Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-01-31


prosperity OF the State. Intelligent manual labor
is a school in which men attain energy OF pur-
pose, and capacity to encounter and overcome
obstacles, which are in many respects of more
value than all the learning OF all the schools. La
Dor has obstacles to meet and surmount; and
whatever pursuits, whether Of manual labor sci
snce or art, requiring the highest eNertlons of will
and presidency to overcome them, furnishes tho
best training fOi the development of the ntellec-
tusl and moral powers of man. To secure and
promote the just rights of the labOrer, aud to in
crease his intelligence is of the noblest duties
of statesmen.
la speaking of the dignity Of mammal labor DR..
Claiming has most eloquently said
at is not merely the grand Instrument by which
the earth Is Oytrspread with frutulness and beau
" and the ocean suhdued aud matter wrought in
TO nnumerable forms for comfort or ornament.
1t has a tar higher functon which Is to give force
T. the will, efficiency, courage, capacity Of eudur
ance and peiseyeiing devotion 10 far reaching
plans. Ease, rest owes its dehciousness to toll,
and no toll Is so buIdeus1m as the rest of him
who has nothing to quIt ken his powers
1he bettsrment act OF 1893 10 its essential pro-
visions absolutely new in this country and
wa, resisted by the best legal ability of the day,
but the strong hand and strong will of Governor
King oveiboIe all opposition. He had the salts
faction TO live long enough not only to see its
wisdom universally admitted sitter full expert
ence OF II 10 his own state, bat to see the princi-
pies OF il consecrated IN tle legsa ion of the ma
United State, passed IN 1880, and many OF
those who participated ~ t. passage have inform
ed me that the principle of It WAS borrowed IRON
and most effectively sustained by the Massachu-
sett, act of 1908.
1t IS not easy at the pr, sent day when the priu-
ciples of religious freedom have been 30 long and
perfectly established IN Praclc III this country, to
appfec ate the successful struggles of Governor
King in their support. Religious intolerance and
persecution have existed in an most all ages and
"a xSh ~
fled from such persecution to this western world
As refuge IN which they might worship tod &C
carding to the dlcta.e. Of their own corsciences,
were not fully prepared to allow that conscie fences
might differ.
desire always to speak with sincere venera-
ton of the puritan fathers Of New Eng and,
whose human mperfscious only served to place
in more distinct relief their extraordinary virtues.
But they were yet in the giimmer of morning
ana the full light OF the day Of religious liberty
had not yet surrounded them. Roger Williams,
whose statue adorns the same hall which IS to
hold that Of Governor King, ANONYMOUSLY
expelled from the Bay state to the Providence
Plantation for no other Off nee than his stern adj
vocacy of religious freedom and the rights of con-
science; and il was only by slow degrees and by
successive steps, that the rigors Of legal coercion
in matters of religion, were relaxed in MassaChu-
set and Maine. As late as 1911, compulsory tax
alton was imposed upon every clliKen for the sup
port Of the lawful settlerd minister Of tne parish,
and every part of the State was embraced within
the territorial limits of some parish. The act
respecting public worship and re,ig Gus freedom .
approved jane lSth Of that year, provided that
every citzen might direct tue Appropriation of the
taxes paid by him for religious purposes to the re-
hgious teacher whose instructions he WAS IN the
habit Of receiving. 1t provided also that every
person, producing a certificate OF membership Of
any religious society, whether located within or
without the town III which he resided, should be
exempt from the payment of parish taxes.
The bitterness and perseverance with which this
measure was resisted, can hardly be credited and
appreciated at the present time. Governor King
was then a member of the Senate OF Massachu
sets. lie was himself a worthy COMMUNICATE OF
the Cong regationalist church. HIS principal COLA
borcr in the work of religious emancipation a
senator from Berkshire county, Rev. John Leland,
a Baptist clergyman of advanced opinions upon the
rights Of conscience, well as all political topics.
IL was these two men, aud Governor King first,
from the extraordinary energy of his character,
who successfully sustained the struggle which sew
cred the last link between church and State in
Massachusetts, and Maine. Time which proves
all things, has shown that the preaching vi the
gospel and all other reig ons service can receive
better support under the voluntary system than
has been, can be, obtained by compulsory
taxation.
The generation by whom man is personally
known soon passes away. and it happens to few
men to hsve their characteristics aud actions long
preserved even in history. tire II hnITHtOFe pc.
reHnius, more las ing than brass on marble. But
which ever may be he more enduring, the record
OF the services of Cove nor King the uncom-
promising and tfiicicut champion OF the rights OF
labor and religious freedom, or the chiselod mar
bic which images his IersOn and his features,
Maine commits hi, statue TO the care of CIngress
and the country, 10 the belief that i Is worthy OF
place in the Hall, which is dest ned to CONNIE
crate 10 distant AGES the great men who have as
sisted conspcuouay Ia f0uudns and advancing
the Republic.