. IX The Fourteenth Amendment: the Magna Charta of the United States a discussion which in amplitude and elo quence has never been excelled Jn Con gress. Numerous propositions touching this question were made, in the House, and also in the Senate, all of which were referred. to the' joint committee on recon struction. Basis of Representation. On the 31st of January. 1S57. said com mittee reported an amendment to the Con stitution in which there was this proviso: "That whenever tho elective franchise shall be denied or abridged In any state on account of race or color, the persons therein of such race or color shall be ex cluded from the basis of representation." There was a good deal of. opposition to this among Republicans. "Mr. Shella--borgcr, of Ohio; Mr. Pike, of Maine, and some others in the House' made speeches against it, chk-y upon tho ground that it recognized the right of a state to disfran chise some of Its citizens. Notwithstand ing this opposition, tho report with tho proviso included passed the House by a voje of 326 to 46. "When it came over to. the Senate, Mr. Sumner spoke against it Itf a speech -that Alls more than 40 col umns of the Congressional Globe. The subject was debated at great length, but linally the report was rejpeted by the Senate, and the whole matter referred again to the committee on reconstruction. Another report was made by that committee with some modifications, but, not differing 'essentially from its first" report. This opened again the. flood- gate of debate in the Senate. Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, proposed a substitute, conferring upon all perr sobs the right of suffrage without dis tinction of race and color, and made a long and able argument in support of his substitute, but it was rejected by a decisive vote. All sorts of -amendments were proposed, some by Repub licans and some by Democrats. One proposition was to make legal voters instead of population the basis of rep resentation, and this was supported by Senator Sherman, Senator Howe and some others In the Senate, but the proposition was rejected by the Sen ate. A Substitute That JPassed. Things were In somewhat of a" mud dled condition, .when the following ap pears on page 2991 of tho Congression al Globe for 1S65-6: "Mr. Williams I beg td be excused for not yielding tho floor. I move to strike out the second section and substitute' these words." I then offered my substitute, which T modified a day or two afterwards so that It would read: "Representatives shall " Be appor tioned among the several states ac cording to their respective numbers, counting tlie whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed; but whenever the right to vote at any election for the choice of elec tors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judi cial otflcers of a state or members ot the Legislature thereof, is denied to the male Inhabitants , of such state being 21 years of age 'and citizens of the United -States, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion. or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be re f&cd la lh.9 -propcrtioa "which t&a (number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male clt- lzens 21 years of age in such state." inis suosmuie was opposed wiin great vehemence by Senators Johnson. Hen dricks. Cowan. McDougal and others, but passed the Senate by a vote of 33 tp 11. It went over to the House and was there, passed -without much debate by a vote of 120 to 32, and this substitute, as it was prepared and offered by me, now stands as section 2 In the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Kemovingr Disabilities. Section 3 of the 14th amendment as It was originally reported from the commit tee on reconstruction provided in sub stance that those who had voluntarily been in the Rebellion should be denied the right to vote for Representatives in Con gress, Electors for President and Vice President, until 1S70. This restriction upon the elective franchise was objec tionable, and did not meet the approval of many Republicans, myself among oth ers. Consequently the committee made another report as a substitute for the first, in which the right to hold office was denied to those who had taken an official dath to support the Constitution of .the United States, and had afterwards "en gaged in the Rebellion. The right to vote was unaffected by this section or any part of the 14th amendment. Said sec tion also provided that Congress, by a two-thirds vote, might remove the dis abilities herein specified. These disabilities were soon after re moved by Congress, and e'verybody who had been In the Rebellion excepting a. few who refused to accept pardon, so far as political or civil rights, were concerned, was $ut upon an equal loatlag with, ev- erybody who had been opposed to the Re bellion. This section, of course, encoun tered the unavailing opposition of the Democrats in Congress. Section 4 of the amendment, which was intended to protect the public debt of the United States and prevent raids upon the Treasury for the payment of slaves emancipated, passed with very little op position. The passage of this amendment was accompanied by a bill to the effect that whenever an insurrectionary state had adopted this amendment it should be restored to Its representation in Congress. Tennessee accepted the amendment and thereupon was admitted to representation, but ten of the rebellious states, ag I have heretofore stated, contemptuously reject ed It, but after the Johnson governments were displaced by those organized under the reconstruction act of Congress it was adopted, and on July 28, 1S6S, the State Department declared that it had been duly ratified and was a part of the Constitution of the United States. Sumner's Great Speech. T have referred to the speech of Mr. Sumner, whlcli occupied the greater part of two 'days In its delivery. It was a wonderful display of learning and rhetoric. Our own history, the history of Greeco and Rome, and the history of. modern Europe, especially France, were explored for arguments and illustrations, many, ot which seemed more ornamental than use ful, the point to be proven being that colored people should -have equal politi cal and civil rights with white men in this country. Taken, together, it was probably the greatest speech ever deliv ered by Mr. Sumner. His peroration was as follows: The Roman, Cato, after declaring his belief in the Immortality of the soul, added that it this were an error it wax an error which he loved. And now, de claring my belief in liberty and equality as the God-given birthright ot all men. let me say in the same spirit, if this be .an error., it is an error which X love; if talc be a fault, it is a fault which 1 shall I be slow to renounce: if this be an illusion. I it is an Illusion which I pray may wrap the world in Its angelic forms. GEORGE H. "WILLIAMS Brotherhood of 31an. Is there, for honest poverty, - That hangs his head, and a. that? The coward slave, we pass him by. We dare be poor for a thatt For sl' that, and a that! Our tolls obscure, and a that;. The rank Is but the uuinea-statrip. The man is the gowd for a that! "What though on hamely fare we dlnj. . "Wear hodden gray and a that; Gle -fools their silks, and knaves their w A man's a man for a that! For a' that, and a that. Their tinsel show, and a that; The honest man, though e'er sae poor. Is king o men for a that! Ye see yon blrkle. ca'd a lord. "Who? struts, and stares, and a' that; Though hundreds worship at his word, He's but a coof for a' that; For a' that, and a that. Ills riband, star, and a that; ; The roan of Independent mind. Ho looks and laughs at a' that! A king- can make a belted knight. . A marquis, duke, and a" that; But an honest man's aboon his might, Guld faith he mauna fa' that; For ar lba. and a' that. His dignities and a' that. The pith o sense, and pride o' worth. Arc higher ranka than a' that. Then let us pray that come it may- : As come it will fpr a' that That sense and worthy o'er a the" earth. May bear the gree. and a' that; For a that, and a that, . It's comin' yet fop a that. That man to mart the warld o'er. Shall brothers be for a' that! Robert Burn Hank Book Imck. Atchison Globe. Life would be all right if it wasn't fof the disappointment that follows.-th pal anciBg of one's .bankbook r-r