The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-14
PAY HOMAGE
 TO JEFFERSON |NOn- Political Dinner Tn L Washington. |HoAR AND BRYAN SPEAK Smith and Montague Also Reply to Toasts.
 Massachusetts Senator's Theme is
 Dsclaration of Undergraduates, and Nsbraska Statesman TAlks of
 Statute of Religious Freedom

Washington. April ls.-senator Hoar of Massachusetts and Governor Montague of Virginia. former Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith of Philadelphia and w. J. Bryan of Nebraska. were the prin- cipai speakers at dinner given at the Hotel Barton tonight under the auspices of the. Thomas Jefferson Memorial Asso- ciation, in celebration of the l60th anni- versary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Nelson Page was Toastmaster The dinner was not of political charac- ter. Senator Hoar responded to the toast. The Author of the Declaration of Inde- pendence." He spoke in part as follows:
 If we want a sure proof of Thomas Jenerson's greatness 1t will be found in that fact that men of every variety of political opinien. however far asunder, dnd confirmation of their doctrines in him. Every party in this country today reckons Je6erson as It's patron saint. In the late discussion which rent the coun- try about the Philippine Islands one side quoted what Mir. Jefferson ,aid in the Declaration of Independence. and the oth- er what they thought he did. n the ac- auisition of Louisiana.
 ! The supporters of c protective tariff claim him as the highest protectionist in our history. Tho free trader maintains that the spirit of everything he said and everything he did teach the doctrine of unlimited freedom in all human conduct except SO far as may be necdful for the restraint of actual crime"
 Confidence in the Right. Speaking of Jefferson's confidence in the success of the right principles. Mir. Hoar said:
 More than any other statesman down to his tirne-Enore than any other states man can think of, save Lincoln alone he had . steadfast and abiding faith in instice. rightaousness and liberty as the prevailing and abidiuE forces in the con duct of States and that 3usttce ssnd right cousness were sure to prevail where any people bear rule fin perfect liberty. Upon this doctrine as on a cornerstone. he. laid the foundation of the republic"
 Charles Enory Smith responded to The Louisiana Purchase" speaking in part as follows:
 ''The purchase of the Louisiana terri tory was by common consent the supreme act of Thomas Jefferson's administration as President. There are three master facts upon which his enduring fame chiefly rests. First. he was the author ot the Declaration of Independence. Sec ond, he was the founder and leader of a party and school of political thought which under various names has divided the nation from its beginning to the pres ent time. Third. he made the Louisiana purchase.
 "The honor which belongs to Jefferson is greater than that of simply having been the President under which the pur- chase was made. He was the father of the vital principles which brought that splendid illumination. The crucial neces- sity which led up to the Louisiana acqui- sition was the free navigation of the Mis- sissippi. great acquisition, the most important act in all history between the adoption of the constitution and the civil war-Jefferson was insistent with his principles and pro- fessions. In a great public emergency he departed from his general theory of in- depreciation and in doing 1t. he did a transcendent act of statesmanship and achieved an incalculable advantage for the republic.
 Bryan the Last Speaker.
 Mir. Bryan. who was the last speaker on the program. addressed himself to ''The Statute of Religious Freedom"
 He concluded as follows:
 ''To Jefferson the doctrine of free speech and freedom of opinioq applied to every thing. because he rightly understood that no censorship of opinion could be permit ted that would not be more dangerous to truth than to error. Jefferson recognised that the Christian religion rested upon love and that love Is the very antithesis of violence and of brute force. It is well to remember that the Declaration of In- dependence itself rests upon the same foundation which supports our religion. namely love. and those who deny the doc urine of human brotherhood are not apt to respect the creed of inalienable rights and natural equality embodied fin the declaration of independence and the con- stitution of the United States.
 Jefferson was the greatest statesman known to history. He believed in the rights of the people and had heart large enough to take in all human kind. He hated tyranny whether 1t manifested it. self in religious or secular affairs and applied his dictrines to all questions"
 The other speakers were Andrew A.. Lipscomb, "rhe Thomas Jefferson Memo- rial Association;" President Henry Need ham of Columbia University, Jefferson as a Promoter of General Education;" Rev. J. Stafford, Jefferson and Human Rights" and Governor A. J. Montague of Virginia, Jefferson as a Citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia"