Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1885 — BARTHOLDI’S BIG GIRL. [ARTICLE]

BARTHOLDI’S BIG GIRL.

The Prejudices Met by a Canvasser for the Pedestal Fund. The Bartholdi pedestal fund is nearly complete. The statue has arrived, and soon New York harbor will be graced by the most magnificent colossal statue the world has ever seen. ‘•Liberty Enlightening the World!” What a priceless blessing personal liberty is. It is the shrine at which people, ground under the heel of tyranny in the older worlds, worship with a fervency that Americans can scarcely realize; it is a principle for which Nihilists w llingly die the death of dogs; and fit and proper it is that at the very entrance of the Bay of New York this emblematic Statue should flash a welcome to the world. The press is entitled to the credit of this achievement. Mr. Philip Beers, who has been making a circuit of the country on behali of the pedestal fund, says that the fund will certainly be raised, as tfie World does not know the word fait. Mr. Beers says that he has found the most pronounced generosity among those of foreign birth. They seem more appreciative of liberty than do our native born. Moreover, among some u strange prejudice seems to exist. “Prejudice? In what particular?”

“I have ever found that however meritorious a thing may be, thousands of people will inevitably be prejudiced against it. I have spent most of my life on the road, and I know the American people ‘like a book.’ In 1879 a personal misfortune illustrated this prevailing prejudice. I was very ill, had suffered for several years with headache, fickle appetite, dreadful backache, cramps, hot head, cold hands and feet, and a general break down of the system. I dragged myself back to New York, seeking the best professional treatment. It so happens that among my relatives is a distinguished physician who upbraided me roundly for preaching so much about my own case, finally, with some spirit, 1 remarked to him: “ ‘Sir, you know that much of your professional wisdom is pretense. Y’ou are controlled by prejudice. Y’ou cannot reach a case like mine, and you know it, can you?’ “ I had him, and he finally conceded the point, for it was Bright's disease of the kidneys which had prostrated me, and the school men admit they cannot cure it. Having cured myself, however, in 1879, and not having seen a sick day since, my relative finally admitted that Warner’s sate cure, which accomplished this result, was really a wonderful preparation. Had President Rutter, of the Central Hudson, used it, I am certain he would be alive to-day, for he could not have been in a worse condition than I was. ” “I have found similar prejudices among all classes concerning even so laudable a scheme as this pedestal fund. Mr. Beers’s experience and the recent death of President Rutter, of the CentralHudson Railroad, of an extreme kidney disorder, proves that the physicians have no real power over such disease, and indicates the only course one should pursue if, as the late Dr. Willard Parker says, headache, sickness of the stomach, dropsical swellings, backache, dark and offensive fluids, prematurely impaired eyesight, loss of strength and energy occur, for they unmistakably indicate a fatal result, if not promptly arrested. “Yes, sir-ee, every cent needed for the pedestal will be raised. Of couse it will be a great triumph for the World, but would it not have been an eternal disgrace had our people failed to provide for this pedestal?”