The Portland daily press., 1885-07-01
ARNER coBURN.
A Worthy Tribute to Noble Bene'
factor.
Col. z. A. Smiths Grafton at Water
Vile.

In life, the man to the memory of whose
useful and unselfish career, we turn aside to
pay our homage was never preceded by brazen
heralds; so on this occasion, nothing could less
beft his character than extended and snowy
exordium. In life, no dazzling array of at
PENDANTS, no glittering train of applauders, no
dramatic device was ever employed by him to
add an impressiveness not his own; so he who
would do justice to the sturdy character of
Abner Coburn, will leave behind him the con-
ceits of the phrase maker and the ambitious
affectation of the rhetorician. In life, he had
too much sense and self respect to initiate and
he was too honest to affect gifts witch he did
not possess. Now that he is dead, it would be
an act of sacrilege to present the man to pos
terity other than he was.
The century and the Republic were in their
infancy and Maine was Massachusetts when
Abner Coburn was born. The population of
the former was 100000 less than now and
that of the then future State scarcely reached
10000 The murderous savage no longer
ambushed feebly advancing civilization, but
the resistance of the forces of nature made
mere existence the price of hand to hand
every day struggle. The hardy settler who
had to subdue the virgin forests and to hew
paths through the trackless Wilderness could
always see the gaunt wolf near the door of his
log cabin. In effort and time it cost more to
move a ton of merchandise from Abner
Coburn's birthplace to the sea than it now does
from Chicago to Maine. Now one can go
from Maine to Chicago on the fast express and
return in the time in which it took the father
of Abner Coburn to go from Bloomfield when
called to represent his fellow citizens in the
Massachusetts, General Court.
To such realistic life was Governor Coburn
horn in 1909 tha snnond of o family of fo1Irtaar
children. His inheritance was the physical
vigor, the manliness, persistence and the moral
purpose which frugal, country loving, God
fearing ancestry can transmit. On both sides
his ancestors were hardy and intellectual
stock. Squire Coburn, the father was one of
the first man of the region. The mother was
from the family of Westons which, in Maine,
is older than the State, and has never failed to
contribute to each succeeding generation men
of character and usefulness. 1t was patriotic
blood--the grandfather of the Governor piloted
the Arnold expedition up the Kennebec and
across the ''carry" into the waters of the St.
Lawrence and died from exposure incident to
the patriotic service. Into this life of toll and
struggle, Abner Coburn entered and when
mere boy he performed a mans part in the
farm work. He made his first Journey to
Boston on foot behind drove of cattle; and
the steers which his father could not sell in
the SHAMELESS, the thrifty son made salable to
the farmers by breaking them to the yoke.
Engrossed with the cares and pursuits of men,
it never occurred to him to sow wild oats His
advantages for education were most meagre.
The district schools were kept rather than
taught few weeks year. The school book
maker and the normal school teacher had not
then cast up and graded the royal road to
learning. He who got knowledge in the pub
liz cob 1fxyx
GUS illustration of the Darwinian theory Of the
survival of the fttest. A short period at the
then new Bloomfield academy ended the school
life of Abner Coburn except a few winters in
which he taught district schools for 50 per
month and 'boarded round
Although Governor Cobun never entered
college halls, except as patron and benefac-
tor he was. in the best sense of the term.
literally educated man. His expansive mind
was well disciplined. Observation, expert
ence, contact with men, thinking and the time
he was able to give to reading afforded him
varied and wide information. have often
been surprised by theMmaturity of his views
upon topics not in the line of his business.
Not only was he we'll informed man upon
financial and commercial topics but in the
field of political economy his views were sing
ularly clear and of wide range. In the sum
mer of 1879, called at his house where were
two or three men who were engaged with him
in business. The conversation drifted to the
business and industrial depression which. had
then lasted from September, 1874, in the course
of which he spoke nearly as f. 9: g.
ness will revive Just as onow~ 'Dusl-
thing like fr' soon as there is any
deren III employment tor the people VINO
....,, on wages for living. There IS over
production only because the people who de-
pend ON wages cannot earn them and because
when close times come, those who can employ
| lahor and buy the products of labor make
haste to reduce their expenditures. Give the
labor of the country employment and good
wages and YOU will hear no more about over
,rodnction. That people will enjoy the great
| est degree of prosperity who spend freely
within their means. A community when
boards, and spends the least possible, will
newer he one of business enterprise. What we
want now is a market for labor at a fair COM
pensation to restore prosperity. what Il the
products of labor and the necessities OF LIE are
cheap The fact can do the millions no good
who must sell day works and the results OF
davis works before they can BUY the merchan-
disc they need. see that several Industries
are starting up and am CRAFTY mistaken in
nv calculations, II Dushes 10 nv oo'iNe III
three or four months
The prediction proved true one because 1t
was based upon the mring Judgment of
man of large experifce ana observation.
Dir; Div If Is that the prinples of practical po-
1;+;ool economv which lderlie his statements
90 not made the Textbooks in American col
Ieges to the exclusi. of the works of the
go scbool of theists and their echoes in
I az country In neiy every branch of sci
5 o-,t;eo monty. the dquated priori method
{ ta,,a.ht Nv AT;stotl,which Bacon and Locke
3 -37nJod ON yaargo, has been discarded as
-aalSs and the a qteriori orIinductive method,
i .,1s;oh wakes fay and phenomena and the
oa,,1+s of axneriee the basis of investigation,
;, 49, baon enhstitsd. The change of methods
+ 60 nract; impetus to investigation
v eL:eh ,,,ae folled by discoveries and inven-
II ,,,b;cb h. revolutionized the world and
It sot =, motion at marvellous progress which
e - - -aharocte,d the last two centuries. And
e - -.at tha MON 40 are permitted to make our
z tevt hooks political economy, stubbornly
n odhor;no n e Aristotelian system of treat
le 49, AL that all economic investigation
er ,,.,1st he I'd upon theory of assumptions
It. III ;on facts and experience. They and
/! &c. az follow them in our colleges assume
ne - superior wisdom and ridicule the
Nv ,.rootic hen to whose brains and energy the
ne yves everything and without whose
To 10y, the wealthiest college in the land
liz -, finish. maintain that the Judgment
a W. erence of the men who have laid the
as Co., lions of the material prosperity deserve
ho treatment of college instructors than to
ne LDooered at. Abner Coburn was a very de-
"a y; protectionist; and I can but say here
~ lit would be an insult to his Judgment
ps "a perversion of his generosity, for the
no jols which he has endowed to teach the
&c, homic heresies of Sumner and Perry-men
ed 10 have denounced as little better than high
ne lymen, the practical, purposeful and broad
al linded men who have made the United States
aN,,,he first industrial nation in the world
h Abner Coburn was not genius His career
/ as man of affairs presents no dramatic situa-
tons, no brilliant episodes. He belonged to
class of men, who, while they have always per-
formed most important part in every field of
human endeavor, have never received the credit
their due. Reticent and often slow of speech,
deficient in that magnetism and audacity which
sway and captivate men, Indifferent alike to
praise or criticism, behind commonplace ex-
terror and stoid demeanor is masked mass
i've intellect equipped with unerring Judgment.
indomitable will, sublime courage and faith
and vast capacity to plan and execute. Be-
cause General Grant was this sort of man. it
took the government and the country more
than two years to find out that he is the
crroa+ae+ oop+a;o If paodar,, +;y,ooe rTLo,, 80 .