The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-04-17

high, and in North Carolina he was the
idol OF the people. The question has Of
ten been asked-"Was he as statesman
He was a Southern statesman in the sec
tlonal sense. That is all that this
very imperfect, yet somewhat painstaklnS,
study of his life justifies the author In
claiming for him. AS such he opposed
every encroacflInent on the rights OF his
section, and pleaded to the last moment
of his political life for the simple. straight
forward Interpretation OF the National
Constitution. His life was a continued
protect against everything Henry Clay
advocated, against every principle the
realization OF which brought civil war and
fIiahtful bloodshed, against every eXtrava-
gance for which the name of the National
Government has become synonymous. He
was no great man IN the ordinary sense OF
the word, but no faint of corruption ever
touched his garments. and he served his
constituents, the People of North Caro-
lima. more faithfully and more satisfac-
torily by far than any other man who
ever represented them. He actually be
)lieVed in Democracy. | accept that
throughout, without qualification or
doubt, as absolutely true. He was not
great, but true, pure, answering, brave
for the right-a patriot and statesman
Statesman. yet friend to Truth! Of soul
sincere
In action faithful, and in honor clear,
Who broke no promise, served no private
Ennobled by himself. by all approved
If North Carolina had but had twenty
such men now she would he blessed in
deed. A State is rich wonderfully that is
rich II Men of Common-sense, SOUND
Judgment and personal honor. The great
Roman crater, Cicero, speaking in the
Senate over 1850 years ago, when already
there were decay and threatened dissolu-
tion of the Government, when all was
disorder and anarchy almost, the mobs
rampant, starvation stalking the stgeets
and fanaticism wild and ravenous--I am
using my own words and not the orators
descriptive words elsewhere, said with
the impressiVeness of a wise man and n
true statesman, that religion and good
government, the Senate authority, the
laWs and customs or our ancestors, public |
faith. integrity, sound administration
these are the principles on which the peo
pie rest, and these they will maintain |
with their lives" Wise words and true. |
II they suited the era in which Cicero !
tiourished, they fit as well these uSurDing, !
sraspnp, vicious, dangerous times when |
a Roosevelt tlOurishes in all the gangrene |
Of an undisciplined authority. Mr. Ma !
con understood we'll in his day that the |
very life and safety Of the then Republic !
depended upon the principles and rights |
as set forth in the Romans words. He |
wrote on December 9th, 1925, to Bartlett |
Yanctv, his friend, that THE message of |
the President seems to claim all the pow |
ers of the Federal Government which |
have heretofore produced 50 much de- !
bate. and which the election of Mr.. JEFF |
lesson was supposed to have settled; but !
SO it is. a decision against power in the |
government is no precedent while one in |
favor of it is. Hence all governments are !
apt to gain power. Wise words again /
and profound truth. And yet so soon in
this Republic was the Chief Executive |
found usurDlng power. 1t has kept on
until since the war the Government is
sadly changed, and usurpation and iniqui
t~ are the order Of the day. The vicious
fellow who struts now in the highest |
magisterial robes is as bold and brazen in
his assaults upon the Congress as the
rabble--the anarchists Of Clodus in
Cicero's time. The well-ballanced, wise,
obserVant North Carolina statesman as
early as November Goth. 1881, is found
writing this warning: "Our government
is now taking so steady course as to
show by what road it will pass to de-
structlon. to-Wit: BY consolidation first,
and then by corruption. its necessary con-
sequence. The egine OF consolidation Will
be the Federal Judiciary, the two other
branches the corrupted and corrupting
agencies These are prophetic words. and
now they are finding rapid and seem
ingly inevitable fulfilment You can find
in the honest and truly patriotic North
Carolina statesman many evidences of
foresight, sagacity and incorruptible in
tegrity. AS early as 1928. it Is said by
the bicgrapher: Macon believed it was
the deliberate purpose OF the Northern
States to draw on Southern resources in
every way possible, never allowing any
thing to return thither in the form OF
many instructive and sagacious passages
the prescience, the wisdom and
unbending honestly of Nathaniel Macon"
/ have exhausted space by a rambling talk
the venerable statesman whose
deserves to be cherished and hon
ored by all true North Carolinians who
love hverty and regard the rights Of
man in this year OF grace. Professor
Dodd has done well in preparing this real
ly important and entertaining Life of
Macon" 1t is a very creditable, careful
performance, and l hope it will be gener-
ally circulated and read The men who
believe in a genuine democracy-the Peo.
pie governing-sho read it carefully.
No monument marks his grave Raleigh
ought to have in its Capitol Square an
other monument-one erected to Nathan
lei Macon the Patriot, the staunch Friend
OF the People, the loyal defender Of the
constitution, the intrepid and unsleeplng
servant of North Carolina.
Mr. Macon was in the Congress of the
United States from 1891 to 1S2S-a period
OF thlrty-seven years, full of great events
that shaped the future Of the Union. and
gave such evidence of its instability,
81 its bearing within it the seeds of its
own decay-a decay manifest now to all
men who have eyes to see aud brains