Radio Script #121
Little Talks On Common Things
November 4, 1951
Everyone Is fami liar with the words in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “Of the people, by the people, for the peoplelf • Did you ever ask yourself what that first phrase means? What is government of the peop Ie? Most of us can make a good try at explaining what we mean by government by the peop Ie and government for the peop Ie. When we speak of government by the peop Ie, we mean government that I s democratic iR form, where tho votes of the people, either directly as In the town meeting, or Indirectly through their popularly elected representatives decide on the actions government shall take on all sorts of matters affecting tho Individual. Government for the people Is familiar enough, because it Is all the rage today. The we I fare state is government for the peop Ie run wi I d. I nits best sense government for the peop Ie means a government that Is beneft oenti n operation, that gives true consideration to the welfare of all the people, not the welfare of some of the people.
But what in the world Is government of the people? Recently I found a closely analyzed, penetrating answer to that question in the latest book of one of the world’s greatest living phi losophers, George Santayana. In his 1951 book entitled tlDomlnations and Powers”, Santayana says: “lincoln could not have meant by his phrase ‘of the people’ a mere vague anticipation of the other two phrases. He did not mean simply that people require a government. What he meant was that the government, to be preserved, must be not only delOOcratlc In form and beneficent In action, but precious and dear in Itself, popular and homely, the People’s Own Government. No government, therefore, of aristocrats; no kings, no great landowners, no bureaucrats. Let a II off I cl a Is be pial n men, drawn for a short period of service by the general voice of their comrades, from the plough, the mine, the workshop, and the office. And, since power corrupts, let them return soon to the I r 01 d occupati ons.”
These words of SanTayana’s are worth our ca 1m ref lectl on. ‘n th I s day, when the processes of government have become exceedingly complex, when the public has come more and more to trust the judgment of the life-long office holders, It is well for us to ask this question: “How long, under these circumstances, can government of the peop Ie remal n the peop Ie’s own government?”
I suppose a lot of you don’t agree with me, but it is my firm conviction that every tl me we transfer a loca I prob lem from Wateryi lie to the state leg} slature, and every time we let the federal government in WaShington step In to do what a state ought to do for I tse If, we drl ve another naf I I n the coffl n of gove rnment of the peop Ie.
Mrs. Bessie Proctor of Winslow is the owner of a rare and very Interesting little book, published in our own State of Maine 119 years ago. It is indeed a little book, only 5t by 3t Inches and less than a quarter of an inch thick. Yet It conTains 114 closely printed pages of what we, a century later, find to be fascl naTi ng information.
The book Is entitled “The Maine Register and United States Calendar for the Year of Our Lord 1832~ It was published in Portland by G. Hyde and Company, with the press work being done In the prlntshop of the Portland printer,A. Shirley. On both the cover and title page appears a Iso the name of the centra I Maine distributor of the volume, Glazier, Masters and C0lll>any of Hallowell. The first dozen pages are devoted to the almanac for the twelve months of 1832, and as is sti II customary in some of the almanacs of our own day, opposite severa I dates I n each month are named hi stori ca I events that occurred on those dates. As mi ght be expected, some of these events referred to famous battles of the War of 1812 or the Revolution. For instance, opposite January 8 we read ”Battle of New Orleans, 1815″, and oppos ite January 18 “Battle of Cowpens, 1781”.
But there were events other than war that had Important niches I n the memory of fo I ks In 1832. For Instance, the I tem for January 19th reads “Co I d Fri day of 1810”, while January 31 says “Cold Tuesday of 1815”. For March 4 the notation is “FI rst Congress met 1789”, wh i Ie March 23 records an i ncl dent now forgotten by all save meticulous historians: “Penguin taken 1815”. The Item for June 18 Is of course the Battle of Waterloo, and July 4 is quite fittingly “Independence 1776”, but we wou I d today make I itt Ie Qf the I tems for the next two days, July 5 and 6. The former reads “Algiers taken 1830″, and the latter says ”Battle of Chippewa 1814″. The almanac edlter .considered an appropriate item for July 10 “Columbus born 1447”. So short a time before were stlrrln.g events In France that July 29 tells us “Charles X dethroned 1830”.
The item for August 31 reveals the old custom of local time rather than our present standard time. The Item reads “Sun and clock together”. Apparently that was so unusual that It warranted a record. September 14 records the burning of Moscow In 1812, November 24 the Peace of Ghent 1814, and December 20 the landIng of the Pilgrims In 1620. The Item for the last day of the year, December 31, is “Montgomery killed 1775”. So f leett ng I s fame, so forgetfu I are the sons of men, that many of these recorded events mean very Ii tt Ie to us today.
It Is interesting to see how the county seats have changed since 1832. This old book gl ves the dates and p I aces of a II court sess i ons for that year. Somerset Court-was held not at Skowhegan, but at Norridgewock, which In 1832 was not only county seat, but nad the largest population in the county. Hancock Court met at the old town of Castine, not at Ellsworth. In fact, instead of 16 counties, Maine had only ten In 1832 — some of them, Lincoln, Penobscot and Washington, for Instance, being very large. The six counties not known In 1832 are Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc and Knox.
In those days the Courts of Probate met not only at the county seat, but at other convenient places in each county. Besides at Augusta, the Kennebec Probate Court met at Monmouth, Mt. Vernon, Farmington and Winslow; the Lincoln court at Wiscasset, Topsham, Bath, Nobleboro, WaldOboro, Warren, Thomaston and Richmond. Waterville was well represented in public affairs in 1832. Timothy Boutelle was a member of the state senate and H. Dearborn was in the house. Asa Redington was chairman of the county cOlmlissioners. Justices of the Peace and Quorum were Moses Appleton, Asa Redington, Ebenezer Bacon and David Wheeler. William Dorr and Thomas Ki mba II were deputy sheri ffs. Attorneys at the common p leasl were James Stackpole and W. A. Evans.
Some of the unique offices listed are inspectors of lime and lime-casks, provers of fire-arms, commissioner of wrecks, pi lots of Quoddy Bay, inspectors of pot and pearl ashes, inspectors of butter and lard. The Maine Medical Society, in addition to the usual offices of presiding secretary, etc., lists seven of its members as censors. It doesn’t say hO’l act!ve they were. Remembe r it was 15 years later, in 1847 I when one of the i r number was censorable enough to be convicted of murder — the notorious Dr. Coolidge of Watervi lie.
A short section of the book is devoted to colleges. Under this heading were I isted not only Bowdoin and what is nCM Colby, but also Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Readfield (now Kents Hi II School), the Bangor Theological Seminary, and the Bangor C I ass i ca I School. When the book went to press, Bowdoin was without a president, Wi IIiam Allen having resigned In 1832 after a presidency of eleven years. The Bowdoin faculty consisted of six persons, of whom one held the two posts of professor of modern languages and librarian, Henry W. Longfellow. The total number of students was 156.
Seven years before this 1832 date, there had been established at Bowdoin the Maine Medical School. Today In 1951 Maine has nomedfcal school and the establishment of a good one would admittedly be so costly that we are not likely to get one soon, despite interest of the Maine Medical Association. It didn’t cost much to start a medical school In 1825. This old Maine Register tells us that the Maine tledicalSchool was Incorporated with a grant of $1,500 and a promise of $1,000 annually from the state. The first named of Its four professors was John de la Mater, professor of the theory and practice of physic.
This medical school is one of the few topics to which the register devotes an entire consecutive paragraph, rather than a mere list of Items. The paragraph reads: ”The med f ca I lectures commence about the 20th of February and continue three months. The fees of admissi·on are $50. Graduating fee, including diploma, $10. The medical library is already one of the best in the United States, and continues to be enriched by new works, both foreign and domestic. It contains 2,700 volumes, embracing all the more important works In medicine and collateral branches. During the interval between the annual courses of lectures the medical students may attend the college course of lectures on mine ra logy and natura I ph I lospphy • “President of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Bowdoin in 1832 was none other than Stephen Longfellow, father of the young professor and librarian. For the annua I meet I ng I n that year Congressman George Evans was the orator and Henry W. Longfe I low was the poet. Less space Is devoted to Watervl lie Co liege than to I ts twenty year sen lor, Bowdoin. Colby’s first president, Jeremiah Chaplin, st!” headed the college In 1832. It had the same nUnDer of faculty members as Bowdoin, six, of whom the best remembered in story and legend is George Keely, professor of mathematics. The number of students is not stated, but Commencement Is gl van as the last Wednesday In July. Watervi lie’s famous lawyer and landowner, Timothy Boutelle, was treasurer of the corporation and president of the associated alumni, not one of whom had then been out of college so long as our class of 1940 today.
The Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kents Hi II had apparently gone in for other fields besides the academic. Alden Packard headed its agricultural department and Wi Illam Reed is listed as superintendent of the mechanical department. In fact its academic staff consisted of only three persons, who are designated respectively as principal, instFuctor in the languages, and assistant in English. The Bangor Classlca I School was evidently a preparatory school for Bangor Semi nary. I t was under the same board of trustees. The statement te lis us: “To such as have the ministry In view, tuition Is offered gratuitously. To all others, and It is open to any young man of good moral character, the tuition Is $16 a yea r • ” Wages and sa I aries were low t n those days, but so a Iso was the cost of living.
Probably President Andrew Jackson’s $25,000 a year was more than equivalent of President Truman’s salary today. The Governor of Maine got $1,500, the Chief Justice $1,800, the Justices of C9mmon pleas $1,200. The vice president of the United States received $5,000, and each cabinet member got $6,000, except the Attorney Genera I, whose sa J ary was on I y $3,500. Tlite sen I or ass t stant postmaster general got $2,500, and the federal superintendent of mails $1,700, with 8,450 post offices under his Jurisdiction. At the Portland District Court the presiding justice got $1,800. Our foreign diplomats were used a_little better. Our envoys plenipotentiary to foreign countries received $9,000 outfit and $9,000 annual salary. The poor secretary of legation, doing most of the work In the foreign embassies, got only $2,000 a year. In 1832 the Watervi lie postmaster was He J I Chase, and at West Watervi lie (now Oakland) the office was in charge of E. Hallet. F. Payne conducted the Wins I ow post offi ce, and the one at Kenda lis Mi lis (Fal rfle J d Village) was under W. Loring. J. Locke ran the office at Bloomfield (now Skowhegan).
One page of our little book gives Maine oensus figures for 1830. The total population was 393,383, with 1,207 negroes, 223 of whom were In Kennebec County. No county had fewer than 20 blacks, and there were nearly 500 in Cumberland. Lincoln, which then covered a vast territory, had almost as many people as Cumberland, 57,000 to 60,000, and Kennebec was a close third with 52,000. The smallest county was Washington, with 21,000 people. One of the most interesting pages in the book pertains to the Canada Road. It ran from Augusta up the west side of the Kennebec, through Sidney to Watervilie, thence to Fairfield Center and Norridgewock to Madison, Solon and Bingham.
Last spring I told you about the tavern conducted at The Forks In the 1870’s. That was by no means the first inn at the junction of the two rivers. For the next stop above Moscow is given as Temp Ie’s Tavern, Forks of Kennebec and Dead Rivers. Then Baker’s House, Parlin Pond; Holden’s House, Moose River; Hi Iton’s House, Main Branch of the Penobscot; Highlands or Canada Line; and Jona’s Camp. Moscow is named as the last@ incorporated town in Maine on the road. There is no mention by name of what is now Jackman. The book tells us: “Between Jona’s Camp and Owen’s are severa I log houses, some of wh i ch a’re tenented and some abandoned.The trave ler wi II fl nd the sett lers dl sposed to afford every accomodati on in their power. Owen’s House, the next stop after Jona’s Camp, is 66 miles from Quebec. The traveler pursues his course on the easterly bank of the Chaudiere, through a delightful country, and over excellent road. The settlements are of French origin, and connected throughout, more so than in the interior of our own state. Moreover the people are in every respect hospitable and interesting to the trave ler.” Owen’s House was situated at the junction of the Chaudiere and River de loup, in the Parish of St. Charles. The stopping places between there and Quebec were,~st.Joseph’s Parish, Ste. Marie Parish, St. Henry Parish, and Point levi, on th Iss J de of the St. Lawrence, opposi te the 01 d City of Quebec.
Altogether we have found this a most fascinating little book, and we are very grateful to Mrs. Bessie Proctor for giving us an opportunity to examine It.
Year: 1951