The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-25

of the public and the state are to be given over without restraint into the hands of an enormously rich, dishon-
 est interruptions corporation, depends
 on the question whether another citi-
 zen can be found to take up the work
 that fell from his dying hand.
 The conflict was joined, I have said, : in that legislature of 1871. If you
 would read the story of that session
 you may find 1t, written by pen which
 was not in the habit of making mis-
 takes the Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon) in
 "The New Englander' for that year:
 Some future historian will make a tab
 leau of the protagonists in that strug-
 gle. On one side, the president of a
 great railroad, sitting as the represent
 ative of his city, big, burly, loud-voic-
 ed, fluent, adrot in management,
 swaggering in the insoent purse-pride
 of his million and the other millions be-
 hind him. On the other side, an un- known country member. unskilled in
 politics, of small and slender person
 and feeble voice, with nothing of the
 orator about him, with no one at his back, with nothing in his hand but
 facts and figures and reasonable pro-
 posals for the public advantage, and
 with terrible questions, and an awful
 persistence in pressing them What out
 come could be expected from such a
 contest, in house of which every
 member carried a free pass in his
 pocket. Of course the country member
 will be beaten. He was beaten. But
 he succeeded. He carried his conten- | ton into the newspapers. In a little | more than a year q reduction of 15 per cent was made In fares, and, as he had predicted, was attended with a large | increase in passenger receipts and net | earnings. At the end of ten years a | further reduction was made, with a | further increase of profit to the roads. ] And at the end of sixteen years, that which he had contended for at the be- ginning uniform rate of two cents mile was at last conceded.
 For twenty-five years, his persistent course as a stockholder in the Consoli- dated railroad brought upon him an incessant betting of detraction evil inn Iputation ,sneering threatening and insult. I do not know that he ever carried a vote in stock meeting; but if you think that he failed, you misread the T fleets or tricks of bookkeeping were cor rected; two great and fragrant frauds upon the state treasury were exposed but how many more such abuses were prevented by the consciousness that a keen and fearless eye was continually on the watch for them is only to be con- iectured.
 The most melancholy phase of all this -,s. pacity of the men with whom MT. Good win had to deal in this business, to un- derstand or conceive what could be his motives.
 The spectacle of an honest man pre- senting himself in behalf of the public interest, at no small cost and charge, in the legislature, in the stock meet ing, in courts, in newspapers, in pam phlets, to plead for truth and righteous ness was perplexity and puzzle to I some. What could be his motive? | Many were the guesses made to solve | this mystery. It remained for the we'll | paid attorney for the company to an nounce the bold hypothesis that the actuating motive of this long and | thankless labor was simple wickedness. | This Christian gentleman was not ashamed (but let me not do him in- justice; perhaps in his heart. he was ashamedD in the presence of dignified tribunal, to brandish his fist in the face of this calm citizen presenting in the public interest his irrefutable facts and figures, and to disclare to him you are malicious, malicious as he'll"
 And there was no man there to speak in his behalf; no voice to cry shame, against the outrage. He stood alone but he was well used to standing alone in a just contention.
 But did it pay? I fear there may be some among you--some young men, are asking this question with a doubtful mind; did it pay? Let us freely answer, No; not in cash. He was a defeated man in half century of successive conflicts. But he was not a discontented man. On his death bed he called for little wor1 volume fr) n among the few that he kept nr.ir him at his office desk, and asked the loving friend that watched beside him to read from it. It was "The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A. Kemple. The 1 volume lies beside me, as l write these words at his desk, and I find marks laid in between the leaves at two diff { ferent titles: "Of the Joy of Good ( Conscience" and "Of Entire Rest in l God" The secret of this reserved and life was out at last. The mys- ] tery over which some had perplexed I themselves was solved. The world can $ him now.
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