The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-05


MANHOOD. lie thought the best internal
Improvements were boys and girls anc
that people would continue to raise tber
IL let alone. Inc man was absolutely anC
deeply sincere. When he spoke FOR the
/ people, ne saw before him the neighbors
and friends from whom he had come f.
/ the congress, by whose fireside he had
! sat, whose hands he had held in friendly
srasp ana win whom he was accustomed
to exchange the courtesies of good neiqb
/ porhood. he wrote Bartlett Yancey in
1910: BE not deceived, | speak soberly
, IN the fear of God, and the love of the
| constitution; let not love of improve
ment or a thirst for glory blind that
sober discretion and sound sense with
which the Lord has blessed Won parl
was not more anxious or sincere con
corning Timothy than am for Won. Your
error in this, will injure il not DESTROY
our beloved mother, North Carolina. and
all the South country. Add not TO +be
Constitution nor take therefrom: no in
cidcntal power can stand alone what
ever can stand alone is substantive NOT
incidental Be not led astray bv grand
notions or magnificent opinions. Remcm-
Der you belong to a meek State and
just people who want nothing but to
enjoy the fruits of their labor honestly
and to lay out their profits in their own
way, In all countries those who have
sense enough to get and keep money
may be safely trusted as to the manner
OF disbursing it"
lie was wise and far-seeing man. Mr..
handolpn declared that "if wisdom con-
sisted in properly exercising our iudg-
mont upon rhc value of things desirable
hf. Macon was certainly the wisest man
hc ever saw" One or two instances will
illustrate this faculty of seeing ahead
when the craze for internal improvements
sprung up he wrote a friend urging an
examination Of the Constitution upon the
proposition. If under the Constitution
there may be Internal Improvement.
there may be also emancipation of laws
There is as much authority for one as
for the other. The man who introduced
supplemental reading in our schools is
called the John Baptist OF Education. Yet
Mr.. Macon advanced the very same idea
and proposed a life of Washington as the
book.
Men of today do not recognize the is
sues involved in the Constitutional strug-
derstood then to involve the question of
popular government. Democracy was on
trial. He lived to see that question set
tied. There We're many entertainments
that grieved his honest soul, but the
right and capacity of the people to gov
ern themselves was fixed. If it be true
that
They also serve who only stand and
wait"
how great shall be the praise and glory
for the man who, through long years, re-
sisted the encroachment of power for tho
love he bore for the people.
In 1915 Mr.. Macon, without his solicit
tation Yves transferred to the Senate Of
the United States and was cordially re-
ceived with the same respect which bad
attended his whole public course, He
was repeatedly elected president of tho
Senate until he finally declined the honor
further. He was rendered a position in
the Cabinet urged to become a candi-
date for President and was actually voted
for by Virginia for Vice. president, though
not candidate. In 1928, when he was
threescOre and ten years of age, he re-
signed his offices of Senator, Trustee of
the State University and Justice of the
Peace. Twice after that he was called
from his retirement-once to be mem
Der and president of the Constitutional
Convention of 1885; again to be Presi-
Dental elector in 1885,
It has been said that "No man in
American history left better name than
Macon, but the name was all he left"
The last is not true. He boldly and ably
confronted great problems of national life
on their political and their moral side.
The truth and integrity of his life, the
sincerity of his thought and purpose, the
nobility and greatness of his character
have made it easier for every man who
has lived since his day to maintain the
truth and sound principles
Mr.. Macon died June %, 1897, at Buck
Spring in the county of Warren. in the
10th year OF his age, and was buried
beside the wife whom he had loved and
lost long ago. His spirit has gone to
its giver. His memory remains as
benediction to the people of his and our
beloved mother, North Carolina"
In closing ! appropriate to him words
that were spoken of another, "He who
has been enabled, by the force of his
talents and the example of his virtues,
to Identify his own character with the
solid interests and happiness of his
country he who has lived long enough
tc stamp the impression of his own mind
upon the age, and has left on record les
sons of wisdom for the study and i'm
of Al posterity he. I say.
has attained all that truly good man
aims at, and all that a truly great man
should aspire to. He has erected a monu-
ment to his memory in the hearts of men.
Their gratitude will perpetually, though
it may be silently, breathe forth his
praises; and :he voluntary homage paid
to his name will speak a language more
ntellGible and more universal than any
epitapE inscribed on Parian marble, n |
any image wrought cut by the cunning
hands CT sculpture"
, xyio