New-York tribune., 1911-02-03

STATUE OF HO
Which stands in front Of the Tribun
rapid growth Of this Union in the ad-
mission of Louisiana, Of Indiana, OF MIS-
sigsippi. Of Illinois. of Alabama, Of Maine
and of Missouri. the coupling or the
alternating of Northern and southern
states. Of free states and slave states
the colossal sectional CON
nict which even then was inevitably I'M
uending. There came the Missouri Com
uromise. giving statutory recognition 10
the rising menace Of sectionalism; the
Congress Of Iaybach ana other reasser-
tions of absolutism in Europe, the Greek
revolution. and the impassioncd express
sions Of sympathy with freedom there
and elsewhere throughout the world ny
that man who was the idol Of Greeley
early nfc. Henry clay. Brazil ostah-
lished its Independence Of Portugal thus
eaverinc another Of the lingering ties be
tween Europe ana America. Nilbcr-
force founded the British Anti-Slavery
Soclcty. sounding the first great
trumpet call in the battle for human
freedom. Catholic emancipation was at
last achieved in Great Britain ana Ire
land. and Daniel O'ConrcN took his seat
in the British Parliament.
st this time Greeley was working at
the printers trade in a country news
paper and Job office IN
oe9',n"9 Vermont. He was the best
MS "o'N' tyreeotter in tho shop lie
was also the keenost and ablest dehater
in the village debating society, there de
yeloping the controversial skill in which
in maturcr years he had no equal
Thence for a short time he removed t.
the western Part 6f New York state. and
10 Western Pennsylvania as a journey
man printer. Then it was that the hrst
railroad was hcin- opened in England;
that Guizct declared 'hat there was no
future for universal suhrase-and the
next day came the revolution when
drove him and his Bourbon kng from
uovtr and established in France the
universal suffrage which has never since
been withdrawn: and then II was mat
anothe- ilustrioUs son Of New Hamp-
shire. Daniel Webster. alone Of all men
of the North ventIrcd TO challenge and
was able to vanquish the great states
men Of the South, answering Calhoun
and Ha-ne and their arrogant pTcten-
sions # state sovereignty with the
axiom. as inexorahlc in oiyics as In
mathematics. that the whole IS greater
than any Of its rarts. and that therefore
tb, nation is greater than any of its
,omronent states II was with the
thunaer-roN Of hat proclamation of
American nationality still ochoin% in his
ears and heart that the young printer
entered at lost into his destined her
itaCe.
Every schoolroy. in MGcoulay's phrase.
knows the story Of Frarkin's entry into
Phradclphia, munohing a roll Of bread
for breakfas; as he walked along the
street \ companion picture is that OF
Greeley's entry into New York in Au-
gust. 1891. \ gawky youth Of less than
twcnty-onc. hts clothes Tatched and
soiled. his coat cuffs far above his wrists
and his trousers reaching scarcely 20 his
ankles. a much Worn hat upon his head.
and all his worldly possessions which he
was not at the moment wearing tied In a
handkerchief and carried on stick
across his shoulder-no wonder If the
yolicc we're inclined 10 arrest him as a
yagabond. or that the first man ~ whom
he applied for work rejected him as
runaway apprentice Surely. there was
~ the hour had arrived or that great
new moral. intellectual and political
fcrcc had come upon the world.
Elsewhere in that same year great
deeds were being wrought. Lord John
Russell introduced into Parliament that
reform bill which gave the government
oS the British Kingdom into the hands
cf the British people. France abolished
the hereditary peerage. Saxony and
c:hOr German states were compelled TO
giant constitutions 10 their people. Four
years later Jackson brought about the
great fight over the United States Bank.
The American Anti Slavery Socictv was
organized and Clay established his
american system" Of the protectiv,
tarif-a system Of which Greeley was
for many Years succeeding CLAY. the
most conspicuous efficient and tri-
umphant protagon'st. and to which. sec
ond only 10 tn" cause Of human freedom
he gave the most earnest and steadflst
labors Of his life. OF a truth, the young
journevman printer might have sung.
had h. been able to sing we are liying.
we are dwelling, in grand and awful
time" And into the grandeur and IN.
subinity ~ that time and its epoch
making deeds he flung himself with an
audacity, with a zeal and yet with "a
far-seelng discretion, which challenged
fate itself and achieved what 10 most
eyes seemed Impossible
In these days Of the ono-cent news
paper il is interesting 10 recall that his
-. - first independent business
.''' venture. undertaken on a
Papers. ,., do,i,r. 49,. -, -.
from his wages as iourneyman
printer. was the publication of The
Morning Post" In New York the first
one cent daily newspaper in the world.
I, was also the first daily paper t. be
distributed To the public in the fashion