years, and at the end of that period the home would be free from debt.
During this time the borrower must pay taxes and water rent, amounting
to some $25.00 per year. The total payments would be about as follows:—
First payment $200.00
Dues and interest 1728.00
Taxes and water rent 300.00
--------
Total $2228.00
This seems like a considerable sum of money for a house worth $1400.
But it must be remembered that the borrower has lived in the house
during these twelve years, and that he has saved in rent that he would
have paid elsewhere, at least $1800.
He has paid $2228.00
He has saved 1800.00
--------
Real cost of house $428.00
Now he is the full owner of his own home. During the next twelve years
he will have nothing to pay but taxes and water rent, and possibly some
slight repairs, at the most not over $400 all told.
His next door neighbor is still a renter, and pays $1800 to his
landlord during the second period named; and the two accounts compared
show:—
Rent payer $1800.00
House owner 400.00
--------
Saving $1400.00
This is equal to a saving of, say, $10.00 a month for 144 months,
and if used in the purchase of ten shares of building society stock
would be worth at the time named $2000, instead of $1400 merely saved.
The neighbor who is a tenant is still paying rent and owns neither a
stick nor a stone, while the building society borrower owns one house
free and also has the command of $2000 in cash, all on account of his
house-owning experiment.
V. THE BANQUET.
It is customary for the directors of these societies, at their own
expense, to celebrate the closing of a successful year, and have as
their guests representatives from other societies. “The banquet”
includes officers from fully fifty companies, some being directors of
four or five associations. At these gatherings experiences are related
and subjects for the advancement of the cause are discussed. Every
individual present on these occasions volunteers the information that
he owed all he possessed to the building society and its teachings.
What the bottles on the table may have contained, it matters not now,
for they are empty and are not capable of doing any harm.
EPOCH-MAKERS OF THE CENTURY
BY REV. A. LEFFINGWELL,
_Rector of Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio_.
Every century has had its epoch-making characters,—men and women
who dominated and directed the thoughts, purposes, activities, and
achievements of their times. The nineteenth century is distinguished
above all others by the number and quality of those who came to stand
for the inception, advance, and culmination of the world’s great
movements and who highly exemplified in their careers the enterprise
and genius of their day.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]
The object here is to designate, and make brief mention of, some of
those who have fairly earned the title of epoch-maker, with the hope
of providing a delightful historic study, and further enhancing the
instructive value of a volume addressed to the triumphs and wonders of
the century.
STATESMEN, ORATORS, AND JURISTS.—Abraham Lincoln (b. February 12,
1809; d. April 14, 1865) sprang from the masses, and grew up with
their institutions rather than with the learning of the schools. He
grew into leadership because he was one of the “million,” had hard
sense and was true. As a forcible exponent of the sentiment of his
party he was elected President in 1861. His election was the signal
for secession and war. His mastery of the most delicate situation in
the history of his country was superb. His patience, his perseverance
amid hard trials, his wisdom of administration, his adaptation to the
march of events, his striking and educative speech, his determination
to preserve a union of States, all led grandly and inevitably to the
crowning act of his noble career,—the abolition of slavery in the
United States in 1863.
There is no sadder chapter in history, and no greater loss for any
nation or time, than that of his taking off (after being a second time
honored by the presidency) at the hands of an assassin, on the night of
April 14, 1865.
[Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS.]
Jefferson Davis (b. June 3, 1808; d. December 6, 1889) stood for the
cause of the South against the Union, as it took concrete political
form in the shape of the Confederacy, of which he became the only
President. Though, perhaps, lacking the ability of such leaders as
Calhoun and Stephens, he was a conscientious and persistent advocate
of the doctrines which culminated in war, and as chief executive ruled
with energy and firmness.
Henry Clay (b. April 12, 1777; d. July 29, 1852) was a born orator
and natural party leader. In statesmanship he was intensely patriotic
and always able, being highly informed and skillful in debate. He
came to stand as the champion of those doctrines which the Whig
party supported, such as protection to home industries, internal
improvements, and reciprocity. Upon the question of slavery which
agitated Congress during most of his career he generally assumed an
attitude of compromise, and fathered so many measures of a pacifying
nature that he was called “the great pacificator.”
Daniel Webster (b. January 18, 1782; d. October 24, 1852) typifies
the gigantic and imposing in New England intellect and physique. As
early as 1820 he stood at the very head of American orators, a fame
soon to be followed in the ranks of law and statesmanship. At first he
opposed the doctrine of protection, but subsequently gave his support
to Henry Clay’s “American policy.” In the United States Senate, he
won the titles of “expounder of the Constitution” and “supporter and
defender of the Union,” by his masterly denunciations of the doctrine
of nullification.
James Monroe (b. April 28, 1758; d. July 4, 1831) reached the
presidency twice, once in 1817, and again in 1820. His last
administration was characterized as “the era of good feeling,” during
which new States were admitted, Florida was acquired, the Louisiana
boundary defined, slavery prohibited north of certain lines, and
many provoking controversies with England were settled. In 1823 he
signalized his administration by promulgating the now famous “Monroe
Doctrine,” which was a warning to Europe that monarchical governments
would not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of either North or
South America.
[Illustration: WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE.]
John Quincy Adams (b. July 11, 1767; d. February 23, 1848) typed the
Federalism of the early part of the nineteenth century, and won the
highest place in scholarly statesmanship. In diplomacy he filled
many prominent and difficult positions at home and abroad. As sixth
President of the United States, he was opposed by a majority in
Congress, and consequently failed to distinguish his administration. He
was the forerunner of those sentiments which culminated in organized
opposition to the doctrine of human slavery.
John C. Calhoun (b. March 18, 1782; d. March 31, 1850) was twice
Vice-President of the United States, and as Senator became the leading
exponent of the doctrine of States’ rights and nullification of
federal tariff laws. He ranked with Clay and Webster as a debater and
constitutional expounder, and the three were known as “the Great Trio.”
In him the pro-slavery cause found its subtlest, ablest, and most
logical defender. With a fully stored mind of highly metaphysical turn,
a fearlessness and persistency that were matchless, and a character
above reproach, he greatly endeared himself in the South, and his
writings are held in high esteem by men of his school of politics.
Rufus Choate (b. October 1, 1799; d. July 13, 1859) was probably
the best-equipped scholar of the public men of the century, and was
unusually brilliant as orator, lawyer, and publicist. Next to Mr.
Webster he was the greatest member of the Massachusetts bar. He may be
called the American Lord Erskine.
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, of Italy (b. August 10, 1810; d. June
6, 1861), found a life-work in the unification of the Italian States.
By pursuing a masterly course in European diplomacy he brought the
states of North Italy into unity, and finally, through the efforts
of Garibaldi, those of Southern Italy became united with them in one
kingdom under the rule of Victor Emmanuel in 1860. Though not a man of
“blood and iron,” like Bismarck, he was the equal of his great German
contemporary in diplomacy.
William Ewart Gladstone (b. December 29, 1809; d. May 19, 1898)
was four times premier of England. As orator, political leader and
statesman, and critic in the immense range of subjects he covered, his
genius was without parallel. It may be said that his was the mightiest
personality and most catholic and powerful intellect of any Englishman.
He championed the cause of Christianity among all nations, sounded the
first trumpet call of Italian liberty, opposed Turkey as a Mohammedan
power, raised England’s commercial prosperity to the highest notch,
unraveled the entanglements of Beaconsfield’s ministry, inaugurated
the most astonishing reforms in all directions, but especially in the
church, education, army, and among the labor unions. It is almost
impossible to name any matter of national or international importance
in which his personality and genius were not felt for good.
Alexander Hamilton (b. January 11, 1757; d. July 11, 1804) was by all
odds the ablest jurist and statesman of the early constitutional era of
the United States. He became the first Secretary of the Treasury, and
lifted the finances of the government from utter prostration to high
prosperity. As fiscal organizer his success was unparalleled, and all
after administrations of the Treasury have been practically along the
lines he first laid down. He was easily the leader of that party which
looked with disfavor on “States’ Rights,” and favored a strong central
government.
Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (b. December 21, 1804; d. April
19, 1881), stood, as premier, for English “territorial aristocracy” and
for that “territorial expansion” which fixed the wide boundaries of
the Indian Empire, made Queen Victoria Empress of India, taught both
Russia and India to refrain from meddling with England’s possessions,
made the English voice preëminent in the disposition of Continental
territory, and completely defeated the schemes of Russia against
Turkey. Under him the middle classes lost, and the laboring classes
gained, political power. His career greatly heightened the national
institutions and character, as well as the international reputation and
power, of his country.
[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.]
Thomas Jefferson (b. April 2, 1743; d. July 4, 1826) stood in the past
century as an able exponent of American rights, and his views were
incorporated into the Declaration of Independence, of which he was
the acknowledged author. He equally stood as the leading exponent of
that political school of thought which favored decentralization, or
limitation of the powers of the central government. After his election
to the presidency in 1800, he signalized his administration by what is
known as the Louisiana purchase, for $15,000,000. In thus enlarging
the area of the country by boundaries of vast extent, he became one of
the earliest and most enthusiastic of expansionists, and that without
reference to the modernly mooted question of “government without the
consent of the governed.”
Richard Cobden, of England (1804–1865), was a humanitarian of great
native breadth and liberality, largely increased by travel and constant
observation. He was a powerful leader in the famous Manchester School
of English statesmen. His share in modern progress was fourfold;
first, in securing the repeal of the odious tax on corn in 1846;
second, in urging arbitration rather than arms as a final resort to
settle international disputes; third, in negotiating with France the
Commercial Treaty of 1860, which Mr. Gladstone said no other living man
could have secured; fourth, in his vigorous and successful opposition
of all efforts to enforce England’s recognition of the Southern
Confederacy during the late civil war.
Prince Otto E. L. Bismarck, of Germany (b. April 1, 1815; d. July 30,
1898), blended the unerring instinct, great far-sightedness, fertility
in invention and expedients, and adroit diplomacy of a statesman, with
absolute fearlessness, inflexible purpose, indomitable energy, and
resistless force. Thoroughly German, he was preëminently and always
Prussian, and his great life-work was the accomplishment of German
unity with Prussia at the head. This he achieved by the humiliation of
Austria and France, and the gradual accession of all the distinctively
German states.
Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) exemplified the wonderful power of the
skillfully colloquial in public speech, and is a type of the American
orator who devotes his ability to correct public abuses, right public
wrongs, and educate the public mind and taste. Chiefly as an avowed
abolitionist, as advocate of the temperance cause, as champion of the
Indians and of woman’s rights to the ballot, and as untiring mover in
improving the nation’s penal institutions, Mr. Phillips most largely
contributed to public weal and progress.
James Gillespie Blaine (b. June 31, 1830; d. January 27, 1893),
whether serving in the House, Senate, or Cabinet, had few equals as a
statesman, debater, parliamentarian, or enthusiastic political leader.
Though often disappointed in his aspirations for the presidency, he
lost none of that wonderful power which he had acquired by reason of
his energy, tact, skill, personal magnetism, and knowledge of public
men and measures. He became the special champion of the doctrine of
reciprocity, and by its practical application during Mr. Harrison’s
administration proved its benefits to commerce and international trade
relations.
By his splendid series of decisions and opinions, Joseph Story
(September 18, 1779; September 10, 1845) shares with John Marshall
the merit of determining and of developing towards its fullest
capacity the power of the United States Supreme Court, as set forth
in the Constitution, over state courts and state legislation. He also
practically constructed the United States Admiralty Law and, even
to-day, his “Commentaries on the American Constitution,” in connection
with both of his foregoing services, is a standard work. He represents
the broad and powerful American judicial mind, which has contributed so
largely to the integrity of the Union.
James Kent (b. July 31, 1763; d. December 12, 1847) was professor, judge
of chancery, justice and chief justice of the N. Y. Supreme Court, and
chancellor of New York. He possessed immense legal learning, and to
him is primarily due the creation of New York courts of equity. His
exhaustive “Commentaries upon American Law” is accepted at home and
abroad as one of the great classics of American law literature.
Francis Wharton was born March 7, 1820, and died February 21,
1884. Although at the age of forty-three he exchanged law for the
ministry, he still showed the legal tendency of his mind in a long
career as professor of ecclesiastical and international law in Boston
institutions. He enriched the literature of his profession by many
valuable and standard works on law, municipal, state, national, and
international, and, under Mr. Cleveland, was of great service to the
administration as United States Examiner of International Claims in the
Department of State.
[Illustration: OTTO E. L. VON BISMARCK.]
Louis Adolphe Thiers, of France (b. April 16, 1797; d. September
3, 1877), was editor, historian, and statesman, and in the latter
role became a distinguished leader of French thought and polity. His
greatest service to his country was after the Franco-Prussian war,
when the Assembly elected him chief of the executive, with the title
of “President of the Republic.” In this capacity he was particularly
successful in negotiating the terms of peace with Germany, and in
fulfilling all the conditions of peace.
[Illustration: HON. WILLIAM McKINLEY.
(Copyright, 1896, by F. Gutekunst.)]
William McKinley (b. January 29, 1843) became a leading champion
of the doctrine of industrial protection at an early period in his
congressional career. In 1883 Hon. W. D. Kelley said of him: “He has
distanced all his colleagues in mastering the details of the tariff.”
The Tariff Act of 1890 came to be popularly known as the “McKinley
Bill.” Elected President in 1896, his administration was signalized
by that humanitarian interference in behalf of struggling Cuban
patriots, which culminated in the Spanish-American war, and the most
unprecedented triumph of modern times. It had the added distinction of
rounding out the nineteenth and introducing the twentieth century.
WARRIORS.—Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I.), soldier, statesman,
and Emperor of the French (b. August 15, 1769; d. May 5, 1821), was
the greatest of the world’s masters in the art of war. His numerous
campaigns, conducted with a brilliancy never before equaled, had for
their object the humiliation of the countries of Europe, and the
establishment of an imperial policy in which France should be supreme.
This he came very near to effecting, in spite of closely combined and
persistent opposition. None of the frequent coalitions formed to thwart
his ambitions and stay his martial progress proved absolutely effective
till that of March 25, 1815, was formed, which put an army of 700,000
men in the field against him. It was a part of this army that he met at
Waterloo, June 18, 1815, where defeat awaited him, together with the
eclipse of his gigantic influence and phenomenal genius.
[Illustration: GRANT’S TOMB, RIVERSIDE DRIVE, NEW YORK CITY.]
Ulysses Simpson Grant (b. April 27, 1822; d. July 23, 1885), graduated
at West Point and had a brief military experience in the Mexican war.
On the breaking out of the Civil War he reëntered the Federal service
from civil life, and by exceptional fertility of resource achieved a
series of victories in the West which led to his command of all the
Union forces, with the specially conferred title of lieutenant-general,
a title subsequently raised to that of general. By the brilliant,
persistent, and simultaneous campaigns he carried through in the East
and West, he further clinched his title as one of the world’s greatest
generals, and ended the conflict with honorable peace. He was honored
twice with the presidency of the nation, and through the trying period
of reconstruction his wise statesmanship cemented the Union his sword
had preserved.
Arthur Wellesley Wellington of England (b. May 1, 1769; d. September
22, 1852), attained his first real military distinction in the
campaigns of the English in India. He further added to his fame in the
campaign against France in the Spanish peninsula. But his greatest
glory as a warrior was reached in 1814, when, with the aid of the
Prussian marshal Blücher, he defeated Napoleon at the decisive battle
of Waterloo. He was afterwards honored with a seat in the House of
Lords, and as Prime Minister of the Tory party, but his statesmanship
proved to be of an inferior and unpopular order.
[Illustration: DUKE OF WELLINGTON.]
Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke, of Germany (b. October 26, 1800;
d. April 24, 1891), was the world’s greatest exponent of strictly
scientific warfare. He made the Prussian army a most powerful and
dangerous machine, and led it triumphantly against Denmark and
Austria. By dint of strict organization and drill he made the armies
of the German Confederation equally effective, as was shown in
the Franco-German war (1870–71), which was a series of brilliant
victories, ending with the capitulation of Paris and the downfall of
Napoleon III. and his empire. His greatness lay in the fact that cool,
sober calculation always dominated his greatest audacity of plan.
Simon Bolivar, or Bolivar y Ponte (b. July 25, 1785; d. December 17,
1830), justly earned the surname of “The Liberator.” The first and
greatest of those South American patriots who struck against the
tyrannical colonial system of Spain, he achieved the independence
of the three States of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, secured their
recognition by the civilized world, and lived to govern them with the
wisdom and moderation of a wise executive.
[Illustration: COUNT VON MOLTKE.]
Robert E. Lee (b. January 19, 1807; d. October 12, 1870), graduated
at West Point, and was in the constant military service of the United
States till the breaking out of the Civil War. He then transferred his
services to the Confederacy, and speedily became the highest exponent
of its military powers. Honorable, just, energetic, persistent,
skillful in offensive or defensive warfare, schooled in strategy,
full of devices and combinations to overcome desperate situations, he
prolonged a hopeless struggle to an astounding degree, and met defeat
and surrender without dishonor. He readily ranks as one of the world’s
greatest generals.
Lajos (Louis) Kossuth of Hungary (b. April 27, 1802; d. March 20,
1894), as writer, lawyer, and statesman, came to stand for Hungarian
freedom. After the declaration of independence of his country in 1849,
he became its military and political ruler, but was forced by Russian
intervention and domestic rivalry from his high place, and escaped to
foreign lands to pass the balance of his life in eloquent but fruitless
appeals in behalf of his cause and people.
Giuseppe Garibaldi, of Italy (b. July 4, 1807; d. June 2, 1882),
typed the restless, daring soldier, the impulsive statesman, and the
energetic defender of freedom. He shared Count Cavour’s desire for a
free and united Italy, and grew to be a great popular hero. Upon his
capture of the two Sicilies, he presented them to Victor Emmanuel,
thus consummating his life dream of unification, and his desire for
a government in which the wishes of the people were, to some extent,
recognized.
NAVAL HEROES.—Stephen Decatur (b. January 5, 1771; d. March 22, 1820)
attained the rank of captain in the U. S. Navy for his gallant exploit
of burning the frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, after she
had been captured by the Tripolitans. He won further fame as commodore
in the war of 1812, and again in the war with Algiers, Tunis, and
Tripoli. Quick to comprehend emergencies and prompt in action, he was
a type of the dashing and absolutely fearless American seaman. True to
his fiery nature, he found his death in a duel with Commodore Barron.
Oliver Hazard Perry (b. August 23, 1785; d. August 23, 1819) was
rewarded with the rank of captain in the U. S. Navy for the remarkable
courage and dash which eventuated in the memorable victory over the
British fleet in Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. This victory gave the
Americans control of the Great Lakes and hastened, more than any single
event, the conquest of the Northwest and the end of the War of 1812.
He saw further honorable service as commander of the Mediterranean
squadron, and died at Port Spain, on the island of Trinidad, of yellow
fever.
David Dixon Porter (b. June 8, 1813; d. February 13, 1891) grew
and ripened gradually into one of the great naval captains of the
nineteenth century. His courage and energy, large experience, and
intimate knowledge of the rivers and seacoasts of the country fitted
him for the great emergencies of the Civil War. Many of the victories
of the Union armies in the West were due to his cöoperation with
gunboats. He greatly aided in the initial success of Farragut’s
expedition up the Mississippi, the reduction of Vicksburg, and other
strongholds upon Western waters. The greatest victory of his life
was the capture of Fort Fisher. He wrote a history of the U. S. Navy
during the war, a work commended by all naval nations. On the death of
Farragut, 1870, he reached the high rank of admiral.