New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-06-18
Writ ten for Our FireSidc Friend.
Personal Se:ches.
No. ! "
BY LEON OLIVER.
GEItRIP SMITH.

If there is man IN the whole list Of those
who have been written up' in this series whC
deserves to be called a representative man,
it is the venerable philanthropist of Peterbo
TO, whose name for nearly half a century b.:
been prominent among the unsellish friend.
of humanity, and particularly the friend oftht
iriendless and the oppressed. His time, his
great talents, and his ample fortune have
been unsefishly, unsparingly, DEVOTED to the
elevation and Improvement of the condition
of the poor, the oppressed, and the despised
He has been stigmatizcd as a radical, a fana.
tic, an intidel and lunatic /; but he has, not
withstanding all this, pcrsevered in his W ork
and although he has been called infidcl and
sccptic by many of the clergy, there are few
who have been more faithful in following the
example Of"Ilim who went about doing good
than Gerrit Smith.
Mr.. Smith is now "well stricken in years, y
being in his 18th year. He inherited inn
mense landed estates from his father, who
was one of the largest land-holders in the
United States, and his principal pricate BUSH
ness has been the management ofhis patrimo.
ny. In 1918, when he was twenty-one years
of age, he was graduated at Hamilton College
Clinton, n. V, President Rev. Aze
some wears pr yiOus, that he had met an
American "whO had a bushel of brains'
In 1925 Mr.. Smith, who had previously
interested himself in various benevolent en-
terprises, connected himself with the "Ameri-
can Colonization Society" (of which for many
years Henry Clay was PRESIDENT, in the hope
that through the workings THAT organization
the emancipation of the slaves would be
assured: but after ten years Ofdevoted service
and liberal donations, becoming convinced
that it would never effect the object which
was vital with him, he withdrew and connect.
ed himself with the "Amercan
Anti.Slavery SOCIETY" and from 1885 until
the emancipation Ofthe slaves, nearly thirty
years later, he was one of the most persistent,
liberal and uncompromisng of abolitonists;
and probably gave more money to aid the
cause of emancipation than any man in the
country, and yet there was little sympathy or
harmony between him and what were termed
the Garisonian Abolitionists. VIM. Lloyd
Garrison called the constitution ga league
with death and covenant with hell" But
Mr.. Smith always stood by the constitution
and maintained that it neither authorized nor
supported slavery, and rightly interpreted
was an anti-slavery instrument. At this
period OF time it is not important to inquire
which view was correct. The vexed question
has been settled at an immense cost of life
and treasure, and we have good reason to
nope tnat. as common and undivided cOun-
try, we shall, in the generations to come, be
spared from the horrors ola fraticidal war and
illustrate in our future history the beauties
and benefits of true civilization, expressed
through self-government.
Mr.. Smith became by Inheritance and by
subsequent purchase from his cO-heirs one OF
the most extensive owners of land in this
country, and yet he was always oppo sed to
land monopoly. His sentiments in this re-
spect he practically expressed by donating
at different times 200, 900 acres oflaud por-
ton to educational institutions, but the ma jor
part to poor men who wanted homes of their
own, and this without distinction of color,
race or previous condition generally in par
cells of about so acres to each, and in hume
rous instances he supplemented his gifts OF
land with pecuniary aid.
From his large income arising from product
i've property, Mr.. Smith has been for half
century liberal giver to benevolent objects,
but principally for the cause of emancipation,
OF which ne may be justly called the apostle.
Like all philanthropists, he has often been
imposed upon, but this fact detracts nothing
from the real goodness and benevolencc which
prompted the deed. 1t would, however, be
an injustice to suppose that his benefactions
were confined to the great object which was
peculiarly his life-work. No call from the