Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-02-02

statement that has touched the
national pulse or who has exhibited
that craftsmanship necessary to win
prblic approval. If he had not been
thwarted by the jealousy of his off ial
superior and the inability of the latte
to comprehendthe broad nationa po3ic-
his Secretary OF State was endeavu
ing to unfold. there can be not the.
least doubt that the scheme of Am eri-
can reciprocal trade which Mr. Blaine
was developing would not only have
materially improved the industrial.
conditions of this country, but would
have given to the Republican party
new lease of political power.
From New York.
Tribune: The greatest American o.
recent times is mum bered with the his
toric dead Of a gra teful republic. So
electric was Mr.. Blaine's vitality. so
commanding a figure has he been in
public life for thirty wears, SO SYM
metrical was the development Of hi>
intellectual powers, and so inexhauo-
tlble were the resources of his states
manship, that it is almost impossible
to think OF him as lying cold in
death To hundreds of thousands
of Americans the melancholy
tidings of his last hours will
come with a poignant sense of per-
sonal grief We are not speaking of
partisan friendship formed during his
busy life, but an influence which he
exerted over a host of followers un-
known to him, but brought under the
magic spell of his leadership and politi
cal genius. When Mr.. Clay died there
were hundreds of earnest men like
Horace Greeley who felt they could
never again interest themselves in
American politics. Now that Mr..
Blaine's career has ended there are
thousands of Americans who will
share this feeling.
Sun: In the history of the republic
there is but one other statesman-we
refer, of course, to Henry Clay-who
ever gained and kept so strong hold
upon the affections of the people 1t
is true of the one as of the other that
his high purposes and solid achieve
ments will be held in lasting honor;
that what faults he may have had will
be buried with him; and that, wherever
in America there beats a patriotic
heart, he will be remembered. If
Blaine had done anything else to en-
grave his name indelibly upon Ameri-
can annals his title to gratitude and
honor at his country's hands would be
made secure by his connection with
the program of reciprocity between all
the independent commonwealth upon
this hemisphere.
The Chicago Papers.
The Chicago Tribune: No American
of his time has been loved more de-
votedly or could be mourned more
widely or sincerely. No American of
his time had the interests of his
country more deeply at heart. In his
death the Republican party has lost
its most brilliant leader and it's wisest
counselor, and the country it's most
eminent citizen. AS the mournful
news of his death is read there comes
inevitably to the memory the touching
ly beautiful words spoken by the
great secretary before Congress in his
Grafton upon the death of President
Garfield:
Let us think that his dying eyes
read mystic meaning, which only
the rapt and parting soul may know.
Let us believe that, in the silence of
the receding world, he heard the great
waves brea king on a farther shore,
and felt already, upon his wasted
brow, the breath of the eternal morn
ing
The lips that uttered these mourn
fully beautiful words are forever ST.
lent in death, but their echoes come
sadly to the memory since he who
uttered them has passed to the farther
s'ore and felt already ''the breath of
the eternal morning."
Nothing i'll come near theei
Quiet contamination have,
And renowned be thy grave