Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1908 — Colonel W. H. Jacks. [ARTICLE]

Colonel W. H. Jacks.

While completing plans for retirement, sickness and d?ath over'ook Col. W. H. Jacks, the oldest Odd Fellow and court clerk in the state. The end came September 22nd, and Mr. Jacks in his conscious moments during the last few days was ready and wi’ling to go in order that he might be relieved from his terrible suffering from Bright’s disease. But it was with patience that he bore it and awaited the call hence with the same fortitude with which he has labored so many long years in a class of woe that was most trying. He realized about a year ago that he was getting too old for his work and made up his mind to retire at the_end of the present year when the office changes hands. With this end in view, he purchased the Hawkin Droperty on Clifton avenue and with his wife who was Anna M. Webb and whom he married in 1857 at Williams* port,' settled down and began to be ready for an easier life. Then came Sickness and death and his plans were upset. To Mr. and Mrs. Jacks were born five children all deceased. Col. Jacks was a life long member of the Christian church and did much toward building the handsome new edifice here. Uncle Billy, as he was familiarly known about the court home, was taken ill about three weeks ago. He had not been well before that but as the summer court vacation was on and he had completed the docket for the 1 present term, his work was not hard, 1 and what there was for him to do was lessened by his associates in office. In this manner he stayed until within a few days before the beginning of the September term and then remarked to several as he passed from the building he had occupied so long never to enter again. “I’m worn out and I guess I’m all in.” He had I reached a stage where his work was no longer of interest and where he' was willing to lay down the responsi- j bility that others might take it up. The Colonel, a title which he received from long connection and office in the Partriarchs Militant Canton 1. O. 1 O. F., was born in Rush county, Jan. I 2, 1830 and had reached his 78th year ofc life.

Along in the fifties President Buchanan appointed Mr. Jacks postmaster at Rensselaer, the place paying $lO a month. George W. Spiller was. then clerk and recorder of Jasper county and he induced Mr. Jacks to move the postoffice into his office, ' which, was done, and which was the* first work in court that Mr. Jacks ever performed. In 1860 Mr. Jacks went to Pulaski county and a few months later was 1 elected clerk of that county, taking 1 the office in May, 1861, and holding' it for eight years. Almost immediate]}' following his retirement from office I there the services of a good record clerk were in demand trere and he was selected as the most available man' for the place. Since then with a few exceptions he has held down the job and there is not a lawyer practicing at the bar but what will say his' records show for themselves and never needed changing. One of the periods when Uncle Billy | was out of the court house was when President Cleveland, in 1893, appoint- ] ed him consul to London, Ontario,, Canada. The position was accepted and filled with credit, the old gentle- ; man making many friends there with ' whom a correspondence was kept up until he failed in health. At Rensselaer in 1854 Col. Jacks' was made an Odd Fellow and was' continuously in good standing until his death. He held some of the high-I est offices in the order in the state. : He enrolled in Logan lodge here in 1869. The year following he was intrumental in organizing Eel River lodge 417, and was one of its charter members. The funeral was conducted under the auspices of the I. O. O. F. order, Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock, from the residence, Rev. J. H. Craig, of the Christian church officiating. Burial in Mt. Hope.—Logansport Pharos.

The most remarkable fact in connection with the American 1 negro la that in the former slave states he is worse off politically and no better off socially than he was forty years ago. By devices which are a matter of current history and which have been so adroitly framed as to evade reversal by the supreme court he has been deprived of the ballot conferred bn him by the Republican party, compelled to ride In cars separate from the whites and in every way made to feel that the change from legal bondage to freedom has made no difference in the attitude of the white race toward him. These are the conditions brought about by Democrats in states where Democrats rule. The Democratic party has spared no effort to degrade the negro to nearly as possible the level of slavery times and has made wider than ever the dividing line which separates the two races. In taking this position the Democrats of the former slave states have the express approval of the Democratic candidate for the presidency, William J. Bryan, who, 1 when questioned on the subject immediately after an address which he had delivered in New York -city on i “Universal Brotherhood,” took ground | firmly in favor of negro disfranchisement In states controlled by Republicans the negro has the right to vote and votes on an equality with the white citizens. The rights of -white and black are Identical not only In law, but In practice. The condition of the negro In Republican states has Improved instead of retrograding. He is an American citizen in all that the title Implies. The Republican platform adopted at Chicago explicitly demands justice for all men without regard to race or color and just as explicitly declares for the enforcement without reservation in letter and spirit of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the United States. “It Is needless to state,” says Mr. Taft in his speech accepting the Republican nomination for president, “that I stand with my party squarely on that plank in the platform and believe that equal justice to all men and the fair and impartial enforcement of these amendments are in keeping with the real American spirit of fair play.” Here we have Bryan, the candidate of the Democracy, approving the policy of disfranchising the negro and keeping him under, and here, again, we have William H. Taft, the Republican candidate, declaring in the clearest language possible for the enforcement of the amendments which made the negro a freeman, a citizen and a 'voter. A vote for Bryan would be a vote approving the policy of negro disfranchisement which he approves; a vote for Taft is a vote to elect president one who has solemnly proclaimed his purpose to see that the amendments Which gave to the negro citizenship and the ballot shall not be nullified. How any negro loyal to his race and not sunk in self abasement, any negro who is unwilling to grovel In the dust at the feet of southern lynchers and ballot robbers, can vote for Bryan and against Taft is beyond the grasp of reason.

A vote for Bryan would be a vote to indorse his views in favor of negro disfranehisement and might .be construed as a vote to bring about general disfranchisement of the colored race. A vote for Taft would he a vote to intrust the great powers of the president to one who has the will, the courage and the ability to enforce the negro’s rights so far as the federal law will permit. No intelligent negro will waver as to his duty. No negro who has any practical knowledge of the situation of his race in the former slave states will hesitate to do what he can to bring about the emancipation of his brethren by helping to elect Taft and Sherman president and vice president of the United States.

To think any considerable number of negr oes capable of opposing the Republican ticket would be to doubt the capacity of the negro for his duties as an American citizen.

Things Mr. Taft Does Not Approve. Bryan is very anxious, he says, for Mr. Taft to be specific as to the things Mr. Taft does or does not approve. Here are a few things Mr. Taft does not stand for: Mr. Taft does not approve the Bryan idea of cutting the workingman’s wages in two by paying him In fifty cent dollars. Mr. Taft does not approve the Bryan scheme for scaling public and private debts one-half by paying 50 cents’ worth of ob ver for each dollar due. Mr. Taft does not approve the plan to run the nation several thousands of millions of dollars In debt to buy railways to be run by the government Mr. Taft does not approve the Bryan proposal to compel banks honestly managed to contribute to meet the deficiencies of banks that fall through bad management thereby encouraging reckless speculation and dishonest Investment of funds, k Foregoing are some things that Mr. Taft does not approve. Bryan has expressly approved of all of them and, so far as the public knows, approves them yet . ( „

Democratic Attack on then. I Delivery System. In view of the fact that Alton B. Parker, late Democratic candidate for th* presidency, joins Bryan and the Democratic Denver platform In attacking the Republican party for, as the platform and Parker put it, “adding 99,000 officeholders at an annual charge upon the country of over $70,000,000” to the roll of national servants, it is a reasonable Inference that it is the purpose of Bryan, in accordance with and In obedience to the Denver platform on which he stands, to do away with these Officeholders and save the $70,000,000. Otherwise the platform would be meaningless and misleading. Who are the officeholders, and what is the money paid for? The sum of $35,500,000 more than half the amount complained of—is paid out to maintain the rural free delivery system on 39,270 routes serving 16,000,000 of people in all parts of the United States, and the carriers on those routes are the “officeholders” whose ' employment the Democratic platform, Bryan and Parker denounce as un--1 necessary and extravagant. The only Intelligible deduction from the Denver declaration and Bryan’s and Parker’s speeches in support of it is that Bryan, If elected, would seek to abolish the rural free delivery system. Bryan and his platform denounce the expense of the free delivery system as an un necessary addition to the burdens of the country, and Bryan would be bound, if elected, to see the burden removed. What do American farmers and other country residents, to whom rural free delivery has been an inestimable blessing, think of the Democratic declaration against It? The Republican party, represented by Taft and Sherman, proposes not only to maintain but to extend the rural free delivery system, which has been of the greatest benefit both to the rural community and to business of all kinds. Subscriptions to newspapers, local and metropolitan, have increased enormously, and farmers are able to keep advised of market quotations and to sell their produce to the best advantage. A better knowledge of the affairs of the outside world has stimulated intellectual Improvement, and altogether it may be said that no other agency has contributed so largely to make country life more attractive.

There is an ancient saying that “whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,” and mad, Indeed, the Bryanites must be when they deliberately attack one of the most beneficient measures ever devised for the uplifting, the comfort and convenience of many millions of Americans—the rural free delivery system.