\nEveryone Is fami liar with the words in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “Of\u00a0the people, by the people, for the peoplelf \u2022 Did you ever ask yourself what that\u00a0first phrase means? What is government of the peop Ie?\u00a0Most of us can make a good try at explaining what we mean by government by\u00a0the peop Ie and government for the peop Ie. When we speak of government by the\u00a0peop Ie, we mean government that I s democratic iR form, where tho votes of the\u00a0people, either directly as In the town meeting, or Indirectly through their popularly elected\u00a0representatives decide on the actions government shall take on\u00a0all sorts of matters affecting tho Individual.\u00a0Government for the people Is familiar enough, because it Is all the rage\u00a0today. The we I fare state is government for the peop Ie run wi I d. I nits best\u00a0sense government for the peop Ie means a government that Is beneft oenti n operation,\u00a0that gives true consideration to the welfare of all the people, not the\u00a0welfare of some of the people.<\/p>\n
But what in the world Is government of the people? Recently I found a\u00a0closely analyzed, penetrating answer to that question in the latest book of one\u00a0of the world’s greatest living phi losophers, George Santayana. In his 1951 book\u00a0entitled tlDomlnations and Powers”, Santayana says: “lincoln could not have meant\u00a0by his phrase ‘of the people’ a mere vague anticipation of the other two phrases.\u00a0He did not mean simply that people require a government. What he meant was that\u00a0the government, to be preserved, must be not only delOOcratlc In form and beneficent\u00a0In action, but precious and dear in Itself, popular and homely, the People’s\u00a0Own Government. No government, therefore, of aristocrats; no kings, no\u00a0great landowners, no bureaucrats. Let a II off I cl a Is be pial n men, drawn for a\u00a0short period of service by the general voice of their comrades, from the plough,\u00a0the mine, the workshop, and the office. And, since power corrupts, let them\u00a0return soon to the I r 01 d occupati ons.”<\/p>\n
These words of SanTayana’s are worth our ca 1m ref lectl on. ‘n th I s day,\u00a0when the processes of government have become exceedingly complex, when the public\u00a0has come more and more to trust the judgment of the life-long office holders,\u00a0It is well for us to ask this question: “How long, under these circumstances,\u00a0can government of the peop Ie remal n the peop Ie’s own government?”<\/p>\n
I suppose a lot of you don’t agree with me, but it is <\/em>my firm conviction\u00a0that every tl me we transfer a loca I prob lem from Wateryi lie to the state leg} slature,\u00a0and every time we let the federal government in WaShington step In to\u00a0do what a state ought to do for I tse If, we drl ve another naf I I n the coffl n\u00a0of gove rnment of the peop Ie.<\/p>\n Mrs. Bessie Proctor of Winslow is the owner of a rare and very Interesting\u00a0little book, published in our own State of Maine 119 years ago. It is indeed a\u00a0little book, only 5t by 3t Inches and less than a quarter of an inch thick. Yet\u00a0It conTains 114 closely printed pages of what we, a century later, find to be\u00a0fascl naTi ng information.<\/p>\n The book Is entitled “The Maine Register and United States Calendar for the\u00a0Year of Our Lord 1832~ It was published in Portland by G. Hyde and Company,\u00a0with the press work being done In the prlntshop of the Portland printer,A. Shirley.\u00a0On both the cover and title page appears a Iso the name of the centra I\u00a0Maine distributor of the volume, Glazier, Masters and C0lll>any of Hallowell.\u00a0The first dozen pages are devoted to the almanac for the twelve months of\u00a01832, and as is sti II customary in some of the almanacs of our own day, opposite\u00a0severa I dates I n each month are named hi stori ca I events that occurred on those\u00a0dates. As mi ght be expected, some of these events referred to famous battles of\u00a0the War of 1812 or the Revolution. For instance, opposite January 8 we read\u00a0”Battle of New Orleans, 1815″, and oppos ite January 18 “Battle of Cowpens, 1781”.<\/p>\n But there were events other than war that had Important niches I n the memory of\u00a0fo I ks In 1832. For Instance, the I tem for January 19th reads “Co I d Fri day of\u00a01810”, while January 31 says “Cold Tuesday of 1815”. For March 4 the notation\u00a0is “FI rst Congress met 1789”, wh i Ie March 23 records an i ncl dent now forgotten\u00a0by all save meticulous historians: “Penguin taken 1815”. The Item for June 18\u00a0Is of course the Battle of Waterloo, and July 4 is quite fittingly “Independence\u00a01776”, but we wou I d today make I itt Ie Qf the I tems for the next two days, July\u00a05 and 6. The former reads “Algiers taken 1830″, and the latter says ”Battle of\u00a0Chippewa 1814″. The almanac edlter .considered an appropriate item for July 10\u00a0“Columbus born 1447”. So short a time before were stlrrln.g events In France\u00a0that July 29 tells us “Charles X dethroned 1830”.<\/p>\n The item for August 31 reveals the old custom of local time rather than our\u00a0present standard time. The Item reads “Sun and clock together”. Apparently\u00a0that was so unusual that It <\/em>warranted a record. September 14 records the burning\u00a0of 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\u00a031, is “Montgomery killed 1775”.\u00a0So f leett ng I s fame, so forgetfu I are the sons of men, that many of these\u00a0recorded events mean very Ii tt Ie to us today.<\/p>\n It Is interesting to see how the county seats have changed since 1832. This\u00a0old book gl ves the dates and p I aces of a II court sess i ons for that year. Somerset\u00a0Court-was held not at Skowhegan, but at Norridgewock, which In 1832 was not only\u00a0county seat, but nad the largest population in the county. Hancock Court met\u00a0at the old town of Castine, not at Ellsworth. In fact, instead of 16 counties,\u00a0Maine had only ten In 1832 — some of them, Lincoln, Penobscot and Washington,\u00a0for Instance, being very large. The six counties not known In 1832 are Androscoggin, \u00a0Aroostook, Franklin, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc and Knox.<\/p>\n In those days the Courts of Probate met not only at the county seat, but at\u00a0other convenient places in each county. Besides at Augusta, the Kennebec Probate\u00a0Court met at Monmouth, Mt. Vernon, Farmington and Winslow; the Lincoln court\u00a0at Wiscasset, Topsham, Bath, Nobleboro, WaldOboro, Warren, Thomaston and Richmond.\u00a0Waterville was well represented in public affairs in 1832. Timothy Boutelle\u00a0was a member of the state senate and H. Dearborn was in the house. Asa Redington\u00a0was chairman of the county cOlmlissioners. Justices of the Peace and Quorum were\u00a0Moses Appleton, Asa Redington, Ebenezer Bacon and David Wheeler. William Dorr\u00a0and Thomas Ki mba II were deputy sheri ffs. Attorneys at the common p leasl were\u00a0James Stackpole and W. A. Evans.<\/p>\n Some of the unique offices listed are inspectors of lime and lime-casks,\u00a0provers of fire-arms, commissioner of wrecks, pi lots of Quoddy Bay, inspectors\u00a0of pot and pearl ashes, inspectors of butter and lard.\u00a0The Maine Medical Society, in addition to the usual offices of presiding\u00a0secretary, 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 <\/em>when one of the i r number\u00a0was censorable enough to be convicted of murder — the notorious Dr. Coolidge\u00a0of Watervi lie.<\/p>\n A short section of the book is devoted to colleges. Under this heading were\u00a0I isted not only Bowdoin and what is nCM Colby, but also Maine Wesleyan Seminary\u00a0at Readfield (now Kents Hi II School), the Bangor Theological Seminary, and the\u00a0Bangor C I ass i ca I School.\u00a0When the book went to press, Bowdoin was without a president, Wi IIiam Allen\u00a0having resigned In 1832 after a presidency of eleven years. The Bowdoin faculty\u00a0consisted of six persons, of whom one held the two posts of professor of modern\u00a0languages and librarian, Henry W. Longfellow. The total number of students was\u00a0156.<\/p>\n Seven years before this 1832 date, there had been established at Bowdoin\u00a0the 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\u00a0to get one soon, despite interest of the Maine Medical Association. It didn’t\u00a0cost much to start a medical school In 1825. This old Maine Register tells us\u00a0that the Maine tledicalSchool was Incorporated with a grant of $1,500 and a\u00a0promise of $1,000 annually from the state. The first named of Its four professors\u00a0was John de la Mater, professor of the theory and practice of physic.<\/p>\n This medical school is one of the few topics to which the register devotes\u00a0an entire consecutive paragraph, rather than a mere list of Items. The\u00a0paragraph reads: ”The med f ca I lectures commence about the 20th of February and\u00a0continue three months. The fees of admissi\u00b7on are $50. Graduating fee, including\u00a0diploma, $10. The medical library is already one of the best in the United\u00a0States, and continues to be enriched by new works, both foreign and domestic.\u00a0It contains 2,700 volumes, embracing all the more important works In medicine\u00a0and collateral branches. During the interval between the annual courses of\u00a0lectures the medical students may attend the college course of lectures on mine\u00a0ra logy and natura I ph I lospphy \u2022 “President of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Bowdoin in 1832 was none other\u00a0than Stephen Longfellow, father of the young professor and librarian. For the\u00a0annua I meet I ng I n that year Congressman George Evans was the orator and Henry W.\u00a0Longfe I low was the poet.\u00a0Less space Is devoted to Watervl lie Co liege than to I ts twenty year sen lor,\u00a0Bowdoin. Colby’s first president, Jeremiah Chaplin, st!” headed the college In\u00a01832. It had the same nUnDer of faculty members as Bowdoin, six, of whom the\u00a0best remembered in story and legend is George Keely, professor of mathematics.\u00a0The number of students is not stated, but Commencement Is gl van as the last Wednesday\u00a0In July. Watervi lie’s famous lawyer and landowner, Timothy Boutelle, was\u00a0treasurer of the corporation and president of the associated alumni, not one of\u00a0whom had then been out of college so long as our class of 1940 today.<\/p>\n The Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kents Hi II had apparently gone in for other\u00a0fields besides the academic. Alden Packard headed its agricultural department\u00a0and Wi Illam Reed is listed as superintendent of the mechanical department. In\u00a0fact its academic staff consisted of only three persons, who are designated respectively\u00a0as principal, instFuctor in the languages, and assistant in English.\u00a0The Bangor Classlca I School was evidently a preparatory school for Bangor\u00a0Semi nary. I t was under the same board of trustees. The statement te lis us: “To\u00a0such as have the ministry In view, tuition Is offered gratuitously. To all\u00a0others, and It is open to any young man of good moral character, the tuition Is\u00a0$16 a yea r \u2022 ”\u00a0Wages and sa I aries were low t n those days, but so a Iso was the cost of living.<\/p>\n Probably President Andrew Jackson’s $25,000 a year was more than equivalent\u00a0of President Truman’s salary today. The Governor of Maine got $1,500, the\u00a0Chief Justice $1,800, the Justices of C9mmon pleas $1,200. The vice president\u00a0of the United States received $5,000, and each cabinet member got $6,000, except\u00a0the Attorney Genera I, whose sa J ary was on I y $3,500. Tlite sen I or ass t stant postmaster\u00a0general got $2,500, and the federal superintendent of mails $1,700, with\u00a08,450 post offices under his Jurisdiction. At the Portland District Court the\u00a0presiding justice got $1,800. Our foreign diplomats were used a_little better.\u00a0Our envoys plenipotentiary to foreign countries received $9,000 outfit and\u00a0$9,000 annual salary. The poor secretary of legation, doing most of the work In\u00a0the foreign embassies, got only $2,000 a year.\u00a0In 1832 the Watervi lie postmaster was He J I Chase, and at West Watervi lie\u00a0(now Oakland) the office was in charge of E. Hallet. F. Payne conducted the\u00a0Wins I ow post offi ce, and the one at Kenda lis Mi lis (Fal rfle J d Village) was under\u00a0W. Loring. J. Locke ran the office at Bloomfield (now Skowhegan).<\/p>\n One page of our little book gives Maine oensus figures for 1830. The total\u00a0population was 393,383, with 1,207 negroes, 223 of whom were In Kennebec County.\u00a0No county had fewer than 20 blacks, and there were nearly 500 in Cumberland.\u00a0Lincoln, which then covered a vast territory, had almost as many people as Cumberland,\u00a057,000 to 60,000, and Kennebec was a close third with 52,000. The smallest\u00a0county was Washington, with 21,000 people.\u00a0One of the most interesting pages in the book pertains to the Canada Road.\u00a0It 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.<\/p>\n Last spring I told you about the tavern conducted at The Forks In the 1870’s.\u00a0That was by no means the first inn at the junction of the two rivers. For the\u00a0next stop above Moscow is given as Temp Ie’s Tavern, Forks of Kennebec and Dead\u00a0Rivers. Then Baker’s House, Parlin Pond; Holden’s House, Moose River; Hi Iton’s\u00a0House, Main Branch of the Penobscot; Highlands or Canada Line; and Jona’s Camp.\u00a0Moscow is named as the last@ incorporated town in Maine on the road. There is no\u00a0mention by name of what is now Jackman. The book tells us: “Between Jona’s\u00a0Camp 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\u00a0in their power. Owen’s House, the next stop after Jona’s Camp, is 66 miles from\u00a0Quebec. The traveler pursues his course on the easterly bank of the Chaudiere,\u00a0through a delightful country, and over excellent road. The settlements are of\u00a0French origin, and connected throughout, more so than in the interior of our own\u00a0state. Moreover the people are in every respect hospitable and interesting to\u00a0the trave ler.”\u00a0Owen’s House was situated at the junction of the Chaudiere and River de\u00a0loup, in the Parish of St. Charles. The stopping places between there and Quebec\u00a0were,~st.Joseph’s Parish, Ste. Marie Parish, St. Henry Parish, and Point levi, on\u00a0th Iss J de of the St. Lawrence, opposi te the 01 d City of Quebec.<\/p>\n Altogether we have found this a most fascinating little book, and we are\u00a0very grateful to Mrs. Bessie Proctor for giving us an opportunity to examine It.<\/p>\n Year: 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #121, broadcast on November 4, 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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