Says Mr. Calhoun:
“To make this great fund available for so important an object, the legislatures of the states interested ought to move forthwith. I hope Georgia will take the lead. The action of no other state could have half the influence.”
Mr. Calhoun, with marvelous foresight, sketched the system of railroads which has since been built. Just where he declared in 1835 that the railroads ought to be, they are now to be found.
Had his counsels been followed, those public highways would now be the property of the public. Folly, stupidity, sordid franchise-grabbing had their own way, however, and the magnificent system of highways which Calhoun laid out for the people belongs to the corporations.
Judge Du Bose’s Letter and the Public Debt
Montgomery, Ala., Jan. 6, 1906.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson:
Dear Sir—It is not evidence of dissatisfaction with the common infirmities of the human lot that discussion of the characters of men in public office assumes the latitude of warning to society. Servility of understanding reduces the individual to prostitution of manhood. He can no longer be free, who is dependent in mind and thought. The duty of the American citizen is in the defence of his prerogative of “sovereign,” and upon this principle only may reputation in a public officer become a convertible term with character in public office.
In the year 1769 “Junius” wrote fifty-four letters to the Public Advertiser, a daily journal of London. The publisher was indicted. “Junius” continued to write. He wrote to Sir William Draper; to the Duke of Grafton; to the Ministry; to King George himself. Who “Junius” was, none knew. The few declared his writing turbulent and revolutionary; worthless for the occasion. He held to the record. With indignant invectives he proved the government corruptions. With high disdain he declared he asked for no authority, when he had law and reason on his side, to speak the truth. With keen and pungent retort he exposed the lapse of society in the evidences of iniquity in social leaders.