Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-05-27
SUCH 4 DINNER.
CONTINUED from page 81

LIE us then while seeking after more
perfect methods of municipal gous s,,,,,a ni
tryde d de Ourselves earnestly 10 the
full development OF our itnt n,,rna S
manufacturing, and for tnnt purpo ss
erous in the granting of privileges anu
immunities to industries wnicn MAY
promise. to be to us sources Vi 'i''s
prosperity.
MIR. c. B. Burleigh, editor of the
Kennebec journal, followed. respond
inc to Printers Ink as Factor in the
C;tv,s Growth" Mr.. Burleigh said:
NJ President and Gentlemen of the
Board Of Trade:
The toast that has been assigned me
tonight is difficult and an emoarrass-
ing one. Difficult, because the subject
has no definite bounds and no statis-
ties: embarrassing, because 1t is liable
to place me in the position of talking
shop. Upon one point at least l think
we can ali agree. viz. that no man
should devote his energies to any work
that does not carry with it the force of
conviction. Conviction is itself the
greatest of convincers, and the world.
especially the wide awake business
world with it's sharpened perceptions.
is quick to detect and resent the ele-
,nent of insincerity i'll any man who
breaches what he does not believe.
The more intense mans convictions.
the more thoroughly they permeate
every fibre of his being. the more read
lily will they force corresponding con-
victions in other men.
1t is doubtful if any city of this size
in the United States, has had in the
past half century, as able, as conscien-
tious as Industrious corps of news
paper writer's as has the city of Au-
gusta. Severance, Blaine, Stevens.
Fuller Baker, Holmes, Quinby. Brad
bury, Pike. What galaxy of honored
names are associated with the use OF
printers ink through the last half CEN
fury, right here in the capital of Maine.
How is it possible to fully estimate
the impress of these brilliant minds,
the depth and strength of these earn
est loyal natures in shaping and slim
ulating the growth and development of
our city? The files of their publica-
tions, show that no movement for the
religious. social or industrial upbuild-
ing of this community ever lacked
their hearty cooperation and support.
Much that was popularity credited to
OtNefS, originated WITH lEeul, bul tlliS
is not strange. 1t is only occasionally
that the inventor reaps the financial
benefits of his skill; and only semi
occasionally that newspaper writer
is credited with any conception. after
it has developed into a material fact.
/ think we will all agree that the
greatest industrial achievement in the
history of our city was the building of
the dam across the Kennebec river.
There was the fountain source of the
industries that today contribute most
largely to the prosperity of our city.
To Luther Severance. one of the great
est editors our country has ever
known, is due this thought, that has
had such a powerful influence in shap-
ing the growth and development of this
community as it first took practical
shape in the public mind.
In most interesting memoir of Mr..
Severance, published in 1856, by the late
James G. Blaine. we find that Mr. Sew
erance's own story of the conception
of this idea as narrated by himself
shortly before his death He says:
1t was in the summer of 1926, l
think. that I walked out alone on the
west bank of the river. and from a
point Of land opposite or north of
Judge Bridges old house. sat down
to enjoy the prospect up the river.
There was then gravelly island just
above where the dam is. The place
where I sat was on the ridge seventy
or eighty feet above where Henry
Williams saw mill now stands. The
land has since been carried away by
the water breaking around the west
end of the old dam. 1t was sitting
there on the north side of the road
leading up Andrews Hill that the idea
first occurred to me of building a dam
across the river. l had never heard
the plan suggested, or that it had ever
been thought of. but the next day or
the one after, without writing any
thing l put in type an article which
can now be found on the files of the
Journal. After the publication in the
Journal, and the project of a dam be-
came a subject of conversation, l
learned that Ephraim Ballard, the man
who rebuilt the Kennebec bridge, had
many years before expressed the opin-
ion that he could build a dam across
the river for $25, 900 that would stand.
But he appears to have found no back
ers. nor to have attracted any atten-
ton to the subject"
Mr.. Blaine adds that the memory of
Mr.. Severance was slightly at fault in
regard to the date of his article as it
Is to be found in the Kennebec Jour
nal of 1925, instead of '26. After maxi
ing numerous suggestions and specifi-
cations for the purpose of illustrate
the practicability of the work, the ar
ticle concludes as follows:
This dam will be built, we have no
doubt. but how soon, depends on in
dividual enterprise. We are neither
prophets, nor sons of prophets but
we venture to predict that the time is
not very far distant when both banks
of the river, from the bridge to the
island, will be crowded with mills and
manufactures
How largely time has fulfilled the
letter of that prophecy.
To John L. Stevens, one of the able
editorial successors of Mr. Severance.
was largely due at later day. the es-
taphshment of the great cotton mill.
winch vastly enlarged. and supplied
with up-to- date machinery, is now
conducted by the Edwards dau,lfact-