Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-13

per The pens had to be trimmed fire.
Huenuy aud both Of them must be kept
mixed. jefferson wrote thousands OF let
ters with this unwiedly machine
When no died il was found no had
written his own cpitaph and It Is now
carved ON the stone which marks his
tomb Here was buried Thomas Jeffer-
son. author OF the Declaration of lnde-
pendcnce OF tho statutes OF virginia for
Religious Freedom. and Father Of the Uni
Nersity Of Virginia" There is not word
To show that he was twice president OF
the United states, that he was vice presl-
dent ana secretary Of state, that he was
governor OF Virginia, or that no had been
honored IN many ways by the people OF
his state ana OF the new nation which he
had helped to bring into existence,
NO mention is made on that bit OF stone
of the fact that II was jefferson who on Z
taincd the abolition of the laws Of prim6. y
Eonitltrc and entail IN land tonures. thus
solving more than century ago IN Amor
lea tho problems which are bringing on
starvation and revolution IN England TO.
day There is not a word TO say that the
man buried there was no who, as the
head OF an infant republic in the new
world. went across seas and broke the
power Of tho Barbary pirates to whom
Europe had paid tribute for centuries
There is no word to tell that Il was he
who opened up the great west by the pur-
chase Of Louisiana and the dispatch OF the
Lewis and Clark expedition to Opeson
There is nothing to say that thef man
buried there was he who drafted charter
for the first republic of France or that
II was he who led the fight against the
alien and sedition laws which sought TO
throttle and destroy FIRE institutions In the
very beginning OF the history of the
nation, Nor is there word TO tell that
1t was jefferson who wrote the Kentucky
resolution, which put into words a doctrine
that years afterward was to drench the
land he loved with the blood of brethren.
That epitaph does not record the fact
that the man buried beneath II was the
Thomas jefferson who invented the plou
now used Ivy every civilized tilIef OF the
soil, nor that 1t was he who laid the
foundation for the scieace OF meteoroloe,
now OF such incalculable benefit to man
kind. Nor is there a word about the doz
ems OF perfectly useless mechanical inven
tions upon which he wasted money ant
time. But that stone might trutheuily SAY
that Jefferson was the father os the idcf
which resulted in the invention of IN,
reaper. He wrote long letters cutllr,r,
his idea TO a blacksmith in Virginia ramc,
Mccormick That blacksmith's son, Cyru.
Mccormick perfected the mechanica
reaper and, as jefferson predicted, It rev
olutlonized agricultural life in all the civ.
ilized world.
Nor does that epitaph hint of the bite
quarrels which kept his lite IN turmoil, tn
Na1tN II Ia
of wits with his great adversary, Hamilta1
and the compromises which they made ,
part of the written and unwritten law
the federal government. The capital
the United States is at Washington be
cause Jefferson drove a sharp politica
bargain. The states of Ohio Indiana. nu
nois and others of the northwest territor
are leg icy from another political plot
Jefferson's. .tN..
Politician. inventor, amateur scientist lin
guist, fiddler. mathematician, he wa
above everything else the great democratI,
statesman who believed sincerely and ab.
solutely in the people and their right % rul,
themselves. Yet he was. himself, OF tn
aristocracy and not even in his most YIo
lent democratic days would he wholly for
get his birth and social station. In his OLD
age the party which he had founded raised
up g leader from among the people Andrew
Jackson, and no man was more afraid than
the aged jefferson.
When he was SO years old Thomas Jeffer-
son wrote the Declaration Of Independence
being selected as chairman OF the com
mlttee because he was young and had taken
no part in the congressional quarrels and
jealousles. He wrote with words of fire
that great declaration of human rights and
Indictment Of monarchlc government Con-
gress struck out the anti-slavery portions
Of the document, but II was adopted prac-
tically Jefferson wrote It and thus the
United States of America came into exist
ence as a free nation.
Many men in his day did not agree with
Jefferson, and many believed him to be a
demagogue. Many men stll hold these
views. Others. then and now hail him as
the great apostle of true political democ-
racy. But all men must agree that he was
one of the ablest and greatest of the able
and great generation which ushered the
great republic into the council of the ma
tions.
TOmorrow-Bass Ball Writers.