The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1885-07-01

Whlcn bslJ our paper ana "etc elnp " -
it d-nin1.l INN silA,e payment. We
did not know what 70 DO. At last IL oc-
CURED 10 one Of the Board to 20 to Coy.
Coburn. He had been confined 70 his
house for several weeks and was jg-t get
ting up when two " Us went to STE hin.
He was yet a sick man. We laid our case
before HIM and ended by stating that We
could see no way ont bu, for him ~ en-
dorse the paper Of the Maine Central for
s200 900 then and for $500 900 10 the course
Of the next sixty dsys. lie said not
word and w could hot tell from any eX-
preston Of his features how our PROPOSE
ton struck him. When We had finished,
be broke h. silence by s-kiug II We had d
note for him to sign. We pre.9n,ei II, he
signed Il aud the crisis was over. one
savings bank which had the best security
the Company could give was urging pay
ment Win great persisteney, but ~hen we
offered 1t the endorsement Of Governor
CoDurn tie President said he would regard
it favor 10 have the Company keep the
money with such security a. that
Wat hatteriug testimonial was tits
both to the Integrity and the intellect 81
AbDer COburD-ibe name OF au old man 10
feeble health giving market currency TO
the obligations OF the first corporation and
the great railroad Of the State 1t was not
wholly because Gov c burn WAS rich
man that the managers Of m0neyed institu-
tions had such faith in him, but 1t was be-
cause they knew that If be was backing
the Maine Central 1t must be solvent. They
were right; Gov. Coburn had settled for
himself every dsubt respecting the corpor
alton. No man krew better than he the
possibilities OF the country for which the
Maine Central is the arterial system Town
by town he had estimated the amount Of
RI oh aff,1r I'd he.
railroad 50 that his faith in the ultimate
value as property was based upon calcua-
tions made with mathematical accuracy
1t was his intelligent and unwayeriDg faith
in the enterprise which inspired confidence
in others aud this more than his wealth
promoted the success OF a railway, which,
in all the years to come, more than any one
agency, will affect the interest OF the large
part of the people of Maine. Suppose that
in these crucial periods, Gov. CUburn had
Lacked faith as did others or had turned
railroad-wrecker instead OF corporation.
saver-what would have been the effect
upon the interests of the people which the
corporation now SO well serves and which
has doubled the value If the farm, the fac
| tory and the toll oil the laborerf
Gov. Coburn was conservative business
man who acted upon the theory that all
| gains from business should come from the
actual appreciation of property He was a
stranger to Wall street practices, and to
those manipulatons of properties by which
| one man is made a CHrsus by filing Wall
| Street with shorn and bleatiDg lambs. tie
was not engaged in corners and "hlind
pools and regarded transactions ia COM
nodites and stocks which never had exis-
tence as a species of gambling, which ad-
ded nothing to the wealth of the country,
and therefore, in no sense legitimate enter
| prise. He recognized the difference be-
tween speculation and enterprise there
fore his life and his energies were devoted
to enterprises, the success Of which de.
pended upon the actual appreciation Of
values. The business affairs and projects
in which he WAS engaged and which he
carried out, added millions to the wealth OF
the country when thousands were added to
his estate.
The Coburns in their relations. to others
were helpful men. The shores of the sea
| over which they sailed fifty years TO for
| tune are not dotted with the unsightly
hunks of fellow voyagers whom they have
scuttled in a kind of trade which is better
called piracy. On the contrary, in seasons
of peril, they were always helping the
weak and scores of men are pro,perou.
! to-day, because when amid the breakers,
| they raised the signal of distress, The Co.
UufuS CdIut 10 l0elT rescue anu conveyed
them into the open sea. And having res
cued men, they never assumed toward
them patronizing air, never boosted OF it,
never reminded them OF their obligation or
claimed perpetual yassalage As the price of
succor If during the last % years OF his
lite, Gov. Coburu had utilized that power
Which sense of the obligation for benefits
received carries with it, in the larger bust
ness affairs of the State and in legislation
affecting it and in politics, he could have
been well-nigh autocratic. Many OF US
who remember the railroad contests in the
legislature prior to consolidation, knew
that Gov Coburn never awaited himself of
that power--that either from delicacy or
from fear that he might infringe upon
the realm of propriety, he did not ask the
services of these whom he had favored,
when they could have been his allies in all
honesty and honor.
Governor Coburn gave his first vote for
President IN 1924 to John Quincy Adams.
He did not vote { IT another successful can
didate for President until 1910, which Is TO
say, that he was Wing. At an early age,
he took an active interest in party III tiers
and to the end Of his life, was firm be
lever 10 the cardinal principe S of the Wing
party in the days Of its glOry-the protec-
ton OF American industries, internal i'm
provemeuts aud National banking system.
At that time The Whig party IN Maine en-
hraced such distinguished meu a. George
Evans Governor Kent, William Pitt Fes-
sender, Elijsh l.. lIsmlu and Luther Sew
ereuee. Coy. Coburn hrst al peared in the
Maine House 10 lsSs-the time the Wings
elected q Governor and legislature. The
question of the day was the North
Eastern Boundary Always coyetous, the
British Government insisted upon an in
terpretation of the treaty which would
have made Maine considerably smaller
State than it is. Fifty years ago Great
Brtain's policy was not so yielding as II
now is with Russia in the rectihcation Of
boundaries. The condition Of the two ma
tious is So changed, that il the treaty fix
ing the boundary were made now, the St.
John from its mouth would have been the
eastern boundary of Maine and the height
of land which looks over into the St.
Lawrence the northern. GOV. Coburn was
"A member of the Committee TO which this
important subject WAS entrusted by the
Legislature and had his views been insist
ed upon by our representative who made
the Ashburton Treaty, Maine would have
been larger State than it now is. That he
WAS made member of this Committee and
also of the Finance, Banking, Land and
Valuation Committees during the three
terms that he was member of the Legis-
lature, goes to show that when from IS to
40 "ears of age, he was regarded as an able
man AID well yersed in public affairs
When General Scott was the Wing candi-
date for President, Governor Coburn was
candidate on the electoral ticket The re-
peal of the Missouri Compromise in May
1854 accelerated the alignment OF polit
ical parties, which had been going on some
time in Maine on the temperance question.
Before the name Republican was given TO
the new party, Governor Coburn was In
the revolt against the old parties and from
the irst was a sturdy adherent and iufiu-
entail man in the new organization. He
WAS member of the Executive Council,
during the terms of Governors A. p. Morrill,,
IIamlin and Williams In 1850. when H.