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THEY CALLED HIM ^ H "THE LITTLE MAGICIAN" By ELMO SCOTT WATSON E DIED on a summer day 75 years ago and his pass ing was scarcely noticed by the nation of which he had once been Chief Executive because that nation was then in the throes of a great civil war. Yet it had been his boast that he was "the first real Ameri L can President," the first one born after the Declara tion of Independence and the first whose life span was wnoiiy American. If his fellow-Americans re membered Martin Van Buren at all it was by some of the names that had been given him in the heat of political controversy, such names as "The Little Magician" and "The Red Fox." They had called him "The Little Ma gician" because they believed that he was a wizard who could pull an endless number of luscious political plums out of his hat and because he ,was Andrew Jackson's right hand man in inaugurating the "spoils system." "He is still spoken of slightingly as a mere sly politician," said a 'commentator in 1929, "but noth |ing can prevent him from obtrud ing while the mere sly politicians have all gone to their deserved silences." They called him "The Red iFox," thus emphasizing further the insinuation of his slyness, his devious trail in political matters and the unpredictable nature of his next move. They regarded him as a "slippery fellow" and they said no power could make him take a position on any ques tion until he had deliberated over it to the last possible minute. His Strength of Character. What they failed to give hifti credit for was sincerity and fixity of purpose, once he made up his mind. When that happened, noth ing could shake him from his pur pose and he fought for what he believed to be right in utter dis regard of the possible effect upon jhis own fortunes. He did that while he was President and when the panic of 1837 swept over the land he refused to have any truck with popular financial ignorances for his fellow-countrymen. Yet the fact is that this recognition did not come until 60 years after his death and then it was brought about by the publication of his autobiography? as though Martin Van Buren were speaking from his grave! In 1921 this autobiography was published as "House Document No. 819, Sixty-sixth congress, Sec ond Session, being the annual re port of the American Historical association for the year 1918." Van Buren had begun it in 1854 and wrote or dictated it until death stopped him in 1862. It re mained in the possession of his family until 1905 when one of them presented it to the Library of Con gress. A start was made on edit ing it for publication soon after wards, then suspended and not taken up again for nearly two decades. When it was Anally published it was hailed by scholars as "one of the greatest autobiographies ever written." It gave an amaz ing view "behind the scenes" dur ing the time Martin Van Buren was an actor on that stage of American history. Throughout he was "blunt and candid and never afraid to speak his mind, as he was through public life, al though in public life he could not be induced to speak his mind until he had fully made it up. That was the characteristic that made people think him a pussyfooter, a mistake that has endured to our own times." In it, too, he "dis closes his character unconscious ly, and it is the character of a brave, true gentleman, mild in manner, immovable in policy, generous in heart and afraid of ^othing," But, despite these revelations, it must be admitted that the schol ars and historians were about the or.ly ones who looked upon Martin Memorial to Van Buren at Kinderhook, N. X. and follies. That panic and his firm stand on fiscal policies re sulted in his defeat by Harrison in 1840. In 1844 Van Buren deliberately sacrificed the Democratic nomi nation by obstinately flaunting'his unpopular views on the slavery question. In that year, it will be recalled, the pro-slavery forces wanted to annex Texas in order to add another slave state to the Union, and possibly more than one, if, as was proposed, Texas were divided up into several states. The popular thing to do was to favor the annexation, or, at least, straddle on the issue. If Van Buren, the dominant figure in his party, had done either, he could have had the Democratic nomination. Instead, he de nounced the new move to extend pro-slavery power and lost the nomination to James K. Polk of Tennessee, the first "dark horse" candidate in our political history. Again in 1848 Van Buren might have won the nomination if he had "gone along ' with the pro slavery wing of the party. In stead, he bolted the party and ran independently for President as the head of a new party, the Free' Soilers, and, of course, lost out. Six years later this party was absorbed into a new one, called the Republican party, whose nom ination of Abraham Lincoln pre cipitated the Civil war. So there is something curiously ironical in the fact that M aft in Van Buren, the right-hand man of that "pa tron saint" of the Democratic party and himself one of the lead ing exponents of Democratic prin ciples, should have been one of the founders of Republicanism! Long-Delayed Recognition. Perhaps it is expecting too much to have his contemporaries or even the next two or three gener ations of Americans appreciate the true worth of this man. Bui it does seem strange that the his torians and the scholars should have been so long in recognizing his importance and evaluating it Van Buren in a new light. To the public in general he was still a shadowy figure, a name in the school histories. In 1932 when a monument was erected in front of the Van Buren high school in Kinderhook, N. Y., to commemo rate the one hundred fiftieth anni versary of his birth, newspapers headlined the event as a belated tribute to a "forgotten President." A Tavern-Keeper's Son. Van Buren was born in Kinder hook on December 5, 1782, the son of a tavern-keeper. Reared in an environment of near poverty and hard work, the future of the boy was a constant source of worry to his mother, Maria Hoes Van Buren. She was proud of his achievements in school and she scraped and saved to make it pos sible for him to attend Kinder hook academy. When Martin waj fourteen years old he was "articled" to Judge Francis Silvester for training in his law office. This was a stroke of luck, for Judge Silvester was related to some of the most im portant people in tht state. At the age of fifteen young Van Buren made his debut as a lawyer in an improvised courtroom in a tavern at Valatie. It was an un important case and Judge-Silves ter allowed his clerk to "sum up" for him. The boy was so small that he had to be lifted to a chair to address the jury but so elo quent was his .ilea that he won the case ? and also a "fee" of 90 cents! In 1800, when he was eighteen he "stumped" Columbia county and the neighboring sections of the state for Thomas Jefferson and the new Republican (Democratic) party. For his efforts he was made a delegate to the Republican con gressional caucus at Troy. The next year he was named surrogate of Columbia county, thus starting on his career m office holding, and moved with his young bride, Hannah Hoes, the childhood sweetheart whom he had married in 1807. to Hudson In 1812 he waged a successful campaign, being elected to the state senate. Into a Larger Arena. He was chiefly responsible for the legislation which made possible the Erie and Champlain canals. His services won him the appoint ment of attorney-general of the state in 1815 and he served in that capacity for Ave years. By 1821 he was the acknowledged leader of his party in New York and in that year entered the larger arena of national affairs when he was elected to the United States sen ate. Again he demonstrated his inde pendence when, in an era of lav ish federal spending for internal Van Buren's appointment he was defeating himself in his life-long ambition to become President. As vice president, Calhoun was the logical successor to Jackson when "Old Hickory" retired at the end of his second term. But Jackson, still loyal to his former secretary of state, used his influ ence as leader of the Democratic party to bring about the nomina tion of Van Buren, instead of Cal houn, and Van Buren's election in 1837 followed as a matter of course. Enraged at being thus shelved, Calhoun bided his time. He took no part in the campaign of 1840. But it wasn't necessary for him to knife Van Buren, for the panic of 1837 had already Lindenwald, Van Buren's Home at Kinderhook, N. Y. improvements, he dared to op pose the practice on the ground that the United States government had no right to build roads and canals within the individual states. Re-elected in 1827, he se cured a pension for the officers of the Revolution and got hims'elf in the limelight by denouncing the Bank of the United States. This not only drew down upon him a withering oratorical fire from such outstanding leaders as Henry Clay of Kentucky and Daniel Web ster of Massachusetts but started his feud with John C. Calhoun of South Carolina which was to have, an important effect on his later career. After two more years in the sen ate Van Buren was elected gov ernor of New York and his inaug ural message advocated legisla tion to prevent the use of money in elections ? a strange proposal to come from a man who was looked upon as a "sly politician." He served as governor only three months, then resigned to accept an appointment as secretary of state in the cabinet of President Andrew Jackson. Almost immediately Van Buren had an opportunity to prove his loyalty to his chief. The wives of the other cabinet members, led by Mrs. Calhoun, wife of the vice president, had started a move ment to ostracize the wife of Sec retary of War Eaton because she had been Peggy O'Neal, the daughter of a Tennessee tavern keeper. Van Burean became the gallant defender of the glamorous Peggy- This further endeared him to "Old Hickory," who was determined that the wife of his secretary of war should be accept ed by the other cabinet wives. When it looked as though the dispute over Peggy was about to wreck the administration. Van Buren settled it by announcing to Jackson that he intended to re sign. If the secretary of state re tired, it meant that the other cabi net members would have to fol low suit. Then the President could appoint a new and more harmoni ous group of advisers. "The Great Magician." Jackson protested violently, but he soon found that the "little Dutchman from Kinderhook" also had a will of iron and nothing the President could say would swerve him from his court e. So he left the cabinet, and the others, with the exception of Postmaster Gen eral Barry, whose loyalty to Jack son was unquestioned, had no other choice but to do likewise. This not only solved the difficulty but it was a stinging defeat for Calhoun, whose hatred for Van Buren deepened. It also resulted in a change in one of Van Buren's nicknames. A famous editor, Mordecai P. Noah, in writing on the collapse of the Calhoun con spiracy, said, "Well, indeed, may Mr. Van Buren be called the great magician, for t.e raised his wand and the whole cabinet vanishes." Thus "The Little Magician" be came "The Great Magician." Soon after Van Buren's resigna tion he left for England to become ambassador to the court of St. James, whence he was followed by the malevolence of John Cal houn. For tha senate refused to confirm his appointment and it was arranged so that there should be a tie vote and Vice President Calhoun, as president of the sen ate, could cast the deciding vote against him. But in doing this Calhoun, for once, had over reached himself. He did not real iie it at the time, perhaps, but it was true nevertheless that when he cast the deciding vote against killed the President's chances of re-election. After his defeat in 1840 Van Buren retired to his estate, Lin denwald, in Kinderhook, which he bought from a friend of his youth, Billy Van Ness. From there he wielded an influence in the affairs of the Democratic party which was rapidly returning him to pop ular favor, and he was aided in this by the political mistakes of John Tyler, who had succeeded to the Presidency when Harrison died. It seemed certain that Van Bu ren would win the Democratic nomination in 1844. Then the question of the annexation of Tex as came up ? brought up purpose ly by John C. Calhoun, said Van Buren's friends, because the South Carolinian knew that the New Yorker's attitude on this question would lose him the sup port of the South. Van Buren took his uncompro mising stand on the further exten sion of slavery, the Democratic convention repudiated him in fa vor of the -unknown James K. Polk, and Mr. Calhoun wrote to a friend, "I regard the nomination of Mr. Polk to be the best that could be made under the circum stances. It has done much by freeing the party of the danger ous control of what may be called the New York Dynasty ? a more heartless and selfish body of poli ticians have rarely ever been as sociated together." Again Van Buren retired to Lin denwald and, although he was re luctant to enter the lists again, the campaign of 1848 found him in the field once more. This time he was a bolter from the ranks of his party and the leader of a new one dedicated to "Free Soil, "WW X The Youthful Van Buren. Free Speech, Free Labor ana* Free Men." Although he polled nearly a third of a million votes he failed to carry a single state. This defeat put an end to his polit ical activity, except as an observ er and commentator. He died on July 24. 1862 ? in the midst of the civil conflict whose coming he had feared and pre dicted for yearj. The news of his passing created little interest. The ears of Americans, both North and South, were strained to catch the latest tidings from the blood soaked battlefields where this question of slavery was being de cided. If they thought about the death of Martin Van Buren at all. It may have seemed to them that they caught the faint echo of a song from the campaign of 1840? "Van, Van, is a used-up man." This spiteful ballad, roared by the "singing Whigs" 20 years earlier, was true at last. C W?n?rii Newspaper Union. Keeping Up Wif C Science Service.? WNU Service. Ex-Mental Patient Warns Dissipation Leads to Collapse Shun Bad Temper, Drink and Love-Nests, He Says By MARJORIE VAN DE WATER Science Service Staff Writer. New York. ? Bad temper, greed, and overweening ambi tion are blamed for the bring ing on of mental disease, by Henry Collins Brown, histori an-founder of the Museum of the City of New York, himself a patient for about three years in a state hospital for mental patients and now recovered. Mr. Brown's own breakdown oc curred when, at the age of sixty five, he was removed from the mu seum in which were tied up all his hopes and dreams and he was re placed by a younger man. He did not "lose his mind," did not be come confused in his thoughts, but he entered a long period of depres sion during which he ceaselessly paced the floor without rest or even a sense of fatigue. Love Nests, Liquor Blamed. "Early in my sojourn I became profoundly impressed with the large number of cases that were what I classed as preventable," Mr. Brown said in summing up these impres sions in "A Mind Mislaid," pub lished by Dutton. "That is to say, they were the result of causes that could be avoided. They were the direct and natural consequences of the risks deliberately chosen by the patients themselves. And, of course, when things went wrong, as they invariably did, one or two per sons smashed up as a consequence. "Philandering and excessive drinking furnished the largest con tingent of these casualties," Mr. Brown declared. "Love nests rear nothing but 'cuckoos.' That is a piece of 'bug house' philosophy worth remember ? _ ?? ing. Particularly, Mr. Brown warns I against the dangers, mental as well | as physical, of intense anger. Self-Control Not Easy. "We have all known men who al low themselves to get in a towering rage over some very trivial mat ter," said Mr. Brown. "Perhaps if that man knew that he might snap one of the numerous delicate tissues of the brain, causing him to spend his old age in an insane asylum, he might very readily learn to con- | trol himself. "Now self-control is not an easy | matter. Today I can control myself, but who wants to go through what I did to learn a lesson that can be acquired without all that hideous torment and suffering? "I often think a few weeks spent in an insane asylum would be the greatest panacea for bad temper that could be devised." No Trace of Air Found on the Planet Mercury Cambridge, Mass. ? The planet Mercury has no trace of atmosphere, observations of the recent transit of Mercury (the planet passing across the disk of the sun) made at Har vard's astronomical station at Bloemfontein, South Africa, in dicate. There was no luminous arc around the planet, indicat ing no air. Best astronomical evidence was that Mercury, like the moon, was completely without air, any that it may have had having escaped into space long, long ago. But the evi dence for the lack on Mercury was less detailed than (or the moon. Aside from the lack of sufficient atmosphere, Mecury is too burn ing hot to support life. Powdered Bone Used as Remedy for Pyorrhea New York. ? Boiled powdered bone was suggested as a rem edy in pyorrhea and diseased jaw bones at a fa'culty clinic at Columbia university school of dental and oral surgery here. Powdered bone was successful in treating pyorrhea and jaw bone damage in dogs. Dr. -.'"rank E. Beube reported. The bone used was obtained from the long bones of sheep and cows. This boiled powdered bone was packed into the holes surgically pro duced in the Jaw bone to resemble the holes produced by disease or in jury. Within a few weeks new bone, natural cement layer, and other dental tissues had grown in to re place those lost. In the case of pyor rhea, a "quite loose" tooth was firm in its socket after the powdered bone treatment had healed the dis eased condition. Enforce Simple Rules of Road to Cut Traffic Toll Drivers in Mishaps Must Appear for Hearings By ROBERT D. POTTER Science Service Writer. Washington?As the League of Nations has long since found out, you can set up all sorts ?f rules and regulations but their success depends on the kind of enforcement which goes along with them. Some thing of the same kind of situ ation exists in regard to the in tricate and varied traffic laws and regulations which are in visibly but firmly wound around every driver of a motor vehicle on the roads of Amer ica today. frZJlf curren* an^ encouraging tnrfat aT"g traffic experts today is toward simplification rather r^esan/n,gmentatj?n 0f the traffic rules. Four simple, basic "rules of the road are suggested by Dr. ' ck?fon. chief of the heat isio!J 0f the national rul?sndare?d " SUmmary 111636 withS h?,? tOJ?urL0Wn 'ane of traffic witch tt, thoughts in mind. o!r t in/a?hea<1 and warn the whirh if When you do anything ?!r "gLs your movement in your own traffic lane. Wait for Other's Signal. 2- Realize that you have no right laner?SV0r J1? tat? another traffic lane. You do so at your own risk signaL*13* "0t d? 80 without Proper Change from your own traffic lane only after having given a spe bv th? gnai- ?r a clear indication oy the motion of your car. BUT do , complete the movement until yo" haYe. received a signal from the rthTofwa" ^ he-Uy-Mhs 4 At no time exceed such speeds that your car cannot be stopped in its own traffic lane before inter? or . mher traffic in this Jane, k traffic which may reason ably be expected to enter your lane even without a right to do so. P'ckinson, however, is not merely content to set up such sim fhp n3S1C f" He knows that on effectless rC6ment reStS their Get Both Parties in Conrt. Any traffic accident, says Dr. D ckrnson, means that one of the our basic rules has been violated. bl^,Pr?M?. ? that both Parties have fart 5fU1!Ly w s respect and the be nrfm f accldent itself should be prima-facie evidence of such IS-M ?'? A. .consideration of each accident in this fashion would put it 1X27,^ f?!l0W Wfi? had MS Jhl A u6 /Ules of "fety to show that he had not. states ?r. Dickin son, both parties should be required dent V hearing on the acci ic i quest40.n/ If one of the par ties is innocent he should be able to prove it in court. In order to get both parties to an lill'u?? mto-court. it should be ob hat bot'h C?n'ends ?r. Dickinson, that both parties report any colli s*n in which there is personal In jury or damage to cars other than of /ith S 01 bumP*rs. Failure of either party in the accident to Sn* thSh?Uld be considered leaving the scene of the accident " A system of smaU rewards rniihf iwa-uBSMwe Oldest Land Plant Is Discovered in Sweden Cambridge, Mass. ? The world's oldest land plant, esti mated to be about 500,000,000 years old or almost twice as old as previously discovered speci mens, has been detected from its fossil remains by a Harvard scientist. The primitive shoot, found in black oil shale from Sweden, is be lieved to have lived during the Cam brian era, a fact that substantially doubles the known age of higher plant forms on earth. Warn Children Against Playing With "Dry Ice" Chicago.? Don't let children get hold of "dry ice," warn Drs. Max L. Som and A. Harry Neff son of New York city. One of the popular neighborhood diversions is to beg or buy some carbon dioxide snow and to put a small piece of it in the mouth. Then the child will blow off "steam." These two physicians report the case of a seven-year-old boy who swallowed a piece of "dry ice," in the Journal of the American Medi cal Association. The boy is all right today, but it took a great deal of medical treatment and surgery be fore the damage was repaired. IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY I chool Lesson By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. Dean of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. ? Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for July 25 LESSON TEXT ? Exodus 12:21-28. GOLDEN TEXT? The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself.? Deuteronomy 1:9. PRIMARY TOPIC? Ready for the Jour ney. JUNIOR TOPIC? Ready to Start Home. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC? How God Prepares a People. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC? Equipped for a New Era. "Let my people go"? such was the word of the Lord to Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron. "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" ? thus hardened Pharaoh his heart. The issue was so drawn for one of the great struggles of history. On one side was a bold and mighty monarch with all the resources of the empire of Egypt, and on the other an unorganized multitude of slaves. No, wait, on the other side was 'Almighty God! The outcome was never in doubt and through the unspeakable horror of the plagues we come to consider the last of the ten, the death of the first-bom, with which is joined the establishment of the Passover. The Passover is of sufficient im portance to justify careful study simply as the perpetual feast of Jews, but to the Christian it is also a most blessed and instructive type of Christ who is, according to Paul, "our passover" (I Cor. 5:7). Let no one who studies or teaches this les son fail to point to "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). I. A Lamb Slain (v. 21). The sacrifice appears, a gentle, submissive lamb, a male without blemish, which is separated for the giving of its life that the first-born in Israel might be saved. Notice that God's instructions were explicit, and were to be obeyed if there was to be redemption. There are those in our day who would substitute any and every other meth od of salvation for God's revealed plan. They talk about character de velopment, the redemption of the social order, peace and politics, and forget the Lamb of God. n. A Blood Salvation (w. 22, 23). The act of faith in marking the lintel and the doorposts with the blood, brought salvation to the fam ilies of Israel. Had they waited until they could reason out the philosophy of their promised redemption, or had they shrunk from the blood as their covering, their first-born would have been slain. It was when the destroying angel saw the blood that he passed over them. Many there are in our time who speak disparagingly of the blood of Jesus Christ, but it is still the only way of redemption. "Without shed ding of blood there is no remission." It ill befits an age that is so blase and sophisticated as ours to attempt to cover its dislike for God's way of redemption by suddenly becom ing too cultured and sensitive to hear of the blood of the Lamb of God shed on Calvary's tree for our cleansing from sin. HI. A Perpetual Memorial (w. 24-28). God wants his people to remem ber. We, like Israel, are to remem ber the bondage from which we were delivered. Down through the ages the Jews have kept the Pass over. Our Hebrew neighbors do it today. Let us honor them for their obedience to God's command and at the same time seek to point them to the One who is the true Pass over, Jesus Christ. IV. Christ Our Passover (I Cor. 5:7). Let us add to the assigned lesson text this New Testament passage which speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ as "our passover . . . sacri ficed for us." The bondage in Egypt was ter rible in its afflictions and sorrow^ but far more serious is the bondage in which men find themselves under sin and the rule of Satan. Surely there is need of divine redemption, and there is none to bring it to us but the Lamb of God. He was the One who without spot or blemish (I Pet. 1:19) was able to offer him self in our behalf that in him we might find "redemption through his blood" (Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14). "Is the blood upon the house of my life? Is the blood upon the door post of my dwelling place? Have I put up against the divine judgment some hand of self-protection? Ver ily, it will be swallowed up in the great visitation. In that time noth ing will stand but the blood which God himself has chosen as a token and a memorial. 'The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin' " (Joseph Parker). Labor and Patience Truth is to be costly to you ? of labor and patience; and you are never to sell it, but to guard and to give.? Ruskin. Judging Another's Sorrow One can never be the judge of another's grief. That which is a sor row to one, to another is joy. Follow Oar Convictions Never swerve in your conduct from your honest convictions. ? Horace BushnelL
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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July 22, 1937, edition 1
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