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LIBRARY

ACQUIRED BY EXCHANGE

THE HOME, BERLIN

LIVES OF
Franklin Plato Eller
— and =:
John Carlton Eller

BY

J. B. HUBBELL

Privafely Printed MCMX

Copyrighted in the name of
A. H. ELLER
1910

0i4^>^

The Seanui Printeiy
Duiham, N. C.

LIVES OF
FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
and
JOHN CARLTON ELLER

Dedicated to their Father and Mother
who
fob four-score years have been laying up treasures in
that beautiful city not made with hands and
whose eyes were fixed upon the golden
gate even before their lovbd
ones passed within its
WALLS, By THE Author.

'Gahie. of Contents

PAGE
Foreword to the Reader  9
Introductory Sketch.
Franklin Plato Eller  11
Introductory Sketch.
John Carlton Eller  25
Introduction to Letters and Tributes  44
Tributes and Letters Pertaining to the Life and
Character of F. Plato Eller  45
Tributes and Letters Pertaining to the Life and
Character of John C. Eller  58
Introduction to the Writings and Speeches of Plato
Eller  89
"Institutions the Result of Growth"  92
"Our Retiring President"  98
"The Dialectic Society"  101
Debate on the Electoral College  103
Debate on Home Rule for the Irish  112
Debate on the Eastern Question  128
"A Brief Review of Scholasticism"  135
Introduction to the Writings and Speeches of John
Eller  145
"Man's Inhumanity to Man"  147
"What is Morality," a Thesis  154
"A Plea for American Commerce"  171
Debate on Rigid Party Organization  177
Debate on Dangers of Centralization  189
"The Origin and Rise of Government," A Thesis. . 198
The College Fraternity  211
Articles from the "White and Blue"  216
Poems: "Melancholia," "The Doubter"  221, 222
The Modern Chivalry ; an Essay  222
Class Farewell  228
The Brothers, An Elegy, by Leonard Van Noppen  231
Appendix. The College Record of John and Plato Eller. .244, 245

^abU of UUuslratlons.

The Home, Berlin
The Brothers (in youth)
Alpha Theta Phi Badge
F. P. Eller
Hall of Dialectic Society
John Carlton Eller
University of North Carolina

Frontispiece
Page 24- 25 74
88- 89
101-102144-145
230-231

'3f^orewor6 to t^e deader
The purpose of this volume is not to glorify, but to
commemorate, not to encourage unseemly family pride,
but to preserve the memory of those who were noble
and true. It has been more than seventeen years
since the death of Plato Eller and more than thirteen
since that of his brother John ; but they have not been
forgotten; time has not dimmed the recollection of
their lives in the minds of those who knew them. We
remember their unselfishness, their manliness, the glo
rious promise of their youth, their heroic struggle for
the highest and noblest in life; and we wish all who
bear the family name and yet never knew them as
their loved ones knew them, to learn their story, so
strangely sweet and sad, to know the best that they
wrote and thought, and, like them, to live lives that
shall reflect only honor upon the name which they
bore. And this is why, after more than a decade of
seeming forgetfulness, we would lay this tribute dedi
cated to their memory as a tardily woven wreath of
flowers upon the graves of those that we love.
It was long the purpose of their older brother, Mr.
A. H. Eller, to prepare such a volume; but the cares
of a busy life and the too poignant recollection of the
last sad hours spent with them upon earth were too
great to permit his undertaking the task. And per
haps it is best that the work should be brought to com
pletion by one who, although a near relative of the
deceased, is a native of another State, and hence never
knew them. He has undertaken the study of their
lives in much the same manner in which he would
undertake a study of any man whom he had never
known. His connection with the University with
which they were so intimately connected as students

10 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
has been that of a teacher. This has given a signifi
cance to many incidents in their lives that would be
almost meaningless to others ; and he hopes that it has
enabled him to avoid, by a constant comparison with
the achievements of other students, an exaggerated
estimate of their ability and attainments. It has been
his purpose to construct from their manuscripts, the
various college publications, the letters of friends and
relatives, and the recollections of those who knew
them a sympathetic and yet impartial account of their
lives. In no case has he drawn upon his imagination
to adorn or complete the story ; and in no instance has
he, to the best of his knowledge, made a single state
ment or implication which cannot be conclusively
shown to be true. Yet the preparation of this volume
has been truly a "labor of love" and sympathy; for it
is only three years since he lost, struck down by the
cold hand of Death, a brother who, like those of whom
he has written here, was strong in character and full
of the promise of a glorious manhood, and who bore
the name of these his uncles, Eller Henry Hubbell.
On behalf of the entire family, I wish to thank all —
and they are many — who have assisted in the comple
tion of this work. Their assistance is all the more
appreciated because many things have been forgotten
since the preparation of this volume was first contem
plated and because this preparation was necessarily
completed in a very limited period of time. They may
rest assured that the remembrance of what they have
done will live so long as the memory of the lamented
young men, the story of whose lives is here told, is
cherished in the hearts of all wiho loved them.
Jay Broadus Hubbbll.
Red House, Virginia, September 18, 1909.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 11
introductory Sketch

Franklin Plato EllEr.
On October 24, 1849, James Eller, of German and
Scotch descent, was married to Mary Ann Carlton, of
English descent. They lived at New Hope, Wilkes
County, North Carolina, until October, 1865, when he
sold 'his farm and moved with his family across the Blue
Ridge Mountains into the adjoining county of Ashe.
The War had just closed, leaving the county in an ap
palling condition of poverty and disorganization. Al
though himself unable on account of ill health to bear
arms, Mr. Eller had risked his life repeatedly in the
discharge of duties placed upon him by the State,
which had entrusted to him the distribution of supplies
to the families of soldiers in active service. As the
War drew to a close, many of the mountaineers, hav
ing no personal interests at stake and caring nothing
for the principles involved, deserted their commands
and, returning to their homes, organized bands of
"bushwhackers" for the purpose of robbing and ter
rorizing honest and loyal citizens. Since he was in
honor bound to withhold supplies from the families of
deserters, Mr. Eller became a marked man. His house
and farm were plundered again and again, even while
he was dangerously ill with typhoid fever; and the
lives of his wife and children were endangered not
once, but many times. More than once the "bush
whackers" came to his home with the avowed intention
of killing him, and but for the unflinching devotion of
a slave who, with a dozen muskets firing at a target

12 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
held in his hand, refused to betray his master's hiding
place, they would, doubtless, have succeeded in their
aim. After the close of the War Mr. Eller declared
that he could no longer endure to live among men
whose actions had shown such an utter disregard for
the principles that were dearer than life to him.
His new home was situated at Berlin, near the
junction of Horse Creek with the North Fork of New
River in the extreme northwestern corner of the State.
For natural beauty and variety of scenery and wonder
ful fertility of soil this section of the State is without
a superior in the South. The following description
taken from "A Mountain Sketch,"written by John
Eller at the beginning of his Sophomore year at the
State University, does not in any particular exaggerate
the truth :
"The streams of Western North Carolina are the
most defiant of truants ; laughingly they leap down their
mountain sides and break away from their native
state through rugged rock and lofty mountain top to
pay tribute to the 'Father of Waters.' And of these
one of the most elusive and petulant is New River,
rising in Watauga and saucily winding its way through
Ashe and Alleghany into Virginia and emptying into
the Great Kanawha. . . .
"Before us is spread out one vast panorama of
mountain, hill, and valley alternating with river, creek,
and rill. The scene is constantly varying as the shad
ows chase each other over field and forest and the
clouds mantle the crests of the distant mountains in
an extraordinary maze of lovely light. One ever-
changing, variegated mosaic of animated color is pre
sented to the eye. The dark green of the primeval
forest gently softens into the lighter colors of grass

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 13
and grain; grey bluffs, crowned with pine and laurel,
overlook transparent waters whose glassy surface is
Nature's true mirror, save when it leaps and swirls
into a thousand fantastic colors and forms, everchang-
ing and yet the same. . . .
"The people of this region seem to partake of that
independence displayed by their mountain streams.
It is a sturdy yeomanry, rugged and strong in its sim
plicity, but terrible when aroused to a sense of injus
tice and wrong. King's Mountain was won by this
class of people; and many incidents are yet preserved
in their traditions worthy a place with those recorded
of the noble Greek or the heroic Swiss."
At Berlin were born the two subjects of this sketch,
Franklin Plato and John Carlton Eller. They were
the youngest of Mr. Filer's seven children who reached
maturity, six boys and one girl. The greatest desire
of Mr. Eller and his wife, in striking contrast with the
parental ambitions of most of their neighbors, was to
see their children all well educated. In the "hard
times" which followed the War this was an undertak
ing of the greatest difficulty. We who live at a time
when any young man of intelligence and determination
can educate himself do not realize how difficult it actu
ally was. A long and bitter War, leaving devastation
and ruin in its wake, had just closed only to be fol
lowed by the black era of the Reconstruction, which
blighted the hopes of the brave people for a speedy
recovery from the effects of the War and almost im
poverished the State. The State system of public
schools was one of the poorest in the Union. Schools
of every description, from the public school to the
University, were few, inefficient, and expensive. It
was almost impossible for the average young man to

14 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
obtain either the money or the preparation necessary
to enter a school of high standing. This was especially
true of the mountain section in which Mr. Eller lived.
His own health was very poor. His home was forty-
five miles from the nearest railroad; and it was only
with the greatest difficulty that farm products could
be hauled over the rough mountain roads to a market.
Others would have given up ; it was not so with him
and his devoted wife. By his own efforts, aided by
the assistance of an intelligent father, he had in a
measure made amends for the lack of a systematic
education in himself; and this enabled him to direct
his children in their studies at home. Being an intel
ligent and discriminating reader himself, he encour
aged them to read not many books, but good books and
to read carefully and thoughtfully.
His only daughter, Ruth (since married to D. S.
Hubbell, a Baptist minister of Virginia) , was sent for
a year to a boarding school and then to a woman's
college in Bristol; and she, in turn, stimulated and
directed the intellectual aspirations of her younger
brothers. All of the boys were sent off to school, most
of them to Moravian Falls Academy, near Wilkesboro ;
but since it was impossible that all of them should go
to college, three, Augustus, Sidney, and Cicero, volun
tarily relinquished their desires for a University edu
cation and turned their attention to business and prac
tical affairs that others might have the opportunities
which could not be given to all.
In 1881 Adolphus Hill Eller, after a course at the
Moravian Falls Academy, entered the University of
North Carolina. He graduated in 1885, making, in
spite of adverse circumstances, a creditable record, not
only as a student, but as a speaker and writer as well.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 15
After his graduation he studied law and began a suc
cessful career in the practice of his profession in
Winston-Salem. "Plato" and "Johnnie," as they were known at
home, from their earliest years were bent on follow
ing in their brother's footsteps in the pursuit of an
education. Even as children they did not place the
usual exaggerated estimate upon the possession of
toys and money, but spent their pocket change for
books and gave their spare moments to reading and
speaking. Gradually they accumulated a very neat and
select little library, still preserved with tender care by
their parents, consisting chiefly of historical writings,
orations, poetry, and fiction. The numerous notes and
scrapbooks which they left show the remarkable indus
try and intelligence with which they worked. John
was an omnivorous reader, devouring eagerly every
book that he could find. Plato, on the other hand,
from the first, cared nothing for mere learning or for
the lighter kinds of literature, and confined his reading
chiefly to writing that stimulated thought. Nearly
all of his books are therefore works on history, polit
ical economy, oratory, and philosophy. We find a
copy of Guizot's "History of Civilization," with his
name inside, dated 1886. Few young men care for
such heavy reading at seventeen. Most of this read
ing was carried on under disadvantages, on days when
little could be done on the farm or at night after a hard
day's work in the field or store.
In 1887 Plato entered the Moravian Falls Academy.
He at once joined the Philomathic Literary Society
and participated eagerly in all its transactions. As a
boy he had tramped for miles over hills covered with
snow and across rivers filled with ice for a chance to

16 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
speak at a debate. And his success as a speaker had
been equal to his determination to succeed. More
than once, we are told, he and a friend had challenged
the entire club to speak against them, and they had
never failed to hold their own. At Moravian Falls he
was recognized as an able debater; and the logic and
fire of his debates there would do credit to many a
more experienced speaker. At the end of the session
he delivered an oration on "The Necessity of Concen
tration of Thought and Labor." The title is signifi
cant, for it shows that thus early he was directing all
his energies to the attainment of a definite ideal, which
until his death he pursued with unswerving singleness
of purpose. His one ambition was to be able, by force
of intellect, power of personality, and nobility of char
acter, to master men for the advancement of truth
and righteousness. The devotion to this ideal which
his life henceforth was to show is seen in the follow
ing extract from the oration mentioned above : "While
in school, make it an aim of your life to enter with
your whole soul into your study ; and then when these
scenes here are exchanged for those of your future
calling, have an eye single for the leadership of some
occupation. 'In the vocabulary of youth which fate
reserves for a noble manhood there should be no such
word as fail.' "
In August, 1889, Plato entered the Freshman Class
of the University of North Carolina. Here, as at the
Academy, he never allowed outside interests or the
demands of class work to swerve him from the one
purpose of his life. At first he gave most of his time
to his text-books, and for the first year his grades were,
in spite of a comparatively hurried preparation, very
creditable indeed. But he never cared a straw for

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 17
high grades or for mere learning as such. On his
monthly report for May, 1891, we find the following,
written by some member of the University Faculty:
"Works so hard on preparing speeches that he impairs
text-book work. Very successful speaker." In the
class work which he found directly useful for his pur
pose he did well; his grades on English and History
are uniformly excellent. In some others he was con
tent with merely passing; he was concentrating his
thought and attention on things that were, to him, of
much greater importance.
In accordance with the long established custom
that students from the western part of the State should
join the Dialectic Society and those from the eastern
half the Philanthropic, Plato had joined the former
and become a faithful and enthusiastic member.
He was still an incessant reader of the same kind of
books that had interested him as a boy. As a thinker
he was, so one of his college acquaintances, now a
prominent lawyer in one of the first cities of the State,
says of him, "the peer of any man in the University,"
and he was so regarded by both faculty and students.
Whenever he rose to speak upon any topic, he had the
undivided attention of all, for they knew that so far as
thought and investigation could go he had exhausted
it; and it was this assurance of the right combined
with the deepest earnestness that gave his words a
power rarely felt in the speeches of undergraduates.
The confidence which students and faculty placed in
him was remarkable. One of his bosom friends, a
leader in the class above him, says : "We led the stu
dent body with us. Our views were always the same,
and because he espoused and championed them I al
ways beheved we were right. Although he never strug-

18 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
gled for college honors, he obtained unsought almost
every honor in the power of Ms class and society to
give. He was twice representative of the Dialectic
Society in an inter-society debate ; he was the president
of the Society; he was elected first editor of the Uni
versity Magazine from his Society for 1892-3 ; he was
elected first representative of his society for the inter-
society oratorical contest at the Commencement of
1892; and he was for three years president of his
class, '93, an honor which he still held at his death.
Besides these, he was the winner of the Best Debater's
Medal in the Di Society in his Sophomore year, an
honor which few but Juniors and Seniors contested
for. That his head was not turned by these honors
and that he never lost his simplicity of manner and
sympathetic interest in those less fortunate, we have
the unanimous testimony of his college friends to
show. During his first vacation Plato worked on his fath
er's farm, still continuing to read late at night in spite
of the fatigue that necessarily followed nine months
of sedentary life. In the next summer, the last he
ever spent at home, he was principal of the Liberty
Hill Academy at Nathan's Creek, in Ashe County. In
this summer also he delivered the commencement ad
dress at Belle View Academy, in Alleghany County.
Local tradition still preserves the memory of this
speech; and competent judges, men who had heard the
greatest of North Carolina orators, have, long since
then, not hesitated to affirm that they never heard a
more eloquent address or saw a speaker more com
pletely master his audience.
During this summer he was necessarily away from
home a great part of the time, a fact which his parents

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 19
have ever since regretted because this was his last
summer at home. He too, although he did not men
tion it, seems to have felt that Uhis might be the last.
And the following poem of Tennyson, in a copy of
that Poet's works belonging to the family, is marked
by him in a way that indicates a depth of emotion on
his part akin to a premonition that he would never
again see his relatives and his home by the side of the
beautiful river that he loved :
"Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be.
Forever and forever.
"Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shaU be.
Forever and forever.
"But here will sigh thine alder-tree.
And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee.
Forever and forever.
"A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my step shall be.
Forever and forever."
The subject of the oration which Plato prepared for
the oratorical contest at the close of his Junior year
was "Institutions the Result of Growth." His choice
of the subject was the result of an investigation under
taken for Professor H. H. Williams. The investiga
tion was to lead to a thesis on "The Law of Growth."
The thesis was never finished, and the oration, though
completed and later printed in pamphlet form, was des-

20 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
fined never to be delivered. The work which Plato
gave to the preparation of this speech was probably in
no small degree the cause of the illness which resulted
in his death. Late in May he was seized with what
was supposed to be only an obstinate case of malaria.
His brother, A. H. Eller, was summoned from Win
ston when it was found that he did not improve; and
it was soon found that he was sufifering from an attack
of typhoid fever.
His brother procured the best medical attention ob
tainable and remained constantly at his bedside. While
Plato was lying ill, the Commencement began and the
oratorical contest in which he was to participate came
ofif. It had been generally conceded that he would win
the Medal ; and, indeed. President Winston, in explain
ing the absence of the first speaker on the program,
said that Plato Eller was "the best speaker in the Uni
versity." But no word of murmuring or complaint
escaped his lips. An intimate friend, also a contestant
for the Medal, says : "I remember how he wished to
hear my oration,, saying nothing of the inability to
deliver his own." The Medal was won by Mr. F. C.
Harding, a member of the Philanthropic Society and
a close friend of Plato. The victor in the contest took
the beautiful trophy to the bedside of his friend and in
words that show at once his high opinion of Plato as
a speaker and the unselfishness of his own character,
said : "Here, Eller, this is yours ; you would have won
it if you could have spoken that speech."
There is no need to prolong the sad story further.
In spite of the careful attention of physician and
nurses, in spite of the unceasing prayers of relatives
and friends, which at one time seemed so nearly an
swered, the disease, so fatal to the robust people of the

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 21
mountains, resulted in death. The course of the fever
once seemed broken, but blood poisoning and other
complications set in, and the ravages of the disease
could not be checked. Plato Eller died in his room in
the Old South Building, on Wednesday, June 15, 1892,
in the twenty-third year of his age. Mr. A. H. Eller,
accompanied by a classmate of the deceased, Mr. How
ard E. Rondthaler, now President of Salem Academy
and College, removed the body to his father's home in
Ashe County. Mr. Rondthaler officiated at the burial
services, and nobly endeavored to comfort the heart
broken farther and mother of his friend.
The keenness of the grief of the parents, brothers,
and sister, can be understood only by those who, like
them, have "loved and lost." It is always sad to see
death, no matter what be the guise in which he comes
or what poor mortal the victim of his dart; but never
so sad, in the language of Edgar Allan Poe, as when
his coming blights the life of the young and beautiful.
"It seems such a waste," a friend wrote twelve years
ago; and the pity of it has only grown greater since
then, for, had he lived, he would now be in the full
flower of usefulness and strength. His parents had
struggled as few parents have struggled to give their
son the means of an education. Their own unrealized
ambitions had become entwined with his, and now they
beheld him, so young and so talented, so strong and so
true, at one fell stroke laid low in the dust. Had it
been permitted, they would have chosen rather that
the death-angel should have taken them in his stead.
But the one who found it hardest to realize that Plato
Eller was dead with all his brilliant promise unfulfilled,
was his brother John, so soon to show the same bril-

22 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
liant promise and share the same sad fate. He felt as
Tennyson felt when he wrote after the death of one
whom the aged Gladstone declared to have been the
most promising of all young men he had ever known :
"So many worlds, so much to do.
So little done, such things to be.
How know I what had need of thee.
For thou wert strong as thou wert true ?"
All who attended the burial recall the picture of his
strong young form standing alone at the grave as all
the rest sadly and slowly descended the hill to the
grief-stricken home.
Upon the devoted brother who had tended him in
his last illness the blow, too, was heavy. He had
helped him through college with encouragement, ad
vice, and money, and was looking forward to the day
when he should be associated with him in the practice
of his profession. He had believed that with his
endowments of character and talent he would one
day be a leader in the nation. He has since then
repeatedly said that Plato was the most gifted member
of the family. "Johnnie," said he, "had the culture,
the brilliancy, and the versatility of the family, but
Plato had the intellect; he would have made a great
man." This opinion was shared by all who knew him. An
upper classman who knew him well said seven years
after his death : "He was the soul of honor and a man
of much power and ability; he would certainly have
been a useful citizen had God spared him. I always
thought that he would make a great mark in the State ;
the faculty and entire student body thought so, too;
and everybody respected him." Another college

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 23
friend, now one of the ablest lawyers in the State, said
recently to the writer that Plato Eller had the finest
mind for grasping, applying, and vitalizing abstract
truths that he had ever seen. He would have made, he
thinks with many others, a great statesman or constitu
tional lawyer. This opinion was shared by the Presi
dent of the University, as the following letter written
by him to A. H. Eller will show :
Chapel Hill, N. C, June 24, 1892.
My Dear Mr. Eller: — I cannot tell you how I was grieved
and shocked when I heard of the death of your brother. . . .
Your brother had won my esteem and afiection. I had
watched him very closely, and I regarded him as the most
promising man in the University. He was not the best scholar
nor the best student; but in aU the strong and admirable qual
ities of manhood which are essential to true greatness and to
lasting success, he was as highly gifted as any young man I
ever knew.
His death is a deep blow to me. The University will greatly
miss him, even as a student. I had always believed that he
would one day be a great state, and even a national, leader.
This wound has cut your heart, I know full well. And your
dear Father and Mother — may God in his iufiuite mercy give
them strength to bear it. My heart is bleeding with you. I
cannot understand it. I only know that wherever he is, he is
still a pure, manly, lofty spirit, aspiring to the noblest heights
and making better and happier those around him.
I am, sir, with sincere and profound sorrow.
Your friend, Geo. T. Winston.
If such was the sorrow of a friend, what must have
been that of those still dearer to him ?
The above letter is quoted in this connection not
merely because of the estimate of Plato's character

24 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
and talents which it contains, but rather because it
represents admirably the true Christian attitude toward
death. Although Plato was never a member of any
church, no fears were entertained for his hereafter.
His was a pure, earnest, unselfish life, the purpose of
which was not self-advancement, but the uplifting of
humanity and the dissemination of knowledge and
truth; and if, in the words of John Charles McNeill,
heaven refuses such as he, then "life is
A tragedy indeed."
As an instance of the unselfishness of his character,
we quote the following sentence from a letter of sym
pathy and encouragement written to his brother Cicero
only a few months before his own death: "I wish I
could divide some of my health and vigor with you."
A college friend writes : "His heart was pure and
his life blameless ; I have no fears for his future."
After reading what has been said by those who knew
him, no one will, we trust, think the following inscrip
tion upon the monument erected over the grave of him
whose memory we still love and cherish other than just
and true : "At the close of his third year at the
University, while enjoying the highest
honors in the gift of his Class and Society
and the admiration and affection of Fac
ulty and Student-body his pure, strong,
noble soul passed away.
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."

THE BROTHERS (In Youth)

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 25
introductory Sketch

John Carlton Eller.
Like his older brother, John Carlton Eller (named
Cariton for his mother, Mary Ann Carlton) received
his preparatory training at the Moravian Falls Acad
emy. In a local paper describing the Commencement
he is mentioned as one of the six speakers who debated
the question of Foreign Immigration. The corre
spondent adds: "The boys did very well, Mr. Filer
deserving special mention for his concise and well
expressed argument."
In Augujt, 1892, John entered the Freshman Class
of the University of North Carolina. This class was
an unusually large and brilliant one ; it numbered at this
time one hundred and fifteen members, and it fur
nished more men to the Alpha Theta Phi Society than
any other class up to '98, if not later. On January 19,
1893, John was elected president of his class, an honor
which, like his brother Plato, he was to hold each suc
ceeding year of his stay at the University.
Although John must have thought many times of
the brother who had longed for his companionship at
school, and who would have been his guide and coun
selor in everything, he never allowed his personal sor
rows to cast a gloom over his relations with his fellows.
Once in a letter to his parents in which he mentions
very briefly and modestly his election to the class
presidency, he writes thus : "I long to get home again
and see the last tributes that have been paid to Plato.
I know they are appropriate and give you all a great

26 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
deal of satisfaction. Yet it is such a grief to know
that we must be without his presence on earth. Let
us be content. The feeble eye of mortals cannot
pierce the veil of eternity. One day that veil will be
withdrawn, and we shall see the splendor of Heaven
with the dear boy in its midst."
Unlike Plato, John was ambitious to distinguish
himself as a student ; and from the first he won recog
nition as one of the best students in his class. On his
report sent home at the end of the second term Presi
dent Winston writes : "Mr. Eller has made steady and
very honorable progress. His record is exemplary in
all respects." In the latter part of the book will be
found a complete record of all his grades, copied from
the records of the University. The improvement is
marked, and it continues throughout his entire college
course. But John never became a mere "grind." He
studied hard and made a good record in his classes, as
he wished to do; but he was just as deeply interested
in many other things. The following transcript of
his college career, taken from the Hellenian (class
annual) for 1896, gives some conception of his versa
tility and popularity :
"Eller, John Carlton, Beriin, N. C— 22 years; 165
pounds; 5 feet, 10 indhes; course Ph. B. ; law; presi
dent of class 4 years; representative Di Society Com
mencement 1894; representative Di Society inter-
society debate 1895 ; Debater's Medal Di Society
1895; Essayist's Medal Di Society 1895; Editor of
"White and Blue" in 1894-95 ; Editor of "Tar Heel"
in 1895-96 ; sub ball manager Commencement 1895 ;
undergraduate member of advisory board of athletics
1896 ; undergraduate honors in Freshman, Sophomore,
Junior and Senior years; president of Alpha Theta

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 27
Phi ; Philosophical Club ; Shakespeare Club ; Historical
Society; Di."
John's was almost an ideal record, as Plato's had
been in a different way. Indeed they might be taken
as typical of the two classes of successful college men.
The one pursues a single ideal persistently and untir
ingly, caring nothing for what does not contribute to
its attainment; the other, in the joy he feels in the full
development of all his faculties, would almost seem
like Lord Bacon, to take "all knowledge" for his
province, aiming rather at breadth than depth, at ver
satility rather than power. But the contrast must not
lead us to suppose that the one lacked broad culture
or the other earnestness of purpose. Plato's ideal was
a broad one, and he came to see that almost every field
of knowledge could be made to contribute something
to its attainment; and John, in the midst of his many
interests, came to feel a single purpose gradually dawn
ing upon him, embracing and relating to each other
the many fields of endeavor that had attracted him.
In temperament as in personal appearance, John
resembled his father. He was jolly, affable and affec
tionate. Everybody loved him. He had an abundance
of friends everywhere he went; and at the University
he probably had as many as any young man who ever
entered its doors. There were many whose opinions
on many subjects differed widely from his, who,
nevertheless, in the words of one of them, now a
professor in the University, thought him "a corking
fine fellow ;" and some of the tenderest and most sym
pathetic tributes in this volume are from their hands.
But the affection of his more intimate friends
amounted to devotion; and there are many who, in
the words of an editor-in-chief of the "White and

28 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Blue" to the writer, "thought the world of John
Eller." My personal recollections of "Uncle Johnnie," as
he was known to us of the younger generation, are
very few, but those few are indelible. Two pictures
in my mind stand out with vivid intensity. One is a
picture of his stalwart figure at work in the wheat
field, of the dinner at an old cabin by the river, and of
his laugh as he spoke of his blistered hands. The
other is a picture of the same stalwart figure, the face
wearing an expression of tenderest sadness as he left
home for the last time. He turned backward at the
river, told me to give his love to my father when he
came, cast a last look at "home," and was gone.
As in the lives of most college men, there is not
very much to record of John's Freshman year. About
all that can be said of him here is that he was one of
four or five to carry off undergraduate honors in the
Freshman class — a pretty sure indication that he had
passed safely through this critical period. When he
becomes a Sophomore, however, John comes into
prominence, for in this year the memorable anti-
fraternity fight reached its highest point.
In discussing this rather delicate question of frater
nities, the writer has no desire to revive old issues or
to take sides with either party. His purpose is simply
to discover the part which this series of events played
in the life and development of John Carlton Eller. To
those who are unfamiliar with college politics, it will
all, perhaps, seem "a tempest in a tea-pot;" but it is in
such miniature contests as these that North Carolina's
greatest statesmen have been trained — as the Duke of
Wellington said while witnessing a football game at

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 29
Eton, "There is where the Battle of Waterloo was
won." When he entered the University John had no preju
dice against college fraternities or secret orders of any
description. His father and several of his older
brothers were Masons and Odd Fellows, and one of
his brothers, A. H. Eller, had been a member of one
of the strongest fraternities in the University. John
might, then, naturally have been expected to become a
fraternityman. The reason why he was none was not
that he was in any way different from his brothers,
but that he believed that there had been a change in
the nature of the fraternities themselves. His paper
on "The College Fraternity," contained in this volume,
states the issue clearly and forcibly as he and his non-
fraternity friends saw it. They believed that they
were not receiving their rights, and knowing that they
numbered in their ranks many, if not most, of the
ablest men in the University, they determined to fight
till they won them.
As a means of pressing the fight to a crisis, the non-
fraternitymen, in the spring of 1894, began the publi
cation of a weekly paper. It was called "The White
and Blue," white and blue being the University colors.
The new paper was to be thoroughly representative of
the true University spirit as its founders conceived it ;
and it was to foster every worthy department of the
University's life. This purpose is stated in an edito
rial for September 14, 1894:
"We shall use our best endeavors to help the literary
societies, the Glee Club, the Y. M. C. A. — everything
pertaining to the University ; and in this the true Uni
versity spirit we ask those who have the University's
interests at heart to lend us their undivided support."

30 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
From this it will be seen that the purpose of the
paper was somewhat broader and its spirit perhaps
more democratic than that of the "Tar Heel," another
college weekly, the organ of the Athletic Association,
which, so the non-fraternitymen alleged, was con
trolled by the fraternities.
The editorial board of "The White and Blue" num
bered among its members not only some of the best
students and writers in the University, but men who
have since achieved State, and even National, fame.
The editorial staff as announced in the first issue of
the paper, March 8, 1894, appears elsewhere in this
volume. Among them we find an editor and author, the trans
lator of Vondel's "Lucifer," three lawyers of great
ability, an associate professor in the University, a pro
fessor in the Normal and Industrial College at Greens
boro, a very successful business man, and the present
brilliant Washington correspondent of the "Charlotte
Observer." These men were not only intellectually among the
ablest in the University; they were aggressive and
were sure that they were right. They would have
fought the issue to a finish but for a request from the
trustees that all agitation of the question in the college
papers should be abandoned. As it was, considerable
interest had been aroused throughout the State, and a
number of the alumni, teachers, and trustees of the
University had declared that they sided with the non-
fraternitymen. It was the aim of the leaders to bring
the matter before the trustees and induce them to abol
ish the fraternities. The trustees held a meeting in
June, 1894, to consider the matter. The result of this
meeting was not very satisfactory to either party.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 31
The trustees, fearing that the agitation would injure
the University in some way and perhaps lead to the
withdrawal of the State appropriation, requested' the
editors of the two papers to cease all discussion of the
question. They then appointed a committee of five
trustees to investigate the matter and report to them at
their next meeting.
This meeting was held in the Governor's office at
Raleigh in February, 1895 ; the Governor as ex officio
president of the trustees presided over the meeting.
John was the spokesman of a committee elected by
the non-fraternitymen to represent them on this occa
sion. Mr. Fabius H. Busbee, until his death a year
ago a trustee of the University and one of the most
talented lawyers in the State, writes thus of John's
speech in a letter to A. H. Eller: "Permit me to add
that I heard your brother represent before the trustees
a committee of the students, and was greatly struck
by the precision of his language and the force of his
delivery;" and he adds, "His lamentable death was a
source of very deep regret to me."
The trustees deemed it unwise to take so radical a
step as the abolition of fraternities. They, however,
decreed that no member of the Freshman Class should
be admitted to membership in a fraternity. Although
the issue had not been fought to a finish and although
they had not obtained all that they had contended for,
the non-fraternitymen felt that they had won a decided
victory. They now, in February, 1895, accepted the
proposal (once rejected) of the Athletic Association
that the two papers should be consolidated to form a
new one. The new paper was to be called the "Tar
Heel;" and of its staff of eight editors four were
chosen from the editorial board of the "White and

32 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Blue," John being one of the four chosen. Ever since
this combination of the two factions the spirit of the
student body, in spite of its growth in numbers, has
been more democratic. College sentiment has been
broader and college spirit truer since that day. The
opposition to fraternities has not yet ceased; it will,
perhaps, never wholly cease; but a division of power
and influence has been established that renders it un
likely that so bitter a fight will ever occur again.
It is worthy of notice that in this fight John made
no personal enemies. As a friend says of him, "He
fought his battles open-handed and above board, and
consequently his bitterest enemies were his strongest
friends." His differences with them were differences
of opinion, and he never allowed them to influence him
in his relation with his fellow-students. His paper on
"The College Fraternity" shows that he saw more
deeply into the nature of the issue than most of his
friends. He saw that the fight against fraternities
was only a part of the "eternal struggle of the individ
ual against the organization." He believed that his
brother Plato, who had also in his own conservative
way fought for the literary societies as opposed to the
fraternities, touched the heart of the principle involved
when he said : "No institution can be mathematically
constructed, fitly jointed and bolted together, so as to
bid defiance to decay and change ; they must be his
torically evolved from the people's life and periodically
adjusted to the wants and necessities of the time, so
that, growing with the transmitted vitalities of the
past, they shall be elastic with the living blood of the
present." John saw also, as some of his friends failed
to see, that the fraternityman and the non-fraternity-
man represent two distinct and abiding classes of men.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 33
"The fraternityman represents largely the idea of
absolutism, of loyalty to party, of submergence of the
individual, and of the supremacy of the organization.
The non-fraternityman stands for individuality."
As editor of the "White and Blue," so the editor-in-
chief testifies, John did his part faithfully and well.
He wrote chiefly editorials and book reviews, exam
ples of which are contained in this volume. But, as
much as he was interested in the success of his paper
and his party, he never lost sight of other interests
equally important; and he still maintained his high
standing in his classes and literary society.
While still a Sophomore, John was elected one of
three representatives of the Dialectic Society for the
inter-society oratorical contest at the Commencement
of 1894. For this occasion he wrote his oration, "A
Plea for American Commerce." The Medal was
awarded to Mr. H. H. Home, of the Philanthropic
Society, now Professor of the History of Education
and Philosophy in New York University and one of
the University's most distinguished alumni.
In his Junior year John was again a representative of
the Di Society, this time in an inter-society debate
with the "Phis" held on March 4, 1895. The repre
sentatives of the Phi Society were Messrs. V. A.
Batchelor and J. O. Carr ; John's colleague was Mr. J.
E. Little. The "Tar Heel" speaks of the debate in
the following terms: "The order of the entire discus
sion was of so high a degree of excellence that special
mention is hardly in place. It is sufficient to add that
so long as the work of the Literary Societies is typi
fied by such productions as these, their relation as a
permanent factor of the University will remain as
fundamental and vital as of yore." The debate was

34 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
won by the "Phis." John's debate is printed in an
other part of this volume.
In 1895 John won the Essayist's Medal in the Di
Society. In April of this year also he won the Best
Debater's Medal in the same Society, being the third
member of the family to win this unusual honor. A
portion of the debate spoken in this contest is also
contained in this volume.
John, as always, spent his last summer at home read
ing and working upon his father's farm. He was the
jolliest and merriest of companions and the most duti
ful and affectionate of sons; and little did his loved
ones at home think, as they beheld him so full of life
and promise, that they should see him in health no
more. And little cause there seemed to think of such
things as he returned to the University, buoyant with
life and hope, to reap yet richer honors than any he
had yet won.
In October, 1895, John became President of the Al
pha Theta Phi Society. This Society had been founded
by Dr. H. C. Tolman, Professor of Greek at the Uni
versity and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
The object of the new organization, as stated in its
constitution, was to "stimulate an increased desire for
sound scholarship" in the University. The Society had
a very useful and honorable place in the life and work
of the University and was finally merged into the
National B. K. Society in 1904. The Greek letters,
Alpha Theta Phi, stood for the Greek motto, "Aletheia
thumou phos," or, in Latin, Veritas aninii lux, both
of which mean "Truth the light of the mind." The
badge of the Society (see cut, p. 74) was a triangular
shield in the shape of the Greek letter Delta. This letter
stood for duo, the Greek word two; and "two" (90 to

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 35
95 per cent.) was the grade required for admission
to membership. Since the exact percentage of the
grades was never reported, the grade required, when
all the marks were averaged, was not 90, but 92J4
per cent. The president and secretary of the Society
were those members of the Senior Class whose grades
throughout their college course had been highest. As
already stated, the class of '96 was an unusually bril
liant class. It furnished eight members to the Society,
while the class of '94 had only one representative, the
class of '95 only two, and the class of '97 only six.
John was justly proud of being the first honor man in
his class; and his record after election shows not,
as has sometimes been the case, a decline in scholar
ship, but a steady improvement to the very end.
Soon after Christmas, 1895, a joint debate with the
University of Virginia was proposed; and tentative
arrangements were made that the debate should be
held in Charlottesville in April or May; but owing to
inability to agree upon terms the contest never came
off. John was elected by the Di Society as its strong
est representative for the debate; and he gave up his
position on the "Tar Heel" to prepare his speech. He
would have enjoyed the debate and would have ac
quitted himself well, for he loved a contest, and the
two Universities had long been rivals for athletic and
literary honors. When the joint debate was first pro
posed, the "Tar Heel" had said : "With such able rep
resentatives as Herman Harrell Home and John C.
Eller, we should be sure of a victory whether this
'literary contest' be waged in Virginia or Carolina."
During the spring of 1896, as his college career was
rapidly drawing to a close, John thought much of
what he should do after graduation; for he had never

36 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
definitely decided what vocation in life he should pur
sue. He had already some time before this, refused a
chance to enter West Point offered him by Colonel W.
H. H. Cowles, representative in Congress from north
western North Carolina. Once he seems to have
thought of attempting journalism, having, like his co-
editor, Mr. H. E. C. Bryant, learned its fascination on
the staff of the "White and Blue;" and there is still
extant a letter from Mr. Josephus Daniels, in which
he states that, much to his regret, there is no position
on the staff of the "Raleigh News and Observer" which
he could offer him. For a time John thought of re
turning to Chapel Hill to study law, as he long in
tended to do, even if he should never practice it; but
his college expenses had burdened his parents so heav
ily that he decided to teach. The great ambition of
his heart was to study political economy and other sub
jects related to law in one of the great Northern Uni
versities. The authorities at Harvard wrote him that
they would admit him to the Senior Class to graduate
if he did "well in five approved courses," and with his
brother's promise of assistance this was what he
finally decided to do. Just what vocation in life John
would have followed had he lived is not known. His
father has always thought that eventually he would
probably have become a writer ; some of his college
mates predicted for him a brilliant career as a leader
of men in law, or politics, or journalism.
It was during this spring that John wrote his thesis
on "What Is Morality?" The subject had interested
him for some time. Like most eager, intelligent stu
dents, John passed through a period of religious
unrest. His poem, "The Doubter," probably written
at this time, shows that he assumed the noblest attitude

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 17
toward the questions that beset him. He did not be
come disheartened and throw his opinions to the winds,
replacing them by new ones borrowed from others;
but he calmly, hopefully, and untiringly sought the
solution of his difficulties ; and this carefully prepared
work proves that, for himlself at least, he had found it.
In view of his interest in the study of moral and
religious questions, we are not surprised to find John
attempting to use the material he had collected as the
basis of a commencement oration. As first written,
this oration was entitled "Morality and Life." He
spoke this in the preliminary contest held to select the
six best speakers of the Senior Class to take part in
the annual commencement contest for the Willie P.
Mangum Medal for Oratory. The "Tar Heel" says of
this prelimiinary contest : "As to the speeches, they were
of a higher average than we have ever known in preced
ing contests; and we are sure that our Senior Orators
will not fail to win the admiration of a Commencement
audience as well as the respect of Vice-President Ste
venson himself" (Who bad been invited to deliver the
annual commencement address).
John decided just before the preliminary contest that
his oration still too closely resembled a thesis to suc
ceed as a popular oration. He therefore rewrote it en
tire and at his brother's suggestion gave it a new title,
"Man's Inhumanity to Man." In the writings of his
which we have included in the present volume, we have
given this oration the place of honor, because we be
lieve that, in spite of the very limited time in which it
was written, it represents his highest achievement,
both in expression and in thought.
As John had foreseen, the real contest for the Medal
lay between himself and a brilliant young orator of

38 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
the Philanthropic Society, Mr. Richard Gold Alls-
brook. John believed that in thought at least he had
the better speech; but he realized that his oration
would not appeal to the Commencement audience as
would his rival's speech on "The Christian State." He
felt handicapped also by the weakness of his voice (he
had been somewhat troubled with tonsilitis) when
matched against the magnificently full and powerful
voice of his competitor. But when the Medal was
awarded to Mr. Allsbrook, although one of the three
judges had held out for him to the last, he concealed
his disappointment and joined in the congratulations
showered upon the victor. He felt that with the hon
ors he had already won, the presidency of his class and
of the Alpha Theta Phi Society and the magna cum
laude with which he had received the degree of Bache
lor of Philosophy, he might well be content.
When he had spoken the last words of the Class
Farewell and, after bidding his friends good-bye, had
started for home with his brother, who had come from
Winston to see him graduate, there was none perhaps
to whom the thought occurred that the brilliant future
which seemed so certain for him was destined never to
have its realization on earth. The good-byes of his
friends may have recalled to John's mind a poem
which his friend and co-editor of the "White and
Blue," Mr. Henry A. Grady, had written on bidding
farewell to the University some time before :
"TO MY FRIENDS ELLER AND SHARPE."
Farewell, farewell forever, boys;
The hours roll on towards day;
When night shall come again, boys,
I'll be far, far away.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 39
"'T'is hard to leave you now, boys,
For Friendship cannot die;
And yet the tear we smother here
Bespeaks a deeper tie.
" 'Tis love that binds us here, boys,
'Tis love I bear away;
And though I leave you now, boys,
I'll come another day.
"Perhaps that day is distant, boys,
Perhaps the heavenly light
Will meet our view when we renew
The bond we break to-night."
The last stanza seems like a presentiment of coming
death. John said later that it was during the last days
of Commencement that he felt the first touch of the
fever that was to prove fatal to him, as to his brother
before him. The labor spent in the preparation of his
oration probably overtaxed his constitution and made
him an easier prey to disease. Accompanied by his
brother, he arrived at his father's home in Ashe about
the seventh of June. He continued to grow worse, and
the second day he was compelled to take to the bed
from which he was never to rise again. The attention
of physician, of parents, of brothers, and of the only
sister, who had come home to assist in the nursing,
were all in vain. An a'ward of a two 'hundred dollar
scholarship from Harvard University that came while he
was lying ill seemed to cheer him for only a moment,
and so, too, letters from devoted college friends, and
the following sympathetic letter from President Win
ston to his brother, showing a tie binding teacher and
pupil seldom paralleled :

40 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
PRESIDENT G. T. WINSTON TO A. H. ELLER.
Chapel Hill, N. C, June 27, 1896.
My Dear Eller: — 1 have been grieved beyond words to
hear of your brother's illness with fever. He was looking tired
and run down at Commencement, and I felt some solicitude for
him; but I never entertained the awful thought that he would
have fever. Please give him my love. Tell him to keep up hope.
Tell him that he and I shall need to stand side by side again
and fight some larger battles together for manhood and free
dom, even as we have fought together before.
No student that I ever taught has interested me more than
John. Pardon me for saying that I have regarded him as the
flower of your family, and I watched him with such friendly
interest and solicitude. He is needed in North Carolina. He
will get well, I feel it. Give my love and sympathy to your dear
Father and Mother, w^hom I have never seen, but whom I feel
as if I knew well. I shall be with you by that precious bedside
every day. I shall see their boy and my boy lying there strug
gling for life, and I shall long day by day for news that he is
past the crisis. May God bless and heal him. Give him my
love. G. T.W.
The rest of the story is soon told ; it is but a repeti
tion of the first heartrending tragedy. John Carlton
Eller died on the fourth of July, 1896, in the twenty-
third year of his age, as widely and as sincerely
mourned as any young man who ever went out from
the dear old University that 'he loved. He was laid
to rest beside his brother in the little family burying
ground (see frontispiece) that crowns the hill at the
foot of old Phoenix Mountain, overlooking their child
hood home and the beautiful river beside it. On the
east (front) side of the monument placed over his
grave are his name, the names of his parents, and the
dates of his birth and death. On the north side is the
following extract from his Senior oration, expressing

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 41
the guiding principle of his life: "The Golden Rule
shall yet reign supreme as the basal law of human life,
the rich revelation that crowns the freedom of man."
On the south are the closing words of the Class Fare
well, words of hope and cheer that for the class seem
almost prophetic, but for him w'ho spoke them full of
tragic irony :
"May each one of us carve enduring figures of
righteous achievement on the tablet of his time, and
live a beacon-life of manliness and power."
On the west is written : "President of the Class of
1896, U. N. C, where he graduated first in ability, first
in honor, and first in the hearts of all."
The grief of father and mother was almost unbear
able, for this second stroke of the Destroyer recalled
in all of its bitterness the grief of four years before.
One does not wonder if for a time life seemed no
longer worth living. Truly it seemed that, in the
language of the great English poet,
"the good die first,
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust
Burn to the socket."
With the burial of those that they had loved and
lived for, home seemed home no longer — ^but their faith
in the essential nobleness of life and in the all-wise
providence of Him who ordained it has remained un
shaken; and they find peace in the assurance that the
unfulfilled promise of those whom they love has its
own blessed realization in a happier world, and that
the sacrifices made that they might be trained for use
fulness here render their life beyond the grave larger
and sweeter and truer.

42 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
In silent majesty the mountain stands
Serene and kinglike in his robes of blue;
The river, like a queen, falls round his feet.
Embracing each loved feature with her hands;
In fields with summer's choicest blossoms strewn
The song-birds chant their hymns of joy and peace;
The sky is pure, without a stain save one.
As, winding down yon silver stream, a cloud
Lets fall its own dark shadow on two stones
That stand like Death beside the gates of Heaven,
The one dark blot upon a perfect scene.
What mean those pale and stern death-tokens here?
Two noble sons, sprung from the mountain soil.
Radiant with hope and promise, lie at rest
Beneath their native sod. The love of truth.
Of liberty, and right, the mountain's strength,
The river's yielding softness, and the grand
All-mastering eloquence of Nature's voice
Grew in them as they grew. The eldest first,
With single eye and steadfast heart and hand.
Went forth to join those dauntless few vrho seek,
Like knights of old, the Grail of holiest truth.
Honors that came unsought, pleasure, nor pain
Could turn him from that sacred quest till Death
Came, like a thief by night; then lifeless fell
The outstretched hand that all but touched the goal.
The youngest, bright and merry as a girl.
But strong and true as David, went alone
To fight his battles where his brother fell;
And won them but to lay his laurels down
Before his mother's feet, — and fall, like him,
Death's victim — dead beside the open gate
Of life and hope. Why thus the good alone
'Die young,' the bad who cannot live, survive.
Hopeless we ask of thee, stern Fate, and hear

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 43
A still voice answering from each hill and stream;
'Tis Nature's voice, or God's perchance, that speaks:
"Peace, peace, all ye that mourn! It is not death;
In fields where gleams the light eternal, there
Their happy lot is cast. They still uplift
The fallen, cheer the faint, assist the strong
In every battle waged for truth and right.
Their memory yet shall cheer the hearts of men
To loftier heights of nobleness and power."
The cloud has faded into nothingness;
Serene and kinglike, still the mountain stands
Beside his post of old; the birds still chant
Their hymns of peace and joy; the river's voice
Laughingly murmurs, like a sleeping child,
Of rest and peace within the boundless sea. J. B. H.

44 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER

lFntro6ttctlon to Cetters anb (Srlbutes
The following letters and tributes are included in
this volume because we wish them preserved in perma
nent form that friends and relatives may read them.
It is our earnest wish that they may stimulate those
who never knew our loved ones as their college asso
ciates knew them, to emulate them in lofty purpose and
noble achievement.
As this book is printed for distribution only among
relatives and friends, it has not been thought necessary
to ask the permission of all the authors in printing them.
Indeed, this could not have been done, for the ad
dresses of some of them were unknown or unobtain
able in the short time in which this volume Was pre
pared. Nothing but voluntary tributes are found in this
book. A few intimate college friends were allowed
the privilege of writing short tributes; but in no case
was there a request for a contribution.
On account of the necessary requirements of space
and suitability for inclusion in this volume, many let
ters have been omitted or represented only by extracts.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 45
tributes anb TLetters 'pertaining to t^e TLlfe
anb Character of "y. "Plato TEUer

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT.
Chapel Hill, N. C, October 18, 1892.
We, the fellow-classmates of our late deceased
friend, Franklin Plato Eller, of Berlin, Ashe County,
North Carolina, desiring to put forth to the public and
his family some manifestation of the great loss and
sorrow we suffered in his death on June 15 at this
University, do adopt the following resolutions :
First, That in 'his death our Class suffered the severe
loss of one of its brightest members and one whose
friendship and kindly presence will be adhingly missed ;
Second, That 'his purity of life, his gentlemanly con
duct, and manly character while among us elicited only
our highest esteem ;
Third, That we, his friends and classmates, will long
bear in mind the (high example of his life and remember
his absence from among us with that regret which sor
row occasions ;
Fourth, That we extend our deepest sympathy to
those upon Whom the cruel blow 'of his death fell most
heavily, begging them to draw consolation from the
fact that his life was a worthy one ;
Fifth, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the
family of our late friend and that they be printed in
the Raleigh News and Observer, the Winston Daily
Sentinel, and the Charlotte Observer.
Howard E. Rondthaler,
F. C. Harding,
Victor Hugh Boyden,
Committee of the Class of '93.

46 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
With this tribute of respect the parents received the
following letter from Victor Hugh Boyden, 'Who was
elected president of the Class of '93 to succeed Plato
Eller :
I enclose you by this mail Resolutions of Respect,
to the memlory of your late son, passed by his class.
As president of the class let me assure you that they
express but poorly the deep sympathy Whidh we feel
for yourself and wife, and the loss we endured in his
death. I am, with the highest esteem.
Very respectfully yours,
Victor Hugh Boyden.

KEMP P. BATTLE, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND EX-
PRjBSI'DENT of the UNIVERSITY, TO
A. H. ELLER. June, 1892.
My Dear Mr. EllER: — I do not recall a better or
more promising student than your brother. I was very
proud of him and looked forward to the time when he
would be an honor to the University among the lead
ing men of the country. God wills it otherwise. He
needs him around his throne. We shall understand it
all some day. You and his parents have my profound-
est sympathy. May God grant balm to your wounded
spirits !
I went up almost every day to enquire about your
brother, but feared that company would be an evil to
him. I mudh regretted that I could do nothing for
him. I would like to know your parents better. The good
training Shown by their two children Whom I have seen,
convinces me that they are very superior people.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 47
Please assure them of my warmest condolence in their
bereavement. Tell them that Franklin was a "talent"
lent them by the Almighty, the good King. They 'have
restored this talent to the King doubled and trebled by
their faithful care. They have earned the glorious
plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Sincerely yours,
Kemp P. Battle.

PROFESSOR H. H. WILLIAMS TO A. H. ELLER.
Chapel Hill, N. C, October 1, '97.
My Dear Sir : — I am glad you have in mind to write
of your two brothers. It is a fitting thing to be done ;
in fact, I have not adjusted myself to the facts; it
seems such a waste. F. P. Eller was engaged upon a
thesis for me when he was taken ill. The speech was
an application of the ideas worked 'out for the thesis.
The thesis was never finished. And this was the only
writing he did for me. I should 'be glad to see the
speech printed entire. It has been done some time
since I 'have read it, but I recall that it limpressed me as
being uncommonly strong and clear. It is the sort of
speech that sets one thinking. With best wishes, I am,
Sincerely yours,
H. H. Williams.

EXTRACT FIROM A LETTER FROM PRESIDENT G. T.
WINSTON TO JAMES ELLER.
September 30, 1894.
Since my connection with the University nothing has
given me more pleasure than my very agreeable rela
tions with your sons ; and nothing has grieved me more

48 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
than the untimely death of your gifted boy, who so
often charmed us all by his powerful gifts as a debater.
I doubt not God is using him to nobler purposes and is
making radiant his splendid talents.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF DR. R. H. WHITE
HEAD, ATTENDING PHYSICIAN TO A. H. ELLER.
The death of your brother was a very sad thing to
me personally, and a loss to the University. He had
the unqualified admiration of both students and fac
ulty. The death of such young men as he was is al
ways a public calamity. I would be glad if you would
express to his parents my sincere sympathy with them.

T. J. COOPER TO A. H. ELLER.
Murphy, N. C, June 21, '92.
Dear Mr. EllEr: — Imagine my grief and surprise
when I learned the sad news. I had just written you
a long congratulatory letter on his rapid improvement
inviting you both to visit me while he recuperated. I
leave you to conjecture how deeply I feel and how
much I sympathize with you and those others he held
dearer than myself.
He was my room mate and my friend — ^perhaps the
truest I had in the University — ^certainly the most
esteemed. We affiliated more or less while we were
freshmen ; then I dropped out a year ; and last year we
both returned and became associated in all our little
college matters, adhering to the sam'e principles and
sharing the sam'e fortunes. And in all things he
proved worthy the highest confidence and the greatest
reward. I had the utmost respect for his opinions,
and was 'often guided by his sober judgment when my

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 49
own implusive nature would have precipitated me into
difficulties. I wish I could say something to console
you ; but all that I could say would but magnify your
loss and aggravate your sorrow — I have nothing but
praises for him. Your sincere friend,
T. J. Cooper.

F. C. HARDING TO MR. AND MRS. JAMES ELLER.
Greenville, N. C, June 19, 1892.
My Dear Sir and Madam : — I have just received
letters from the University announcng the death of
your son. I am deeply grieved by his death. He was
my dearest friend and classmate at the University ; and
our college and social relations while there made me
feel more closely bound to him than to any other mem
ber of our class. He was almost like a brother to me.
I knew him in the class room, I knew him outside of
the college walls as he mingled among the people of the
village, and, best of all, I knew him as 'he was in his
own private room ; it was there that I learned his true
nature, and it was there that I learned to regard him
with that unchanging friendship which so strongly
bound us together.
We were intimately associated together during our
whole career at the University, and especially so during
the last year. We were society representatives at the
same time, and only a few weeks ago we were both
elected as first editors of the University Magazine, he
from the Di Society and myself from the Phi ; and in
many other instances we were intimately associated to
gether. I honestly believe I knew him better than any
one else knew him, and I told my mother before I
heard of his death, that F. P. Eller was my ideal gen-

50 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
tleman, for there was no one who possessed more
splendid qualities of character than he. He was a
true, noble m'an and was always actuated by the very
highest sense of honor.
I truly sympathize with you in your sorrow. I feel
that I have lost my dearest friend from my class.
With tenderest sympathy, I am,
Very truly yours,
F. C. Harding.

PLATO COLLINS TO A. H. EDLEE.
KiNSTON, N. C, June 30, 1892.
My Dear Sir : — I have been intending to write you
a letter since the fifteenth of June, but have thought it
best to wait a few days. In the loss of your brother,
F. P. Eller, I sincerely sympathize with you and share
your sorrow in no small degree. I knew him inti
mately as a friend, but I felt that I was an adopted
brother of his. F. C. Harding, F. P. Eller, and I were
a trio of friends, almost brothers. I am proud that I
was the friend of so noble a young man. I say with
out hesitation that he and Harding are the noblest,
truest young men I have ever known. I loved him be
cause he would 'have died fighting for his convictions.
I loved 'him for the heart and noble manhood that was
in him. He was as stalwart in character as he was in
stature. I loved him also for the glorious promise of
his young life. His future seemed so bright. He was
a worker. He labored with diligence, with system for
the accomplishment of his life's noble purpose — 'the
perfection of the highest character and the best
intellect. It seems so strange, so mysterious, that he should be

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 51
cut down when we could have spared so m'any lesser
souls, when we could have spared so many smaller
minds. But Harding wrote me that perhaps it was to
make the heavenly shore brighter and more alluring to
us. Perhaps so ; I know it is to me. Oh, I would give
anything if I could call mine to be with "Eller" an hour,
to sit and talk with 'his soul, as I used to talk to his soul
in his room and in mine, and When walking in Battle's
Park. Believe me When I say that the death of no one
outside of my father and mother could have crushed
me as has the death of my truest and best friend. I
cannot fully realize that he is gone. I am glad my
college days are ended.
When I left him on the second day of June, he would
not let go my hand, and when I turned and saw his
eyes filling, I could not restrain myself any longer, but
burst into tears as a child. We wept together and I
left 'him; the last words I ever heard him utter were,
"Oh, Collins, I hate to see you leave me." If I had
known that I was leaving him forever, I would have
remained with him. •
Only the week before he was stricken down, 'he did
me a service that no one else could have done and
which I would have trusted to no other. Some day I
shall visit his grave if my life is spared. I do not
know your father's and mother's names, but please
convey to them that the heart of his friend mourns
with them the loss of the true and noble boy. I have
never met you, but I feel that I know you because you
are his brother. I heard you at the Alumni banquet
several years ago. Pardon me for presuming to ad
dress you, being a stranger. I am.
Yours in sorrow,
Plato Collins.

52 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
BY H. E. C. BRYANT, EDITOR OF THE CHARLOTTE
DEMOCRAT, ISSUE JULY 16, 1896,
June, four years ago, Mr. Franklin Plato Eller, of
Ashe County, was to represent the Dialectic Society in
an oratorical contest at the University commencement.
He was a rising Junior. All 'his examinations had been
passed and his speech had been prepared. But the day
before the contest Mr. Eller took sick and was not able
to deliver his oration. The commencement exercises
were over and most of the boys went home. No one
dreamed of Filer's dying — but it was only a few days
till death claimed him. Mr. Filer was considered the
best orator that 'had been in the University for years.
He was a talented boy. He was popular both with his
fellow pupils and the faculty. He was the brainy man
of college. It was he who you would first hear of on
entering the University. But alas, just in the prime of
his course he was called to go. The same year in
which 'he died his youngest t>rother, John Carlton Filer,
entered the University.
For four years he led 'his class and won the laurels
in oratorical and debating contests and a few weeks
ago gained his diploma. No boy in college ranked
hig'her than he intellectually. He was a favorite. To
day he lies low in the grave, last Saturday he was taken
from his dear mother. He was her baby, and one to
be proud of.
There is no story sadder than this of the two Eller
boys. They were idols at home and abroad. There
was a sadness in the hearts of hundreds of Chapel Hill
boys when the sad news of John Carlton Filer's death
swept through the State. So it \vas four years ago
when Franklin Plato Eller died. Both having come
from the farm and taken such high stand in college.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 53
But it all goes to show how certain death is and how
uncertain life is. Today we live and tomorrow we
may die. The choicest of the flock may fall. Today
we see a brilliant future for some young, hearty, robust
boy, and tomorrow we follow him to the grave. To
day we are his classmates and tomorrow we are his
pallbearers. What need we worry with the things of
this life? Why not be satisfied with a comfortable
existence and spend our extra efforts trying to make
some fellow man exist comfortably? Why fret about
riches when they are soon gained, quicker lost ? Why
do not we seek for 'honor and a good name and cease
trying for gold and silver? Will it ever come? No.
As long as man is human he will seek that material
gain, letting other far greater and nobler aims perish.
The above story of two of the brightest boys that the
State has ever had is sad indeed, and is one of many
such. Those vrere good boys. Boys that were likened
to their devoted mother, who now survives them in
Ashe County.

LETTER FROM MISS EMMA V. BAKER TO MRS.
JAMES ELLER.
Dresden, N. C, Friday P. M., June 17, 1892.
Dear Mrs. Eller : — I have thought of you so many
times today and wanted so badly to be with you that I
must do the next best thing — which is to write. My
heart went out in sympathy to you all this morning
when I heard of your deep affliction. I was never so
sorry to hear of a young friend's death. It is always
sad to see one cut off in the bloom of youth. But
doubly sad to see one whose past is unexcelled and
whose future was so promising — one whom our State

54 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
was beginning to feel proud of — one whose praises
were being sounded by all who knew him. It is hard
to give up sudh a friend, and none but a mother can
know what it is to give up such a son. I sympathize
with you with all my heart. I know you feel now that
you can hardly live without 'him. But there is one con
soling thought — ^^his young life had been well spent.
He strove for that which was noble and honorable and
praiseworthy and God appreciated his efforts. I feel
that he is only gone to a better home.
We will come to see you all as soon as we can. All
the family join me in sympathy. Your sincere friend,
Emma V. Baker.

A LAST TRIBUTE.
(The Twin-City Daily Sentinel, October 25, 18921.
No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.
Franklin Plato Eller was born on the fourth of
April, 1869, at Berlin, Ashe County, N. C. His early
years were spent in his mountain home, amidst the
lofty peaks of the Blue Ridge. And they seemed to
have stamped their impress upon his character. Sur
rounded by their bold, rugged cliffs, listening to their
dashing streams, watching the change of seasons as
pictured on their slopes from the soft, green verdure
of the summer, to the barren, cold whiteness of their
snow-covered sides in winter, the boy seemed to have
absorbed into himself some of their firmness, resolu
tion and rugged independence.
His preparatory education was received at the Mo
ravian Falls Academy, and already while there he

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 55
showed marked gifts in oratory and debate. In Sep
tember, 1889, he entered the University of North Caro
lina, taking the philosophical course. It was not long
before Mr. Filer's abilities as a leader were recognized,
and he received his first honor by being elected class
president. On account of the remoteness of his home
Mr. Eller always spent the Christmas holidays here;
which time he devoted to his favorite pursuit — reading.
In the gymnasium and athletic field he was often to be
seen and his powerful frame and his fine physique
placed him among the leaders in athletic sports.
As a member of the Dialectic Society the deceased
ranked among the first men. Thrice he was elected
Inter-Society debater ; the first time to his great disap-
pointm'ent losing the debate, but the Society's esteem
for his ability was in no measure diminis'hed, as was
showm by the fact that he was re-elected as soon as he
expressed his willingness to serve, and the second time
he was victorious.
Mr. Eller won the debater's medal in 1891 and last
year was elected one of the representatives. By many
it was thought that his death was due to overwork oc
casioned by this speech. Certain it is that he entered
into competition with the keenest vigor and labored
unceasingly toward the completion of his oration, the
subject of which was "Institutions the Result of
Growth." '^
A few days before commencement Mr. Eller became
unwell and was confined to his bed, still he 'hoped to be
able to deliver the speech on which he had worked so
hard, but when the opening of commencement week
came and found him still in bed, 'he quietly laid aside
the hope and let it worry him no longer. Through the
gayeties of commencement he lay patiently, saying but

56 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
little, and never complaining. After the boys left he
continued to grow worse, but under the devoted nurs
ing of his brother finally the fever seemed broken and
he entertained high hopes of a speedy recovery, but,
unfortunately blood poisoning and other complications
set in and very suddenly his life ended on the morning
of Wednesday, June 15.
The long journey to his m'ountain home was hur
riedly made. His body was interred in the presence
of the family, neighbors, and 'one of his classmates.
Few more beautiful resting places are to be found.
His grave lies on the summit of a spur of Phoenix
Mountain, overlooking a wide prospect of hill and val
ley growing blue in the dim distance, while below, the
New River winds with a caressing arm around the
base of the mountain now grown dear to many hearts
as the last abode of the pure, noble, mlanly youth.
Howard F. Rondthaler, " '93."
Chapel Hill, N. C, October 25.

FROM "LOCALS AND PERSONALS," NORTH CAROLINA
UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE, 1892, NO. 6,
It will be with deep sorrow that the students of the
University will receive the news of the death of F. P.
Eller, '93, which occurred on Wednesday, June 15, at
1 A. M. But few young men have so identified them
selves with our University during a three years' stay.
The president of his class, winner of the Debater's
Medal, successful contestant in the fourth Inter-Soci
ety debate, Mr. Filer left an enviable record behind
him, and 'he will be sorely missed by his classmates and
friends. His body was conveyed for interm'ent to his home in

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 57
Ashe County. A. H. Eller, his brother, who had so
faithfully watched by his bedside, together with How
ard E. Rondthaler, accompanied the remains.
Inasmuch as his death was very sudden, the news
proved a sore shock to his parents, and the happy vaca
tion which they had looked forward to, bringing with it
the return of their son, has proved, through an inscru
table dispensation of Divine Providence, a season of
sadness and sorrow.

58 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
"Grlbutes anb ILcUtrs (Toncernlng t^a TClfe
anb (Tljaracter of 'So^n (T. "ElUr

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT.
Dialectic Hall, September 15, 1896.
Whereas, God, in the ever-wise ordering of Divine
Providence, has removed from this life our friend and
fellow-member, John Carlton Eller; and.
Whereas, The members of the Dialectic Society de
sire to manifest the love and esteem and admiration in
w'hich we held him ; be it therefore
Resolved, That in his death, at Berlin, Ashe County,
on July 4, 1896, this Society lost a devoted, efficient
and honored member, and this University, among its
younger alumni, one whose extraordinary scholarship,
mental attainments, and admirable traits of character
gave promise of a useful and brilliant future ;
Resolved, That his uniform kindliness, gentleness, yet
manliness, will ever be fresh in our memories, and that
his life is worthy of our emulation ;
Resolved. That a copy of these resolutions be in
serted upon a page of the minutes dedicated to his
memory, and that a copy be sent to his bereaved family,
and for publication to the Tar Heel, News and Ob
server, and Charlotte Observer.
Paul Tinsley Cheek,
D. B. Smith,
Burton Craige, Committee.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 59
In the same issue of the Tar Heel (September 19,
1896) in which the above resolutions were printed, is
found the following editorial :
"In another column will be found the resolutions
adopted by the Dialectic Society in memory of our late
fellow student, Mr. John C. Eller.
"Strange indeed that one who only three months ago
was in our midst, full of life and in the exercise of all
his splendid faculties, should now be numbered with
the dead.
"A man of unusual ability, easily the leader of his
class, he was admired by all and dearly beloved by his
intimate friends. We feel like exclaiming with Li
Hung Chang, the great Eastern statesman, as he stood
at the tomb of General Grant, 'He was our friend, and
we loved him.'
"This sudden death of one Whose future seemed so
bright should cause every thinking man to look upon
life more seriously and prepare for the end that comes
sooner or later to every m'an."

OBITUARY NOTICE, FROM THE BIBLICAL RECORDER,
AUGUST 12, 1896.
Eller. — John C. Eller, of Berlin, Ashe County,
North Carolina, was born on October 30, 1873, and
died on July 4, 1896. It was a heavy blow indeed on
the hearts of honored Christian parents at the secluded
mountain home, where their noble boy fell in the prime
of his manhood, even as he returned unto them wear
ing the well earned honors of the University of his
State. The blow struck in a sore place. Just four
years before, another son, F. P. Eller, full of talents
and promise, endowed with marked power as speaker

60 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
and debater, had also suddenly sickened and died, at
the close of his third year at the University. Their
hearts rejoiced in a son who had already risen to fame
as a lawyer and brilhant orator in Winston, and a just
ambition led them to 'hope that John would come easily
into the succession. Of exceptional native capacity,
he made fine progress, and took advanced rank as a
thoughtful and scholarly student at the University. In
his literary society, and in college life generally, he
was recognized as a leader of m'cn. His manly phy
sique, his literary gifts, his faculty of eloquent speech,
his blending of kindness of 'heart with dignity of bear
ing, all contributed to his success. He was president
of the Senior Class. We all remember his masterly
and beautiful graduating oration at the last Commence
ment, "Man's Inhumanity to Man," Which well con
tested the Mangum Medal with the fine young prize
man. As he was on his way to the good parents, full
of honors and, it seemed to us, of noble vigor, 'he was
seized with fever, and the faithful brother had the
hopeless task of nursing 'him and the sad privilege of
sustaining the parents' hearts as death came. We do
not know all his personal experience with his God and
Saviour. But his early life under the old roof-tree,
say those who shared it with 'him, was the sweetest
and purest, and we trust that in his hours of pain and
weakness he came into closer fellowship with his un
seen Friend and renewed his hold on the promises he
had accepted in his youth. At fifteen, he had joined
the Forest Home Baptist Church. Teachers, students,
admiring friends bow with bleeding hearts under this
sudden stroke, and weep with those who weep at home.
We commend them tenderly to the God of all grace
and comfort. Thomas HumE.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 61
FROM THE ALLEGHANY STAR, JULY 23, 1896.
. . . Burial services were conducted by the writer
and Rev. Mr. Rominger in the presence of a large con
course of people. Brother "Johnnie," as 'he was usu
ally called, professed faith in Christ on December 15,
1889, was baptized into the fellowship of the Forest
Home Baptist Church on the nineteenth of the same
month by Rev. T. M. Duncan and lived a consistent
member of the same until his death. Though young
and just in the bloom of life, yet in the beauty of his
character and mental development he was far in ad
vance of 'his years. He had just completed his educa
tion at the University of N. C. and returned home a
graduate with great honors on the seventh day of June,
accompanied by his brother, A. H. Eller, of Winston.
He was taken ill the next day, and was confined the
remainder of his life. Dr. J. O. Wilcox attended him
daily and did all that he could, aided by the family and
friends as nurses ; yet all they could do was of no avail.
Brother Johnnie was loved and esteemed by all who
knew him ; none could be with him without soon dis
covering that love to Christ was the ruling principle of
his life. Just a few hours before the end, on being
asked about his spiritual condition and readiness for
death, he calmly said that all was well, that he was
ready and willing to die if it was the Lord's will, that
he had trusted Jesus several years ago, and if he died
he would go to rest and live with Jesus, though up
until then he seemed to think he would get well again ;
but God knows all things best, and He has taken him
away, and we should submit with Christian fortitude.
Resolved, first. That we bow in humble submission
to His will, with the assurance that while the death of

62 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
our dear brother is a great loss to us, it is to him great
and eternal gain;
Resolved, 'Second, That the Church has lost a worthy
and efficient member; the family a noble, dutiful son
and brother; our country and community a good and
intelligent citizen ;
Resolved, third. That we as a Church tender to the
bereaved family our 'heartfelt sympathy and sincere
condolence, and commend them to the care of Him
who doeth all things well ;
Resolved, fourth. That these resolutions be spread
on the Church Book, a copy be given the bereaved fam
ily, and a copy be sent to the Alleghany Star and the
Jefferson Times. R. L. Shoae, Com.
Approved by the Church July 11, 1896.

LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF THE
UNIVERSITY FACULTY

PRESIDENT G. T. WINSTON TO A. H. ELLER.
July 30, 1896.
My Dear Sir: — The death of your noble brother
grieves and distresses me beyond words. I can
scarcely realize it. There was no one of my pupils for
whom I felt more affectionate admiration, or whose
future seemed so full of promise. There must be need
of him in the other world, for surely so strong and
noble and beautiful a life would not have been so
quickly terminated here.
May heaven bind up the wounded hearts of his
father and mother. Oh, how awful it is !
Your friend and the friend of him,
Geo. T. Winston.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 63
EX-PRESIDENT KEMP P. BATTLE TO JAMBS ELLER.
July 16, 1896.
My Dear Sir: — I do not remember being more
grieved at the death of any one, except one of my own
near relatives, than I was at the death of your son,
John. It is to me an awful and mysterious stroke,
because there 'has not been a case of typhoid fever
among the citizens of Chapel Hill. Your son was so
strong and so full of vigor, so able bodily and mentally,
so full of promise in every way that I counted cer
tainly on a long and prosperous life for him., and
trusted that he would be an honor to the University
and the State. His death smote my heart with a bitter
stroke. There is no other consolation to you or to us
of the University, except God's promise that all things
work for good to those that love God. To that prom
ise I point you and pray that the balm of the Great
Consoler will heal your wound.
Cordially and sympathizingly yours,
Kemp p. Battle.

DR. THOMAS HUME, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, TO
MR. JAMES ELLER.
July 27, 1896.
My Dear Sir: — I feel very keenly the Christian
sympathy I cannot adequately express. My 'heart goes
out to you and your wife in this almost sudden afflic
tion of yours. He who has sent it upon His children
knows best how to heal its hurt. May He draw very
nigh in love, and comfort and Whisper in your secret
souls: "Be still and know that I am God." "My
grace is sufficient for you ;" "I will not leave you com
fortless; I will come to you." These are His own

64 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
gracious words, and I could never do so well in trying
to lay balm on your bruised hearts as in reminding you
of His assurances and promises. I am sure you know
the blessed way to Him, the way of prayer and trust
and personal communion. God bless and give you His
own consolation as you wait on Him. I should have
sent this letter before, but I have been away from home
and did not know that your son was sick.
I have written a sketch for the obituary column of
the Biblical Recorder which imperfectly indicates my
affectionate regard for your dear son. It is an inade
quate suggestion of the deep and tender sympathy his
friends, teachers and students, all of them — feel for
you. He was a boy to be proud of, with a power and
promise that may 'have a realization unknown to us
somewhere in God's own way. I am, with great re
spect. Your brother,
Thomas Hume.

JAMBS LEE LOVE (INSTRUCTOR IN MATHEMATICS
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY) TO A. H. ELLER.
July 24, 1896.
My Dear EllEr : — I have lately heard of your sec
ond sad loss of a brother, who had just graduated with
high distinction at Chapel Hill; and I must break the
silence, if you will allow me, to express the sincere and
deep sympathy which I feel with you and your mother.
Mrs. Love and Mrs. Spencer, and I want you to know
that we grieve with you in the presence of so terrible a
calamity ; and we hope that you may find some comfort
in the thought of their relief and rest from the burdens
of life for which they were so manfully preparing.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 65
Whatever may happen to us Who are left, they are
safe. This comforts mie when I think of those I have
lost. With cordial regard, I am.
Very sincerely your friend,
James LEE LovE.

e. p. carr to a. h. eller.
University oe N. C,
Chapel Hill, July 8, 1896.
Dear Sir: — The death of our esteemed classmate
and president causes the Class of Ninety-Six the deep
est sorrow, and in their behalf I desire to extend to you
and his bereaved family our most heartfelt sympathy.
His untimely death will be mourned by them all, and
his memory ever Cherished by his fellow collegians and
admiring friends.
The splendid and excellent record w'hich he made
during his University course will be an inspiration to
his classmates and his brother students.
Very sincerely yours,
E. P. Carr.

JOHN H. COBLE TO A. H. ELLER.
Laurinburg, N. C, July 21, 1896.
Mr. A. H. Filer:
My Dear Sir: — Your letter received today. The
plan you mention of preparing a memorial volume of
your brothers I most heartily commend. It will be a
treasure in the hands of their many friends, and will
be greatly valued by each and every one of them.

66 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
. . . Every friend of Jno. C. Eller will own it and
prize it, and his friends are numbered by hundreds.
I 'have talked with many of my friends who never
knew your brother : they were all deeply interested in
the story of 'his tragic career. The story of the two
Eller boys has been told in many a 'home. The fellow
students of your brothers will be greatly indebted to
you if you put into execution your proposed project.
The sensation that I experienced on 'hearing of your
brother's death is simply indescribable — awful. My
whole mental activity has been upset by the sad news,
for every thought I have connected with my alma
mater, is linked with my thoughts of him. Now he is
no more, my thoughts seem empty and vague.
He was>a leader — a leader in his class — in politics —
in everything. He was the most perfect specimen of
young marihood that I have ever known — ^physical,
mental, and spiritual. He was a moral boy, a perfect
gentleman. His brother I did not know. But one who knew
him — his fellow student, Maxey L. John — remarked to
me when I was telling him of your youngest brother,
"He could have been in no way superior to his brother,
Franklin Plato Filer."
John C. Eller was a Christian, filled with the true
Christian spirit. "Do unto others as you would be
done by" was the rule that governed his life.
I talked with him a great deal, and this spring espe
cially his thoughts were miore serious than usual. On
the last night in April I went with him into Battle Park
to hear him recite his speech. On our return we stopped
on the seat between the trees south of the New East
Building and east of the Library — if you remember the
place — and there we talked for a long time. He

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 67
seemed more serious and earnest than evet, and told
me that he had been led to see things in a new light by
the work spent in the preparation of 'his speech. It
was, you know, a moral subject. He was determined,
he said, to lead in the future a better life.
I extend my heartfelt sympathy to yourself and your
family. With best wishes, I am, Sincerely yours,
John H. Coble.

A. F. WILLIAMS, JR., TO A. H. ELLER.
KenansvillE, N. C, July 11, 1896.
Dear Mr. EllER : — Words can't express the genuine
pain that yesterday's mail caused me. I received a let
ter from one of our friends, J. O. Carr, last evening,
which conveyed to me the sad news of J. C. Eller's
death. It was quite a shock to me, indeed, to us all. The
young people of the town, among whom he had made
many friends, contemplated a social gathering for the
evening, but When I made known the sad news of my
sincere friend and congenial roomimate's death, no one
wished 'amusement, indeed, all were full of sorrow and
sympathy. For the past three years I have been intimately asso
ciated with John, one of Which I had the pleasure of
rooming with 'him, and I can assure you that I have
never had a more congenial roommate or a more sin
cere friend. John always and at all times and places
manifested the true principles of a man, and the noble
characteristics of a pure, high-minded gentleman. Hav
ing no brother, I naturally sought a true friend in whom
I could confide and look up to as a brother. In John I

68 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
found all the requisites for the desired friend. He has
done favors for me that showed friends'hip that could
be relied on; and you know that friends of this kind
are rarely found. I anticipated having him with me
on the beadh this summer, but my fond hopes were
crushed. I have often thought how pleasant it would
be for us to meet out in life, but alas! "man proposes
and God disposes." I sympathize with you all so
much in this your great bereavement; and if it is not
asking too much I would be glad for you to write me
all about 'his sickness.
I received your card on Monday last, after a delay
of seven days. I answered at once, but he was dead
ere it reached him. I would have written 'him long ago
had I known he 'was sick, and had I not been sick my
self. My mother wrote Mrs. Filer today in behalf of
the family. Hoping to hear from you soon, allow me
to remain a true friend to the family. I am,
Yours sincerely,
A. F. Williams, Jr.

PAUL TINSLEY CHEEK TO MR. AND MRS. ELLER.
Meeane, N. C, July 14, 1896.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. EllER :^ — Ever since hearing
the distressing tidings of the death of your son I have
felt that I wanted to write you some expression of the
regard I had for him and of the sympathy I feel for
you in this great affliction, cognizant of the fact that
it is not the first of the kind which you 'have been made
to bear in recent years.
The facts that on the very date of your son's death,
last year, I lost a brother, and during the same month
was myself stricken with typhoid fever, have impressed

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 69
me keenly in the thought of John Eller's death; and
yet the fact that I knew him intimately in college and
saw him but little more than a month ago in apparently
robust health, in possession of his usual buoyant spirits,
more than anything else makes his death hard of reali
zation. I entered college with your son in the fall of 1892,
and though I did not remain during the four years of
his course, I came to know him well and intimately
during that year, and in my absence heard of his each
successive honor with pleasure, and came to regard
him, as did all those who knew him, as a young man
whose fine parts and m'ental attainments raised him
aJmiost to the point of genius. Well do I rem-ember
that last January 'When, after an absence of two and a
half years, I returned to Chapel Hill, his handshake
and welcome were perhaps the kindliest and heartiest
I received ; and though removed by class from me, he
a senior and I a sophom'ore, it was my pleasure by
reason of our former acquaintance and friendship,
quite frequently to meet and converse on the subjects
that mutually interested us, and he was ever the kind,
cordial, cheerful fellow whom I had known as fellow
classmate. He was held in high esteem at Chapel Hill. Almost
universally popular, he enjoyed very nearly every dis
tinction that could be bestowed upon a student; and
one day, in view 'of these facts, that he had led his class,
won renown as both an orator and a writer — possessed
with unusual cleverness — I was constrained to say to
him that any one but he would have turned fool. But
he was singularly miodest. If 'he had conceit, I could
never see it. His manners were always cordial; his
spirits always, when I saw him, buoyant. I never saw a

70 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
doud on his face, and his hearty laugh I well remem
ber. He and I during the closing weeks of the ses
sion had quite a number of conversations, and one
evening he called with two friends to see me, and I am
sure that his merry laugh, happy jests, his general ap
pearance of robust 'health betokened nothing of the
Shadow of Death. I esteemed it an honor when he
courteously asked me to read his great speech, "Man's
In'humanity to Man ;" and when but a few days before
Commencement, in busy preparation for that occasion,
he asked me to hear him speak it in Memorial Hall, I
felt indeed flattered.
It is hard, I must say, to realize that he is dead.
With so much hope, with such lofty ambition, yet with
sudh discreet reserve, so popular with those with whom
he cam^e in contact; so mlanly, so gentle, and unassum
ing — it is hard indeed to think that John Eller is cut
down in 'his mountain home.
If those who have known him only as college man
mourn his loss, how must you, his parents, who have
seen his fertile mind develop, and his native talents ex
pand from youth up to manhood, giving promise of
such a glorious life of usefulness and honor — ^how
m'ust you feel ? I would that I could offer some word
of consolation in your great affliction. Only those
whose afflictions have been of a similar nature can
conceive of your sorrow.
With my heartfelt sympathy. Very sincerely yours,
Paul TinslEy Cheek.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 71
H. E. C. BRYANT TO A. H. ELLER.
Charlotte, N. C, July 31, 1896.
Dear Sir: — Most assuredly I was devoted to both
of your brothers; I am as much grieved as a brother
could possibly be. I knew both of them well. I was
about the last man on the campus with Plato before he
took sick.
I am truly glad to know that you will prepare such
a volume on their lives. Every Chapel Hill boy would
be glad to have one — I am sure that I would.
I have two pictures in groups that I highly prize be
cause of the fact that John is am'ong the group.
Any way that I can serve you in preparing the book,
I will gladly do. I know their private lives well and
their college lives. Truly, a friend,
H. E. C. Bryant.

L. B. EVANS TO A. H. ELLER.
Clarkton, N. C, December 2, 1896.
My Dear Sir: — Your deceased brother, John C.
EUer, who was a classmate and friend of mine, prom
ised me last June, a copy of his Commencement speech.
When I heard of his death I thought I would not make
further efforts to get a copy of it, but I have recently
heard that you were going to have some printed, and if
this is the case I would be much pleased to have one
copy. I was a great admirer of your brother — he was the
most promising of all my collegemates.
I was especially interested in his commencement
oration, and really think that I was more disappointed
in 'his not getting the "Willie P." Mtedal than he him
self was.

72 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
If I could get a copy of this speech, I would appreci
ate it very much. Most respectfully yours,
L. B. Evans.

JOB E. ALEXANDER TO A. H. ELLER.
Winston, N. C, July 8, 1896.
My Dear Mr. EllEr: — Will Hendren has just told
me the sad and startling news of John's death.
I never dreamed when I bade you both good-bye at
the depot a few days ago it would be a last one to your
brother and my friend.
His premature death is a personal bereavement to
me. Somehow I never possessed the happy faculty of
making many close friends; but he was among my
closest and most intimate through college. I feel as if
I 'had lost my best friend, outside of the family rela
tion ; and I believe I 'have.
I cannot sufficiently express my regret; but I hope
you will convey my deepest sympathy to his father and
mother, who are unknown to me except through him.
I have written thus feelingly because I feel deeply.
Sincerely,
Joe E. Alexander.

W. T. WOODLBY, JR., TO A. H. ELLER.
Charlotte, N. C, July 9, 1896.
Dear Mr. EllER: — I am indeed much grieved by
having read in today's paper the sad death of your dear
brother. Be assured of my deepest sympathy in these
hours of sorrow and affliction. I had heard that your
brother was sick, but was not aware of his critical
illness.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 73
I never knew a more brilliant, noble young man or
truer friend that John C. Filer. He was such a manly,
open-hearted fellow, and a special friend of mine while
at the University. Only five weeks ago we graduated
together and left Chapel Hill on the same day and on
the same train, I accompanying him as far as Greens
boro ; there I bade 'him farewell. Little did I think it
would be the last farewell.
I cannot realize that he is dead. It seems so unreal,
so unnatural when I think of him as I last saw him,
noble and strong ; now to say that 'he is no more seems
impossible. Please convey my deepest sympathy and
regard to your dear parents, for I 'have known some
thing of a dear mother's love and feeling for her boy.
I would appreciate a line from you giving particu
lars as to his illness and death. Believe me,
Very sincerely,
W. T. WooDLEY, Jr.

THOS. A. SHARPE TO A. H. ELLER.
PiNEviLLE, N. C, August 13, 1896.
Dear Sir : — Some tim'e ago I saw a letter from you
in regard to a volume you contemplated writing on the
lives of John and Plato Filer.
As a great admirer of both, and as a classmate and
friend of John's I want to say that I believe you would
have the support of all the students and young alumni
of the University. I had a letter from Mr. J. O. Carr,
who is now attending lectures at Chapel Hill and who
thought a great deal of John, in which he told me that
he was going to see the boys as soon as they returned
and have a crayon portrait of your brother put in the
Library. I would advise you to write him in regard to

74 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
the memorial volume you contemplate publishing, as
he is a man of influence, both at the University and in
the State. He will do all in his power to honor the
memory of such noble young men.
Assuring you that I am ever willing to help you in
this matter, I am, Very truly yours,
Thos. A. Sharpe.

ALPHA THETA PHI SOCIETY.

(/.C.EJIer;'96.Prest.
Tihe first regular meeting of the Society for the year
1895-1896 was called to order in the English Lecture
Room by Mr. Home, President, who announced as the
purpose of the meeting, the annual installation of offi
cers. Upon the report of the executive committee,
Mr. John C. Eller having been found to have attained
the highest grade of any member of the Senior Class,
was formally declared President of the Society, with
Mr. J. W. Canada, Secretary.
Just now at the beginning of a new collegiate year
it may not seem out of place to call the attention of
the students again to the general plans and purposes of
a society which promises to prove a very potent factor
in our college life.
The Society was founded in the spring of 1894,
chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Herbert C. Tolman,
then Professor of Greek. Being himself a member of
the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Tolman rec-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 75
ognized the need of such an organization at the Uni
versity of North Carohna, and, inviting a conference
of certain members of the Junior and Senior Classes,
the result was the formation of the new society of
Alpha Theta Phi.
The aim of this society is purely Hterary, to stimu
late and increase a desire for sound scholarship by
placing a reward upon excellence. Hence it provides
that only those members of the Junior and Senior
Classes who have attained the average grade of "two"
(90 per cent.) throughout the two and a half or four
years of their college course shall be eligible for mem
bership. On the other hand, the society furnishes
also recognition of scholarly attainment. There has
been, perhaps, too much truth in the statement that
scholars'hip has found little recognition in the Univer
sity, and that literary ability has heretofore afforded
its owner least claim for consideration. The Alpha
Theta Phi Society is intended to obviate this, and in
recognizing ability stimulate it to increased exertions.
As an honor society. Alpha Theta Phi thus occupies a
place in our college life which nothing else approaches.
Nor does it encroach upon the grounds of the various
other societies in existence here. There are no secrets
of any kind Whatever, and scholarship is the sole test
of admission. The ultimate aim is to secure a chapter
of Phi Beta Kappa, and consequently it endeavors to
conform as closely as possible to the standards of the
latter. The success of the Society has thus far been most
encouraging. Besides serving to promote the general
standard of scholarship in the University, it has num
bered among its members many of the best men of the
classes graduating since its foundation, as well as

76 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
many of the Faculty. As an evidence of this success
may be mentioned the fact that already applications
have been received from two of our Southern universi
ties for permission to establish sub-chapters, one of
these, that of Vanderbilt University, being granted with
gratifying results. — From The Tar Heel, November
2, 1895.

A TRIBUTE BY RICHARD G. ALLSBROOK, LAWYER,
NOW OF THE FIRM OF KITCHIN & ALLSBROOK,
TARBORO, N. 0.
It is with mingled feelings of pain and pleasure that
I am allowed ithe privilege of dedicating a few brief
words to the memory of the subject of this sketch for
the short interval of four college years.
The undertaking is somewhat painful, because it is
always grievous to meditate and reflect upon the sting
that death brings and the passage hence "beyond this
vale of tears" of those whom we know to be true and
trusted. And the effort is not without its pleasure, because it
is always pleasant to recount and cherish the virtues
and heroic qualities of mortal men even while they are
no m'ore.
My personal knowledge of the late John Carlton
Eller dates almost from the day of our matriculation
at the State University in September, 1892. I imme
diately upon acquaintance began the knitting of the
golden chord of friendship between us that was to
grow stronger and link us closer together as year fol
lowed year. My first impression was the true and
lasting one. The very texture and fiber of his fea
tures, his uniform courtly grace and bearing, his

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 77
warm, sunshiny spirit, his brilliant intellect — all these
high-born qualities — bespoke the whole temper and
character of the man. Endowed by nature with such
gifts of head and heart it was no surprise that he soon
became a favorite with all and was quick to find his
proper position as leader of his fellows. And right
well and manfully, by force of will and genius, did
he lead them in the class room, in the society hall,
and in all the miniature worlds of college life. This
native-born pre-eminence was marked in his first year
by the signal fact that he was chosen president of his
class — ^a high honor that came unsolicited and was his
to hold until graduation day. And this, suffice it to
say, was the sounding of the first note in the ascending
scale of college honors whose full length he ran.
Fired by the buoyancy and exuberance of his own
spirits, his first year's work was but a splendid begin
ning of a yet more splendid end — a bright index to a
still brighter future. He had long since commanded
my admiration and his magnetic personality won him
all hearts among the upper as well as lower classmen.
Though our interests were largely similar, it was not
my good fortune to be associated with him in 'his liter
ary society and its work, of which he was so jealous,
and to which he was so faithful and devoted ; but there,
too, he was an acknowledged leader, and in the van of
every movement that made for its good.
Among every class of college men there are those
who are regarded by faculty and students alike as
strong, steadfast, pivotal men — around whom all others
balance, so to speak — and who by their conservatism
and wise and discreet judgment upon the various and
shifting questions that vex the mind of a student body,
can fashion college sentiment and bring things to pass.

78 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
My late associate and comrade was pre-eminently of
that number, and full many a time in the still quiet
hours of the night taking counsel around 'his hearth
stone about the loss of some imaginary right — he it
was who would steer us out of these whirlpools of
misunderstood relations into more placid waters of
peace and order. He was a natural born organizer and
leader of men. Undismayed and unassuming, he met
every obstacle squarely, and overcame it; answered
every call of duty, and bravely did it. In like spirit he
went on the smooth and even tenor of his way in dili
gent pursuit of his studies, wearing his honors right
worthily and mastering all his tasks with an intelli
gence as keen and clear as the fresh mountain air that
fed his young life and quickened his youthful energies.
On all questions of great importance that came under
the jurisdiction of the student body, his opinion was
invariably sought, and at no time did he fail to uplift
his voice in behalf of truth, right, and justice as he saw
and believed them. He was universally popular — a
friend of every one — friendly to all, and those who
knew 'him best admired him most.
His every act emitted gentle rays of his intensely
warm human heart and through every utterance
beamed forth soft and mellow lights of love — ideal
reflections of his high and noble breeding. Complete
self-control and matchless ease and power of expres
sion were strong and striking characteristics of him;
and he was always himself, whether in public discus
sion, in heated debate, or pursuing some more tedious
and intricate course of syllogistic reasoning. Friends
and co-laborers as we were, our friendship and intimacy
were never more genuine and mutual than in our grad
uating year (and readers of this will pardon this very

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 79
personal allusion), when we measured arms and tilted
zealously for the same coveted prize. There were
other contestants for this token of excellence, but the
real contest was thought to be by those who knew, be
tween him and myself. And amid all the enthusiasm
and hopefulness and youthful eagerness consequent
upon such rivalry I am happy to relate that neither of
us ever for once doubted the other's sincere efforts and
honest purpose. It was then that I was drawn very
close to his warm heart, and my long friendship grew
into great admiration and esteem. I can never forget
the theme of his beautiful oration on that eventful
day: "Man's Inhumanity to Man." How it bristled
with bright ideas. How it sparkled with burning elo
quence ! That production — so typical of the man and
his nature — in a masterful way added another jewel to
his already brilliant diadem and in sad, sorrowful truth
was the crowning effort of his life. For very soon
thereafter, while seeking rest from exhausting labors
in the quiet solitude of 'his paternal home, he fell a
victim to fever; God saw fit to take him and he was
not. Thus, in the blus'h and vigor of hopeful, am
bitious young manhood did his kindly light go out and
naught of mortal form remains of him save the picture
face that lies before me and inspires me as I write.
He is not dead — forever dead — but only sleeping —
peacefully sleeping in his mountain resting place, while
his soul, as pure as Alpine snows, as gentle as Aegean
zephyrs or the soft breezes that play about his mound,
hath taken its flight 'hence beyond the dark river into
the land of the Hereafter, there to rest sweetly and be
at perennial ease in a new life among the saints.
Richard G. Allsbrook.
Scotland Neck, N. C, July 5, 1897.

80 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
MR. J. O. CARR TO J. B. HUBBELL.
Wilmington, N. C, September 8, 1909.
Mr. J. B. Hubbell, Red House, Va.
My Dear Sir : — I am very much pleased to note that
you and your uncle, Mr. A. H. Eller, are preparing a
volume in memory of Plato and John C. Eller, both of
whom were students at the University of North Caro
lina. I knew Plato Eller very slightly, as he was in the
Junior Class when I entered and died during the first
year of my stay at the University ; but no man in the
University stood higher than he.
As to John C. Eller, I was intimately associated with
him for four years, and there was no student at the
University whom I loved more, and who was more
universally loved and esteemed by the student body
than he. He was a leader in class work, in athletics,
in the literary societies, in college politics, and in every
department of college life. He had strong convictions
on all questions affecting the University and never con
cealed those convictions. He entered into many con
tests and rivalries among students, but his differences
with fellow students were differences of views, and he
fought his battles open-handed and above board ; and
consequently his bitterest enemies were his strongest
friends. When he graduated and left the University,
he carried with him as bright prospects for a brilliant
future as any young man w'ho ever left its doors, and
the news which came only a short while after his de
parture, that he had died with typ'hoid fever, was a
stunning blow to his friends at Chapel Hill. In his
death, both the University and the State sustained a
great loss, as there could be no doubt that he could

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 81
have soon become one of the leading public men in
North Carolina.
I hope you will let nothing interfere with your pur
pose to complete this work, because the records of Plato
and Jo'hn C. Eller at the University ought to be pre
served. Yours sincerely,
J. O. Carr.

LETTER FIROM MR. H. G. CHATHAM TO MR. A. H.
ELLER. Elkin, N. C, July 14, 1896.
Mr. A. H. Eller, Winston, N. C:
Dear EllEr : — Allow me to express the fervent sym
pathy I feel for you in your recent great bereavement.
It was not my privilege to know your brotiier person
ally, but the verdict which I have heard many of his
friends render was that he was one of the brightest
young men in the State. I wis'h I could by some word
or deed make the burden of your sorrow lighter, but
that is scarcely within the pale of human possibility,
and my family join me in kind regards and good
wishes. H. G. Chatham.

LETTER FROM PROF. J. W. CANADA TO MR. A. H.
ELDER.
SummEreiEld, N. C, July 21, 1896.
A. H. Filer, Esq., Winston, N. C:
My Dear Sir : — I Shaill be glad to have a memorial
volume -of -my devoted college friend, your brother, John
C. Your other brother I did not know, having entered
college later. I am sure that a number of 'his class
mates and collegem'ates would want such a volume as a

82 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
memorial of their associate, one Whom every one knew
only to esteem and love. I speak 'of John C. Your
other brother had just as many warm friends at the
University and at home, I know.
By such a volume we shall cherish the memory, and
emulate the examples of these noble young men who
fell just as they were ready for the battles of life, and
thus to some extent shall they, though they have passed
beyond, continue their labor in and through us.
I shall be glad to do anything in my power for the
memory of my dear friend, John C. Eller. Yours,
J. W. Canada.

LETTER FROM MR. GEO. STEPHENS, OF CHARLOTTE,
N. C, TO MR. A. H. ELLER.
AsBURY Park, N. J., July 11, 1896.
My Dear Mr. EllER: — The sad news of your
brother's death has just reached me and I hasten to
write and extend my most sincere and heartfelt sym
pathy in this your sad bereavement. You will hardly
remember me, I guess, but I was so very fond of John
that I'm not going to let any conventionality prevent
my writing. Letters, I know, are always inadequate
at such times, and I feel that no words can express my
true feelings now.
Your brother and I were classmates and he never
had a more ardent admirer than I. Circumstances
threw us together a great deal, and always, every
where he was the straightforward, mlanly fellow that
made him so deservedly popular.
It seems a strange dispensation of Providence for
one so promising, just in the bloom of young manhood.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 83
to be taken away, but it is best, I suppose, to bow in
humble submission to the One that "doeth all things
well." Again offering my most cordial sympathy and
assuring you of my own deep and heartfelt sadness, I
am. Most sincerely, Geo. Stephens.

LETTER FROM MRS. McBEE TO MR. JAMES ELDER.
Green Hill, July 12.
My Dear Mr. EllER :— Through the Charlotte Ob
server I 'have learned with profound sorrow of the
sudden bereavement, w'hich many share with you, but
which to you and your family is supreme.
Although I am a comparative stranger, your exceed
ing kindness two years ago, at the mere mention of
my father-in-law's namSe, justifies me in assuring you
of my heartfelt sympathy, and I trust you will not con
sider such expression an intrusion upon the sacredness
of your affliction.
Although I met yotjr son only the once, the few
hours, which at your bidding, he so obediently and
cheerfully gave me, impressed indelibly upon my mind
the simplicity and dignity of his character. I have
heard through friends of his noble record at the Uni
versity. There have been men, who, in a single flash of
genius, evidenced that they were destined to reign as
kings forever — yet they were cut down ere the world
recognized their mission or 'heeded their message. The
virtue, purity, honesty, courage, patience, faith and
love possess the very essence of eternal law. The les
son is made clear by the light which life and immortal
ity 'have brought. Life here seems and ought to seem

84 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
incomplete, for it is incomplete — it is but the threshold
of the one eternal life. It is not designed of God to
exhaust or fully employ His multitudinous gifts to
man — it is not the ultimatum of heaven — ^bequeathed
powers ; if it shall train and exercise and render vigor
ous the spiritual faculties, so that, when adequate
sphere and scope have been voudhsafed, these shall ac-
complis'h that whereunto they were sent, then life here
is not in vain. Labour and life in the Lord are never
in vain !
Our Blessed Lord ended His marvellous career on
earth while He was yet a young man. He chose as the
companions of His ministry young men ; and the young
disciple whom Jesus loved said in 'his old age, "I write
unto you, young men, because ye are strong."
It is ours to believe that the King of Love has taken
your son in the vigor and beauty of youth closer to
Him'self — and while we may not repress the tears, let
us rejoice for the victor's sake.
Mrs. Gwyn and family beg to extend to you sin
cere sympathy.
Believe me very humbly and faithfully,
Yours,
Vardry McBee.
Ronda, North Carolina.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY EUGENE L.
HARRIS, REGI'STRAR OF THE UNIVERSITY, TO
MR. A. H. ELLER, AUGUST 15, 1896.
Mr. A. H. Filer, Winston, N. C:
Dear Mr. EllER : — Let me tell you how we mourn
with you over the early departure of your brother. Who
won friends for himself wherever he went. It seems

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 85
that Death indeed loves a shining mark. It is sad to
think of, that 'one so full of hope for the future in
broadening for usefulness — in expanding for life —
should so suddenly be snatched away from time to
eternity. I can truly sympathize with you, as the
agony is yet fres'h in my heart when the yellow tele
gram came saying that my lovely brother (Hunter)
had been drowned in Little River. But let us never
murmur against a Father who knows best and veils
much from his children's earthly view. Let us rather
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that the "sor
row of His disciples would be turned into joy" and let
us not mourn as those who 'have no hope — but await
the resurrection m'orn.

A LETTER FROM RICHARD COBB, RECORDER OF
HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
Barnstable, Mass., July 27, 1896.
Dear Sir : — The letter in which you tell me of your
brother's death has been forwarded to me here. You
will, I trust, believe that the sympathy I would express
for you if I could, is real. That we appreciate in some
small part your brother's worth 'was shown by our
giving to him an award of aid which, because of its
limited amount, we are forced to refuse to many thor
oughly deserving applicants. It follows that we real
ize that in )nour brother's death we have lost a student
whom we would have been proud to number among
our graduates.
Again expressing my sympathy for you in your sor
row, I am Yours sincerely,
Richard Cobb.

86 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY MR. GEO.
W. CONNOR, OF WILSON, N. C, TO MR. J. B.
HUBBELL, SEPTEMBER- 27, 1909.
Mr. J. B. Hubbell, Red House, Va.:
Dear Sir: — Your favor of the 9th inst., advising
that you and your uncle are preparing a volume in
memory of Franklin Plato and Jo'hn Carlton Eller
came duly to 'hand, but I have been absent from home
so mudh this month that I have been unable to reply to
the same.
I was at the University with Plato Filer-, and it was
my privilege to enjoy a rather intimate friendship with
him. His death affected me greatly and I often think
of 'his fine character and splendid ability. He vron the
affection and enjoyed the esteem of all who knew him.
His University friends looked forward confidently to a
brilliant career for him. He 'had the character and
ability which would have enabled him to render great
service to the State if he had lived.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY MISS
REBECCA SCHENCK, OF GREENSBORO, N. C, TO
MR. A. H. ELLER, JULY 12, 1896.
My Dear Mr. EllER :— I learn for the first time
today of your sorrow and my heart goes out in sympa
thy to you in this great bereavement. May the God
of all comfort be with you and enable you to feel that
He does all things well.
I never knew your brother personally, but Michael
has told me often of his brightness, 'his ambition, his
unswerving fidelity to duty and of his kindness to him,
a younger boy.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 87
I have never seen Mtichael more genuinely grieved
than over the news of his death, and he asks me to join
in a heart full of sympathy for you and your parents.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY PROP. JNO.
J. BLAIR, SUPT. CITY SCHOOLS OF WILMING
TON, TO MR. A. H. ELLER, JULY 20, 1896.
Dear Eller : — I assure you that you have my deep
est sympathy in your recent affliction. The news of
your brother's death caused the most profound regret
at Chapel Hill, Where he was so well known and loved.
Very truly, Jno. J. Blair.

LETTER FROM PROF. H. H. HORNE, OF NEW YORK
UNIVERSITY, TO MR. J. B. HUBBELL.
Leonia, N. J., September 27, 1909.
My Dear Mr. Hubbell : — When I entered the Uni
versity as a Freshman in 1891, the name of Plato Eller
was a part of the heritage of the institution, about
which the halo of fame had gathered.
John Eller was my collegemate, my pupil, my friend.
As a collegemate he was admired by all for his bril
liancy in scholarship and in oratory ; as a pupil he was
among my few best ; as a friend, we had peculiar bonds
of affinity, both in religion and in college politics. As
no doubt known to you, and like most earnest-minded
men, Filer passed through an intellectual storm and
stress period in college. He had 'his Wander-jahr.
We talked about it at the time and he ended this pe
riod, as I think, with views of life admixed with a
"sweet reasonableness."

88 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
I am glad you and your uncle are perpetuating in
permanent form the great achievements of these two
lamented sons of our University. Trusting your suc
cess will be comparable to what theirs would have
been, I remain. Very cordially yours,
H. H. Horne.

'9^P.8iX£^,

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 89

"Jntroftttctlon to tl)<t X^rltlngs anb Speecbes of
IJlato TEller
The writings and speeches that follow are included
for two reasons: first, because they were written by
those whom this volume is intended to commemorate,
and hence should interest all who are interested in the
story of their lives; and, second, because we believe
that, apart from all considerations of this nature, they
are well worthy of preservation because of their beauty
of language and nobility of thought.
It is necessary, however, to state that all of them
were written for special occasions, which have little
significance for some of those who will read this volume.
Almost none of them were written with any idea that
they would ever be preserved at all, much less that
they would be printed. In many cases we have had to
print from incomplete iirst drafts because the final
copy was lost or unobtainable. But, when measured
by the proper standards, we do not doubt that they will
serve abundantly to substantiate every statement and
implication as to their merit found in other parts of
this volume, and will interest many who never knew
those who wrote them.
Plato Eller disliked writing almost to the same de
gree that he loved to speak. Standing before a body
of men gathered to discuss a question of importance,
he felt the thrill of the moment calling out his noblest
and deepest thoughts and arraying them for him, as it
were, in language of corresponding nobility and im-
pressiveness ; but when a pen was placed in his hand,
unless in his mind's eye he saw his audience before

90 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
him, his thoughts did not flow readily into words, and
he lost patience with trying to find by a process of
cold selection the words and phrases that in speaking
came of their own accord. It is almost certain that
neither of the three debates here printed were delivered
in the form in which they are found here. The second
is written in pencil with many scarcely intelligible ad
ditions and erasures; it is doubtful if even the argu
ment is in its final form.
"Institutions the Result of Growth" was written for
the inter-society oratorical contest at the Commence
ment of 1892. As stated in the Introduction, the
choice of the subject was the result of an investigation
undertaken for Prof. H. H. Williams, which was to
lead to a thesis (never completed) on "The Law of
Growth." The central thought of the oration is the
application of the theory of evolution to the interpreta
tion of history. Less promising material out of which
to construct a commencement oration could hardly be
imagined. The speaker, however, as he says in a let
ter to his brother, could not content himself with
Meriting mere "curls;" he loved debating better than
the more flowery forms of public speaking; and with
him the choice of a serious subject was inevitable.
The far-reaching significance of the thought about
which his oration is constructed impressed his mind
and imagination so vividly that he filled it with human
interest and emotion. One can hardly read it today
without feeling the earnestness and fire of the speak
er's voice and the dignity and power of his gestures.
The article on "Our Retiring President" was pub
lished on the first page of the University Magazine,
No. 6, 1891.
The article on "The Dialectic Society" was written

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 91
for the Hellenian (University annual) of 1892. Plato
was at that time president of the Society. The article
is interesting and significant for its clear and convinc
ing statement of the relation of the Society's work to
that of the University and the State. It shows admir
ably also the writer's affection and devotion to the
Society, for which he fought in many a hard battle
throughout his entire college career and for which, it
seems to us, he gave his life while endeavoring to up
hold its ancient fame.
The debate opposing the abolition of the Electoral
College is undated; and I have found no means of
learning when it was written or delivered.
The debate on the question of Home Rule for the
Irish was delivered in the spring of 1891, while the
speaker was a Sophomore. With this debate he won
the Best Debater's Medal in the Dialectic Society.
The debate on the question of Turkish Supremacy
was spoken in the inter-society debate of November
14, 1891. The debaters were:
Affirmative (Phi).— A. H. Koonce, S. F. Austin.
Negative (Di).— T. B. Lee, F. P. Eller.
The University Magazine says : "The speeches were
all excellent and the arguments well presented, but the
committee decided in favor of the Negative."
A Brief Review of Scholasticism was probably a
class exercise ; but its excellence, it is believed, justifies
its preservation.

92 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
INSTITUTIONS THE RESULT OF GROWTH
The world presents bewildering complexity and va
riety, constant struggle and change, apparently with
out meaning or purpose. But beneath that tangled
network of institutions and traditions, ideas and cus
toms, which we call society, there is a germinant seed
of thought, which, expanding in the life of the indi
vidual, gives to civilization its aim and importance.
The labor of history has been an attempt to render this
germ, at first abstract and potential, concrete and
actual in existing society as it branches into its many-
sided life.
Everywhere the ideal strives to realize itself in the
actual, "and everywhere failing in its aim, it breaks to
pieces its own work," and rushes on to new manifes
tations. These in turn are broken through and shat
tered by the pulsations and struggles of the living,
developing truth within, ever striving for expression
and adaptation to every different condition of mankind
in the world.
Man's institutions are the external forms through
which his inner life works and grows in its ceaseless
endeavor to realize in itself that freedom of movement
and symmetry of structure which shall mark the full
possession of its powers.
Along the boundary line between the growing life
and the rigid form, the developing nation and the writ
ten constitution, the expanding truth and orthodox
creed, there is a conflict of opposing forces, giving rise
to sects and parties, which rend the world in twain
and strew it with the broken timbers of Church and
State. The crumbled ruins of human institutions are
the tribute which the temporary pays to the permanent,

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 93
formal freedom to substantial freedom, lesser life to
broader Hving. Every "Lost Cause" forms not only
a necessary step in man's upward progress, but im
parts its essential spirit to the higher union and acts
as a living force forever :

But,

"Oh, kingdom of the past!
Thy forms and creeds have -vanished;
"Whatever of true life there was in thee.
Leaps in our Age's veins."

All that was deeply good or truly great in the work
manship of the past, though shattered into inchoate
fragments, ever incarnates itself anew and lives still in
the freer life and broader character of the world.
When the ideas and conditions that gave life to
feudalism had yielded to the gathering forces of mon
archy, the whole fabric of Chivalry, with its customs
and institutions, broke to pieces, and a nobler edifice of
thought and government rose from out the dismantled
ruins. In the course of human progress, all creeds and insti
tutions, however temporary or imperfect, have con
tained a truth and prepared the way for a longer stride
and broader view. At a time When the Roman Pontiff
laid claim to the headship of temporary power and
demanded implicit obedience from his followers, the
restrictions and bars to political privileges, laid upon
Catholics, were both necessary and just. But when
those demands had proven futile and been withdrawn,
the rights of man and the interests of State alike called
for Catholic Emancipation.
The outward forms of society have been wrought
out by an invisible thought, and when its volatile

94 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
essence dissolves to re-form under a higher law, a
broader generalization, or a more perfect ideal, the
antiquated architecture of its past life must fall away
and a new train of institutions follow in its wake.
The Drama of Universal History, which has Ages
for its acts. Nations for its scenes, and Races for its
characters, has for its lofty theme, running throughout
its tragic struggles, the development of individual and
national character. Living character, like the mythical
life-tree, Igdrasil, is rooted down deep in the dead
kingdom of the past. But, where the sap rises from
its hidden roots into the mighty trunk of existing
society, its institutional branches stir and move with
life, and invisible forces sweep to and fro in its sway
ing crown, as they draw nourishment from the free air
of heaven.
The graduated march of progressive life is by ap
proximation, and even the best institutions are valu
able only as means to nobler ends, stepping-stones to
nobler heights. They are the setting of the diamond,
the Time-vesture of the Eternal, the rude scaffolding
of the queenly structure of national character. When
these vestments of national life, whether of sack-cloth
or "wrought of crimson and cloth of gold," have served
the purpose of their creation and become weathered
and worn, they must crumble piecemeal away that the
fitter garments may press up from beneath. When
man is dissatisfied with his present condition and as
pires to a higher life, when a fresh sowing of human
thought is yellowing to the harvest, when a new ring
of growth has expanded from within, the fixed institu
tions without must yield along the diverging lines of
growth to the warm breath of reform, or the shatter
ing shock of revolution will lay them in the dust.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 95
There is nothing so revolutionary, because there is
nothing so unnatural and convulsive, as the attempt to
preserve institutions unchanged while "all the world
is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress."
The determination of the Stuarts to govern according
to the obsolete principles of the Tudors kindled the
stern virtues of Puritanism, which dashed the divine
right of Kings to pieces forever.
In government, itself, however true its principles
may be, there is no warrant for its safety and perma
nence, save as it reflects the character, and images
forth the thoughts of its time and people.
The Roman citizen centering his trust in the outward
forms of government, in the Consulate, the Tribune-
ship, the Comitia and all the ancient bulwarks of Ro
man Law, and forgetful of the Roman spirit that gave
them life and meaning, saw the reins of government
concentrated in the hands of Augustus without the
violation of written law or the overthrow of formal
freedom. The obscure minority becomes the ruling
majority, heresy grows into orthodoxy, the Constitu
tion yields to its interpretation, throughout society
under-currents swerve its life-stream from out the
forms of today into the forms of tomorrow.
No institution can be mathematically constructed,
fitly jointed and bolted together, so as to bid defiance
to decay and change. But they must be historically
evolved from the people's life and periodically adjusted
to the wants and necessities of the times, so that, grow
ing with the transmitted vitalities of the past, they
shall be elastic with the living blood of the present.
In no country can the nervous column of popular
tradition be sundered with impunity; but all reform
and change of government must move along the lines

96 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
of national growth. Napoleon could no more force
the free ideas of the Revolution upon Spain, than
Philip II could force those of the Inquisition upon
Holland. There is no patent for making institutions
to order.
The "Grand Model," though conceived by the state
craft of Locke and Shaftesbury, and designed for the
moulding of a perfect State, when applied to Carolina,
failed in every part. The late attempt of the French
to blot out their nation's past, reverse its character,
and start anew upon the basis of theory, ended amid
scenes of blood and chaotic confusion. All manufac
tured governments, forged by momentary enthusiasm,
reared high above the people, finding no lodgement in
the nation's character, will be wrecked by the reaction
ary wave of popular indignation. Mexico and the
South American States, having adopted constitutional
governments without sufficient preparation in the race's
past, ride upon the shocks of revolution and ask for
the name of the new President. Their germinating
independence must ramify throughout the people's
life, and grow into a complex organism of government,
inlocking in its strong and elastic branches the love and
confidence of succeeding generations, before its free
forms of government can become living realities.
The English Constitution unites freedom and sta
bility because it has been a growth of development of
the Teutonic genius through conservative progress
into the crowning glory of English Liberty. No
Magna Charta, Petition of Rights, or Bill of Rights
ever created or attempted to create any new liberties
for the English people. Their forms and principles of
government, founded upon experience and conserva
tive of precedent, have expanded with the swelling

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 97
tide of modern thought and been adjusted to the new
conditions of their world-wide conquest.
The Constitution of the United States faithfully
reflects the cast and genius of our people, because its
principles have been evolved by the slow working pro
cess of growth in the English race and in the American
Colonies. Its framers, studying the principles of the
English government, drawing essential aid from the
Constitutions of the different States, and improving on
the shattered wreck of the Confederation, builded a
structure new, whose every stone had been quarried
from former governments. And yet, all that savored
of mere theory or was not in harmony with the nation's
growth has proven inadequate and worked with sore
friction. The Democratic idea, incarnated in our Constitu
tion, in its convulsive struggle of growth, in its pro
gressive actualization in the life of the individual,
bursts through all boundaries and works constantly
for the regeneration of American thought and the
readjustment of American institutions.
The noble formula of Jefferson that "All men are
created free and equal," has grown into a fuller mean
ing, abolishing slavery, extending the franchise, and
leavening the masses with political education.
The poHtics of the country is a practical readjust
ment of its institutions to this unfolding idea, an effort
for its fuller realization and the continuous application
of old principles to new conditions. This industrial
age, with its great cities of inadequate governments,
with its corporate wealth and restless labor, demands
constant reversion to first principles, and their restate
ment and fitter application to existing problems.
But the American genius, which wrought out from

98 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
the ruins of the past the free institutions of the pres
ent, can, if attentive to its ever-broadening life, read
just them to the needs of the future.
The virtue and integrity of a nation's character, the
strength and purity of a nation's faith, and not the out
ward pomp of industrial statistics, nor the enchanted
parchment of its Constitution, perpetuate a nation's
Hfe. All the aspirations of the nation's heart, and all the
problems that tear its flesh, must draw their nourish
ment or read their doom from the ebb and flow of
national spirit, and the rise and fall of national char
acter.

OUR RETIRING PRESIDENT-K. P. BATTLE
With the resignation of Dr. Battle as President of
the University, an interesting and instructive chapter
in its history is closed, one that spans the interval of
State poverty and denominational opposition. It has
not only been a period of resuscitation, but of larger
growth. Dr. Battle entered the University in 1845 and has
been, as student, tutor of mathematics, Trustee, Sec
retary, Treasurer, member of the Executive Commit
tee and President, connected with it ever since. In
1875 he raised $20,000 for repairs; he likewise was
active in getting the General Assembly to pay the
$7,500 interest on the Land Scrip Fund, which had
been invested in State bonds. This enabled the Trus
tees to elect a Faculty and open the doors for students
in 1875.
A chairman of the Faculty, Rev. Dr. Charles Phil
lips, was tried for a year, but owing to his poor health.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 99
the plan did not succeed. After the strong solicitation
of his many friends. Dr. Battle allowed 'his name to go
before the Board, and he was elected almost unani
mously. Immediately he visited the agricultural and mechan
ical colleges of the North, and reported that the neces
sary work of such institutions could not be supported
without additional support from the State or other
source. He made many speeches in the State and
before the General Assembly in favor of an appropria
tion for an Experiment and Fertilizer Control Station
at Chapel Hill. This was the first effort of the kind in
the South, and was successful till the want of funds
weakened it, and it was removed to Raleigh; and in
1887 a separate Agricultural and Mechanical College
was there established, and the $7,500 a year transferred
to it from the University.
Foreseeing this would be done, President Battle suc
ceeded in getting $5,000 in 1881, and $15,000 in 1885,
in grants from the State Treasury. Previous to 1881
the University had never had a dollar appropriation
from the State.
His administration of fifteen years has witnessed
great improvements :
The obsolete system of espionage has been abolished,
and the students and Faculty now work in harmony.
The instruction has been broadened and deepened;
the number of professors is now greater than before
the war.
The Departments of Medicine, Natural History and
Electrical Engineering have been added, and that of
English has been greatly extended.
Physics is now taught practically as well as theoret-

100 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ically; Latin and Greek Composition and sight-reading
have been introduced.
The Department of Law is taught by a professor
who gives his whole time to his chair.
Instead of three we now have five laboratories.
The Museums have been extended and arranged.
Many thousand dollars have been expended for appa
ratus, maps and new books : and a working library is
now open every day. By the consolidation of the two
Society libraries with that of the University an excel
lent library has been formed.
The Mitchell Scientific Society, the best in the South,
whose publications are exchanged with similar societies
in America, Europe and Asia, has been formed, and a
fine scientific library accumulated.
The Shakespeare Club, a successful organization, is
in operation.
The Reading Room is now open every day.
The Gymnasium has been built, additions 'have been
made to Person Hall, and the whole turned into the
Chemical Lecture Hall and Laboratories.
A splendid auditorium, to commemorate the worthy
dead of the University, Memorial Hall, has been
erected. A branch railroad, largely by University influence,
now connects Chapel Hill with the outside world.
The first endowment of any chair, that of History,
was during this administration.
There have been raised $110,000 from private bene
factors, not counting the State appropriation nor that
of Mrs. Mary Smith Morehead, now in litigation.
During this administration the Summer Normal
School was conducted for four years with great results
toward building up the graded schools and education

DIALECTIC SOCIETY HALL

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 101
generally. But these are not all. Dr. Battle has found
time to write elaborate monographs on many subjects
of historical interest. His "History of the Supreme
Court" was thought by the Judges to be so valuable as
to deserve publication in Vol. 103 of the Reports of
their Decisions. His "Judicial Proceedings of the
New Testament," delivered before the Institute of
Christian Philosophy in New York, and published in
"Christian Thoughts," received the commendations of
the great English historian, Freemlan, and Dr. Noah
Davis, Dr. C. F. Deems and many others.
For fifteen years Dr. Battle has impersonated this
institution as no other could, and now that he retires
from the anxious care of the Presidency to the more
reflective atmosphere of historical study we all, friends.
Faculty and students, wish him as great success in the
future as he has achieved in the past.

THE DIALECTIC SOCIETY
In this University, second only to the class room
drill, in shaping the life and thought of its members,
stands the Dialectic Society. Only those who have
entered its sanctum sanctorum can appreciate its true
worth and character. But although its inmost life is
screened by the veil of secrecy, still it has certain well-
known externals.
During the session of 1891 -'92 it has numbered over
ninety (90) active members, receiving many valuable
additions to its already beautiful hall in the way of
chandeliers and portraits of distinguished alumni, and
quite naturally had its whole life quickened by the
spirit of reform pervading the institution.

102 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Recent changes in its organization have had the
beneficial effect of stimulating debate, making it more
general, and giving it decided preference as a literary
exercise. That healthy society-pride, which for a cen
tury has characterized the Dialectic Society, spreading
upon its walls the proofs of greatness and flecking the
State's history with statesmen, still beats steady and
strong and with every recurring inter-society contest
inspires and rewards its representatives. The Dialec
tic Society inculcates high ideals of life. However
careless a member may be in observing becoming de
corum, however negligent in performing required du
ties, whatever else he may lack, one thing is essential,
unsuspected honor. No member whose 'honesty was
questioned, or Whose honor was doubted, would be re
spected or tolerated. The Dialectic Society yields the
first place to no similar body in the observance of the
proper dignity and correct parliamentary practices.
Happily within its walls those restraints of the class
room, due to the presence and records of professors,
are all unknown. Perfect independence and absolute
equality belong to all. There class standing and so
cial distinctions are forgotten. In this youthful de
mocracy every one is valued and rewarded strictly
according to his performance of society duties. The
Dialectic Society has proven a choice field for the tyro
of politics and the student of human nature. There
we see the very springs of life at work. The impres
sions there formed are just, and the indications there
given are prophetic.
Perhaps the Society has never stood in greater need
of staunch supporters of its rights and examples of its
good influence than at present. That spirit of today
which would depreciate the value of literary societies

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 103
increases. The ramifications of our University's life
constantly tend to usurp the Society's proper functions,
as may be exampled in the management of the Library
and the practice of not requiring Law and Medical
students to join the societies.
Viewing the past with pride and the future with
hope, our sincerest wish is that the Dialectic Society
may be able to adapt itself to ever-changing conditions
so as to exert upon its future members the same magic
power that gave us a Mangum and a Polk, a Badger
and a Vance.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
The question is often asked : Why was the Electoral
College first established and why do we not more often
see the reason for it set forth? This was amply con
sidered by its originators, who were no followers of an
Utopian theory of government, nor were they libertine
practitioners. Since the President is invested with the
great appointment and veto power, and since the two
houses of Congress are generally so equally divided
between the two political parties, the power, and hence
the election, of the President is of great importance.
The House of Representatives is elected directly by the
people according to a ratio of population; the Senate
by the States upon the basis of equality; the President
by a combination of the two in an easy and equitable
manner. If the President be elected directly by the
people, two of the elective departments of the govern
ment will be elected by the people, one by the States.
And when a President shall have been elected directly
by the people alone without the concurrence of the
States, it will have been the first official act of the

104 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
American people in the aggregate in all their history.
The question then works a revolution in the division
of power and attacks a vital principle of government
upon local facts and transient causes. A principle of
government is inseparably engrafted into human na
ture by Omniscience himself and is suited to all lands
and times and can never fail; but facts, when their
immediate surroundings have vanished, are of no avail
whatever. So let us consider whether or not the prin
ciple involved is worthy of preservation.
This is a union of States and people, and not people
alone. The proposed system provides that the two
votes which represent the sovereignty of the States
shall be removed and that the nation shall be considered
as a union of people alone, disregarding State rights
altogether. This country was settled with reference to
its very dissimilar climates, soils, and surfaces ; and so
separate charters were given, from which came the
States. These unitedly achieved individual independ
ence; and entered into the present form of govern
ment, surrendering some individual rights for the
necessary union, just as man must surrender some
natural rights in order to have any government what
ever ; but they kept the States sufficiently strong to pro
tect the people in their natural rights and local interests
while the union bound them together for mutual aid
and their general welfare. It was a government dis
tinct as to domestic concerns, but united as to foreign,
with the liberty of a democracy joined to the energy
of a monarchy or a confederate republic; it was a
checkmate against the great sectional interests of the
wide-spreading republic. The manner in which the
colonies achieved their independence, the discussions
in the Constitutional Convention, the manner in which

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 105
the Constitution was adopted, and all the writings of
those nation-builders clearly and undeniably prove that
this is a union of States and people; from which we
draw the logical conclusion that State rights are far
more important than union itself. United States
means simply States united. One reason why this sys
tem is just, is that it has suited itself to the national
growth. The extent of the country and the dignity of
the highest office prevent a personal canvass, and since
the people must hear of their candidates and their
principles, what could be a more convenient method
than that of electors ?
Does the change proposed do more than give a mor
tal stab to State rights? Yes, it destroys the equilib
rium of the component parts which make the govern
ment. The basis of that great natural law, the law of
gravitation, is that every atom in the universe attracts
every other atom. Upon the same law the present sys
tem is founded, that power can only oppose power ;
organization, organization. Upon this balance of
power all governments of long duration or great
achievement have been constructed. Consider Eng
land, that mass of strength and good government, for
which she is indebted to the balance of her government,
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy — monarchy
holding the balance between the other two and forming
an alliance with neither. Just so, but improved and
more minutely adjusted is ours, John Adams, that ac
complished statesman and scientific lawyer, clearly elu
cidates this system of government, which is in itself
an explanation, when he says : "The American system
of government is an elaborate system of checks and
balances; the States are balanced against the general
government ; the House of Representatives against the

106 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Senate; the Executive against the Legislative; the
Judiciary against the Executive, the Legislative and
the State governments. The Senate is balanced
against the President in all appointments; the people
hold in their own hands the balance against their rep
resentatives by periodical elections; the State Legisla
tures are balanced against the United States Senate;
the Electors are balanced against the people in the
choice of President and Vice-President." And this is
a combination and refinement of checks and balances
unknown to past history and unequalled in perfection
of operation. The States are interested far more in
the Supreme Court, which of late years (sad proof of
our degeneracy, for the States themselves should
always he the final judges of their powers) fixes the
boundaries between the jurisdiction of the nation and
States than any individual. Elect the President by the
popular vote and the States will have less influence in
its composition. In this government where so much
depends upon the separate members of the government,
the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, great care
should be taken to place them in power at different
times and in different ways and thus prevent all abrupt
changes worked by the fickleness of public opinion.
The proposed system not only changes the manner of
the election but also the source; it moves the point
from which the government has always been weighed ;
it changes the pivot upon which it has ever turned.
Confidence is the handmaid of despotism; but jealousy
is the safety-valve of freedom; and up>on jealousy,
doubt, and checks the Electoral College is founded.
Thus plumbed by the rules of Political Economy,
collected through forty centuries of experience, this
symmetrical edifice of constitutional government rises

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 107
with the Electoral College as its key-arch, or, rather,
in the scientific regularity of its motions, it resembles
the mechanism of the universe. "The States revolve
each upon its own axis, within its own orbit, each
according to its own laws, some faster, some slower,
one at one angle, one at another; but around the cen
tral sun at Washington they tread the great national
orbit under equal conditions, and constituent parts of
the one great Whole." Shall we, then, by this change
destroy an equipoise of power centered in the present
system, which under the most trying ordeals has never
varied in the least ?
But it is said that where the people boast of their
liberty a majority of the people should rule. The
majority spoken of is simply the absolute majority or
the greatest number. This may be just in a country of
narrow limits and similar interests, but never in one so
dissimilar by nature as this, and where the people have
such conflicting interests. There is no trait of human
nature more universally and identically true than that
of self-interest; and it is always unwise to intrust a
people with power which by being abused operates
to their own advantage. The m)inority deserves protec
tion as well as the majority, as seen through the pre
cautions of Nature. The rule of the absolute majority
is only another name for that abominable pretension
that the end of government is the greatest good for the
greatest number. When this idea rules every one
thinks his own good the good of the greatest number
and acts accordingly, and sectional tyranny is the inev
itable result. The true end of government is the great
est good for every one, with injury to none; this
necessitates the consultation of the general good, which
requires the concurring majority. The concurring

108 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
majority is the rule of all; the absolute of only a sec
tion. A concurring majority is a majority of both the
majority and the minority; thus in the number forty,
twenty-one is the absolute majority, nineteen the help
less minority; but take eleven, the majority of the
majority, and ten, the majority of the minority; put
them together, and they make twenty-one, the true con
curring majority. And since great and important
measures require a two-thirds or three-fourths major
ity, to accomplish anything each side must consult the
interest of the other. This beneficent principle runs
throughout the government, and in no part more than
in the Electoral College, which requires a majority,
when blended together, of both the people and the
States, both of which are equally interested. All gov
ernments worth the name have been ruled by the con
curring majority. See little heroic Switzerland cling
ing to the jagged slopes and craggy heights of the
snow-clad Alps with no greater tenacity than she has
clung to her democratic institutions amid the upheav-
ings of the surrounding States and the onslaughts
made by the haters of freedom. For centuries she has
been the blood-spot in the ej^es of European despots,
and can yet boast as free, intelligent, and industrious a
people as any government under the sun ; and for all
this she can only point to the fact that her twenty-two
equal cantons elect one branch of her assembly, the
people the other, and these two combined elect the
executive authority; founded on the concurring major
ity from first to last. So for the want of this the
Plebeians seceded from the Patricians, endangering
and rending the rising city, but when the concurring
majority was restored, Rome spread her triumphant
arch over the seven hills, unfurled her eagles in every

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 109
land, and attained to the empire of the world. The
absolute majority is founded on the supremacy of one
idea, which, be it ever so good, is narrow, contracted,
and unsafe, and tends to despotism and stagnation
rather than to liberty and to progress. It holds its
authority not by consent or right, but dominates over
all by the sheer force of numbers. Let not bombastic
appeals for the rule of the majority overturn a tried
and unfailing principle.
One hundred years ago when this government was
founded it embraced comparatively small limits and a
smaller population. Hostile England, the mistress of
the seas, held Canada on the north, envious Spain held
the southern borders, the bloodthirsty Indian skulked
along the western frontier, and Europe was heaving
with revolutions set aflame by our example ; nor had
the different nationalities become conscious of a com
mon cause and a common destiny. Thus all things
conspired to make a strong national government neces
sary. But today when all these dangers are no more,
and when steam, electricity, and the printing press
have made the sections as communicative as the mem
bers of a family, and after the Union's strength has
been tried in an unprecedented contest, we do not need
so strong a national government. Notwithstanding all
this the Union has gradually become stronger and
stronger and the States weaker and weaker till today
the greatest evidence of this absorption of State rights
by the general government is that an unblushing at
tempt can be advocated here in this democratic and
constitution-upholding land to remove the Electoral
College, which carries with it the last barrier against
consolidation. The States have no rights but sover
eign rights ; take them and all is gone. The glorious

no FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
doctrine of State Rights was not surrendered at Ap
pomattox, only its forcible preservation; it still exists
and is the brightest star of self-government. The dan
ger to be feared is that this tendency towards consoli
dation is foretold by no oracles and ushered in by no
portents, but the sands that are to crush us silently
glide from one balance to the other. Only those inter
ested in protecting should have the power to protect;
the States are parties to the Union, they are bound,
they depend upon it, and When their influence suc
cumbs to that of the nation, the government will have
reached that stage from which State rights, and hence
human liberty, can never be rescued. There is no
difference betwen consolidation and empire, centrali
zation and imperialism. Alexander Hamilton, that
arch-advocate of a consolidated government, himself
has said that the general government can gain nothing
by destroying State governments, and that "the States
can never lose their power till the whole people of
America are robbed of their liberties ; these must go
together, they must support each other or meet one
common fate." And the Supreme Court of the United
States, that unbiased authority, has said that the States
have given up all the powers possible still to exist, and
that "this is an indivisible union of indestructible
States." What higher or more ominous warnings
could be given to stay the centralizing tendency and
uphold State rights as the polestar of liberty and the
palladium of the nation's hope ? Even at the present
the smaller States are overshadowed by the greater
ones; if a State be large and populous it has more
power in one branch of Congress and gets more pro
tection from the government, and should be equal in
the other, just as individuals of whom one may be ten

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 111
times as rich and wise, but has no more political power.
While a voter in Montana may have more power than
one in New York, yet Time, the leveller of all things,
will soon fill up those valleys and mountains with pop
ulation, making the ratio more equal; and New York
has already too much power. The quick palpitations
of the nation's political heart tell too plainly how surely
this nation is attacked by the malady that infected
Greece When Sparta, Athens, and Thebes all in turn
monopolized power, lorded it over the other common
wealths, and transformed beneficent democracies into
despotic monarchies. The States are the constitution
and law-making authority — the nation only the law
making, and, therefore, subordinate. But there is great
danger that the nation will come to consider the Con
stitution not the source of their power, but only
shackles upon its own ; and this is the chief of those
attempts. The law-making authority is organized and
in constant action, having the control of the honors
and emoluments of office ; but the constitution-making
authority lies dormant in the great inert mass of the
community till called into action at distant intervals
and on extraordinary occasions, and then only by
granting powers, not executing them. The result is
inevitable when the nation is trying to throw off the
restrictions of the States. There indeed appears to be
a great and prevailing principle that tends to place the
delegated powers in opposition to the delegating, the
created to the creating, reaching far beyond man and
his works up to the universal source of all power.
"The earliest pages of sacred history record the rebel
lion of the archangels against the high authority of
Heaven itself ;" and ancient mythology the war of the
Titans against Jupiter, which, according to the narra-

112 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
tive, menaced the universe with destruction. This all-
pervading principle is at work in our system; and
unless the government be bolted and chained down
with links of adamant by the hands of the States which
created it, the creature will usurp the place of the
creator, and universal political idolatry overspread the
land. If the Electoral College be torn away, the States
will lose an indispensable guarantee of their individu
ality ; the Union will be sufficiently strong to disregard
the States ; the division of power, Which is now equal,
will then be two for the Union and one for the State ;
the despotic principle of the absolute majority will be
unanimously engrafted into our now glorious govern
ment; the deplorable tendency towards centralization
will receive such an impetus as to send the nation
clanking into despotism. In the face of these evils,
and remembering the benign influences from the pres
ent system, let no patriotic voice be heard to applaud
the groundless prejudice against the present system;
but let all from every mountain top swell with stento
rian thunder that glorious acclaim: "Grand principle
of government, live forever !"

HOME RULE FOR THE IRISH
FIRST SPEECH.
The laws of nature and the laws of man may modify
the character of a people, but when we see a once pow
erful people failing in every effort and relinquishing a
continent to their contestants till at last their one home
is but a rocky fragment of that continent amid peat
bogs and sage-brush, and suffering for centuries the
domination of an alien race without liberty and without

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 113
country, we know that that people lacks the first and
strongest instinct, that of self-preservation, that it is
unworthy of a country and incapable of governing one.
Unequal odds may crush out a feeble band, as of Leon-
idas and of Custer, but five millions united in a com
mon cause and protected by the ocean's wall, cannot be
conquered if deserving to be free. Holland opened
her dykes and Switzerland loosed her crags on an
invading foe, and they preserved that liberty which
Ireland did not. Had she been true to herself and
deserving of a country, today the evergreen flag would
float over College Green, and Erin Go Bragh would
be symbolical of a free and united country rather than
of subjection and sorrow.
We grant that the Irish have many lovely traits,
many noble qualities, that her history is bright with
martyrs, patriots, poets, lawyers, and statesmen; but
the rank and file of that race are stamped with inferi
ority and doomed to decay. Of her great characters
and able leaders, O'Connell, alone, was of Irish de
scent; Grattan, Burke, Sheridan, Canning, Swift,
Flood, Correy, Moore, and Butt, were one-half or
three-fourths English, and Parnell has not a drop of
Irish blood in his veins. The Irish bears the stamp
of the primitive man; his instincts are still primal
and those of the clansman whose heart craves a chief.
He is a hero-worshiper, and cannot grasp grand and
noble principles, but grovels before a priest in religion
and a boss in politics. He has no obedience to law, no
method of civilized government. His primitive condi
tion was that of subjection to hostile chiefs warring
for supremacy and murdering for pleasure ; his mediae
val condition was that of factions torn and bleeding;
and at present, when of all countries we would most

114 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
expect Ireland to present an united front, we see her
discordant, dissuaded, torn asunder by her own talons,
not even united against her deadly enemy (so-called)
nor unanimous for that priceless heritage of a free
country. Let us do the Irishman justice; but take the history
which he has written in Ireland herself and under the
free institutions of our country, and we pronounce him
incapable of self-government. Personally he has too
often been treacherous and corruptible ; socially he has
no sense of decency and no pride of honor ; nationally
no high ideal, no obedience to law.
With Home Rule the heterogeneous character of
Ireland's population, the diversity of her classes, the
certainty of class legislation, the declared intention of
independence, the hatred of England and England's
interest, and perhaps the reserved veto must multiply
the opportunities of irritation and collision; and the
wounds of seven centuries, which are now healing,
must be torn open anew.
Parnell admits that he cares not a straw for Home
Rule save as a means of independence, and that, with
Home Rule, he would not rest until he had destroyed
the last link that bound Ireland to England, and that
he only wants an opportunity to effect it by force of
arms. When he uttered this he was the trusted leader of
the Home Rule party. Gladstone said on October 27,
1888: "It is idle to talk of law, or order, or liberty, or
religion, or civilization, if Mr. Parnell and his friends
are to carry through the reckless and chaotic schemes
which they have devised. Rapine is their first, but not
their only object; for they wish to march through
rapine to the dismemberment and disintegration of the
Empire."

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 115
When England was securing her Protestantism,
when she was beheading a tyrant and obtaining the
Bill of Rights, when Napoleon I was raging through
Europe like an uncaged lion, when Napoleon III was
lighting the torch of his hopes from the fires of revo
lution — at every crisis in England's history, when our
religion, her government, and her existence were at
stake — Ireland has thrown her rebellious form across
England's pathway and joined reeking hands with
England's enemies. This should palliate, if it cannot
justify, the rigor of English rule. We know that
American Fenianism has twice invaded the Dominion
of Canada. We know that Iris'h rebels and American
Fenians unfurled the blood-red banner of revolt in '65 ;
we know that Ireland's dynamite bombs have thun
dered above the Tower of Westminster, and we know
that with Independence or Home Rule Ireland would
become the clandestine recruiting ground and drill-
yard for England's enemies.
Ireland can gain nothing by leaving the Imperial
Parliament. She enjoys an equal franchise. An Irish
member represents 48,000 inhabitants, an English
member 54,000, and a Scotch member 63,000; or the
Irish member represents 6,000 less than the Enghsh,
and 15,000 less than the Scotch member. An Irish
member represents £63,000, an English member £118,-
000, and a Scotch member £133,000; or the Irish mem
ber represents considerably less than one-half that of
the Scotch member. (These figures were taken from
Gladstone 'himself.) Thus Ireland has undue influ
ence in the Imperial Parliament; and if she is in the
minority and must wait on English opinion, it is no
more than parts of England herself must do. But by
controlling the balance of power since 1830 she has

116 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
kept no less than eight ministries in power which were
hostile to English opinion, and has secured wonderful
reforms for herself. She receives more than her
share of the government patronage in civil, naval, and
military services, and the Indian Civil Service is full
of Irishmen.
Can Home Rule benefit Ireland financially? Home
Rule is desired as a means of procuring a protective
tariff. Not considering the hostile collision with Eng
land which it must provoke, it could not benefit Ire
land. One-third of Ireland, the manufacturing Protes
tant section whose manufactures have been built up
by native capital and enterprise, bitterly oppose it ; be
cause it would banish English capital and cripple her
own industries to pay bounties to numerous pet
schemes. The manufactures of Ulster did not thrive
till the system of bounties was abolished. It is no
trifling advantage to Ireland to be a partner with the
richest capitalist in the world, a capitalist with whom
she does nineteen-twentieths of her trading and one
that is always seeking out new fields for investments.
A protective tariff would close English markets, the
best in the world, against her labor and produce; and
instead of thriving peacefully under the policy of free
trade, which has given her her present manufactures,
she would find herself in the commercial arena with
England for an antagonist.
She is receiving full justice in the Imperial Parlia
ment. Because of public need and for local works the
Government during the last fifty years has taken
power to give £445,000 to England and Scotland, and
to Ireland £8,500,000, or over nineteen times as much
to one-seventh as many people. Ireland is exempt
from certain taxes, as the excise tax, legacy tax, armo-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 117
f
rial bearings, etc., which in England produce annually
£4,500,000. The population of Ireland is one-seventh
of that of the United Kingdom, and she raises but
one-tenth of the Imperial revenue. The average per
head in England and Scotland is two pounds and five
shillings; in Ireland one pound and ten shilHngs, or
thirty-two per cent less. In Great Britain over one-
half of all the government expenditures for police,
courts, etc., is derived from local sources; but in Ire
land, not counting the occasional military which is sup
ported by England, less than one-sixth is derived from
local sources ; all the rest is paid by the British Govern
ment. In England over one-half the expenditures for
public education, amounting to millions, is raised from
local sources ; but in Ireland less than one-eighth is so
raised, all the rest falling on the Imperial Exchequer.
Thus Ireland draws far more than her rightful portion
from the Imperial Treasury, to which she does not
contribute her just share.
Let us see if Home Rule can help settle the Land
Question. There has been an enmity of race, there
has been an enmity of religion, but at the root of all
Irish enmities and all Irish difficulties has always been,
and is today, the question of the land. The mass of
the Irish people care nothing for Home Rule save as a
means of Agrarian reform; and when this end is ac
complished they will be Unionists. The Irish tenant
has Fixity of Tenure, Free Sale, and Fair Rent — a
rent that falls with the price of produce and does not
rise when times are exceptionally good. He has com
pensation for improvements and compensation for dis
turbance, and has absolute free sale. If he becomes
insolvent from any cause not immediately traceable to
his own imprudence or misconduct, he enjoys a greater

118 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
immunity than any English debtor in similar circum
stances. If desired there is a court, that acts on the
general principles of justice, to which the tenant and
landlord may appeal in all cases whatever. No tenant
can be evicted except for a breach of contract, which
may be referred to the court. This court fixes rent
for fifteen years, during which time the rent cannot be
raised, and at its expiration may be renewed; and, in
fact, a vast majority of the rents have been so fixed.
By existing law all contracts unfavorable to the ten
ant are canceled as would be impossible under our
Constitution. Thus tenants who entered on their ten
ancies under formal, written contracts for limited pe
riods have been rooted perpetually on their holdings.
By the Encumbered Estate Act Ireland was relieved of
a spendthrift and absentee indebted proprietary and
received a vast amount of land thereby long before
England herself did. The Irish tenant was made a
sharer in his improvements long before, and receives
greater justice today, than any other tenant in Europe.
Under these laws evictions are only one-twentieth as
great in number as before. England has Landlordism,
too ; over one-half of England is owned by five or six
landlords, and four-fifths of the land is tilled by ten
ants. In England and Scotland the landlords have
rights of residence and eviction ; and the tenant has no
compensation for improvements, no fixity of tenure,
and no court of appeal. The Irish tenant is enriched
at the landlord's expense. The land today gives the
landlords no political or social influence, and they have
no means of sale except to the tenant, who buys with
out competition. By these land reforms the landlords
lose over one-third of the value of their property; and
by the bill of purchase, for every one hundred pounds

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 119
to which he is entitled by the clearest legal rights as
rent, he has to accept £2,000 in stock yielding him as
interest only £50. Thus he loses nearly one-half his
income ; no wonder so many are bankrupt.
Though the Irish tenant has suffered no less from
his own imprudence, unthrift, and agitation than from
landlordism, and though it is highly probable that
there will always be either English or Irish landlords
since the land is so limited; still all must admit that
absentee landlordism should be rooted out. Can Home
Rule effect this best? The English tenant has no
means of becoming a landowner ; but the Government
lends the Irish tenant money at two and three-fourths
per cent, interest to purchase his holding at any time or
by annuities for twenty years, and no power on earth
can retain to the landlord his property if only the
tenant avails himself of this offer. During the first
two years over 10,000 holdings were purchased, and
the rate has since annually increased. And today Ire
land would be in the hands of a resident proprietary
but for the boycott and midnight assassin. If with
Home Rule the Land Question be turned over to Ire
land, according to their own declarations, universal
confiscation will follow upon the doctrine of "Ireland
for the Irish," which would require the tenant to share
his holding with his laborers — a doctrine that would
undermine social order and private property.
But if with Home Rule the Government advances
£150,000,000, as was Gladstone's estimate, for the pur
chase of the land, the interest and ultimately the prin
cipal must be paid, not to landlords, nine-tenths of
whom have heretofore responded favorably to the ten
ant's demands, but to government officials. This, then,
does not benefit the tenant's condition. Moreover, this

120 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
would be a great stride toward socialistic government,
and doubtless an agitation would spring up to cancel
this loan and, besides bringing a collision, it would fall
on the British taxpayer. But if for any reason this
loan should be made or this gift granted, it could be
done equally as well without Home Rule as with it.
Wherein, then, can Home Rule benefit the Land Ques
tion, which is the very bedrock of the Irish Question?
With this equal justice in England's government and
in England's treasury and with the hopeful condition
of her land problem, what of her progress? The
ninety years of union which Gladstone calls an "unmit
igated calamity" have given Ireland greater prosperity
than the five preceding centuries. The Registrar Gen
eral of Ireland says that she has recovered from the
Famine more quickly and completely than any country
has ever done. He shows from official statistics
that Ireland today per head of population has more
pounds of assessment, more cattle, sheep, pigs, and
poultry, more agricultural produce, more tons of ship
ping, more manufactures, more bank deposits, more
capital in every shape, more pupils attending school,
more miles of road and railway, fewer paupers, fewer
mud-'huts than ever before; and the people are more
contented. Within the last forty years Ireland's reve
nue has increased 176 per cent; the number of her
bank deposits 258 per cent, and the amounts deposited
222 per cent ; all of which are about 45 per cent greater
than England's increase. In the most disturbed sec
tions of Ireland from 1880 to 1890 the deposits of the
Postoffice Savings Banks, which represent the small
depositors and command special confidence, increased
on an average 75 per cent, and in the country at large
40 per cent more than in England; yet in all these

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 121
places the "Plan of Campaign" has been invoked on
the plea of poverty.
Within the last forty years 2,000,000 acres of land
have been reclaimed and rendered productive, which
carries with it inestimable blessings. A slight decrease
in crops has been far more than compensated for by a
vast increase in stock raising. During the same period
the manufacture of beer has increased more than
threefold, and that of linen twelvefold. These are her
two greatest industries. The mileage and returns of
her railroads and also of her shipping have more than
doubled. Meanwhile wages have more than doubled, with a
corresponding increase in the character of dwellings,
clothing, and food; and under the National Educa
tional Act, w'hich she enjoyed before England herself
and which was maintained out of England's treasury,
her illiteracy has decreased 30 per cent. Pauperism,
crime, and religious rancor have also notably subsided.
And this progress has taken place not only with a con
stantly decreasing population, but in the presence of
social revolution.
Taking the question, then, as a present question, is
not Ireland receiving full justice and will not Home
Rule stay this progress and endanger England? Is
not the Union real and does it not hold a grand future
for Ireland? You must see that there is no finality in
Home Rule and that it settles no essential question of
dispute, but awakens her bloody past with tenfold in
tensity. That sentiment which repealed the Penal
Laws, enfranchised the Catholics, passed the Educa
tional Act, granted Land Reform, and gives full and
equal justice, is ready and willing to remove any abuse
or grant any reform that would redound to the pros-

122 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
perity of Ireland. England granted three reforms to
Ireland when she saw her statesmen insulted, her par
liament degraded, her laws broken, and her existence
threatened, proving that her heart might be won over
and her affections enlisted with her interests in support
of the unity, solidity, and prosperity of the British
Empire. Whatever may be the historic injuries, the imaginary
wrongs, the sentimental longings for a free country, the
final result towards the uplifting of man has been far
greater coming from the British Empire, controlled by
the noblest and freest race, carrying its institutions, its
religion, and its life into the uttermost parts of the
globe, and uniting them with the common cord of in
terest and the common chain of destiny around the
"Sea-girt Isle" of Great Britain, and building there the
grandest fortress of man and the noblest monument to
God that the world has seen, far greater than could be
coming from atoms separate and divided; and in no
small measure the destiny of man depends upon the
undivided strength and the unimpaired vigor of that
engine for man and that agent of God.
SECOND SPEECH.
Numerous and sore have been Ireland's ills. In the
early warlike history of Great Britain when she was
building her nationality, struggling for liberty, and
contending for a pure religion, when overrun by con
quering races and torn asunder by rebellious factions,
there were perpetrated crimes too black for my apol
ogy. We will not defend the conquests of Ireland,
though willed by her clergy and rendered possible
by her warring chiefs, and though England was con
quered, too. We will not defend the Penal Laws and

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 123
Catholic disfranchisement, though England suffered
them likewise. We will not defend the means of the
Union, though rendered necessary as a means of self-
protection, and though carried by Irish corruption and
confirmed by the following Irish election.
It is not our purpose to justify England's conduct in
the past, though provoked by Irish hostility and sec
onded by Irish treachery. It is not ours to discuss the
present by the lurid glare of past revolution. But it is
a condition that concerns us, and let us free ourselves
of the eternal bondage of the past and in the light of
today discuss a question of today.
We are not discussing the details of Gladstone's
scheme, nor the theory of any man, but the advisability
of Home Rule. The term is rather vague, but we
mean that Ireland is to have control of her local af
fairs by means of her own Parliament, but is to remain
subject to the Imperial Parliament, in which she is not
to be represented, in all Foreign, Colonial, and Fiscal
matters. Gladstone and the English claim that the
veto power on certain lines of legislation should be
reserved to the Crown, or virtually to the House of
Commons; but Parnell and the Irish resent it and
claim that Gladstone's scheme was not sufficient. But
both agree that in case of any abuse of her power the
Government reserves the right to interfere by force of
arms, if necessary.
Any arrangement between the local and Imperial
government, granting that it should be as clearly de
fined as that of our dual system of government, must
have its dangers. Take the case of the New Orleans
Massacre. Under our Constitution that is purely a
State affair, and the national government 'has no right
to interfere; but Italy looks to the United States for

124 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
redress, and we have the possibility of war because of
the national government's inability to act. Similar
cases have come very near embroiling us in foreign
war, and notably that of the Caroline with England.
Suppose Ireland a State with her turbulence and
hatred of England; an Irish mob might convulse
the Empire in war. But our dual system of govern
ment is not applicable to England and Ireland, for they
can have no elaborately refined system of checks and
balances. The local government has no representa
tives in the Imperial Parliament. There are but two
parties, and they are hostile. Under their constitu
tional system the legislature is the government. Two
legislatures under the same crown would be two gov
ernments, which in their present temper would almost
certainly take different courses in peace and war, and
the golden link of royalty would snap at the least fric
tion. There are for all practical purposes two Irelands, a
Northeast and a Southwest Ireland; the one English,
Protestant, and industrial; the other Irish, Catholic,
and agricultural. In the Northeast the population is
English and Scotch-Irish and over 90 per cent Protes
tant ; in the Southwest one-third are pure Irish in race
and speech, and the remainder are three-fourths Irish,
called Anglo-Irish, and are 95 per cent Catholic. The
industrial section comprises about one-third of the area
and population, and considerably over one-third of the
wealth of the whole island.
According to population the commercial is three
times and the industrial class fifteen times as great in
the East as in the West. Statistics show that the in
habitants of the West work but one-fifth of their time;
but in the East the dockyards of Belfast, the third port

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 125
in the Kingdom, vie with those of the Clyde, and the
foundries and linen manufactures of all Ulster rival
those of Liverpool and Glasgow. In the West the
people are content to multiply in such poverty that the
failure of a single crop brings famine, grim and
ghastly; but in the East the "clamorous iron of toil"
and the "play of the hammer on the rivet" are the music
of the early morn and quiet eve. The increase of pop
ulation is twice as great in the West as in the East, and
were it not for emigration the horrors of '46 and '47
would be constant. After forty years of equal edu
cational advantages, illiteracy is 45 per cent and crime
35 per cent greater in the West than in the East. The
reduction on rents has been greater in the West than
in the East. But in the condition and character of the
two peoples mentally, morally, and physically, ratios
fail to express the glaring contrast. It is bad enough
for this primitive Celt, this priest-ridden peasantry,
this "waste and desert place," this "dark and compara
tively uncivilized region," to handicap the acquired
intelligence and business enterprise of Protestant Ul
ster in the Imperial Parliament ; but in an Irish Assem
bly what would be the result? Men of the South, who
know the Negro Question, men of the South, who rec
ognize the necessity of white supremacy, see the quin
tessence of the issue, and in the present condition of the
"Emerald Isle" recognize an exact parallel to the post-
bellum South. The claims of the majority to rule are
strong, but the fitness and character of that majority
should not pass unheeded.
Does Ireland want Home Rule? All the Northeast
section, numbering one-third of her population and
over one-half of her intelligence and thrift, numbering
in their ranks the descendants of Grattan's parliament

126 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
and O'Connell's faithful followers, bitterly oppose it.
If her representatives were elected upon the Home
Rule issue, and if her representatives were elected pro
portionately (for an Ulster member represents almost
twice as many electors as a member from the West),
and if intimidation and crime were suppressed, and were
it not for American Fenianism, a majority of her votes
would be cast for the Union. John Bright said that
44 of her 85 members who voted for Home Rule sat
in Parliament on American boodle. All Irishmen who
are capable of self-government do not desire Home
Rule, and those who do desire it, desire it less than the
approval of their respective chiefs.
What of Catholicism? Gladstone says : "A convert
to Rome must sacrifice his moral and mental freedom
and place his loyalty and civil duty at the mercy of
another." With Home Rule any attempt by the Cath
olic majority, bound in the vice of Roman servility
and gangrened by religious rancor, to establish their
church or subsidize any of their numerous religious
fraternities there, as they do elsewhere, would be met
with armed resistance backed by England's aid. Of
the 550 Protestant members of Ulster, Ireland, of
whom 538 were followers of Gladstone before he allied
himself with Parnell, thereafter only three gave him
their support. Rome is politic enough to use Pro
testant leaders in a Protestant Parliament, but when
her power becomes absolute who knows the result ?
If there were no other consideration, the character
of the Nationalist party forbids Home Rule. They
opposed the Land Bill, giving Fixity of Tenure, Free
Sale, and Fair Rent; they challenged the sincerity of
the Government, and during its progress relaxed none
of their efforts to damage its reception, and after its

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 127
final inscription upon the statute books are straining
every nerve to insure its failure and to discredit its
operation with the people of Ireland. Acting on the
advice of its leaders, whose measures in Parliament
have been obstruction, it has not scrupled to use vitriol
and dynamite, the midnight brigand and the skulking
assassin as the means of usurping the Queen's govern
ment, paralyzing land reform and rendering courts of
justice impossible. This guerilla warfare under oath-
bound secret societies, the Land League and National
League, stimulating agrarian discontent to add fuel to
political revolution, using the boycott to intimidate the
weak and Fenianism to corrupt the avaricious, has se
cured a majority and now they will call it the voice of
Ireland and the voice of God. These leaders, while
rendering their followers as destitute of moral sense
as the Bushmen of Africa, have banished capital, pro
moted idleness and unthrift, raised expectations that
are doomed to disappointment, and have suggested no
scheme of permanent improvement except confiscation,
and have not taken under their patronage a single
work of public usefulness or aided the revival of a sin
gle manufacturing industry. With this condition the
loyal elements of Ireland appealed to England for a
bill to protect life and property. It was passed tem
porarily under Gladstone's leadership; it restored or
der, it set up law, and was enforced by a police which
was mainly Irish and Was supported by England and
was more orderly than that of England herself. And
this they call Coercion. It was a removal of the real
coercion, the Land League and American Fenianism.
It was an act of humanity, an act of necessity, an act
of justice.
Should this savage band of Celts, whose footprints

128 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
have been stained with blood and marked by ten thou
sand agrarian crimes, whose methods have been ob
struction, dynamite, and blood, and whose present issue
is a shame to a civilized community, on whose sabres
flash vengeance to England, on whose crest, engraven
by seven centuries of attempt, is traced the indelible
truism, "Incapable of Self-Government," and on whose
banner, sketched by lurid hand, gleams that awful
motto: "The total independence of Ireland and the
annihilation of England by any means whatever, is
our goal." Shall this band, then, depraved and dan
gerous, be entrusted with the safety, the prosperity,
and the liberties of five millions of the Queen's sub
jects, two millions of whom are good and loyal, and
who bitterly oppose Home Rule ?

THE EASTERN QUESTION
At the close of the Russo-Turkish War, when Rus
sia, alone and unaided, had liberated the Christian
Provinces from Turkish domination, she stipulated
with Turkey the treaty of San Stefano, securing
peace and liberty to the Christians ; but England forced
her to submit to the judgment of the European powers
at the Congress of Berlin on the ground that the
"concerns of Turkey are the common concerns of the
powers of Europe acting in concert."
Having asserted this to the world, she secretly and
in the darkness of night, while the Congress of Berlin
was still sitting to determine these matters of common
interest, while her ministers at this Congress were as
serting that unless this principle was acted upon, they
would go to war with the six million pounds which

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 129
Parliament had voted for that purpose — she at the
same time concluded a separate agreement with Turkey
under which those matters of European jurisdiction
affecting Turkey were coolly transferred to English
jurisdiction and the whole matter was sealed with the
bribe of the possession and administration of the Island
of Cyprus. Forbidding to Russia the right to nego
tiate with Turkey alone and deceiving the nations of
Europe, she stealthily took it herself. Then came
Great Britain to guarantee Turkish supremacy. In
this act is selfishness, hypocrisy, and injustice; how
can any good thing come from a source so corrupt and
vile? We have mainly to do with European Turkey, which
numbers less than six million people, three-fourths of
whom are Greeks, Armenians, Slavs — professing Chris
tianity mainly of the Greek Church, but some of the
Roman Church. The professors of Islamism number
less than one-fourth in Europe and two-fifths in Asia,
and the Turks or ruling class include less than one-
twentieth of the whole population of the Turkish Em
pire. (These figures are taken from Freeman and a
writer in the Political Science Encyclopedia.)
The interests of England and the interests of the
English mean the same thing; the interests of France
and the interests of the French mean the same thing;
but the interests of Turkey and the interests of the
Turks are two opposite things. Turkey does not mean
that the people of the land are Turks, but that they are
held in bondage by the Turke. The Turks are alien in
race, in language, in religion, in historic memories, and
in the commonest ideals and feelings from every na
tion of Europe and from the great majority of the peo
ple of Turkey. The Sultan, in whom are vested all

130 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
civil, military, and religious powers, is not a national
sovereign, but the despotic chief of foreign oppressors.
He gives his people no protection ; therefore, they owe
him no allegiance. He has no right over them unless
there be right in brute force. They owe him no duties
except the duty of ridding themselves of him as soon
as possible. Whatever is good for the Turks is bad
for Turkey and its people.
When the Goths and Vandals, the Angles and Sax
ons, the Gauls and Normans, even the Bulgarians and
Hungarians spread desolation and death in their track,
they mingled the strains of their blood with the blood
of conquered races, and from the charred and smoking
waste builded a nobler and grander civilization; but
the Turks, after conquering the classic sites of Europe
with their iconoclastic rage, without amalgamation or
modification by environment, after five hundred years
of corrupt and despotic rule, without creating one bond
of national interest or feeling, still rule as an Eastern
and Mohammedan stranger in the home of a Western
and Christian people.
"Byzantines boast that on the clod
Where once their Sultan's horse has trod.
Grows neither grass, nor shrub, nor tree."
Bare desolation and utter ruin are the lasting memo
rials of the Moslem power on the once fertile shore of
the Levant. His government is not misgovernment
— it is no government; it is organized brigandage
which levies its remorseless blackmail on the traveling
public. It is systematic oppression and plunder ; it is
a denial of the commonest rights of man. The path
of foulest shame is the surest path to power; and the
promises of the Sultan are made only to be broken.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 131
Their taxation is unjust, their finances bankrupt, their
coinage debased, their industry dead. Their whole
civil and penal legislation, as well as the financial and
commercial polity, is directly opposed to the best inter
ests of three-fourths of the people.
The Turk is armed, 'the Christian is unarmed; the
Turk rules, the Christian has to obey ; the Turk sits in
the so-called seats of justice and refuses to take the
evidence of the Christian against the meanest Turkish
criminal; the Christian's life and property, honor and
family are at the mercy of every Turk to do with them
as he chooses. Turkey has repeatedly violated the
laws of nations, thus justly incurring the penalty of
dismemberment. As the centuries have gone by governmental policies
have been modified and human rights recognized; but
for five hundred years the Turkish Government has
become worse and worse. Its spirit of conquest and
fire of enthusiasm dead, internal corruption and
wholesale oppression have gained ground. It has run
its cycle of rise, perfection, and decline; and its naked
trunk now only cumbers the ground of the earlier
seats of Christianity and civilization with the broken
fragments of an infidel and semi-barbarous empire.
This stagnant, corrupt, and oppressive outer shell of
Turkey, incasing three-fourths of the people, can
never be reformed. Some Christian governments are
bad, very bad; but law, order, and justice are never
quite forgotten, and the worst of them are capable of
reform. But the whole history and character of Tur
key is against reform. She has made promises and
contracts to reform, but only to be broken. Turkey,
while ruled by the Mohammedan Turk, can never be a
national government; his religion commands him to

132 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
conquer and reduce the Christian to bondage, and to
day the chief article of traffic in the Turkish Bazaar
are human beings, and the house of nearly every Turk
has its Christian slaves. But where the Christians rule
the government can be national without oppressing
the Mohammedans, as is the case under Great Britain
and Russia. Upon the family as a unit of society
rests individual liberty and social order, domestic fe
licity and virtue, national freedom and success; but
where its head waters are poisoned by the sensualism
of the Harem, the distortion of human slavery, and the
blighting curse of polygamy, there is no hope of re
form. In this age of rapid progress there is no hope
for a State whose governmental and social system are
taken directly from that immutable standard of fanati
cism, the Koran. It is their Bible, their statute book,
their encyclopedia, the manual of their life and learn
ing. The theologian, the statesman, the lawyer, the
physician, the warrior, the historian, the poet, the cap
tain of the football team, and the dancing master — all
must shape their creeds and actions after some cant,
cast-iron phrase which was dictated twelve hundred
years ago to a. nomjadic people by a fanatical camel-
driver to be scratched on a mutton bone. The cere
monies of religion and the despotism of government
have crushed the life and enthusiasm out of this
people. Since that barbaric wave of Saracen conquest broke,
ebbed, and fled, Turkey 'has lost over three-fourths
of her land and people ; and every individual and every
State freed from Turkish rule has become more pro
gressive and more free. The high tide of religious
fervor and the ground swell of self-government would
sweep that ruling twentieth from the embattled ram-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 133
parts of the Bosphorus did not the strong arm of Eng
land interpose. Other conquerors have sooner or later
made their conquests lawful by giving the people a
government; but the Turk came as a robber, and a
robber he remains ; five hundred years of rule by force
and violence gives him no right to respect or protection.
England is maintaining this condition not only
against every outside assailant for Whatever cause, but
against three-fourths of the people themselves, thus
destroying every noble stimulus and increasing the
habitual misgovernment. No matter how bad that
government, no matter how great may be the growth
of virtue, liberty, and intelligence among the people,
no matter how great may be the disproportion in num
ber between the rulers and the ruled, England is bound
to maintain this foreign despotism of one-twentieth of
the people intact. Every patriot, a Tell, a Mazzini, a
Riego, a Rienzi, a Kossuth, a Bolivar, a Washington,
in struggling for his country must strike, not upon a
Turkish chain, for that of itself is a chain of sand, but
upon England's mammoth power.
England may deny it, but in fact, she is acting upon
the principle laid down by the treaty of Paris, that "she
has no right to meddle with the relations of the Sultan
with his subjects or with the interior administration
of his Empire." That is to say, the Turk may rob,
kill, mutilate, do what he pleases; she will not hinder
him, but will send men and money to crush every rebel
lion and rout every attack made against his govern
ment. And this she has done repeatedly ; she has pre
vented the English army from saving old men, women,
and children from the rage of the Turk, and the "Bul
garian massacre," in which 15,000 persons were butch
ered, she calls a "mere incident," with which she has

134 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
nothing to do. In her eyes pecuniary interests and
abstruse political policies are above the interests of
humanity and' the rights of human nature. We are
not contending for the dismemberment of Turkey, or
its annexation to Russia. If Turkey's nationality is
necessary for England's interests and the peace of the
world, let this Christian majority rule, and let England
maintain that supremacy if she chooses, or let her take
the government in hand as she has done that of Egypt.
The Turk need not be expelled or exterminated; let
him remain on a common footing, but he must not gov
ern or oppress the majority.
Gladstone says that the only way to do any perma
nent good for the Christian provinces is to turn the
Turkish officials, "bag and baggage," out of them. . . .
Wheaton says : "The principle of interference is
authorized where the general interests of humanity
are infringed by the excesses of a barbarous and des
potic government." And he gives as an instance the
Ottoman Empire. Speaking of the reasons for the
interference in favor of the Greeks, he says: "Its
principle was fully justified by the great paramount
law of self-preservation. 'Whatever a nation may
lawfully defend for itself, it may defend for another
people if called upon to interpose.' Interference may
therefore be safely rested upon this ground alone."
This principle once asserted and acted upon by Eng
land, France, and Russia, in the case of Turkey, is
still recognized and studiously observed by Russia,
France, and the liberal, progressive, and conscientious
element in England herself. These four million Chris
tians in Europe, three-fourths of the people, who re
ceive no protection from their foreign oppressors, and
therefore owe no allegiance, who are native in that

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 135
country and struggling like their neighbors for inde
pendence, have by this law, the rule of the majority
and the rights of human nature, a sacred right to
nationality and self-government; and because of geo
graphical position, community of religious feeling and
to some extent of race, these people, having been re
fused and bitterly opposed by England, have invited
their sympathizers from the North to aid them.
Therefore Russia is justified in attempting to liberate
this people. If these sufferers by themselves are, with
the aid of Russia, justified in throwing off the Turkish
yoke, then England cannot be justified in maintaining
Turkish supremacy. There cannot be two rights di
rectly opposite ; there is but one right, and that right is
with the suffering majority.

A BRIEF REVIEW OF SCHOLASTICISM,
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL
Ancient Philosophy may be said to have disappeared
in 529 A. D., when the Athenian schools were closed
by order of Justinian.
Hitherto Christian thought had been confined to the
systematical arrangement of theological dogmas. A
few theologians, however, as Augustine, had brought
in elements of philosophical discussion.
After the settlement of the barbarian races, their
conversion to Christianity, and the organization of the
Western Empire under Charlemagne, that able mon
arch, desirous of attracting scholars from Ireland and
Britain to his cause, in 787 A. D., decreed the estab
lishment of schools in connection with every abbey of
his realms.

136 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Schools were established and flourished at the Pal
ace at Ljwns, Orleans, St. Denis, Rheims, Paris, Tours
and various other places; these became the centers of
Mediaeval learning and gave the name of scholasticism
to the world.
The educational curriculum of the Middle Ages
consisted of the Trivium of arts : grammar, logic and,
rhetoric, and the Quadrivium of the sciences : arithme
tic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Logic, however,
soon became the one absorbing study.
The limits of Scholasticism are confined to the
period running from the ninth to the fifteenth cen
turies, though most active during the twelfth and thir
teenth. Realism was the first to gain importance, but
the contest closed with conceptualism in the lead.
During the Thirteenth Century the scholastics acquired
a knowledge of Greek; and gained access to many
philosophical writings before unknown, chief of which
were those of Aristotle. The discussion of the scho
lastics long remained unnoticed in the obscurity of the
schools, having no connection with questions of religion
and politics. It was not till the Eleventh Century that
Nominalism entered the lists of scholasticism. By the
middle of the Twelfth Century, Logic had lost most of
its interest, and the historical compilers superseded
philosophers and theologians.
Strictly speaking. Mediaeval thought is confined to
the logic of Aristotle and the theology of the church.
Scholasticism begins in discussion of Aristotle's logic;
it soon applies its logical methods and distinction to its
treatment of theology. But the conflict did not origi
nate in this attempt of logic to extend its system to the
ology so much as the belief that scholasticism absorbed
time and ability which might be better employed in

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 137
the service of the church. It was the excitement at
tending this attempt to apply logical methods to theo
logical mysteries, and the heterodox conclusion which
were its earliest fruits, that gave scholasticism its
prime importance during the Middle Ages.
The inestimable result of this extension of logical
method to theology was that the systems of the church
were rationalized or Aristotle's logic was Christianized.
The scholastics were ingenious commentators and
acute critics of Aristotle; but they did not dare go
beyond the limits of his systems or investigate nature
for themselves. Realism was thus subordinated to
faith. The question which agitated alike the universities,
the church, and the politics of Europe for centuries ;
which in varying forms was waged both with the pen
and sword ; and which awaiting any final settlement,
is still earnestly debated by dialecticians and scientists
— concerns the nature of genera and species and their
relation to the individual.
Realism and Nominalism, the two opposing theo
ries, express at bottom "the radical divergence of pan
theism and individualism— the two extremes between
which philosophy seems pendulum-wise to oscillate,
and which may be said still to avoid their perfect recon
ciliation." The text of this discussion, at first a ques
tion of logic, is found in the Introduction to Aristotle
by Porphyry, a Neoplatonist. This text dealt with the
nature of genera and species.
Roscelinus, the founder of Nominalism proper, in
propounding the tritheistic view of the Trinity as a
natural result of his theory, whereby unless we say the
three Persons are one thing, in which case Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost must have been incarnate as one —

138 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
then we ought to speak of three Gods — caused Real
ism to take shape according to the theories of Anselm
and William of Champeaux. Hereafter the question
at issue is more accurately defined. Because of the
heretical conclusion involved in Nominalism as set
forth by Roscelinus, Realism becomes recognized for
several centuries as the orthodox creed of Philosophy.
Along with the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incar
nation that of Transubstantiation and the Eucharist
were much discussed. Some sects as Unitarians, etc.,
and many theological doctrines owe their origin to this
period of dispute.
The difficulties of Realism, brought out by an ex
plicit statement and by the criticism of Abelard, led to
numerous attempts to reach some more satisfactory
formula. Thereupon the theory of "Indifference"
sprung up — this marked a gain for Nominalism, as it
surrenders the substantiality of universals. At this
time there were about thirteen different views on the
question of universals — in this list are all shades of
opinion, from extreme Nominalism to extreme Real
ism. This seems to show that there was no hard line
of division between the disputants for any length of
time. It also suggests the belief that there was a
grain of truth in all the beliefs, but much error in all,
as well.
Abelard, Successively the pupil of Roscelinus and Wil-
liaim of Champeaux, and a very able dialectician, came
forward as a severe critic of his masters' doctrines.
His views were those commonly known as Conceptual
ism, or a via media between the extremists of either
side. He maintained that genera and species which
are predicated of individual subjects are not things or
substances, and that this is true however real the facts

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 139
may be which are designated by the specific and generic
names. Or, as one puts it, "Only individuals exist,
and in the individual nothing but the individual." By
laying stress not on the mere word, but on the thought
which the word is intended to convey, he rescued his
theory from the fortunes of extreme Nominalism and
gained for it that of Conceptualism. He combated
the Tritheism of Roscelinus, contending that the three
Persons were three aspects or attributes of the Divine
Being. His opinions were held by the more strict
churchmen as the rash intrusion of an over-confident
Rationalism. The Rationalistic tendency was identi
fied with the Nominalists because they were the im
movable. Early in the Thirteenth Century the doctrinal ortho
doxy became disturbed and many mystical heresies
sprang up — all due to the introduction of new philo
sophical writings through the Arabs. These called
forth the condemnation of several provincial councils;
but a closer study of Aristotle by Albertus Magnus,
Thomas Aquinas and others, sufficed to replace him in
a position of unquestionable supremacy.
The Mendicant friars first, and then the Dominicans,
now came forward as the chief teachers of Christian
learning and faith. About the close of this century
the intellectual horizon was extended. The nature of
universals was no longer discussed so much from a
logical or metaphysical point of view, but becomes
more of a psychological question. Other questions, as
the elements of substance, the principle of individual
ism, the origin of ideas, etc., now claim attention.
Albertus and Aquinas discussed the question of univer
sals, but it was no longer the center of speculation;

140 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
its form now being that of the principle of individu
alism. The great opponent and critic of Aquinas was Duns
Scotus, who had less confidence in the power of reason
than his opponent. He strengthened Theology by
maintaining that, the creation of the world was noth
ing, the iramlortality of the soul, etc., was as capable of
philosophical proof. Thus unconsciously his criti
cism hastened disintegration by partially restoring the
dualism between faith and reason which scholasticism
had labored so hard to destroy. They differed over
the freedom of the will — Aquinas tending towards
Rationalism, Scotus towards Skepticism. Scotus also
attacked the Thomist doctrine 'of individualism.
So bitter and extensive was this rivalry that at the
opening of the Fourteenth Century the Thomists and
Scotists divided the philosophical and theological world
between them. The disappearance of scholasticism is
preceded by the temporary revival of Nominalism in
a somewhat different form under William of Occom,
who claims that everything that exists is individual
and that this is proven by the bare fact of its exist
ence. He heralded the dissolution of scholasticism by
his severance of philosophy and theology — greatly ex
tending the doctrine of Duns Scotus. At first this
Nominalistic tendency was limited ; but it soon spread
on all sides. The end of scholasticism came both from
within and from without. At the beginning of the
Fifteenth Century mysticism still existed in Germany;
but the different characters and tongues of European
nations were now beginning to assert their marked
individuality; and men's highest interests ceased to be
ecclesiastical, so the essence of scholasticism, as well
as its field of activity, was gone.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 141
The three principal doctrines contained in scholasti
cism may be thus briefly stated :
1. Realism, which originated with Plato, is the doc-
-trine that the universal determines the individual, and
was expressed in the phrase, "universalia ante rem."
It maintained that classes, genera, species, etc., are
things, not mere names; that in the region of external
existence there is a something which corresponds to
our idea of man, horse, etc. — distinct from the indi
viduals John, William, and black and white horse;
that the idea exists before the individuals, and gives
form and shape to them. The position of Realism as
stated by Plato is as follows : "The idea of a thing
is that which makes one of the many ; which presumes
the unity and integrity of its own nature runs through
and mixes with things infinite in number ; and yet, how
ever multiform it may appear, is always the same ;"
also that of every species there is an archetype or ex
emplar which shapes the individuals, and that this idea
has existed from all eternity.
We fail to see how all the individuals of any class
can share its one common nature; for what is unity
and incapable of division cannot be shared by an indefi
nite number of individuals. Our general notions are
confined to individuals of which we have knowledge ;
but there could not be the limits if there were an ob
jective essence to give form and shape to the indi
viduals. 2. Nominalism, in opposition to Realism, contended
that the individual determined the universal; and was
expressed in the phrase, "universalia post rem." It
held that the general had no objective existence; that
genera, species, etc., are names only; and that the
name is a common sign which can be applied to any

142 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
number of images which correspond to concrete exam
ples which we have seen. As to Nominalism as the
doctrine that there is nothing universal but names, and
that we must invent names for such classes as we
choose to put together, and consequently that Logic is
nothing more than simple addition and subtraction of
names — we answer that the truthfulness or falsity of
propositions would then depend on arbitrary agree
ments among men about words. This seems too ab
surd to admit. Species and genera exist in nature,
however dim may be the distinction, and science is not
mere naming; nor is truth mere truth of words — jus
tice, ferocity, cruelty, etc., are something more than
nominal distinctions; here conscience and experience
have erected some real distinctions.
Nominalists would say in reading a book vrithout
names of individual objects (which is common enough)
that there is nothing before the mind except mere
words. This view seems absurd also. Nominalists
claim that we cannot form general ideas as that of
horse, because horses possess contradictory attributes,
as white, black, large, small, blind horses; but these
attributes are not the essential parts. There is more
in horses that is common to them all and Which enables
us to form horses into a class, than there is which dif
fers in every individual horse.
But there is some truth in Nominalism when we use
words for thoughts ; or signs in Geometry and Algebra
to represent all possible signs of that particular kind.
This power is often very valuable as a depository for
thought. 3. Conceptualism, or the view held by Aristotle,
maintains that each exists in the other and is thus ex
pressed, "universalia in re." It maintains that in addi-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 143
tion to the mind's power of forming images of indi
vidual things, general notions, and abstract ideas, by
the representation of the attribute which many indi
viduals have in common. In reply to this, however,
Nominalists urge that general names are only the
images of individual objects formed by concentrating
the attention to particular characteristics denoted by
general names. As to conceptualism it seems to con
tain a still greater amount of truth, though not without
its difficulties.
It seems that the mind can conceive any number of
individuals as a single class, and that general names
suggest certain ideas or mental pictures, otherwise it
would be impossible to use those general names with a
clear understanding of their meaning. This idea,
which is called up by a general name, contains the dif
ferent circumstances in which all the individuals de
noted by the name agree, and no others.
Whenever we think or reason about a class we do so
by means of this general idea. Evidently some idea
or mental conception is suggested by a general name,
when we have it or use it with an understanding of a
meaning. This is the general idea.
Our cognitive faculties are not limited to our senses
and imagination; if they were, then our knowledge
would be confined to individuals; and we should be
unable to form general ideas, nor should we have
general names for such ideas. But the understanding,
after comparing particulars and observing relations
between them, forms classes to which we give general
names. The idea called up by "wrong" or "right"
may not be cognizant to the sense or imagination, still
it is thoroughly understood by the intellect. Individu
als are limited to space and time and cannot be imag-

144 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ined out of their own places; but the general idea of
man is confined to no particular race, country, or year,
so this idea seems to be reached by a process of
abstraction. The mind seems to be able to consider such quality
by itself and abstracted from all others, and by that
means forms abstract ideas.
The mind seems capable of forming ideas of color,
shape, movement, etc., qualities of an object separate
from the object, though it is impossible for these quali
ties to exist separate from the object to which they
belong. This is done by abstraction evidently.
The mind can thus frame for itself a general idea
of color, shape, etc., distinct from all the particular
colors, shapes of the object observed, by carefully not
ing what is common to all and what distinguishes them
one from another.
Thus by a process of abstraction we fix the mind on
the circumstances in which a number of individuals
are found to agree or resemble each other ; and then
by a process of generalization we arrange them accord
ing to this common circumstarce into classes to which
we give a common name.

yMtye~-\^^a^iJX^

fie^e-v"-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 145
Untro^uction to t^ft ^il^rltlngs anb Speecljas of
"Jobn TEll&r
For most of the writings of John Eller no apology
would need to be made from the standpoint of compo
sition if all of them were complete. He loved to write
as well as he loved to speak; and in his mind the two
were closely associated. His writings have much of
the fire and enthusiasm of the debater, with perhaps an
occasional overuse of the rhetoric of the orator; and
his best speeches have much of the ease and elegance
of more finished writing. His fondness for writing,
combined with the fact that he lived through his
senior year — the most productive period in the life of
a college man — accounts for the slight preponderance
of his writings over those of his brother.
"Man's Inhumanity to Man" was written for the
contest for the Mangum Medal for Oratory at the
Commencement of 1896. As in the case of "Institu
tions the Result of Growth," the choice of the subject
Was the result of work done in the preparation of a
thesis. The subject of the thesis was, "What Is
Morality?" Being intensely interested in the subject,
the writer decided to construct an oration out of the
material he had collected. "Morality and Life" was
the title of this oration as first written ; but being dis
satisfied with it, he decided to write another. He had
discovered that "there is nothing more difficult than
the transformation of a thesis, the aim of which is
to prove, into an oration, the aim of which is to move."
It was found very desirable to include egoism as well
as altruism in a popular discussion of morality. Ac-

146 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
cordingly the oration was re-written with many addi
tions and alterations, and entitled, "Man's Inhumanity
to Man." The thesis is printed in this volume not
only because of its close relation to the oration, but
because of its power of thought and expression. It
throws much light also upon the thoroughness with
which its author performed his college class work.
"A Plea for American Commerce" was spoken in
the inter-society contest at the Commencement of 1894,
while the speaker was still a Sophomore. Readers
will find it instructive to compare this oration with
that spoken at Commencement two years later, noting
the improvement in language and thought in spite of
the excellence of the earlier oration.
The debate opposing rigid party organization was
written for the inter-society debate on March 4, 1895.
The second speech of the debate (incomplete) op
posing the tendency towards centralization in the
National Government was delivered in the best de
bater's contest in the Di Society iheld on April 19, 1895.
The manuscript is written in pencil and is incomplete.
The article on "The Origin and Rise of Government"
is evidently a thesis; for what course it was written
and when, cannot now be ascertained ; but it is so clear
and convincing a treatment of a much discussed sub
ject that we include it here, believing it worthy of
preservation. The next article, which is printed from a manu
script written in pencil, is the first or second draft of a
speech delivered before the trustees at Raleigh in be
half of the non-fraternity men of the University. It is
included here because it is so sane and clear an expo
sition of the grounds of those who led the anti-frater
nity fight. The spirit of the whole discussion is

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 147
admirably conservative and the thought thoroughly
mature. The articles written for the "White and Blue" were,
of course, written for temporary ends in moments
snatched from college studies, and should not be
judged as articles written for a college magazine of
high literary standards.
Of the two poems included in this collection, the first
was printed in the "White and Blue" for September
21, 1894, and signed "Cariton, '96." The second is
found on an undated sheet of writing paper with "J. C.
Eller, '96," signed at the bottom of the page.
The next piece of writing is untitled, undated, and
incomplete. It seems probable that it is the first draft
of the essay with which John won the Essayist's
Medal. The manuscript, which is written in pencil, is
broken in at least two places. We print it here because
of its many excellent passages and the splendid senti
ment which it contains. We entitle it Modern Chiv
alry. The Class Farewell was delivered at the close of the
Commencement of 1896. It forms a fitting conclusion
to the life and writings of a noble character and a
gifted intellect.

MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN
Man's inhumanity to man has caused countless mil
lions to mourn. Man's humanity to man shall cause
countless millions to be glad. Chastened in the val
ley of the shadow, oft bathed in blood and blinded by
tears, mankind has ever scaled a loftier height of free
dom and caught a clearer view of the world.
The drama of universal history acted through the

148 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ages in the tragic strife of races, has ever had for its
leading thought the relation of man to man.
In the distant dawn of the world the formula of this
problem was uttered when the first murderer, stained
with the blood of his bosom brother, in the guilt and
anguish of his stricken soul, cried aloud to his Creator :
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
In the fiery furnace of his impassioned heart was
forged the burning thought that has seared its way
through the tortuous grooves of man's institutions and
left its stamp on all his workmanship.
Deep-graven on the human heart there lives the im
mortal law of individual right and the enduring ordi
nance of social duty. The imperfect attainment of
their true 'harmony is traced in the long record of
man's inhumanity to man; its ideal hope is enshrined
in the vision of world-wide peace.
Whenever these twin-born principles of right and
duty are distraught by the strain of selfishness, then
breeds the violent brood of strife and spreads on
earth an Inferno of infinite suffering, a hell of human
hate. The French people, in their furious, frenzied
zeal, sowed the dragon's teeth of vengeful hate and
reaped a harvest of terror. Like the deadly tread of
Attila, whose fated footfall left a baneful blight
where'er it pressed, man's inhumanity to man has
spread its desolation where life, liberty, and love were
wont to reign. Everywhere and at all times its pres
ence has palsied and its touch destroyed.
The human race has trod a long and weary way.
Like a vast caravan, forever on the march, it often
seems to encamp for centuries; to halt at some great
oasis of ease, where the siren song of luxury lures
away the heroism of man as the mighty hosts of Han-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 149
nibal were weakened by the sweet languor of the Cap-
uan air.
But human progress never goes backward. "All
that was deeply good and truly great in the workman
ship of the past, though shattered into inchoate frag
ments, ever incarnates itself anew and lives still in the
freer life and broader character of the world." The
golden deeds of the past were "stepping stones to no
bler heights. They are the setting of the diamond, the
Time-vesture of the Eternal." As long as "every hu
man heart is human," it will leap to life in the martyr
dom of Socrates ; it will thrill in the courage of Colum
bus ; it will swell with joy at the heroism of the truth-
loving Luther. Our pulses beat with pride in the heri
tage of glory bequeathed us by the faithful fathers of
our revolution and our intrepid brothers who followed
the knightly Lee and his stern victor to the last sad
tragedy at Appomattox.
The cloud-capped summit of Mitchell's Mount will
ever stand, an eternal tribute to the heroic service of
its hapless discoverer. In these and a thousand more
deeds of devotion there lives the deathless inspiration
of human hope and courage. Through the heritage of
human heroism and the energy of dauntless deeds,
has been wrought the splendor of the modern world
and garnered the glory of our civilization.
But luminous as is our century's life with the glow
ing light of progress, it still holds its myriad wrongs.
Even the higher races of men drain the energy of their
life-blood in the wasting conflict of war or the mainten
ance of military standards. Russia rests on a volcano
of pent-up Nihilism, Germany rocks in the quaking
throes of socialistic thought; Spain staggers to 'her
fall in intoxicated folly of mediaeval tyranny. Eng-

150 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER "
land secures her bonds and collects her usury by means
of fleets and armies, stationed at every gateway of the
Orient. Across the horizon of Europe there lowers
the endless Eastern question, portentious of strife and
angry with the jargon of religions, the raillery of
races, and the jealousy of powers.
The assassin Turk traces his red-handed carnage
across the defenseless land of Armenia. God-fearing
and Godforsaken people, brothers to us in race and
reHgion since the ark rested on thy topmost crag, every
flood tide of human conquest has beat 'hard against thy
mountain walls. Since Xerxes shook thy plains with
the tread of his marching millions, and the crusader
yielded his life to rescue the shrine of our Saviour, thy
land 'has been the battlefield of contending nations and
the gateway of migrating races. Unhappy people, thy
heartrending wail may well startle the despot and
touch to tenderness and tears the swelling heart of the
Western World. But thy wrongs must endure till
another, a wiser, a holier crusade of Christian charity
shall wrest again and forever hold those lands that
gave birth to truth.
Here in beloved America, we must make the sad con
fession of man's inhumanity to man. The industrial
warfare, that dealt disaster at Homestead and Pullman,
unless dispelled by the warm breath of reform, will
lay our land in waste and rend its happiness in twain.
At this moment our fellow countrymen are borne
down with the problem of gold and silver. The greed
of gain has thrust its hawklike hand between these
twin-born and necessary servants of commerce, heed
less of the injustice done and forgetful that it is no
less dishonest to demand the dearest dollar, than it is
to pay the cheapest. Our daily practice makes a mock-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 151
ery of our daily prayer : "Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors." The American people in the
ridiculous paradox of public opinion, crush the prac
tice of anarchy as a political crime, but in the industrial
world foster it as a virtue.
But industrial inhumanity is not all. The moral
sense of the nation, hypnotized with selfish fear, hears
with little heed the Cuban cry for liberty. Like the
poor and starving Lazarus, begging before the palatial
door of Dives, prostrate Cuba is at our gate beseeching
us in the affluence of our wealth and freedom to grant
the gift of a paltry crumb of service. Shall the crime
of our indifference or the glory of our support take its
place on the page of this tragic struggle? Proud and
imperious Spain! Though thy mariners gave the
world's map a hemisp'here and won domain o'er the
wave and the Western World, their task was done
when they 'had found a home for liberty. The irony of
fate, the motto of thy prime, 'Ne plus ultra," was pro
phetic of thy future. For thee there is no more be
yond. As thy bloody dram'a in the New World opened
with the crimes of Cortez and Pizarro, so it closes with
the inhuman butcheries of a Weyler. An impotent
world awaits to applaud as the curtain falls on this
last and final act, intent to swell the gladsome climax :
"Cuba is free."
"In this sordid age, when the purple of royalty bows
to the yellow crest of Mammon, when the mark of
merit is the measure of the purse," we need the moral
might of true men; men not laden with title nor opulent
in wealth, but strong in the strength of freedom and
rich in human sympathy ; men, who can lock arms with
the lordliest, stand breast to breast with the mightiest,
and amid figures grown colossal with wealth and full-

152 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ness, 'touch the shoulder of endeavor with the accolade
of honor, lift patriotism above party and principle
above price. Men, such as these, imbued with the
spirit of Monroe, can give to our restless people
another "Era of good feeling" and establish our nation
as an exemplar and arbiter for the Republics of the
Western World.
As the resistless rush of mighty Niagara would be
void of its splendor and bereft of its beauty with
out the silvery spray that crowns its crest, so will
our great nervous civilization lose its vital beauty
without the lovely spirit of Christian humanity. The
title of our freedom, fixed in the enchanted parch
ment of the Constitution, can be held only at the price
of eternal vigilance. Let us hearken, then, to the
angel-whisperings of conscience and the loud acclaim
of history, as they repeat to us the eternal accents of
the moral law.
Too much has our life been measured by a theory
of rights, regardless of a confession of duties. The
loveliness of life is too often lost in the search for the
means of living. The greatness of a nation is not in
the phosphorescent glare of its battlefields nor in the
Golgothas sown with the trophies of inhuman triumph.
It is in the strength of its manhood and the purity of
its Hfe.
Though the roar and rush of our vast machinery
should silence the music of the spheres and our wealth
were worth the world, its power cannot frighten his
tory nor forbid Eternal Justice to write with fiery
finger on the walls of our institutions: "Weighed in
the balances and found wanting." The bulwarks of
the commonwealth must be girded with the resistless

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 153
splendor of the moral law and fortified by a virtuous
citizenship. And we shall win. There is lit within the window
of humanity's soul a spirit that shall make the glooms
of its morning the glory of its prime. Dowered with
a destiny of divine promise, man shall ever enhance his
heritage by deeds of devotion and the Golden Rule
shall yet reign supreme as the basal law of human
life, the rich revelation that crowns the freedom of
man. Despite the long record of man's inhumanity to man,
this closing century is strewn with many holy traces
of Christian service. The abolition of slavery, the
growth of popular freedom, the 'impulse for missions,
the benevolence of philanthropy, the growing demand
for arbitration — these and much more are prophetic
tokens of the approach of another century clad in the
white splendors of perpetual peace.
It is the glory of the Anglo-Saxon that he leads in
the van of higher morals. He renounced the way of
human slavery and the world is walking in his path.
Wherever on the dim border of the globe there is a
haven or harbor, it is flecked with the white wings of
his sail. Where'er he goes the fragrance of his pres
ence lingers in the peace offerings of his civilization.
Meet it is that the closing century should be crowned
with the peace-victories of arbitration. The eternal
searchlight of truth has revealed the majesty of peace
and flashed afar the beauty of its works. The sword,
which was never more than a hideous gleam in the
darkness, must rust in the relic chamber of the race.
M'ay the consummation of the grand scheme of Eng
lish arbitration call forth for a second time the electric
bolt of the Atlantic cable, as it pulsates the wondrous

154 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
message: "What hath God wrought," throughout the
oozy dungeons of the rayless deep. The English race
needs no Isle of Delos whereon to gather for the glad
intercourse of fellowship, nor any Temple of Janus,
with closed gates, to tell the short intervals of peace.
Let it register in the azure infinitude of heaven the
sacred vow of justice, a flaming beacon to light the
world to the sure and unsullied civilization "toward
which the Whole creation moves."
About the river of human life there is a wintry
wind: it is the chilling blast of man's inhumanity to
man. But on its billowy surface there ever gleams the
glad radiance of a God-given sunshine : it is the glow
ing promise of man's 'humanity to man. And as sure
as God reigns and His purpose lives, the stream of
human progress flows onward to the eternal haven of
universal peace forever guarded by the sacred citadel
of truth.

WHAT IS MORALITY
From that remote time when God spoke to the first
man and asked, "Where art thou?" and to the first
murderer and demanded, "Where is thy brother?"
the most practical and immediate interest for man has
ever been 'his relation to man. Throughout all the
succession of human-tide, the question has ever become
more imperative, "Am I my brother's keeper?" And
to us this question is propounded with greater empha
sis than ever before.
We are living at the high-tide of human history.
Never before, it is believed, 'has there been such far-
reaching human intercourse, such surging interest
throughout the great deep of human life, such world-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 155
wide complexity and intricate inter-dependence of
human relationship. The phenomenal achievements
of material civilization, the stupendous conquests of
environment, the growth of scientific knowledge —
these and many more influences 'have profoundly
touched the widening world of ethics. Indeed, our
age, more than any preceding it, may well be termed
the Ethical Era; for its most pervasive interest clings
around the relation of man to man. Its life is busied
with the complex problems of 'human relationship.
The relation of man to man is the human problem,
ever recurring for solution wherever man exists. It
is the question, What is Morality, and it is this wide
significance it has for mankind that gives it its vast
philosophical import.
To discover the truth and meaning of this relation
ship, we must first necessarily make an analysis of the
moral consciousness, Which underlies all human rela
tions or moral deeds. In such an analysis we discover
that the latent moral consciousness is composed of a
complex mental content about the self, other selves,
and the mutual relation between the two terms. Every
moral consciousness has this constitution, else what
would be the significance in calling the deed, which it
directs, moral? For moral is applied to the relations
existing between men.
Moreover, these elements are present in all moral
volition. We cannot think without terms standing in
relation, and without thought this consciousness is in
conceivable. This fundamental basis of the character
of the moral consciousness tells us that man cannot
escape the responsibility of moral life.
While these elements of the moral consciousness are
constant, moral action is ever particular and changing.

156 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
The moral act necessarily varies as the content of the
elements of the moral consciousness changes. But the
consciousness in its general aspect is universal. While
moral activity is as varied in concrete expression as
humanity itself, still the moral consciousness is as uni
versal as man. It is one and fundamental. Thus we
make the distinction : Moral action is the conscious
response of the self to the mutual inter-dependence of
the self and other selves ; the moral consciousness is
the recognition of the reality of the self and other
selves as moral, and their relationship.
So it would seem that this consciousness must be
continuous from the birth of self-consciousness, though
probably at first so vague as to evade discovery. The
very idea of self implies that of not-self. Self sees
its existence in the mirror of externality. It learns to
know itself by interpreting the outer and makes itself
intelligible only by objectification.
The birth of morality comes as a natural conse
quence in every individual life and in the life of every
race. There is a time for each when it is not existent
— its potentiality is not recognized — it has not yet
arrived at this stage of self-realization.
This consciousness seems to arise out of the life of
physical want and necessity. The vague and self-less
mist of consciousness which prefaces the beginning of
human being is but a bundle of physical wants. It
simply responds to sensations and seeks to retain its
passive pleasure by the removal of impending pain.
In this vague activity for self-preservation the self is
restricted by repetition of response and established by
persistent habit, at last gaining a fixed standing point,
where the ego feels itself a reality and distinct from an
external world.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 157
This, in general, then, is the birth of self-conscious
ness and with it of other-consciousness. But the moral
consciousness as such is not yet awakened. It still
slumbers, but it stirs with trembling life in this first
stage of its nativity. The content is physical. The
self is felt as a mere something and all else is a mass
of things, looked upon as legitimate prey for self-
gratification. Still in this stage we may tr'ace the rudi
ments of morality, an embryonic ethics. It is the bio
logical function of all physical life both to seek nutri
tion of self and reproduction of self for other selves.
Here we may see the dim basis for the conscious strug
gle for life and for the life of others. "These two
functions run their parallel course — or spiral course,
for they continuously intertwine — from the very dawn
of life. They are involved in the fundamental nature
of protoplasm itself."" (Drummond: Ascent of Man,
p. 13). This stage is the animal stage of being.
Trace its growth a step higher and the content of the
consciousness has filled — reason has dawned — animal
has become man — ^and man has become moral. The
primal instinct laid the track for reflection and thought
analyzed and synthesized the realities and relations, at
first discovered by feeling. The truer nature of self
appears. It is not merely a physical, self-asserting
atom. It is moral and social. Through the growth of
reason the nature of the other self has changed into
persons as well as things. As Emerson pointed out,
"Persons are love's world," and this distinction sug
gests the whole scope of morality.
This distinction in the content of consciousness is at
once opercitive in the self. The common nature and
kinship of self and other persons (at first limited in
number and range) are perceived. "As in water, face

158 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
answereth to face, so 'the heart of man to man." It is
the objective image of the nature sleeping within us,
that wakes it up and startles it into self-knowledge.
The living exhibition in another of higher affections
than we have known, far from remaining unintelligible
to us, is the grand means of spiritual culture, the
quickener of conscience, and the opener of new iaiih.
The natural language of every passion of Which we are
susceptible speaks to us with a marvellous magic and
calls up fresh islands and provinces of consciousness
where there was a blank before." (M'artineau : Types
of Ethical Theory, Vol. 2, p. 63).
The conscious ministration of others to the self
reveals the fact that it has rights and the inseparable
thought simultaneously appears that to these others it
owes duties. Then, right and duty stand as the neces
sary counterpart of each other. The ethical, the moral
consciousness has been bom.
"Thus man beginning as a percipient consciousness,
apprehending single objects in space and time, and as
an appetitive self bent upon single gratification, has
ended as a rational being — a consciousness purged of
its selfishness and isolation, looking forward openly
and impartially on the universe of things and being.
He has ceased to be a mere animal, swallowed up in
the moment and the individual, seeing his intelligence
only in selfish satisfaction. He is no longer bound
down by the struggle for existence, looking on every
thing as a mere thing, a mere means. He has erected
himself above himself and his environment." (Wal
lace : Fourth Introductory Essay to Hegel's Philosophy
of Mind, p. 172).
The ethical sense thus born changes according to its
content. Development, education, evolution, civiliza-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 159
tion or whatever else we choose to call the process of
self-realization is dependent largely upon this moral
content. But the moral content no less depends upon
environment and education. At first the reason sees
tiie self in kinship with but a small and limited circle.
Its growth widens until at last all mankind and even
all nature is comprehended. Reason at last gains the
intuition of the unity of the world, and "One touch of
nature makes the Whole world kin." "In historical
development a relentless logic is at work leading sym
pathy to conquer not only personal egoism, but also
the egoism of family and of nation and creed. Impar
tial knowledge works into the hands of widest sympa
thy and both come to a stop only at natural bounda
ries." (Hoffman: Outlines of Psychology, p. 256).
The movement has thus been one of self-realization.
Having 'the moral law written on his heart, man in
stinctively reaches after its realization in the attitude
of Good Faith, with which he enters the world. But
this instinct is only an impelling force. It needs guid
ance and this alone is reached through experience,
through knowledge. Thus the true moral conscious
ness is a fusion of knowing and feeling. Feeling sup
plies the dynamic energy; knowing furnishes the
agency for application. The proper adjustment of the
two gives the fullest volition, the highest morality.
The relation in which we stand to our fellowmen is
twofold: attraction and repulsion. "The element of
attraction we call love; that of repulsion constitutes
the elem'ent of individuality. The attraction is the
impulse of the reason, which feels the fundamental
unity of all life. The repulsion corresponds with the
understanding, which separates one life from all others.
This twofold instinct teaches us to seek the good of

160 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
others and to leave them their freedom. Experience
alone can teach us what is for their good, and how
much freedom may be allowed to each and at the same
time the freedom of all be preserved." (EVeritt:
Science of Thought, p. 151).
Thus we have seen the birth and growth of the moral
sense. In the large or small, man begins as a physical
being and his civilization is marked in large degree by
the standard of his morality. The basement of his
being is darkened by selfish animality and it is only
when he looks out through the spiritual attitude of his
nature that he begins truly to realize himself, assume
his true freedom, and recognize the divine goodness of
the world. The process is distinctively one of evolu
tion. Morality, then, is the universal of man. It is so be
cause it is human. Based in feeling, discovered in know
ing, directed in willing, it permeates at once the whole
tissue of human consciousness. And it is this univer
sality that gives to it its deepest meaning and most sig
nificant interpretation. Mian is moral because he must
be. Unless he be either a brutish beast or a guileless
god, it is an unavoidable necessity. He is built on
the moral plane and cannot escape it. Thus morality
is life. It is a fundamental, universal, and persistent
human attribute.
Like life, morality is the struggle of the individual
to become the universal. This is the formula of life
(Everitt: Science of Thought, p. 106), and therefore
of morality. The individual man is self-limited, but
he holds the potential universal within him. The es
trangement of self and realization of the universal is
therefore the established line of life. Mian is an
individual, but he is more than an individual.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 161
He gets his existence by relation to other and
richer realities. A self-sufficient individual is incon
ceivable. The moral sense demands the individual in
relation with other individuals. The self becomes a
deeper reality in proportion as it establishes its connec
tion with society and humanity. Thus great men are
always those who fulfill in some way the unattained
yearnings of humanity. They simply interpret the
deeper truths of life and bring to light those things
that touch to enthusiasm the common nature of man
kind. The insight of genius, as Carlyle puts it, is "a
co-operation with the real tendency of the world."
The hermit and misanthrope are moral and social para
doxes. They are types of inhumanity. In the words
of Professor Peabody, of Harvard, "True liberty is
the discovery of one's place in the universal organism."
Thus it must be clear that man is related to man in the
widest sense, if 'he would only realize it. Humanity
has a common nature which commands the voluntary
response of our sympathies. And this in turn reveals
to us the end and law of our conscious activity and
being. We have before us, then, in morality, two terms :
Self and other-self. I and thou are in relation and by
that relation my rights are thy duties; my duties are
thy rights. Thus each term has its own claim and
validity. From the standpoint of either term there
are two aspects which indicate the whole sphere of
ethical volition. The one regards the self as the center
of all reality and the cynosure of all duty; the other,
losing sight of self, regards the fellow-self as the cen
tral reality and the one demanding service. One aspect
gives rise to selfish motives; the other to motives of
goodwill and sympathy. "One begets competition,

162 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
self-assertion, war ; the other, unselfishness, self-efface
ment, peace." (Drummond: Ascent of Man, p. 19).
Egoism is the term which stands for the impulses of
self; Altruism is applied to the motives which aim to
secure the good of others.
Thus the duality of the moral life is apparent. "It
is the essential nature of myself, as finite, equally to
assert and, at the same time, to pass beyond itself ; and
hence the objects of self-sacrifice and of self -advance
ment are equally mine." (Bradley: Appearance and
Reality, p. 417). There are two elements of self and
other-self, and the aspect varies as the current of inter
est is turned inward toward self or outward toward
others. It is the twofold basis of the moral sense,
repulsion and attraction, seen at a new standpoint, and
again we must say experience is the proper judge of
the relative value of either.
Egoism is undoubtedly the predominating element
in the primitive development of man. It is so because
of the dominance of the physical. The self, busied
with its immediate wants, magnifies its own impor
tance because it has not yet acquired the long-sighted
vision that comes with thought and reflection. The
reasoned unity of mankind is no early intuition of the
human mind. Thus egoism is the forerunner of altru
ism. Both grow out of man's nature and are prima
rily instinctive. They become binding just as they are
recognized by the intellect as establishing right or im
posing obligation.
Here, then, we find again the exemplification of the
individual and the universal in the ethical life. Ego
ism stands for self-assertion, for the individual; altru
ism stands for self-sacrifice, for the universal. One
represents the struggle for life, and is a disruptive

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 163
force; the other means the struggle for the life of
others and is a social, constructive force. Both are
necessary and proper impulses. The difficulty inheres
in the duality. W'here to draw the line, how make an
equable harmonization — these, which at least are the
problems of all reality, confront us for solution.
The self is real and has its demands. It is of prime
and immediate importance. It must not surrender the
charter of its rights at any hazard. "The struggle for
life, as life's dynamic, can never wholly cease. In the
keenness of its energies, the splendor of its stimulus,
its bracing effect on character, its wholesome tension
throughout the whole range of action, it must remain
with us to the end." (Drummond: Ascent of Man,
p. 212).
On the other hand, the self must recognize its wide
relationships and its imperative duties to its fellows.
Even from selfish motives it cannot live secluded, for
it is helplessly social and dependent. As it has its be
ing by others it must lead its life for others.
"Nature makes no move. Society achieves no end,
the Cosmos advances not one step, that is not depend
ent on co-operation; and while the discords of the
world disappear with growing knowledge, science only
reveals with increasing clearness the universality of
its reciprocities." (Ibid., p. 241).
Thus the two terms stand over against each other
apparently 'hostile and irreconcilable. But in the light
of reason the conflict stands forth as the manifest
working of divine goodness. As the universal is unin
telligible apart from the individual, as unity cannot
exist save in variety, so humanity cannot survive and
grow except in the organization of its parts, the differ
entiated individual integers.

164 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Likewise, self and the individual cannot be born, grow,
or live, without the sustaining relationship of human
society. The individual, continually striving to realize
his better nature, to elevate himself by mutual service
with others ; humanity, as a whole, working to make
every individual better, this is the dual force of moral
life; the positive dynamic that impels man heavenward.
It is the shuttle of the eternal loom and its ultimate
web is human 'hope and happiness.
Both impulses are good in their sphere, but the
extreme prosecution of either is harmful. Thus the
reign of extreme egoism would yield an inferno of
infinite suffering, a hell of human hate. France, in
the blinding of her zeal, tried it and verily it resulted
in a Reign of Terror. It leads to anarchy in the
State and atheism in religion.
On the other band, the reign of altruism, if it were
possible of attainment, would be as senseless as pure
egoism is wicked. It would lead inevitably to the ab
solutism of socialism in the State and inert stagnation
in religion. Happily, the eternal message comes to us :
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
We must first of all be men. To be that is to be indi
viduals great by virtue of wide and living relationship.
Character on one hand and service on the other — these
are the two positive dual forces that count for true life
in the world of ethics. Integrity and love must ever
stand in alliance if either the individual or society
would realize its fuller growth.
Thus we see how both egoism and altruism strike
into each other as mutually inter -dependent. If it be
said that the validity of both impulses is contradictory,
let it be answered that so is life. Life is our supreme

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 165
test, and it presents countless contradictions. It is
richer than any of its aspects, but because its aspects
appear to be contradictory is no proof of their utter
unreality. The Greek sophist carried his theory of
individualism to a fatal extreme and it went to pieces
by the sheer force of its own linherent weakness. In
dividualism, while it has its degree of truth, is but one
phase of it. It needs the principle of solidarity to help
it out. Looked at from its own angle, either egoism or
altruism appears to supply the needs of life. But their
true rank in the world of ethics is equal; their spheres
are co-operative.
It must be quite clear, then, that morality is a strug
gle. Misunderstanding and unreason array self
against self, and the way of life is strewn with prob
lematic confusion. It is so because it is an incomplete
stage of human life. The individual is not yet the
universal, but he is struggling to be. The moral man
is thus working toward the universal and this is the
only way to truth. It is in this very struggle which
inheres in morahty that we find its power and proph
ecy. The burning sense of ought is a dynamic force
that impels us forward irresistibly. When strife ends,
goodness and virtue end also. "Der Rechte, das Gute
fuhrt ewig strieb."
In the thought of Hegel (Geo. S. Morris: Hegel's
Philosophy of the State and of History, pp. 124-5),
"The only way in which the true universal can be es
tablished is through the successive assertion — self-
assertion — and negation of the particular; the only
way in which substantial freedom can be realized is
through the asserti'on of formal, subjective freedom
and its negation. Thus the human failures of history
are divine or providential successes. The apparent

166 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
evil is partly good in the making ; it is the 'cunning of
reason,' which allows selfish interest to have its own
way and yet makes it ministerial to the ends of reason."
Thus morality, far from being complete, issues into
religion. Just as the physical remains suspended in
the moral, so does religion include morality. Indeed,
the m'oral has all the while been inseparably related
with the religious, for they are branches of a common
trunk. In religion man is bound directly to God; in
morality man is bound to man, because of their com
mon relation to God. Thus morality is an expression
of religion; religion is the life of morality. The one
without the other is unreal.
Historically, the transition from Judaism to Chris
tianity is the clearest illustration of the distinction of
the two. "Judaism was a religion of law. Christian
ity is a religion of love. Judaism sought to control the
life by a system of external rules. Christianity seeks
to control the life by an inward principle of love.
Every duty is susceptible of being performed on either
of these planes ; but none is complete until it has been
translated from law to love, until, instead of being the
result of a principle of duty acting upon one from the
outside, it flows out of the inmost and essential nature
of the person who performs the act." .(Everitt:
Science of Thought, p. 220).
Moral law is necessary for the great mass of weak
ling humanity, for it has not yet reached a truly re
ligious plane. Here morality is necessarily transi
tional. It is the interpretation and emphasis of these truths
that make Christianity the religion of the ages. Recog
nizing as it does the validity of the physical, the moral,
and the spiritual and their inter-dependence, it becomes

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 167
at once the life — religion. It is grounded in life,
works in life, and ever seeks for the high realization
of mian's potentiality. Christianity thus keeping close
to life ever impels the individual to struggle towards
the universal. Christian ethics supplies the truest
basis for morality because it never loses sight of the
universal ideal which we ought to attain.
The trouble with most moral systems of the world
has been the dominance of a code of rules, whose
growth out of life was not perceived and whose con
tent was not the true expression of the people's life.
Buddhism sought deliverance from selfhood. Chris
tianity seeks delivery from selfishness. The Buddhist
desired riddance from life ; the Christian clings to life
with hope and energy. The one's belief led to passiv
ity; the other's to activity. The one hoped to free
himself from evil by passively renouncing not only all
action, but life itself; the other 'hopes to conquer by
action and helps himself while serving others.
Christianity is the summati'on and coronation of all
preceding religions. The thought of the unity of real
ity was reached by the Hindu. The application of this
thought by successive races in succeeding times has
wrought out in ever widening significance the thought
of the brotherhood of man. This truth with its parent
truth are summed up and emp'hasized by Christianity
in concrete and living expression. The movement has
been from abstract thought, through wider and wider
application to life, to concrete and embodied being.
Christ was the universal individual man. In him
are focused the lives of truth and goodness. He is
at once the strongest individuality of history, the truest
servant of humanity, the most perfect fruitage of hu
man life. No other ones have been the actor as well

168 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
as the author of the Golden Rule : Love thy neighbor
as thyself. This is the simple couching of the grand
est and most profound philosophy ever uttered.
Without law there could be no organization of soci
ety, and without freedom there could be no moral
character. How, then, can the individual be free and
yet under law? This great problem of the ages, with
which heathen philosophy and pagan civilization grap
pled in vain, Christ solved with one word — Love.
This is the essence of Christianity. Opposed to sel
fishness it is its divine antidote. It transforms the
whirlpool of evil into a fountain of good. Realizing
the true solution of morality and religion it gives each
its truest statement. The universal of religion is
found to be God, for religion is the relation of man to
God. The universal of morality is seen to be man, for
morality is man to man.
Thus in the higher union the ethical assumes the
religious aspect and egoism and altruism are blended
into harmony. In this deeper interpretation, the real
ity of the self is maintained in the truth of the immor
tality of the soul, and the altruistic aspect is asserted
as the fundamental brotherhood of man. Thus man's
life is made out to be immortal, and yet he is the eter
nal brother of all men, because of his inherent divinity,
which manifests itself and works throughout mankind.
Herein is manifest the sublimest thought of the world :
the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.
Thus Christianity fits life. It seeks not to lay its basis
on the lowly earth or suspend it from the vaulted sky,
but it rests it upon the fundamental truths of human
consciousness. It is this character of Christian ethics that makes it
especially significant for us. We are in constant strug-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 169
gle and intercourse with our fellows. Our life is an
ethical whirlpool, a mighty maelstrom of moral rela
tionships. How can we best guide our life's bark
through it? Our conclusion would plainly press the
need of the sustaining surety of religion — the vitality
of spiritual fullness. Our civilization, taking its
color from the philosophy of individualism, already
exalts the abnormal importance of self. It is in sad
subjection to the dictation of selfish materialism. The
standard of egoism, taken alone, is unnatural and not
truly human. Under the color of liberty it nurtures
the tyranny of self. Competition by itself is the cure
that kills. It is the precept of Ishmael and arrays
every man's hand against every other. It is the creed
of Cain, for man cannot live on the single principle of
the struggle for life. The softening influence of an
altruistic spirit needs to be breathed into our civiliza
tion, to make it expand and glow with health. The
angles of our selfishness need to be pared away and
competition should be wedded to co-operation.
While our century is doubtless the best of all time,
its very completeness reveals its imperfection. It
demonstrates the truth expressed by Browning : "Man
was made to grow, not stop."
As Christianity is the truest philosophy, the richest re
ligion, and the best life, so for our needs it must bring
the surest alleviation. With healing on its wings its
spirit should meet and mingle with the spirit of the
age. "We must not say love and law, but love in
law." (Everitt: "Relation of Jesus to the Present
Age" in "Christianity and Modern Thought," p. 145).
The tendency is happily altruistic. The century is
strewn with many holy traces of Christian service,
despite the long record of "Man's inhumanity to man."

170 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
The abolition of slavery, the growth of free govern
ment, the impulse for missions, the benevolence of
philanthropy — these and much more are the promise
and the happy prophecy of human 'hope and progress.
But there still remains the troublous strife of labor
and capital, the sectional and caste prejudice, that are
the tokens of narrowness. We have drifted into the
peril of conducting life by a theory of rights, regardless
of a confession of duties; in losing life in the search
for the means of living. Our standards must become
broader, more tolerant, more universal, and that means
the realization of the moral constitution of man.
And so, in brief, we have found out that morality is
the relation of man to man. The moral sense is the
consciousness of the mutual relation of self and other-
self. This consciousness is born out of physical want.
Its growth depends on its content, and its content
depends both on the inherent potentiality and the
influence of the external environments. The content
at first physical, becomes moral by the intuition of
reason. The moral sense is universal because it is a
human attribute. Morality is life, and hence is the
struggle of the individual to become the universal.
Being a struggle, it is dualistic. Egoism and altruism
are its two aspects — ^the one standing for self-assertion,
the other for self-sacrifice. Each aspect is true and
legitimate, but needs the other for completion. Mor
ality is a struggle, because it is incomplete. It issues
necessarily into religion, for religion is its underlying
support. It is the expression of religion. Christianity
is the deepest interpretation of these truths. It is the
flowering of human life. And it is the spirit of Chris
tianity that our ethical age most needs. The individu-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 171
alistic trend needs to be checked by the spirit of human
brotherhood. In short, the moral sense needs at all
times to be fortified by the strength of true religion.

A PLEA FOR AMERICAN COMMERCE
The expansion of a nation's commerce is the sub
stantial surety of its strength. There is no truth in
the life of nations more fundamental than this, for the
sea is the world's great medium of circulation, and
commerce is alike the harbinger of civilization and
the carrier of Christianity.
Nations, like individuals, have epochs in their his
tory in which some prevailing influence molds and
dominates the character of its people and its time. The
American nation has passed through its purely reli
gious and political stages. The age of material activity
— ithe age of commerce, has come, ushered in by the
force of tireless energy and the audacity of inventive
genius. In the pathway of nations, America stands situated
within the Temperate Zone and fortified by a vast con
tiguous territory. Endowed by the unequaled re
sources of a wonderful land, and guided by the intense
¦energy and genius of the American race, this nation is
presented with the auspicious opportunity of indus
trial and material ascendency.
Even as a stripling nation we startled the world by
our glorious exploits at sea ; but with the lapse of years
the ships that once carried our flag in triumph upon
every sea were swept from mart and main. And thus
our energies became absorbed in the development of a
vast system of domestic industry.

172 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
In pursuance of this policy we have overspread the
continent and come to the "sea-mark of our utmost
soil." In our infancy we bordered upon the Atlantic
only; youth carried our boundary to the Gulf; today
maturity sees us upon the Pacific. A magnificent sys
tem of river, lake, and gulf has been strengthened by
an artificial network of railway, canal, and harbor.
In every quarter beautiful cities grace our land — rare
trophies in the lap of Columbian conquest.
As the inevitable consequence of national growth
and territorial extension, it is manifestly important to
look forth beyond the sea-horizon to those dangers
that hedge us in, and to those interests fraught with
vital import.
To place American commerce upon a footing of
assured and permanent supremacy, three great achieve
ments must be accomplished — the construction of the
great inter-oceanic canal at Nicaragua, the secure con
trol of the Hawaiian Islands, and the adoption of a
foreign policy tending towards free trade.
For years it has been recognized that the severance
of the American isthmus would be a masterstroke for
international commerce and of countless value to the
controlling country, and yet the passive policy of
America has staved it off until the prize lies ready to
pass into the hands of an alien power. The demands
of our three great seaboards, each for itself and all for
the strength that comes from unity, call for its comple
tion under the auspices and control of the American
people. Such a measure, requiring a cost less than is
usually paid to pensioners, would soon render this
country the workshop and clearing house of the world.
Since the Isthmian canal may and must become the
Gibraltar of the United States, affecting most vitally

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 173
every interest of our common land, it should be dis
tinctly an American enterprise. It must be the first
practical and substantial assertion of the boasted doc
trine of Monroe, hitherto a mere dogma in American
policy, at once knitting more and more closely the
Union with our sister repubhcs and establishing the
rights and duties of the Americas.
Intimately associated in importance with the canal is
the control of the Hawaiian Islands. Confronting the
gigantic sweep and stress of commercial and political
currents that are gathered around Hawaii is the strate
gic point that means military and commercial control
of the Pacific. When our great western domain shall
be developed and when the Pacific shall become the
highway of the trade and travel of the earth, the "Par
adise of the Pacific," unique in the possession of soli
tary significance and guarding, like a lone sentinel, the
converging lines of a world-wide trade, will excite the
envy and admiration of nations as the single key that
unlocks the Golden Gate — ^the entrance to the treasure
of the ages.
The perfection of our commercial success cannot be
fully attained until the shackles of the tariff are
stricken from the limbs of industry and confidence in
the freedom of interchange shall flow throughout the
veins of trade. The Chinese wall of exclusive protec
tion stands as the fossilized remains of war ; the swad
dling clothes 'of infancjr about the loins of man; a cal
lous galling excrescence on the policy of free America.
If we have prospered, it is because of the indomitable
energy of American genius working amid an exhaust-
less treasure of resources ; it is because the sovereign
States of this Union have enjoyed that freedom of
trade denied the outside world.

174 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
There are certain natural tendencies embedded in the
constitution of humanity which are as inviolable as
the most sacred relation of God and man. As long as
human want remains universal, so long will it be to
the interest of mankind to buy in the cheapest and sell
in the dearest market ; the prices of products will ever
be regulated by supply and demand ; and the more
freedom is given to trade, the more splendid will be its
attendant results. Where amongst protective nations
is the parallel of England, the only champion of the
seas? Faithful to the principles of freedom, she has
circled the globe with the swelling tide of her power
and civilization. Recognizing the justice of natural,
economic law, she has become queen of commerce,
mistress of the seas, and creditor-in-chief of the human
race. Had Trafalgar or Blenheim never been fought,
her policy of free trade would have wrought for her,
by the pure and shining agencies of peace, the fair
fabric of her wondrous dominion.
The law of development demands that we should
trade freely with every land. The production of our
rich and ample plains has already outstripped its con
sumption. However diversified our industries, we are
largely dependent upon the exchange of our surplus
for that of other lands.
Fortunate for America and world interests at large
would be the results attendant upon the union of the
English race in establishing the freedom of trade, as
they have accomplished the freedom of man. By such
a policy the inferior states of earth would sooner or
later be forced to adopt a like course and the ieavening
intercourse of free exchange, carrying in its train the
enlightenment and liberty of the Anglo-Saxon, would

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 175
give an impetus to world-comity and international
peace greater than the centuries have yet brought forth.
It is evident, therefore, that American commerce
has come to an imminent crisis. There is a call for a
change of our passive policy into one of action, seizing
the fetlock of time, accepting the gracious advantages
of opportunity and opening wide every outlet to the
commercial activity of our people.
Without this, European interests will seize the
points of greatest future importance to our safety and
commercial career. Without this, our surplus will
soon roll back from the coast upon the interior, and
the Wheels of prosperity will be clogged by the richness
of the burden they bear. Not a change of administra
tion, not the coinage of silver, not the repudiation of
national obligations, but a miarket for our products,
labor for the idle, bread for the hungry — these are the
demands of a suffering people that struggle for utter
ance through Coxey's Commonweal and a thousand
other mutterings that announce the coming of the
storm. Our ovim beloved Vance, battling against foes hid
den and foes declared, sprung from the loins of a
sturdy race, and feeling the aspirations of his people
pulsating through his own true heart, for these years
has expressed their wishes for the emancipation of
labor and the extension of American trade.
On 'the one 'hand are seen the ruinous results of pro
crastination, on the other the splendid reward of com
mercial expansion. It is a question demanding an im
mediate answer, a crisis foreshadowing with remark
able clearness the sequence of either course. "Least
of all nations can America prepare a table for chance
or furnish a drink offering for destiny."

176 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
The Doge of Venice, dwelling in palaces and cele
brating every year with gala-day and wedding ring his
nuptials with the sea, a beautiful bride, who has
brought him a dower of exhaustless wealth, is a beauti
ful symbol of a great material truth. Rightly consid
ered, it is nothing wonderful that the Ancients with
shout and revel worshiped Neptune, whose trident shook
the sea. With less superstition and more appreciation
let us learn the lessons they teach and make the ele
ments, which they worshiped, the servants of our will.
Give us back the sea, that "vast expanse which sepa
rates the jurisdiction of nations, the grand reservation
of God on our planet, wherein no thieving laws of
human cunning can hide, but which acknowledges only
those laws that regulate the surging of its billows and
the solitude of its awful depths." It is our heritage,
sanctified by the blood and fortified by the heroism of
our fathers ; it is ours by the divine direction of des
tiny, "ours and our children's forever."
Then let us strive with unwavering loyalty for the
true production of American industry and the unselfish
guardianship of American commerce. The changeless
law of cause and effect applies to the realm of human
action as well as to the sphere of physical force. The
mercantile spirit, bearing the olive branch of peace, as
it pervades every clime, is the iconoclast Who builds
upon the overthrown creeds of barbarism the beauteous
temple of art and civilization.
Industry with the restless rhythm of its tireless spin
dles, brings with a bounteous benevolence an opulent
offering to the relief of human want. Commerce
flecks the seas with its white-winged carrier-doves of
liberty and law, and sends its messengers of peace by
every line. They are the essential elements of national

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 177
weal and the evangels that announce the doom of war
ring wretchedness and the enthronement of a people's
hopes.

INTER-SOCIETY DEBATE-PARTY
ORGANIZATION FIRST SPEECH.
The American government claims to rest on the suf
frage of freemen. The citizens of this Republic, exer
cising their right of suffrage, have evolved our
National political parties, as the means to the end of
government. This, we grant, is right, for it is natu
ral. The fundamental differences of human nature
are legitimate excuses for the divisions of men, but the
necessary existence of parties does not prove that there
is inherent virtue in all the developments that party
organization may assume.
Since suffrage is the source of popular government,
the nature of the government will naturally be accord
ing to that of the suffrage. Whatever, therefore, tends
to lower the standard of the suffrage, or to thwart its
true expression, cannot be for the nation's good, as it
must express itself in corrupt and vicious government.
Let us see, then, what the rigidly organized party is
and whether it tends to the good of our suffrage, our
government, and our people.
Edmund Burke, the great English statesman and
thinker, defines political party as "an association of
men united for the purpose of promoting by their joint
efforts the public welfare upon principles about which
they agree." "Rigidly organized" is defined as "inflex
ibly constructed." A rigid organization is a structure
formed with exactness and without allowance. In
12

178 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
short, it is a mechanism, a machine. Its rigidity ren
ders it practically lifeless, save as it is manipulated by
a skilled professional. It is a fossilized form', an ossi
fied organism, whose rigidity of structure forbids pro
gressive change, growth, or development within itself.
The particular principle, of which Burke speaks, as
giving rise to party, will in time be settled. What is
there, then, to render the bond of organization rational
or moral? The connection can only be held, more or
less, by 'the common desire of the pelf and power of
politics. Born of the love of power, party becomes
an end in itself, uses its acquired strength to make its
organization more rigid, in short, it becomes a machine
maintained either by mere personal association or by
motives and influences more or less corrupt. When
once in power, parties will at times sacrifice the very
principles that caused their triumph, betray the watch
word of their existence, and descend to a base conten
tion over the honors and emoluments of office. Un
less some great question exists to justify its living,
party can be naught but a fine name for faction, whose
ties are passion and corruption and whose results are
ever the wreck and ruin of commonwealths. Like
Guelph and Ghibelline, the devouring wolves of Italian
liberty, the fossilized forms of intrenched parties fight
for self-existence at the peril of the country's life.
One hundred years of hard practical experience
have served to work out and establish for us certain
political facts, clearly indicative of the evils of party
spirit and rigid partisanship. We are just beginning
to witness the worst results of that unbridled party
spirit, which Washington anticipated with fear and
DeTocqueville shrewdly guessed.
As party organization becomes more rigid and com-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 179
plex, the more skill and service are requisite for its
guidance. To secure this skilfull service, money and
office must needs be offered as substantial rewards, and
thus the professional politician is evolved, whose duty
is constant party loyalty and whose business is con
stant partisan work. He need not be cultivated or
experienced in the great questions on which politics
and legislation are based, but he must be adapted to
party service and his soul be animated by partisan zeal.
He holds 'his positi'on by the pledge of party loyalty
and the promise of party service. Thus from post
master to president we are ruled by an organized body
of officeseekers, the political janizaries of a free repub
lic. Andrew Jackson builded worse than he knew
when he instituted the riotous spoils system and fet
tered our government with a feudalism, founded on
political reward for party service. It is the system
that delights the demagogue, who, "high above consid
erations of state and people lifts the pirate flag of sel
fishness and rallies to 'his standard the worst and
weakest of his race." He is the antithesis of patriot
ism, the incarnation of selfishness, the unholy target
of civic scorn, a publicist vrathout a principle, a citizen
without an anchor in the truth.
The multiplicity and frequency of contests render
public life too absorbing for the most worthy and com
petent citizens, who have private 'occupations to pur
sue. By the force of necessity they must either desert
politics and follow their individual professions, or
change them to that of the politician. Skilled profes
sionals bar our best men from political life, and con
scious honor quails before partisan intrigue, like Chris
tian before the Slough of Despond, until men of integ
rity turn in disgust away to the purer pursuits of hon-

180 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
est men. Is this a condition for congratulation?
Politics ought to mean the honorable contention of
patriotic citizens, but how often we hear the exclama
tion, "Politics is rotten" — ^a statement too sadly true.
It is a struggle for existence, in which the conditions
of environment cause the survival of the most perfect
demagogue. Thus partisan rule removes from out the people's
hands the power which is their rightful heritage. The
removal of the best men from politics and the aban
donment of government to the politician tend to center
all substantial power in evil hands and unclothe the
citizen of his boasted sovereignty. The politician be
gins with the primary, and his skillful manipulation
extends to the federal Congress. Election becomes
merged in nomination, except in rare instances of ex
citement, and nomination is nearly always the work
of the politician. "The first thing," said Alexander
Hamilton, "in all great operations of such a govern
ment as ours, is to secure the opinion of the people."
Under machine rule, in reality, however, at least nine-
tenths of our citizens are under the subjugation of the
remaining tenth. Removed as the great mass of voters
are from close political life, the real power resides
with a small faction of our citizens, and for its pos
session the machine is worked to its utmost capacity.
We have a government by parties, democratic in form,
though actually savoring of some of the worst features
of oligarchy.
Rigid organizations prevent freedom of thought and
expression by the individual and by the people. Rigid
ity ever cramps thought and expression ; it is the open
opponent of progress, and progress means independ
ence. The military discipline of party life, intolerant

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 181
of independent action, checks the expression of honest
disapproval and lashes unwillingness into servile acqui
escence. What the Roman client was to his patron,
what the mediaeval vassal was to his lord, that the mod
ern American politician is to his boss, who sits like a
spider within his web and weaves the snare for liberty.
The election of President by electors has come to be a
farce. Men consult their prejudices more than their
reasons and leave their political thinking to the poli
tician, whose conclusions are usually formed on the
selfish consideration of party. The political machine
is a magnificent mechanism whose precision and ease
would delight the soul of Archimedes. But its rigidity
of structure alike stifles discussion, fosters intrigue,
depresses talent, elevates mediocrity, and crushes all
spontaneity out of civic life. It reduces the vigorous,
healthy, buoyant action of freemen to the base preci
sion of mathematical factors. The defense of supreme
and continuous party allegiance rests only on the as
sumption of the all-sufficiency of a chosen party for
the performance of civic duties — a principle that
forced the despotism of the Church hierarchy in the
domain of religion. We have apparently transferred
the superstition of divine right from the English king
to the American party, and the fallacy is just as decep
tive to us as to the subjects of James Stuart. This
surrender of individuality dismantles the 'human judg
ment of its regal crown of authority and declares en
franchised citizens to be as political cattle in the sham
bles of partisan contention. It narrows the mind and
ossifies the conscience, it places the partisan above the
patriot, the voter above the man — a pungent paradox
in this boasted democracy of free institutions.
Machine politics prevent the efficient administration

182 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
of pubHc affairs. When the rigid demands of party
press partisan service for official station, the public
service will be conducted with partisan instead of with
patriotic motives. Men then minimize the public good
in sacrifice to party advantage, neglect the interests of
country, and insincerity readily ripens into cynicism.
Congressmen are forced to waste their time to secure
party appointments, and thus ignore the pressing
duties of statecraft. President Garfield is authority
for the fact that one-third of a Congressman's work
ing time is scarcely sufficient to meet the demands of
party. Such partisan prostitution of the public ser
vice, as is seen in the spoils system, is radical treachery
to popular government, because it makes private inter
est and not the public welfare the motive of filial ac
tion. The crying evils of administration are directly
traceable to the rigidity of party, whose wanton ex
cuses exhort the people's honesty to cleanse these
Augean stables of the civil service and give to spoils
men the warning of their death warrant.
As parties become more complex and mechanical,
they cease to be actuated by great living principles and
policies. The party platform is a skillfully framed
figurehead, advanced to catch voters, a miserable ruse
for the unthinking, a bald excuse for existence. Its
planks are often too rotten to bear the weight of hon
est men. Availability of man or measure almost inva
riably is the determining factor in party selection, in
the face of the demands of duty. For twenty-five
years New York and the other pivotal States have
been placated by candidates, while the South has not
had a President since Andrew Johnson, because of the
sectionalism bred of party. The quadrennial mani
festoes of party conventions have come to consist of

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 183
platitudes on dead or dying issues, while the great
questions of immigration, labor, and finance are a
history of vacillation between national welfare and
some local or personal interest that party courts or
fears. Party tactics obstruct attempted legislation,
and the people pay for deadlocks and filibuster. Today
the country demands a definite action on the financial
question, but party spirit prevents a free deliberation
and an honest agreement. One party expends enough
government money on army pensions to create a mag
nificent navy, so intense has party spirit become to the
oblivion of the country's needs. Such rigid selfishness
has never wrought great reform. The slave was freed
by the independent action of party formation, and
Bright and Cobden repealed England's corn laws in
defi'ance of existing parties. Our two great parties are
mere political armies fighting with ballots instead of
bullets. They are the Praetorian guards of America,
who have outlived their wonted mission and now fight
in furious faction for the despotic tyrrany of the
nation. If such conditions can promote the people's
welfare, then surely liberty is a refugee from home
and freedom a stranger within our gates.
This system of partisan rigidity corrupts official ac
tion and pollutes the whole realm of politics. When
ever the demands 'of personal and party interest be
come stronger than duty to country, as we hold it does
in machine government, public office is no longer con
sidered as a public trust, but rather as a political advan
tage for partisan purposes. Thus great monopolies
and trusts have arisen, fostered as they are by partisan
legislation in reward for liberal campaign funds and
bountiful favors to the machine ring. The cohesive

184 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
force and power of 'the machine become the desire for
office and office as a means of gain.
The Boss of the ring holds his tenure simply as a
bestower of riches, but little better than a leader of a
band of condattieri of the 15th century. Log-rolling
in Congress is a commonplace, and party leaders "smile
at election pledges as the gods smile at lovers' vows."
Scandals become shamefully prevalent in our great
cities where the public till is exhausted by robbery, and
accounts are systematically cooked to conceal the thefts.
Every election sees the expenditure of vast sums of
money, often from the people's treasury, spent like
Dudley's "blocks of five," in all pivotal States, where
money turns the scale. Even our judiciary is contami
nated by this deadly partisanship and the Dred Scott
Decision, the Legal Tender Cases, and the Electoral
Commission of '77 attest its wanton results. Since
'65 party affiliation has been the prime requisite for
judicial appointment and consequently states, commu
nities, and individuals have been terrorized to carry
elections and decrees of disbandment issued to Legisla
tures and Army and Navy summoned to organize
others. One hundred years ago the English king
bought votes in Parliament ; today the American parti
san buys votes at the polls. Americans are becoming
proverbial gamblers and political prostitution is the
common crime of parties, the common disgrace of the
national name, the common danger to American insti
tutions and the common reproach to American citizen
ship. Thus a partisan government puts a price upon
public spirit, degrades and demoralizes the national
character and invites the people to measure all action
by the venal value of money.
Tammany Hall is the mirror in which we see the

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 185
clearest reflection of the riotous results of machine
politics. It is the American Jacobin Club, and the
incarnation of more evil than we have yet suggested.
Organization and not Education, Success and not Im
provement, victorious war and not glorious peace —
these are the supreme aims of Tammany. With it
office is a commodity and not a trust. Its leaders have
ever been the most consummate rascals, whose infa
mies have filled two continents With the disgrace of the
Republic. It has never produced a statesman, a pa
triot, or a public benefactor. It boasts of no law, pub
lic measure, or policy that history can record with
pride. For a generation its sphere has been one of
moral and intellectual barrenness. Like its nominal
aborigines, it dons the paint of battle with the savage
hope of reaping scalps and the mercenary motive of
gathering booty. It corrupts a whole municipality ; it
poisons the politics of our leading State. Last fall's
defeat meant only the ascendancy of Piatt's machine,
and both would rather vie in civic corruption and
vicious methods than in patriotic honesty and manly
rivalry. Not only New York, but most of our great
cities are the pitiable victims of machine rule. The
American city is rapidly growing into dominance, and
the character of its government means largely that of
our national administration. Righteous indignation
rises at the sight of these dens 'of desperation, hatch
ing gruesome plots, wherein illicit graft, a worse than
Punic faith and infidelity to the most sacred trusts in
the most exalted stations, fill the whole government
with the pollution of their guilty presence. These are
the conditions that accompany the unyielding tenure
of party power. The time is ready for the rising of
some political Christ, endowed with the in'herent Di-

186 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
vinity of might and manhood to thrust from the tem
ples of government these barterers in citizenship and
defamers of popular freedom.
SECOND SPEECH.
The need of party existence and even of organiza
tion have been conceded. But we do declare the evil
of rigidly organized parties. The question is one of
degree ; it is whether progress, growth, and expansion
through reform, are conducive to the popular welfare.
It is a question of progression or retrogression, of evo
lution or devolution, we might almost add, of life or
death. It is not so much organized conflict that formulates
the truth ; it is the tolerance of concession, the synthe
sis of sincere conference, and a conflict, if there must
be one, of thought independent and progressive. Not
the passi'on'ate conflict of individuals in a struggle for
place, but a co-operative competition in the value of
ideas : this is the test and crucible of truth. Thus we
may trace the thread of progress throughout the fabric
of history ; it begins without the woven forms of insti
tutions and gathers to itself the vesture of command
ing power. It begins in the insignificant and martyred
minority; it finds durable expression by persuading
the majority. Thus it is a growth, an adaptation of
existing conditions to expanding thought, and nothing
is so revolutionary, because so unnatural as to attempt
the preservation of institutions unchanged, while "all
the world by the very law of its creation is in eternal
progress." Do you think machine politics would have
produced the American Constitution, repealed Eng
land's corn laws, or will give Ireland Home Rule?
The element of concession, or rational thought, and

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 187
independent action, must ever soften the asperities of
manly conflict and grant to all the tolerance of unfet
tered opinion.
But on the contrary we see the selfish demands of
partisanship dominated by party spirit, that "frenzy
which imbrutes the soul ;" -we see it struggling for self,
regardless of national stability or the survival of the
Republic. If this condition continues, there is a coming crisis,
when some vital question will madden the minority to
resist submission. Should that minority be almost as
strong as the majority, with kinsman ranged versus
kinsman and neighbor versus neighbor, a civil war
more horrible than we 'have yet known, may rend the
nation in fragments. The repubhcs of South America
are suggestive object lessons, and three decades have
hardly healed the disasters of our Civil War. In '76
we barely escaped the crisis of war, whose cause was a
m'addened partisans'bip, and whose repetition would
enshroud the nation with flames of embittered pas
sion and the smoke of intensified terror.
Hear the ominous words of Daniel Webster in the
Declaration of Whig principles in 1840: "Party Spirit,
when it gains such an ascendancy in men's minds as
leads them to substitute party for country, to seek no
ends but party ends, no approbation but party approba
tion, and to fear no reproach or contumely, so that
there be no party dissatisfaction, not only alloys the
true enjoyment of our institutions, but weakens every
day the foundations on which they stand."
The problem of party remains to be fully solved.
The delicate balance must be worked 'Out whereby the
vote can be concentrated and yet the independence of
the voter preserved. David Dudley Field said "it is

188 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
solved only when we have a fair representation of vot
ers in the selection of candidates, followed by a fair
election from among the selected." I submit to you
the question, if any of these conditions are appreciably
effected under the rigid rule of parties.
The utility of the true conception of party appears
to depend on certain conditions: 1. The tendency of
its principles to advance the welfare of the whole peo
ple. 2. The faithful support of these principles by
the party itself. 3. The nomination of the most wor
thy for office. These conditions, we claim, are partly
or wholly violated by the rigidly organized party, and
the result shows the degradation of national character
and the disgrace of popular suffrage. To sustain our
position we have advanced the following points :
1. Rigidly organized partisan party creates a privi
leged class — the politician.
2. Tears the best men from political life.
3. Removes power from the people.
4. Destroys individual and popular freedom of
thought and expression.
5. Destroys official responsibility and efficient ad
ministration. 6. Is actuated by personal and selfish aims, and
not by great principles.
7. Tends 'to corrupt our whole political life.
The affirmative have failed to disprove these facts.
They evade us by demanding a substitute for a system
we would condemn. It is not our province tonight to
devise public policies. We are discussing the point of
good or evil in machine politics, and we claim that our
position stands unshaken.
We would have you consider that, under the condi
tions bred by rigid party, instead of remaining a means

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 189
to good government the party becomes an end in itself,
an imperium in imperio. Principles become lost in
parties, peanut politics retires statesmanship, and the
servile worshiper and obedient follower are wrought
into enthusiasm by the cognomens of party parapher
nalia. The significance of the symbol is lost in the
passion of the hour. Spirit yields to dominant form
and the partisan, in political fanaticism, pays even
more devoted homage to his idols, than the Catholic
before the cross or the African before his fetich.
Party, with all its rigidity and complexity, deadens
the nobility of the citizen and makes him a mechanical
servant. Its spirit becomes a deadly narcotic. Its
effect a vicious and fatal malady.
It needs not the violation of a letter of our Constitu
tion for the strong hand of some American Augustus
to concentrate through party power the people's gov
ernment into a grinding monarchy. The redeeming
hope, if there is one, lies in the genius of our race, in
the public spirit of the citizen. Public as well as pri
vate morals must be recognized as forces in national
life, and the Decalogue and Golden Rule be potential
factors in politics, Jno. J. Ingalls, notwithstanding.
The hope of the nation is in the party of principles,
the one that looks to the dawn  (Incomplete).

DANGERS OF CENTRALIZATION
FIRST SPEECH.
The American Union, resting upon its Constitution
as the pledge and instrument of unity, is distinctively
a federal republic, a republic of republics. The whole
history of our national evolution, through colony fed-

190 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
eration and constitution, is but a gradual unfolding of
this basal idea, of this vital principle of federalism.
The confederation signifying on its face the fact of
federation, began with the declaration that :
"Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and
independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right
which is not by this confederation expressly delegated
to the U. S. in Congress assembled."
The Constitution, builded on the confederation, pro
vided not that all legislative powers, but that "all legis
lative powers herein granted" should be vested in Con
gress. These powers are carefully enumerated under
17 distinct heads, and the election of President and
Senators is fixed on the basis of the sovereign States.
Furthermore, the first Congress more clearly defined
the National powers in ten amendments, the last of
which dclares that:
"The powers not delegated to the U. S. by the Con
stitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are re
served to the States respectively, or to the people."
Thus the highest authority declares that the Consti
tution is federative in the power which framed it,
adopted, and ratified it, and which sustains and
strengthens it. It cannot be amended save by a feder
ative power, and the entire structure is one of check
and balance.
The vital and underlying principle of our federal
government is the continued equipoise of the State and
National power. Its structure rests on the steadfast
pillars of the States. It effects free government by
concurrent majorities, by restraints upon aggregated
popular will. It is not a party to, but the result of the
Constitution, and cannot in its original conception,
exist apart from the Constitution, or the States, its

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 191
creator. The Union is supreme in its delegated pow
ers; beyond that the States are sovereign and inde
pendent. (Reading from Marshall, Chase, Alexander Hamil
ton, and Bancroft.)
The high authority and strong testimony of these
great men, the closest students of our government,
show conclusively that equipoise is the basal principle
of the republic, that State and Nation are both supreme
in their functions; but that the central government
cannot legally grow in power, for its functions are del
egated and defined.
Since, therefore, ours is a federal republic, and its
vital principle is balanced equipoise of State and Na
tion, the danger of centralization is self-evident. The
reading of our query evidently means growth of cen
tralism and decay of State power. This means insta
bility of the essential equipoise, and if not the fall of
the republic, its complete metamorphosis into a central
despotism. The builders of the republic were the peers of any
in history's roll of worthies. Rich in learning and
experience, integrity and sagacity, they knew they
were the grave custodians of a people's hopes. Know
ing their country's needs and temper, studied in the
political science of all ages and countries, they acted
under the gravest consciousness of mighty responsibil
ity ever given to mortal stewardship. They were
right ; with courageous heroism and sage-like wisdom,
they wrought out the truest government yet given to
mankind. In theory it is perfect — in practice smooth
and efficient, save when at times the pendulum has
swung too far stateward or to the center. It incar
nates the two great aims of government — unity and

192 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
freedom. The Union means unity; the States, free
dom. Equal in importance, they must be equal in
power, else the ship of state will veer into the channels
that lead upon the reefs of ruin. (Incomplete).
SECOND SPEECH.
This is a federal republic. Its maintenance reduced
to its finality depends upon the affections and will of
the people. If they have good local government,
which history proves is only given to free people by
local self government, then it follows that the highest
government based 'on the local powers will be good and
enduring. Government embracing all the relations of
home, the dearest possessions of human life, all that
intimately affects the citizen, the preservation of local
self government, means the preservation of the liberty
of the republic. Hence, it is entirely necessary for
the preservation of the essential equipoise of federalism
to preserve local freedom and good National adminis
tration. "Our Government," said Henry Clay, "is not
to be maintained or our Union preserved by invasions
of the rights and powers of the several States." But
central supremacy can mean nothing, if it does not
mean the absorption of local rights and powers.
Equipoise is the prime essential of federalism. It
is the keystone of the arch of unity. The centripetal
must be counterbalanced by the centrifugal force, or
the federal sphere will sweep from its orderly orbit
into the consuming fire of the central sun.
Centralism opposes the fullest development of a vast
country. Free play and spontaneous expansion are
the only incentives to popular self-reliance, they are
the true requisites of progress. Central Government
means strong government — it means repression. This

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 193
vast republic, with its diverse interests and local needs,
will be better maintained by the popular diffusion of
liberty and enlightenment, than by power congested at
the center. The States should do nothing the people
themselves can do — ^the nation nothing the States can
do. The nearer the government is to the people, the
better care will they have for it, the more will it ex
press their wisihes and needs, and this can never be
done by distant and external power. This State
autonomy is essential to federalism. History teaches
no plainer truth than that a consolidated government
cannot be established on so wide a domain as ours,
unless it be monarchical. Think of a federal repub
lic embracing a continent and governing seventy
millions! Think of fifty great and opulent States
governed by one National authority. Girt by two
oceans, spanning the temperate zone, displaying re
sources Herculean in power and Protean in form, with
all the diversities of industrial and social life, there
must inevitably be the widest divergence and
variety of human interest. The stiff bonds of central
ism alone cannot bind them together. There must be
that durability that comes from flexibility. Natioiial
control of all our diverse interests means either chaos
or despotism. Indulgence of powers and continued
centralization is dangerous because it creates desire
for more, and this desire of a partisan majority will
lead to dangerous results. Unlimited central power
means unlimited tyranny of a partisan majority that
must ally itself with monopoly and wealth to perpetu
ate its sway. Consolidated capital is ever concurrent
with political centralism and this allied danger is incal
culable. The centralist and capitalist go hand in hand.
Compact and organized, one meets the other's neces-

194 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
sity and thus they strip the many of their rights and
aggrandize the few.
Equipoise of government allows prompt dispatch for
local rule, and more mature deliberation on the great
questions of the nation. In short, the special needs of
States find prompt attention, the general and common
affairs of the Nation receive careful consideration.
This is the true theory; but continued centralization
means power without responsibility; it means that
every Congressman stands or falls by his own constit
uents ; that 'he and his party may invade the local rights
of the States; that North Carolina must be sacrificed
for New York's wishes — in short, it makes one sover
eign people rule over another sovereign people — a
paradox fraught with a fatal truth. History's most
important teaching is that responsibility can never,
with safety, be separated from power, that there must
be accountability to those affected by the use of the
power. The affections and trust of the people — this is the
enduring foundation of States, and centralism and re
pression will never gain it. The only legitimate and
rightful objects of national control are those common
to all States, to the whole American people. Without
such a strict limitation of its powers no republican gov
ernment can be maintained over a vast and populous
continent. It 'has never yet been done; there is no
rea,?on to suppose that it will ever be done. Though
we are becoming one people in space, yet the complex
ity of our civilization is so intricate that the common
interests of States cannot appreciably be increasing.
The Christian ideal of a world federation can never
be reached save by a treaty binding the good faith of
nations to abide by the advice of a central council upon

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 195
a few questions, without wounding national suscep
tibilities or trenching upon national autonomy. The
principle of 'harmony and maintenance here is exactly
identical with American federalism.
Unchecked central force inevitably becomes despotic.
It absorbs the local powers, it threatens local and indi
vidual liberty. Whenever all rule comes from Wash
ington, the wealthier sections will rule in their own
interests and party despotism and sectional hate will
end in misrule and deadly faction. The unity of the
American people is a splendid thought and a great fact.
But stronger and surer is the love of 'home and local
freedom, and whenever national union and local free
dom clash, the latter is ever championed by manly
freemen. There is a constant force necessary for our
government. This force, according to the Constitu
tion and the dictates of wisdom, must be distributed
among the people, equally divided between State and
Nation. Hence, strong central power means sec
tional tyranny and less local freedom. A disruptive
force is fostered, more dread and dangerous than ever
comes to that government which trusts the citizens and
magnifies the State. Beneath the splendor of central
ism is ever concealed the canker of unrest and oppres
sion. It was from the Golden Age of Augustus that
the Roman Empire staggered to its fall. All roads led
to Rome, but they were the veins that gathered the
Empire's life-blood in deadly congestion. England
has fought from centralized tyranny to the divine
right of the people, and her complete vindication de
mands Home Rule for prostrate Ireland. Even versa
tile France was not elastic enough to bear the strain
of central despotism, and the terrible recoil plunged
her into the Reign of Terror.

196 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Bryce, in "The American Commonwealth," impar
tially declares that:
"When other things are equal, the more power is
given to the units which compose the nation, be they
large or small, and the less to the nation as a whole
and to its central authority, so much the fuller will be
the liberties and so much the greater the energy of the
individuals who compose the people."
This is a notable truth — and how can the republic
live by that which destroys freedom, its foundation
and support?
Verily, we must magnify and defend local self gov
ernment. The rich blood must flow unchecked to the
Nation's heart, sent from sound and healthy organs
and not from diseased and withered extremities. Lo
cal self government, the lifeboat of liberty, insures
safe government at home because it intrusts to every
citizen the guardianship of local interests. The States
are the Mecca of civic liberty, and in them are enshrined
the Nation's hopes. They are the altars of freedom,
and on the hearthstone of every citizen we must sanc
tify, if we would fortify, the republic. The diffusion
of popular power is the only pledge and surety of
national love and loyalty.
The fullest local power is always better than the
harsh sway of external force. It is the methodical
system of nature, whose economy metes out pain for
error, whose laws bear their own inherent sanction.
It is the sacred order of Divinity — the judgment of
Jehovah, w'hich makes 'human sin the deliverer of its
own penalty.
Recall the despotism of centralism in that saturnalia
of tyranny and fraud, the post-bellum reconstruction
of the South. Our population was decimated, our

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 197
hopes crushed, the country bankrupted, tyrannic tests
of loyalty compelled, and the local rule of State en
trusted to the servile negro and the infamous carpet
bagger. Senator Edmunds, the venerable Republican of Ver
mont, writes :
"The States are bulwarks of the liberties of the
whole people, as the government of the whole people
is the willing and bounden defender of the republican
existence of each State and of the inherent freedom
of its citizens."
David Dudley Field, the great constitutional lawyer,
says: "Our freedom and existence depend upon the pre
servation of the States in the plenitude of their power.
Security for person and property is more important
even than unity. This security must be given by the
States." And again:
"To be a State of the American Union is to be a
sovereign in everything within its own borders, except
when the sovereignty in a certain limited number of
things 'has been granted to the common government of
all the States." State rights is a precious possession.
Shall the glory and teachings of our past State histo
ries be blotted out and forgotten ? No ! That people
that is not conservative of its past, is unworthy of a
glorious future.
The maintenance of equipoise enables experiments
in law and government that could not be safely tried
in a large centralized government. Thus South Caro
lina's dispensary law benefits or hurts South Carolina
alone. If successful, it stands an example for sister
States; if dangerous, the penalty does not involve the
nation.

198 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
THE ORIGIN AND RISE OF GOVERNMENT
At the outset let us make a distinction between Gov
ernment and Society. Society is an organism — the
organic life and unity of a people. Government is an
organ — the expression, embodiment, and servant of
society. Behind government rests its authority, the
force of society. As language is to thought, so is gov
ernment to society, and as the underlying life of the
one expands, so will the other develop in expression.
Thus it must be evident that government had an ori
gin almost coeval with society. But the nature of the
problem, with its scant and imperfect dates has led to
various interpretations and theories. The most nota
ble of them are the Patriarchal Theory, the Theory
of Social Contract, the Theory of an Original Law
giver, and the Theory of Divine Right.
Let us examine each of these.
1. The Patriarchal Theory, founded originally on
the scriptural history of the Hebrew patriarchs, bases
Ancient Society on the family as the unit. Kinship
is the earliest bond of unity and this idea is kept up by
adoption, or incorporation of new blood by feigned
relationship. The eldest male parent is supreme over
his 'household. He has power of life or death over
his children as well as his slaves. He 'holds his chil
dren's flocks and herds, though as a representative
rather than a proprietor. Society is the organized
aggregate of families and not, as now, of individuals.
Family is the unit, the earliest government, meeting
the industrial, political and religious needs of man.
The father is supreme king and priest. From this
basal family, in time, comes the gens, ruled by the
Chiefest kinsmlan. This becomes a 'tribe, whose chief

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 199
is yet, in theory at least, head kinsman. Finally, the
union of tribes evolves the Ancient State, 'with its
king, the father and priest of 'his people.
The fact is proven by history that at a very early
age the patriarchal family was the basis and shaping
type of most governments. The village communities
of Russia are believed to be survivals of this early
social organization, based on kinship. Ancient Irish
law points to a like character of archaic Celtic gov
ernment, and even clearer evidence, if 'history is to be
credited, is found in early Greek and Roman govern
ment. There is a doubt, however, whether the family was
the first form of any government. It is claimed with
reason that the patriarchal was not the original family,
but a derivative from less distinct preceding organiza
tion. However that may be, one thing seems clear, if
we accept the theory of man's evolution. We cannot
get back of the family to begin history with individ
uals, for the beasts, antecedent to man, had already
reached the family stage. It is difficult to conceive a
savage people with a consciousness sufficiently devel
oped to institute a government by an independent
rational act. If the feeling of kinship would not bind
men together, can we expect wild and unkempt sav
ages to organize ?
2. The Theory of Social Contract was developed by
H'obbes, Hooker, Locke, and Rousseau in the last cen
tury. First of all they assume the existence of a Law
of Nature, external to, and above, human law. Ac
cording to Plobbes, this law m'cans, "in sum, 'doing to
¦others as we would be done to.' " As an abstract
standard, man was born into it, and 'his law must con
form to it. It was the product of Greek stoicism and

200 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Roman jurisprudence, which conceived it to be neces
sary to square human thought with abstract standards
of Universal Reason, inherent in nature. Though this
law was binding on individual minds, yet lawless sel
fishness, the theory of claim's, prevented its exercise,
and it failed to unite men in concerted action, in gov
erned society. Hooker says that the laws of Nature
"do bind men absolutely, even as they are men, al
though they have never any settled fellowship, never
any solemn agreement amongst themselves what to do
or not to do ; but forasmuch as we are not by ourselves
sufficient to furnish ourselves with competent store of
things needful for such a life as our natures doth
desire, a life fit for the dignity of man, therefore to
supply these defects and imperfections, which are in
us living single and solely by ourselves, we are natu
rally induced to seek communion and fellowship with
others. This was the cause of men uniting themselves
at first in political societies." (Ecclesiastical Polity,
Bk 1, Sec. 10). Man was too unsocial to live with his
fellows under this single law. There was a state of
strife. To prevent extermination it was ended by
common consent, by "agreeing together mutually to
enter one common community and make one body poli
tic." (Locke). Locke further says: "Men being by
nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be
put out of this estate and subjected to the political
power of another without his own consent. The only
way Whereby any one divests himself of his natural
liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by
agreeing with other men to join and unite into a com
munity." But Locke errs in assuming man to be "free, equal,
and independent" by nature. Men are born into a pre-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 201
existing society — into a status. They are reared in
this status and nurture and training bind them to it
with the strong thread of habit. Man is not free ; he is
utterly dependent, whether he will or not. Every
man's career was and is determined for him, more or
less, before his birth. The contract theory interprets
the savage mind as if it were a highly developed intel
lect. Its logic would have it that man has fallen, that
a savage is better able to originate government than a
civilized man. It is hard to conceive primitive man,
as we know him, rising to the sublime and ethical
height of conciliatory agreement. Is it not, even
today, more natural for men to prefer kinship to coun
try? "Blood is thicker than water," and primitive
man, of all men, was not an exception to the rule.
Status must have been the basis of society. Entirely
free and independent individuals are inconceivable.
Every human is the child of parents; he can't escape
nature's law of kinship. He does not want to escape
it. This is exactly why he formed no contract : his
status was part of his life. He did not care to get out
of it. It was only nature's ceaseless law of growth
that impelled him forward, unconsciously, it may be,
until he became self-conscious, until he had the power
and desire to will such a compact.
There was no place for compact in primitive thought,
yet this theory makes social life begin with it. Con
tract could never have been supported but by a rever
ence for law, which is a comparatively modern prin
ciple of action. Primitive man knew no law. He was
controlled by instinct, by feeling ; and this feeling took
the only natural course: directed social organization
on the lines of kinship. If government originated by
compact, why did this principle not continue to work.

202 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
giving us arbitration, federation and other ethical
products? The millions of dead. Who perished for
kith and country falsify such supposition, unless we
believe man has steadily degenerated. "The duty re
sulting from one man's reliance on the word of another
is one of the slowest conquests ¦of civilization. There
is nothing in early times like the interposition of law
to compel the performance of a promise." (Theodore
W. Dwight, in Introduction to Maine's Ancient Law,
p. 57). Just as well should a man of 50 explain child-
life by his own mature 'habits.
3. The Theory of Original Lawgiver. This has the
tenor of ancient tradition, an effort made by the an
cients to explain the origin ¦of their governments.
They loved to picture a great antecedent hero, the
m'oulder ¦of the race and inventor of their laws. Thus
the Jews had Moses; Athens, Solon; Sparta, Lycur-
gus; Rome, Numa; and England, Alfred. While
great men were doubtless powerful in shaping the
course of instituted governments, yet 'history tells us
of society and government back of these men. Imag
ine a savage 'of the mental power and experience neces
sary to even conceive of such laws as these men gave.
Could such laws ¦have been forced upon a very primi
tive society, much less accepted at the suggestion of
one man ? Such a view would argue that government
was made like a house. Common observation teaches
that this is untrue ; it grew, it developed, like a tree —
the expression of an inward life, the life of society.
Human choice 'has evidently been a factor in govern
mental growth, but it will not do to attribute entire
origin and development to it.
4. The Theory of Divine Origin. This is closely akin
to the theory just discussed, though more modern in

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 203
its application. It attributes the origin of human gov
ernment to the immediate power of God alone. It
makes a direct command of God the cause and excuse
for the existence of government. Adam was God's
first appointed vice-gerent, whose authority is direct
from heaven and is transmitted by primogeniture to
his lineal descendants, namely, the m'onarchs of the
earth. This is the ¦old doctrine of the Roman p'hiloso-
phy, claiming to be based on the Bible, and finding its
culmination in the Doctrine ¦of Divine Right in the
days of the English Stuarts. Really, ¦however, the
Bible disproves their claims. The Hebrews chose God
for their ruler a thousand years before Pericles. A
popular vote decided it and the choice was resubmitted
every seven years after Moses' death. Isaac was not
Abraham's eldest son ; nor was David Jesse's, nor Solo
mon David's.
Sovereignty is not the possession of chosen demi
gods ; it resides 'with the people in their 'organic capacity
as status, though often it lies hidden, usurped or
abused until the wreck of revolution demonstrates its
true abiding place.
But the theory has a measure of truth. If we con
sider man's nature as divine, if God dwells in us, then
our life is the 'action of the inward Divinity and gov
ernment is one 'of its manifestations. Man's sociabil
ity, his sense of order and law, may thus be regarded as
inherently divine. Otherwise, we cannot conceive of
the divine origin of government.
Each of these theories undoubtedly contains a truth.
Each 'has at times profoundly impressed m'ankind, and
consequently must have contained a truth.
Today the Patriarchal Theory is almost universally
accepted as true, and it is this theory which I believe

204 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
explains the origin of human government, as I shall at
tempt to show more clearly later.
The Contract Theory places too much stress on the
free will and intellectual freedom 'of primitive man.
It presupposes a too 'highly developed mind in early
man, whom we know to have been a wild and crouch
ing savage. Though man was born into government,
as it were, yet contract did doubtless play no little part
in the shaping of government and moulding some of
its later forms. Deliberate choice must have been be
hind many phenomena in early statecraft. It is an
essential part in the development, but not to be desig
nated as such in the origin.
So in the Theories of An Original Lawgiver and
Divine Right we may trace the thread of exaggerated
truth. On one hand, government was not a manufac
tured article, given over to m'an's use from God; nor,
on the other hand, was it wholly a 'human contrivance.
It was both: divine, as life is the vital force behind,
inherently involved in man's nature; human, as man
directed this force and gave it various expression. Its
origin was spontaneous and natural — an absolute ne
cessity for human society. It was twin-born with man
and the family. Explain the origin of the family and
you have the origin of government. Aristotle was
right when 'he said that "Man is by nature a political
animal." By the very law of his birth 'he is social, he
enters society and when once in society, he must inevi
tably make the best of his relations. But if govern
ment were of spontaneous origin, it was profoundly
affected by humian will and choice. If the contract the
ory had only claimed that government was modified by
man's volition it would have been essentially true. But

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 205
it ^assumed too much. Man did not originate his gov
ernment entirely any more than he originated himself.
As already intimated, my inclination is toward the
patriarchal theory. We have examined the various
theories and tried to interpret the facts and their mean
ing. Now let us see what seems to be the true origin
of government and its psychological meaning.
Our problem is to find why did the phenomenon of
government originate, and how this origin came about.
It seems evident that government is the product of
necessity. It would be strange to find organization in
society throughout the world in all ages of man's life,
were it not a necessity — a great first need. This
necessity, we believe, exists from the very nature of
m'an. He is a social being, even from his birth, yearn
ing for intercourse with others to satisfy his own being.
Prof. Drummond says that "looking broadly at nature,
one general fact is striking — ^the more social animals
are in overwhelming preponderance over the unsocial"
(Ascent of Man, p. 238). Regarding man even as a
mere animal he seems naturally social. Much more
should he appear so when we think of his vast supe
riority in the possession of a wondrous intellect, whose
nature makes it attend to other objects and beings for
self-satisfaction. Though primitive man is doubtless
eminently selfish, this very selfis'hness demands gratifi
cations in social intercourse. The hermit is an exam
ple of distorted and misdirected selfishness. Hoffding
(p. 249) says : "The relation between mother and
child gives the most primitive family and most primi
tive human society. It makes a pure 'state of nature,'
an absolute individualism impossible." This original
impulse, instinct, or whatever it is, leads unconsciously
at first, it may be, to the first narrow form of govern-

206 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ment, and afterwards growing naturally, though
strange to say, into an organization checking the very
passions ¦that called it forth. This we consider the
Why of government; now to the How.
Historically, the given facts point to kinship as the
first and basal tie of social existence and organization.
The tribe and gens are clearly very early forms of
society — cherishing the belief in common origin. In
early society we do not find the individual playing an
important part. He has importance only as connected
with the family. The family seems to be the basal
unit, the important factor. And this is natural and
logical, if we admit that man has inborn in him a social
tendency, for it would be natural and not hum'an for
m'an to prefer association with strangers, alios, rather
than his ¦own kin. The very fact that we find the prin
ciple of adoption or feigned relationship playing a large
part in early society confirms the belief that kinship
was the ruling idea, the fundamental necessity for
social organization. As is seen throughout all life, the
principles of nutrition (self) and of reproduction
(otherself) 'are the ruling instincts in early m^an.
They are indissoluble. Government, it seems to me,
is the logical outcome of their action. The self, even
did it try, could not escape its dependence on parents,
on the relationship of intimate associates. It feels this
dependence, and self-satisfaction is 'the result of the
necessary gratification of this instinct. Henry Drum
mond clearly puts it: "These two objects are thus
wholly different. The first (nutrition) has a purely
personal end; its attention is turned inward; it exists
only for the present. The second (reproduction) in
a greater or less degree is impersonal; its attention is
turned outward ; it lives for the future. One of these

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 207
objects, in other words, is self-regarding; the other is
other-regarding. Both, of course, at the outset are
wholly selfish ; both are parts of the struggle for life."
(Ascent of M!an, p. 221). We cannot conceive a sin
gle man in nature without bonds of kinship. It is
against nature's ordering. The eternal arrangement
makes him a part of somebody else. There we have
society in its simplest form — a relationship and socia
bility which is inevitable. From it the ties of kinship
reach from one individual to another and thus the
larger social units are evolved.
May we not even today see distinct traces of an
early patriarchal principle in slavery, subjection of
woman, the wardship of children, etc. ? These are all
in keeping with the idea that there was a father with
supreme ownership and control. In India and China
we find wondrous fossilized forms of government,
showing distinct marks of the basal idea 'of family. In
China paternalism reigns ; in India caste is supreme.
But developed forms of government appear to be
based on the individual. The family has lost its
whilom station. Why is this — what is the psycholog
ical meaning of this origin and growth of government?
To me, its meaning is this. Government took its rise
in the feelings. Its development 'has been a growth.
It ihas simply been the working-out of human nature.
The form which has best fitted its people, has enclosed.
Thus Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, as Aris
totle graduated it, set forth in outer form the inward
character of their underlying life. First, Monarchy,
the rule of one man, derived from the belief in patri
archal authority. Then Aristocracy, where the few,
great and strong, usurp or assert the power. Lastly,

208 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Democracy, where the people themselves come to a
realization and assertion of their rights and powers.
Here we see feeling at first dominant. The people
look upon their patriarch or king as half divine. Awe,
reverence, love — it is pure feeling — else why this de
votion, this humble obedience. Later mental growth
teaches the fact of the importance of the people, of the
individual. This, when fully realized, works revolu
tions. The teachings of Locke and Rousseau did much
toward 'the French Revolution and American Inde
pendence, in the fact that they emphasized the imjxjr-
tance of the individual.
Another fact ¦helps explain the origin and rise of
government and also corroborates the importance of
feeling. Every human being is born into relation with
. his parents, his fellow creatures, and his God. The
early man doubtless felt these relations in his vague
savage mind. His narrow vision and thought were
obscured by feeling for his closest relations, and hence
obedience was given primarily to family, in which was
also expressed his primitive relations to his fellows
and his God. Family is the first government ; it is
church and state.
Mental growth, feeling, refined by thought develop
ment, gave a wider discrimination and finally the dis
tinct institutions, church and state, were evolved from
the family. Hoffman in "The Sphere of the State"
(p. 207), speaking of the relation of family and state,
says that family, church and state "are so intimately
related to one another that any injury to one is an
injury to all, and all good that comes to one is shared
by all. They rise 'or fall together." Ancient m3rthol-
ogy and barbaric religions of 'today which worship as
gods their ancestors who are dead and now exert a

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 209
mysterious power over 'them, prove the vital fact of
kinship, of the original identity of family, church and
state. All early governments are theocratic in form.
The king is priest, from very necessity. The thing
above all needed is obedience, and this could not be
had under dual government. Fear and reverence
(feehng) alone, allied with family, could tame the
wild savage to the 'habits and customs of regular law.
Thus a cake of custom was formed, the basis for fur
ther growth. Because mankind was ever growing,
and the kingdom of the dead increasing, economy de
manded the development of statecraft, or government
for the living, and priestcraft, or care for the dead.
The purity of the Jewis'h family was unequalled.
Hence its religion was kept intact — one secret, I doubt
not, of its great spiritual power. It emphasized kin
ship — feeling. Other races broke up the cake of cus
tom and their family relation, either because of migra
tion on one hand, or stagnation on the other, and em
phasized other things or lapsed into gross forms of
religion and life. The Aryan, in 'his ceaseless migra
tion, was concerned more with the living than the dead.
Thus 'he developed great powers in statecraft, keeping
latent the religious power in his purity of family.
When Christianity and Teutonic genius for govern
ment met, ¦they gave to the world its strongest char
acter. Thus we might give many proofs of the common ori
gin of church and state — in the family — in feeling —
immortality, at its origin, seems to have been a hope,
not of perpetual individual life, but of reunited family
life. FanDily cus^toms have been the basis of all codes
of laws, family religion underlies all theologies and
churches, family occupations were the germ of all

210 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
industries. The sacrifice of family at Lacedaemonia
brought on vice and spiritual decay. The fact that
Greece and Rome discouraged family life was a potent
force in itheir destruction, because it lowered the moral
standard. Polygamy traces its foul and deadly track
across 'any government that tolerates it. In 'Short, any
government that emphasizes the pure family exalts its
influence and guarantees its life.
Ancient government rested on the authority of the
inherent common will, Which is that immemorial cus
tom' be preserved. This is distinctively feeling. Mod
ern government rests on the authority 'of opinion, dis
covered in the majority. This is what we call reason.
It is feeling refined and directed by thought. We have
feeling in the desire to preserve our established and
cherished forms; reason, however, makes us different
from the ancients in desire, and knowledge how, to
alter forms. In first government, man lives for the
government. Now man has grown to ¦the power where
¦he sees that government exists for him. There has
been an advance from the vague individual to the par
ticular and ¦self-assertive individual. We have come
from very egoistic feelings to more ethical ones. Hoff
ding puts it well (p. 256) : "In historical development,
a relentless logic is at work, leading sympathy to conquer
not only personal egoism, but also the egoism of fam
ily and of nation and creed. Impartial knowledge
works into the hands of widest sympathy and both
come to a stop only at natural boundaries."
In conclusion, we believe we have discovered and
shown that government is the natural product of man's
nature ; that this nature is first evident as feeling, ex
pressing itself in government based on the closer feel
ings of kinship and family; that in this first govern-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 211
ment were involved both the ecclesiastical and secular ;
that their divergence and distinction were the result of
man's growth in thought or cognition, refining and
directing the primal egoistic instincts into the later
altruistic feelings ; that accordingly the forms of gov
ernment have been a gradation from monarchical to
democratic; and that from the family as a unit we
'have come to the individual as a unit. Government
has been a growth according as man's mind has devel
oped ; and this, we believe, has been f rorn unconscious
instinct to self-conscious thought and power. The
movement has been from status to rational contract.

THE COLLEGE FRATERNITY-AN ARGUMENT
BEFORE THE TRUSTEES
1. The original idea of the fraternity as an institu
tion we 'admit to be good. This idea, having for its
aim the association of college men for strictly social
purposes, naturally demanded the selection of men by
standards of true and manly worth, irrespective of
wealth, station, or surface antecedents. This idea, we
claim, has been abused in the University of North
Carolina. And it is against this abuse and not against
the idea of true student fellowship that we contend.
Institutions, though originally good, demand constant
vigilance and watching lest they be perverted. That
noblest of institutions, the church, has often been pros
tituted to the most disgraceful ends. We must remem
ber that institutions are organized; they grow and
change. Ideals shift and ideas are transforn^ed so
that we must constantly make reckoning to sd^. that

212 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
we have not abandoned ¦our original purpose and legiti
mate end.
2. We claim that the fraternity idea has been abused
in the University and that the cause of this abuse is
that men are not required to win the election to fra
ternity membership by legitimate competition in manli
ness, character, ¦and scholarship, but they are selected
for ¦other considerations. We know that, without re
striction, almost all fraternity men are branded, as it
were, immediately after reaching college and taken
into fraternities before they 'have given any substantial
evidence that they will meet the 'high standards of char
acter and scholars'hip which the fraternity ideas claim
to set for membership. The considerations for eligi
bility are almO'St exclusively such arbitrary qualifica
tions as wealth, family, or statical antecedents. And
this latter standard having been adopted, the former
one of character and talent, irrespective of objective
qualifications, is adhered to even throughout the col
lege course, perpetuating a caste that was essentially
arbitrary and exclusive in its beginning. If ours is a
true university, fostering the true university idea, then
it should sustain the broadest standards, recognize de
serving talent, and encourage aspiring manhood in
every department of its varied 'life.
3. We claim further that the manner of selection by
the fraternities damages the man selected by offering a
distinction not striven for and 'won ; and the man thus
damaged in character is a disagreeable element in col
lege life. Men never fully appreciate a distinction or
a possession without an effort for its attainment, and
consequently la full and 'liberal consciousness of the
duty and responsibility attached to pre-eminent sta
tion. The negro and the foreigner illustrate this in

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 213
question of citizenship and suffrage. American heir
esses, purchasing titled husbands, illustrate it in Amer
ican society. And freshmen, unfamiliar with college
life and untutored in college spirit, are not exceptions
to this fundamental truth. Power and distinction in
volve responsibility and capacity to perform duty.
and whenever distinction is given without some eff^ort
to become worthy of it, the recipient is almost invari
ably injured in character. So it is in the University.
The bestowal of an honor 'on a Freshman, without pre
vious realization of its value through effort, m'akes him
arrogant and unduly authoritative in matters relating
both to his fellow students and to the University
authorities. In short, when he is thus given distinc
tion and support, 'he becomes a disagreeable and rebel
lious element in college life.
4. These men, thus initiated into the University, are
given wrong views of college distinctions and wrong
standards of value in bestowing honors. Even as the
freshman was influenced and affected by his ill-judged
elevation, so will he continue to conduct the spirit of
his institution as he comes on in the selection of later
initiates. Not that this is always so, but the tendency
is such from the nature of the case. The standard of
the distinction first given in college tends to shape the
standards of succeeding 'honors. As in the first case,
the requisites were artificial, so in succeeding ones
they will 'have even a stronger tendency to be so in the
eyes 'of these men, both from the force of 'habit, and
the ties of interest and continuous exclusive ¦associa
tion. Thus, in college, such organizations as the liter
ary societies are minimized, and the things pertaining
to class and wealth are magnified. The college sport
becomes the hero. The idol of all eyes is not he who

214 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
has commanding intellect, ability, or character, but he
who meets the superficial, arbitrary, and unessential
standards already pointed out. It becomes no disgrace
in such light to fail in scholarship, even in character
and other dynamic qualities, but it is unpardonable sin
to fall short of the required essentials. This senti
ment, being prevalent among a large number of the
students, tends to 'have greater or less effect on all
others, and thus college spirit is to this degree de
praved and wasted.
5. Thus the practices of the fraternities damage the
m'an, foster a disagreeable element in college life and
set up false views and standards of value. If, as we
claim, the requisites for admission into the fraternities
are superficial, arbitrary, 'and statical; if they are ob
jective qualifications and not subjective qualities of
worth; then their practices are pretentions, and war
against truth, candor and manliness. The man apply
ing and the man subjected to suCh tests are damaged
morally; and a wrong spirit arises which inevitably
fosters a disagreeable element that must necessarily
resort to secret intrigue and discordant action to ac
complish their ends. Such life never produces that
broad and tolerant spirit which sees things in their
true light and measures value by just and sympathetic
standards. It generates a narrow and partial feeling,
prompting the man in almost every action to decide in
favor of his own secluded and exclusive circle, even in
oppwDsition to larger and higher interests. (Incom
plete). Is this University Spirit? Is this the loyalty
that would sacrifice self and sect for the recognized
good of the whole student body and the University?
You may ask if the men whom I am representing are
not acting from selfis'h motives. I point j^u to their

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 215
action in 'this matter since the settlement made last
year. They have not raised a hand against the con
certed action ¦of all concerned, believing it to be best
for the University to accept a compromise, even giving
the fraternities still the advantage, after a bitter dis
cussion in which we were actuated by honest and sin
cere motives for prom'Oting the University's good.
That fraternity practices damage the man and foster a
disagreeable element in college life, I point, if you will
allow me, to the recent cases of discipline in the Uni
versity. Every man suspended, save perhaps one or
two, were either fraternity men ¦or pledged to frater
nities. Not that there is no dissipation outside of
fraternities, for the influence of that spirit generated
in fraternities cannot but extend further and damage
in some degree men outside and in casual contact with
it. It was a body of fraternity men who, in 1892, left
the Di Society in a body and threatened its dissolution.
More recent events even might demonstrate this same
spirit, which I declare to you in all candor, I believe
the product ¦of the fraternity idea, abused as it is at
present. It is a demoralizing influence, working clique
and contention when there ought to be unity and agree
ment. 6. Experience has shown that it is not wise from
any point of view to have first year students ¦associate
with fraternities. This matter, I claim, must be set
tled by the facts of college experience. Before there
was any 'opposition to fraternities in the universities
the conditions were much different than now. To be
a non-fratemi'ty man was counted by many a stigma.
By thorough agreement of the fraternities the non-frat
men, it seems, were shut out of many privileges, espe
cially in social affairs. It was especially noticeable in

216 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
the first year and a half of one's college course. I
know that leading fraternity men have granted that
point, and said the fraternity idea was sadly abused
before the discussion. That discussion ended in a
compromise restricting fraternities to a year and a half
limit. I emphatically affirm that I have not seen as
'healthy a college spirit in the University before as there
has been this year. I mean by that, there has been
more unanimity of action, a more pervasive feeling of
fellowship, a clearer recognition of men as men than I
have before seen. This was prominently demonstrated
in athletics. Whether it has been partly feigned, I
cannot say, but I believe much 'of it has been genuine.
The old lines of Fraternity and Non-Fraternity I
thought were fading -away, for college politics are now
conducted through parties containing both sides as en
thusiastic elements. If this better spirit was beginning
to show, W'hy 'throttle its resuscitation? (Incomplete).

ARTICLES FROM THE WHITE AND BLUE.
BOOK REVIEWS
CoEUR D'AlEne. By Mary Hallock Foote. 12mo.,
pp. 240. Price, $1.25. Boston and New York:
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Among the many notable books of fiction produced
this year this book takes worthy rank. It tells a story
of the ri'Ots of 1892 at the Coeur D'Alene mines. Like
all the novels by this lady, it is a thoroughly good
story. The tone is pure and the impression left is
agreeable and healthy. Simple in style, the diction is
natural and in keeping with the 'Other 'harmonious ele
ments of the story. It is not a book that will live long

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 217
or create a craze, but it is calculated to have many
adm'irers and a 'continued appreciation by the literary
world. — From the "White and Blue," November 9,
1894.
The Ascent oe Man. By Henry Drummond. Third
edition, pp. 346. Cloth, $2.00. New York : James
Pott & Company.
The author ¦here takes a scientific view of man from
the standpoint of evolution; but an ¦evolution read
justed and "drawn to scale" is his standard. It is
taken in a broad 'and Christian view. The theme, the
author tells us, " 'is Ascent, not Descent ; it is a story,
not an argument." "It is a study in embryo, in rudi
ments, in installations ; the scene is the primitive for
est; the date the world's dawn." The book is neither
too technical for the general reader, nor too general
for the specialist. It is a popular presentation of a
universally interesting subject. In solidity and real
worth it is one of the most notable books of the time.
-From the "White and Blue," November 23, 1894.
J. C. Eller wrote the opening article in Vol. I, No. 1,
March 8, 1894, of "The White and Blue," edited as
follows : BOARD OE EDITORS.
Leonard C. Van Noppen, Chairman.
Joe E. Alexander, Thos. J. Wilson,
J. O. Carr, Jno. C. Eller,
W. C. Smith, H. E. C. Bryant.
BUSINESS MANAGERS.
A. B. Kim'ball, E. W. Brawley.

218 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
"The Growth oe the University."
In review of President Winston's recent report to
the trustees, it is indeed gratifying to see the official
statistics of the continued growth of the University.
Three 'hundred and eighty-five students have been
enrolled this year, making an increase of 69 over
the attendance ¦of last year, and a gain of 187 in three
years. There are 352 students from North Carolina,
being more by 59 than the largest enrollment in the
history of the University. Fourteen States, embrac
ing an area from Connecticut to Texas and from Min
nesota to Florida, are represented this year; while
far-away Japan sends us an unique "Christmas gift"
in the person of an aspiring son.
Athletics are justly given prominent mention as an
auxiliary to the ¦healthy inner life of the University,
the advanced grade of intellectual work done and the
excellent healthfulness ¦of the students.
Evidence of the constantly broadening life of the
University is seen in the demand for Summer Schools
for both men and women in the various departments of
the College.
With the increase in students, there necessarily
should come the need of expansion in the capacities of
the University in miany directions if its growth would
be steady and permanent. Especially, as the report
shows, is there urgent need for the erection of two dor
mitories; a Y. M. C. A. building, centrally situated,
with .gymnasium, reading room and University office
attached; and the employment of more teachers. The
erection of a Comm^ons Hall is also suggested, whereby
cheap and suitable board may be obtained by needy
students. Dr. Winston well says : "Among the board-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 219
ing places in the village there is a tendency to higher
prices not accompanied by a compensating tendency to
better food."
The incorporation of the Law School, which num
bers 65 this year, placing it on the same footing with
the other departments, marks another step in advance.
In speaking of the inner life of the University, the
President says: "My acquaintance with the Univer
sity as student and teacher extends through twenty-
eight years, and I cheerfully testify that I 'have never
known less vice, immorality, idleness and disorder than
during the present year." This statement s'hould carry
weight and the student body should endeavor to sus
tain the further truth which he strongly declares, that :
"The University is not a factory where character, cul
ture, and physical power are made to order and worn
like other garments. Rather it is a vital organism
where men grow daily into large stature by self-effort,
and absorb into their inner selves the strong nourish
ment that feeds only those who earn it."
All 'Our growth, it should be rem'embered, has been
in the face of many adverse circumstances. The worst
financial panic of the last half-century has just swept
over the country ; and, as all growth meets with oppo
sition, efforts have been and are making for the injury
of our growing influence. But the University idea
will prevail because it represents the free development
and exercise of man's capabilities directed aright, as
against the narrow intolerance of the prejudiced and
ignorant. The true University fosters the broadest
freedom and recognizes talent that deserves and man
hood that aspires.

220 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Vol. 2. September 21, 1894. No. 2.
"THE WHITE AND BLUE."
University of North Carohna.
BOARD OF editors.
John C. Eller, A. B. Kimball,
John A. Moore, L. C. Brogden,
Geo. H. Kirby. Thos. L. Wright.
J. W. Canada.
BUSINESS MANAGERS.
James O. Carr, A. H. Robbins.
J. C. Eller 'wrote a number of articles for this issue ;
we give the following :
Scope oe "The White and Blue."
The proposed consolidation of the two college week
lies having been abandoned, because the scheme was
thought impracticable by many of the supporters of
either paper, it may be well to define the exact scope
of the "White and Blue." The expansion of the Uni
versity in latter years has been so marked that its life
and interests 'have likewise become many-sided and
extensive. The other weekly is the creature of an
athletic body, primarily instituted for the expression
and representation of the athletic interests of the Uni
versity. There are other interests that demand equally
as much representation as athletics, and it is for these
interests that the "White and Blue" proposes to stand.
It will endeavor to represent 'and emphasize the liter
ary, scientific, religious and social phases of college
life and work, while also incidentally giving its read
ers a synopsis of the work in athletics. We shall do
all we can for athletics, because we believe in them.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 221
But we believe our field is broad enough to justify its
distinct and thorough representation and that the im
portance of it will likewise create and maintain a sub
stantial support. With this aim and belief, we greet
the coming year with faith in the attainment of whole
some results.
Melancholia.
Thou dire, despised and hideous Thing!
Thy diabolic fancies ring.
Thy loathsome limbs forever cling,
About my shuddering soul !
T'hou 'art the prince of demons dire.
Thy breath is a consuming fire,
Thy 'hellish tortures never tire
To taunt my stricken soul !
To sap the energies of youth,
Establish sin instead of truth.
And leave the mind a waste uncouth.
To thee is joy complete.
Thy victims strew the march of man
Thy venom slays in rea.. and van ;
E'er since man's pilgrimage began.
Thy gloom has 'hovered near.
Whate'er thy cause, whate'er thy cure
To doom forlorn thy wiles allure
The ones who punily endure
Thy ever tight'ning coils.
Arouse, my soul ! thy latent power.
Remove the canker from the flower,
Forge forward to the hero's tower
And guard it to the death ! Carlton, '96.

222 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
The Doubter.
He who doubts with honest heart
And ever seeks for truth divine.
Sees farthest into Nature's soul;
To him miore clear her secrets shine.
Contented not with creed 'of Eld,
He penetrates the darksome way ;
Ahead in quest he flashes far
Truth's searchlight, clear and strong as day.
He does not doubt for dearth of faith ;
No one more firmly holds his creed.
Whene'er its reasons stand revealed
And fact with theory is agreed.
Then cease to censure 'honest doubt !
A truth most practical be taught I
That man must grope in doubt and fear.
Before truth's jewel to the light is brought.
University of N. C. J. C. EllER, '96.

MODERN CHIVALRY-AN ESSAY
Every 'age has its hero, every century its type. Some
characteristic idea is ever struggling for expression
and embodiment in some typical personage, the 'hero
and type of his age. In the calm retrospect of the
past, wh'ose "distance lends enchantment to the view,"
we can more or less clearly descry the procession of
'heroes and the institutions which they represent. The
age of chivalry marks a great epoch in human history
and its distinctive type is the gallant knight, whose
deeds res'ound through history and lend a charm to all

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 223
subsequent literature. But the nineteenth century is
so near us, its power and greatness are so transcendent
that we are bewildered in attempting to read its mean
ing or seek out its type.
No age of the past possesses more fascination and
charm than the chivailric days of bold and gallant
knighthood. The faults of chivalry admitted, it still
commands 'our admiration for the cardinal and whole
some virtues which it taught. It was imbued with the
spirit of loyalty and ever taught the strictest fidelity to
all pledges. It mjagnified even to a fault that Chris
tian courtesy which counted it basest treachery to with
hold kindness from the bitterest foe. The gallantry
of knighthood has never been surpassed in its inspir
ing devotion to woman, especially to the chosen object
of love. Delighting in daring exploits and seeking
new fields for personal prowess, the Mediaeval Knight
cultivated that dauntless courage which never knew to
fear. The ideal of chivalry was honor, as it was
understood, but its distinctive spirit could find room
for exercise only amid conflict and bloodshed, which it
naturally tended to prom'ote.
Now and then a lovable character emerges from the
martial environment and gives a feeling of relief.
Sir Philip Sydney, Chevalier Bayard and Sir Walter
Raleigh are inspiring figures, but they represent a
knighthood of ill-directed energy. The old chivalry
was a piece of beautiful and fantastic frostwork, which
has dissolved in the beams of a higher civilization.
This was the Chivalry of the past. It has yielded to
the irresistible advance of humanity, but its better and
nobler elements still live.
Ours is the chivalry ¦of the present. Instead of
wasteful war, idle tourney, or fantastic love, the Mod-

224 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
ern Knight seeks employ in the practical fields of util
ity. Instead of foolish, ill-starred Crusades, the Nine
teenth Century Knight seeks 'his physical development
in explorations and discoveries. A Stanley opens the
treasury of a dark continent to the world, and a Greely
braves the dangers of the Arctic for the sake of science
and discovery. The missionary is the modern cru
sader, but his weapon is the Holy Bible. Which
deserves the greater credit for his life-work, Prince
Hal, the old cavalier, or Henry Martyn? Contrast
the lives 'of Richard the Lion Heart, and Livingstone,
or Thomas a Becket and Adoniram Judson, and the
differences of the old and the new chivalry are appar
ent. This type of modern knight Charles Dickens had
in mind when he said : "The average American would
refuse to board a train for Heaven, unless assured he
could go further west on his arrival. . . ."
Our age, then, is one of work. It is the century of
utility, ennobled by 'high aims and lofty ideals. All
that was poetic and imaginative, 'however, did not per
ish with the old chivalry. The change has been a log
ical one and the roots of the past have blossomed into
the fruit of the present.
Not only is this the century ¦of work, it is the age of
humanity. The world's barometer never before regis
tered so high a fellow-feeling, so deep a sense of
human brotherhood as it does today. This, I contend,
is the best age of all the world, and every succeeding
moment means an appreciable accretion to the world's
stock ¦of happiness and goodness.
That devotion for woman, which the old chivalry
fostered, 'has broadened into a feeling of sacred rever
ence and elevated her to 'her true position. Psycholog
ical study has revealed the nature of child-life which is

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 225
leading -to its emancipation from cruel and senseless
thralldom. This century has been marked by marvel
ous changes in the overthrow of abuses, in the removal
or m'odification of vested rights, in enlargement of
popular liberties. The progress in material growth, in
inventions, in science, in discovery, in religious activ
ities, in civil and religious freedom, in humanitarian
reform, in international ethics, in the science of poli
tics, in every sphere of activity leading to human hap
piness, 'has been truly amazing. There have been
struggles, on which were staked vital interests of the
human race, the result of which has shown a percepti
ble advance toward popular freedom and human equal
ity. The whole age is luminous with the light of
growth and liberty. . . .
This, too, is the century of 'toleration. Our chivalry
has come to be one of ethics. It is the tourney and tilt
of mind rather than that of p'hysical power that tells,
and he who stands in the van 'of ethical and manly
righteousness is our greatest knight. The ancient
chivalry confined all honors to the circles of high caste,
but in our system the rail-splitter or orphan boy may
dare to enter the lists and win 'the highest approval.
Never before was there felt such an interest in man
and nature. And according to this quickened interest
there has been a geometrical progression in the higher
life of man. We see the constant operation of arbi
tration in international disputes. Human slavery 'has
met its deathblow. In England, Corporation and Test
Acts have been repealed, universities liberalized, Ro
man Catholics and Jews relieved of civil disabilities,
and the franchise extended and representation equal
ized. The criminal code has been humanized, death
penalties have been restricted and the light of day has
15

226 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
been let into prisons. Monopolies have been over
thrown, municipal corporations reformed, chancery
and common law courts made 'accessible to suitors,
poor laws improved, the post-office has been made the
servant of every one, and public education placed in
reach of all.
These great changes are the product of Anglo-Saxon
genius. Rising ever higher in the scale of civilization,
the Anglo-Saxon has touched this Whole world with
his vigor and 'his power. If we can find the highest
type of this Anglo-Saxon genius we shall have the
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. The two great
ideas for which he will stand will be civil liberty and
pure, spiritual Christianity.
The man whom I consider the best type of his race
and his age, and the best expression of their funda
mental life, is William Ewart Gladstone. For a half-
century he 'has stood in the forefront of the history of
the greatest nation on earth. In his life the moral and
spiritual elements are dominant, and his pole star is
justice. He accepts Christianity not simply as an in
tellectual creed, but as a personal belief, operative on
human conduct, vitalizing motive, imposing obligation,
offering rewards. Never does 'his moral earnestness,
scrupulous conscientiousness, or exaltation of charac
ter yield to chicanery or mere expediency. The hu
mane spirit 'Of the age appears in his heroic and unsel
fish championship of the downtrodden Irish.
No other civilian (and our knight is a civilian) in
this country has awakened such popular enthusiasm,
has commanded such zealous following, has been iden
tified with so many and such great measures. And
why is this so ? It is because he embodies the spirit of

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 227
the age, and has the eminent power and unflinching
will to dare to champion the truth.
Gladstone, like our century, is really too near us in
time for a full appreciation of his worth. But no
surer index can be given us than 'his constant and
devoted popularity. Apart from his vast and ready
information, his versatility of intellect, his adminis
trative genius, and his entrancing eloquence, his hu
mane and loving spirit has perforce won and held the
heart and mind of the English-speaking race. He is
the greatest living champion of justice and right, of
honor and freedom, of peace and goodwill, the greatest
comjmoner of the century, the Grand Old Man, the true
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. He is the most
chivalric knight that has jousted for 'honor or tilted in
the lists of human endeavor in this century. But no
one living m'an can be said to represent all the activi
ties of an age, especially 'one of such huge endeavor as
ours. There is that knight of invention, Thomas A.
Edison, who stands for a force that has 'wrought stu
pendous changes in civilization. After the inventor in
time, but by no means in power, may be placed the man
of wealth, the millionaire, a knight that bids fair to
unhorse all opponents in the tilts of the coming years.
Unless the George Peabody or Peter Cooper type pre
vail, he m'ay be watched with fear, for his god is a
false god, and his creed is the creed of coin.
But let us not be daunted in 'hope if the Knights of
Evil sometimes win the approving smile, for as sure as
we are better than our fathers, so sure are we wOrse
than our sons will be. The world is growing better
and the powers of darkness shall not prevail over the
powers of goodness.
Mankind 'has advanced, both in body and in spirit.

228 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
grown to be at once more delicate and more enduring,
more sensitive to weariness and yet more patient of
toil, impressible, but capable of bearing powerful irri
tation, we are woven 'of finer fiber, which, though ap-
pareritiy frail, yet outlasts the coarser, as rich and
costly garments oftentimes wear better than those of
rougher workmanship.
The Knight of the Nineteenth Century is a versatile,
many-sided, fully developed man. Not only is he en
dowed with physical prowess, but he seeks the highest
skill in the intellectual realm. Not content with a
dead formalism or ritualistic faith he lives his re
ligion. . . .

CLASS FAREWELL
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Today you witness the leavetaking of the class of
'96 from our beloved University home, and see us
enter on the highway 'of strenuous life. It marks the
fruition of our youth into the soberer strength of man
hood. Here are focused the lines of our past life,
and from this point radiate the aspirations and prom
ises of all that the future S'hould contain. It is the
supreme turning point in our lives. The directions of
our different courses now diverge, and the tide must
be taken at the flood, or our ways will abound in the
shallows of disappointment.
Our historian 'has recorded the eventful stories of
the past, teeming with marvelous exploits and heroic
happenings. Our prophet has pierced the mystic veil
of futurity and revealed the inspiring vision of that
which is to come. Our poet has wrought the epic of
our college life, and sung the strains of fancy-fash-

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 229
ioned ideals. Our statistician has taken a census of
our traits and talents and given you the cold facts
about our personalities.
There is little left for me to say, save to speak the
parting word and 'thank you all for your patience and
sympathy. Let me say, however, that our parting as
undergraduates for 'the last time, though colored with
pleasure and congratulation, is still a moment of sin
cere sadness, a time that prompts regrets.
Indeed, I am sure that '96 will ever cherish in lasting
love the kindly village- folk of Chapel Hill, the indul
gent and cultured members of our learned faculty and
their gracious families, the true and loyal student body
and first, last, and all the time our beloved Alma Mater,
tlie good old University.
Fellow Comrades:
For four fleeting years we have tarried together in
this sacred seat of learning, from a terror-stricken mob
of more than a hundred freshmen we have come
through the valley of the shadow, shorn of our num
bers, but, let us hope, chastened for nobler living and
equipped for greater deeds.
Our college life here, they say, is but a miniature of
the great world-life beyond. Though our ways have
often been checkered by disappointment and difference,
still the retrospect will ever glow with the gladsome
remembrance 'of fellowship and the touching thought
of happy association.
For the past, then let us have regrets for the mis
takes, and cover them with the mantle of charity.
For the present, let us make 'high resolves to stand ever
in the forefront of the fight for truth, and clasp hands
in loving comradeship in defense of those principles

230 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
which we all cherish. For the future, let our aims be
lofty, our aspirations noble, our characters true and
stainless — and for the rest let there be no fear.
Learning is supreme and 'we are its champions.
This University is the place Where m'en are made.
The fruitage of its endeavor must be manhood, schol
arship, character — or its existence becomes a mockery.
Let us never lower the standard of its high life, but
rather strive to intensify the types w'hich it seeks to
develop. I speak to you as a fellow comrade, and I know that
in your 'hearts there pulsates a cordial response to
aught of truth I may have uttered, and in that glad as
surance I feel with confidence the certainty of your
success. And with these words of hope and cheer let the fare
well word be said. May each one of us, following
forth his preferred profession, carve enduring figures
of righteous achievement on the tablet of 'his time and
live a beacon-life of manliness and power.

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o JO
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JOHN CARLTON ELLER 231

An Elegy in Memory of My College Mates,
Plato and John Eller.

They need no monument ; their living names
Bloom like twin lilies in the hand of death !
O ye, who grieve for their ungathered fames ;
Who mourn for them as dead
With all their hopes uriharvested ;
Ye, who have seen
The gradual green
Mantle their naked graves ;
Who weep that 'they so lowly lie
Vaulted by the vast arches of the sky,
Windowed to all the winds ! who yearn
To see them memoried by marble urn
Or solemn-templed cenotap'h, and sigh
Because no roof their ashes covereth.
No towered shrine to blazon their renown ;
O ye, for them, who crave a lustred crown,
Let no harSh plaint and shrill draw near
Their pleasant sleep, no futile tear.
For these are not the slaves
Of Death, but his companions, free,
The lords of immortality ;
Each at his feast a rare and laureled guest :
Make them not poor who are so rich in rest.
Like to eternal listeners.
So still they lie.

232 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Where they can hear no cry.
And no bough stirs
Of Death's mem'orial firs.
Softly they lie.
Where never sigh
Can enter, with unwaking eye.
Who ripened, ah, too soon !
And fell before their noon,
Lustreless; each imperial head,
Bowed to the dust, unchapleted!
They fell? Nay, brightly rose,
Winging to high repose.
Singing like the young lark,
Darting over the dark
Into the morning. Hark !
Eager to hail the east
How joyfully he sings
Lending the world of ¦things
A happiness ¦of wings ;
But they, from gloom released.
Beyond the years, in some sublimer West
Are ¦havened now, all quiet after quest.
O ye, who loved them so,
Be no more sad to know
How over them the snow
Spreads a white silence, falling
As from the wings of death.
Soft as an infant's breath
And softer than the calling
To roses of the rain.
Speak, Oh! so gently, lest,
By your loud woe opprest.
They waken with a wild amaze,

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 233
Facing remembered pain.
Startled to life again
By the approach of your belated praise.
To them with vision garmented 'how vain
The pomps of time, the bugle and the bays !
Their seats are empty and the lofty place
Aches for 'the lordship of a noble face.
Now seen of men no more.
Oh ! let me strew around
Roses of royal sound
And wreathe their brows with amaranth who bore
The banner of their youth
Unsullied towards the truth
And passed through death as through a silent door.
I see him yet. Oh, could I see as then
That figure of defi'ance, as he stood,
Isled in a hush, in all his goodlihood.
Superb, majestical, a man of men!
I see him yet, the elder of these twain,
Flushed with the vision, avid to attain.
Leaning toward the morrows, mad to run
Telling the nations of the risen sun !
I hear again 'his resonant voice, that rang
Clear as a clarion amid the clang
And clash of our dissensions, when he spurned
The wrong with flamling utterance, ,that burned
The very air, while with his sacred ire
His head was haloed as with golden fire.
And we, who listened, were uplifted — rose.
All exultation, like the condor's wing.
To the warm ether, borne above the snows
Of the cold mind I His was the hand to fling

234 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
The brand of challenge ; his, the heel to crush
The pliant sycophant; and like the rush
Of mighty wings the whirling of his wrath.
Sweeping like leaves obstructions from its path.
His was no voice to cheer, nor art to charm.
Who, true to truth and loyal to the light.
Forbore not from the battle; but, with arm
Uplift in splendid anger, ruled the hour.
We knew 'his face the very face of power.
His hand-tossed 'hair the roused mane of might.
As casting off his mantle of repose,
M'ounting the highest moment, he uprose.
Stern and austere, a tower of rectitude.
With something of the lion in his look,
Ruddy and rugged, one, whose accents took
The silence, overwhelming like a flood !
He was a man, for mastership and sway
Chosen of stars ; who, steadfast as the rock.
Fearless in fear, and like the storm to mock.
Sovran of scorn, high, like a scourge to flay,
Lifted a lash of lightnings, while the Lie
Cowered and quailed before his conquering eye.
Then Death awoke and Whispered 'him away.
Folded forever m'ore are those strong hands.
Sinewed for struggle, silent is that tongue,
On which, unbreathing, hung
The Future, with intense
And passionate suspense.
Ah ! that imperial mouth,
Mighty to shape 'heroical commands,
Is mute forever, and the parching South
As in a desert lies

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 235
Beneath delirious skies,
With half-remembering eyes.
Thirsting for eloquence !
W'ho now remains so valiant to revive
Her drooping visions? Who of all that dream
Shall speak the word which shall her name redeem ?
And who of heart so puissant shall strive
With unobsequious will
To set upon a hill
The gates of morning? Who, now he is cold.
Shall up the mountains bear the gates of gold?
Haply they called 'him, they, who in high calm
Forget the pang, the passion and the palm ;
They, who of old,
Triump'hant, bold.
Kept the dark fords of trial.
Hurling at wrong
Like some wild song
The wrath of their denial ; —
They, who were first to dare,
W'hose still far-whispered names
The sullen tyrant shames
Back to his S'hadowed lair ; —
They, Who in gloom were once a spreading glory.
Throbbing like stars in the long night of story ;
W'hose treasured words the chanting winds intone
Through wooded Carolina, wondering,
After the cease of their deep thundering.
Who shall prolong
That proudest song,
Since he is fled, to other forum flown.
Haply they called him, owning him their Head,
Unto the mighty Senate of The Dead ;

236 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Where with 'his voice that rings
Like the rich scorn of kings.
Pleading some fallen planet's dying Cause
With the m'ost burning word
By the Imm'ortals heard,
He warms those pallid Sessions to applause.
There in no doubt he stands,
Poising his sure commands.
And with a look as regal
As of some lordly eagle
By one majestic gesture of his 'hands
Waves back that battle of lies
Warring against the Skies ;
Or, like some steadfast star.
That Orator into his orbit draws
Rebellion's meteor brands ;
Or old Despair defies,
That virgin Hope denies
Her happy heritage ;
And there with bardic rage
And with the poet's passion, without pause
He shall sublimely wage
Love's just and 'holy war.
Till Hate's discordant Anarchies,
Chained by his eloquence in singing bands.
Follow his triumph, musical with laws !
Thus hoar Injustice from 'her dateless sway
He sweeps to gulfs of death
With such m'Ost glorious breath
It floods the dark with universal day.
So I behold him, wonderful in power,
A prophet, 'throned upon a fateful hour.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 237
Crying against the anger of the Dark,
Till ancient Hell and all its echoes hark.
For not alone on earth
Must Right clash arms with Wrong ;
But the firm soul and strong.
Stronger with every birth.
Meets battle on the Heights
Amid the armied lights.
And there, as 'here, shall conquer with a song.
And now to him so young.
Who like the swan upflung.
Singing, his life into the silent skies.
Let me bring blooms that bleed
From love's melodious mead.
And make to live the music in his eyes.
Not even Death could dull
That Spirit beautiful.
Not even Death ¦with all his art of fears ;
For 'he, exceeding bright.
Shattered the brittle night.
His memory a rainbow on our tears !
It was a quiet place.
Where with a radiant face
And morning in his hair
He came to lighten care,
Merry with carollings.
As of a bird that sings ;
And made a glory there.
As where the violet springs
And like some broidered gem
Brightens the sombre hem

238 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Of Winter's fading, chill
And cheerless robe of shadow ; —
It was a quiet m'eadow.
Closed to all tumult, where the world's loud roar
Was a far murmur, and 'one pebbled rill.
The dancing babe of some sky-wedded hill.
Babbled in syllables of the large sea.
Where winds are friends and all the ways are free.
And the wild 'wave may wanton from the shore ; —
It was a sheltered place.
Too low for grandeur, yet Where every grace,
Faith, Hope and Charity,
And also Joy and Peace,
Clasped hands and made such harmony
That sorrows softly cease :
A future-fitting home !
Whose threshold was content,
W'here life and life's wide liberty
Like some yet nameless continent
Called for 'his glad discovery
Across' the surging foam.
And w'hen he fared on his adventurous quest
And looked on Life and gazed into her breast.
He recognized the friend of 'his young dreams,
One whom he always knew ;
And so he trusted her he found so true.
So rich in love and fair with starry beams.
Spontaneous truth
Sprang from his youth ;
Who, in 'his native innocence,
Confronted human guile
With a forgiving smile
And with a hush could overlook offense.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 239
Loving so much 'he surely understood
And faced the world and all its glistering shows
As one who knows, as one who truly knows.
And therefore found the heart of evil good.
Like some tall cedar, green
With everlastingness.
He grew in simple grandeur, seen
Only of eyes that bless.
As through a crystal vase his candour beamed
Till all who saw him looked as they had dreamed;
His lucent words were chaste and delicate
As silver doves beneath the ivied eaves ;
He seemed as he could nothing 'hate save hate.
One who aloud the beautiful believes.
He gave to all that lives
Such justice as the sun
To earth with silence gives.
And nothing saw to shun.
Nothing of nature's make;
And in his glowing wake
A gladness, like the shine of happy eyes !
He owned what he found lovely : not a shell
But 'had for him some music of surprise.
Some colored secret that it longed to tell
Softly to him alone, so laughter-wise.
And Where the drooping nightingale of song.
Chanting no more with rapture of the rose.
Ailed into anguish, pierced by the rude thorn,
He rid her bosom of that throbbing wrong
And left her thrilling, with her heart new-bom.
Joyfully winging
Beyond the reach of woes.

240 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Blissfully singing,
As if all pain were stilled into repose
And life no more s'hould suffer scathe or scorn.
Child of the morning-star, eternal child !
All that was fierce grew meek and strangely tame.
Lulled by his whisper. Passions, grim and wild,
Forgot in him their anger, and were mild
Because 'he loved them, till 'his very name
Was worn by miany as a holy charm,
A murmlured amulet against all harm.
For, swift as magic, his triumphant love
Transformed the vulture greed into the dove.
The tiger hate into the following fawn
And what was dark into a sudden dawn.
Oh ! he was sure blood-brother to the sun,
Since every bud would blossom in his eyes.
His was the deed wherever good was done.
Who coped with Life with such a mirth of might.
As if in him the unwithholding skies
Had poured a glorious potency of right.
So through the world he glimmered like a dream,
Virginal keeper of the joyous gleam !
And left behind a fragrance like that wind
Blown from the bleeding balsam on the height ;
For 'healing was the mission of his mind.
As to a living altar so he leaned.
Robed for the sacrifice, from sadness weaned,
Reason's young priest and burning acolyte !
He leaned, as to an altar, kindling fire.
Then brother waved to brother, "come up higher!"
And to that upper glory he went forth
As one divining the unvisioned North,

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 241
Wrapping his youth about him.
Still that place,
Whence he ascended with a s'hining face.
Is live with him, and still his mantle bright
Over our darkness sheds undying light !
The prow is pointed and the Captain calls,
And there is seen a waving on the walls
Of long and last farewells.
Now to the gales
They give their sails.
And mid a sound of bells, of bells.
Of silver-sounding bells.
As by a wind of music they are borne
Gently through s'hadows to the shores of morn.
Thus soul with brother soul.
Brother with brother brightness.
To God, the highest goal.
Fares in a mist of whiteness.
Oh happy so to fare.
After the 'heart's soft cease.
Upon a mere of peace.
Deaf to the call of care
And dead to all despair,
M'oving, as with no motion.
Upon a soundless ocean ;
Wafted on waters deep.
As on a sea of sleep.
Beyond the wail of wave,
With nothing more to crave
And nothing left to dare.
To move and yet to lie
Drowned in a dreaming sky !
16

242 FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER
Becalmed by beauty, where.
Drifting while winds are still,
They need no pilot's skill
Nor heed the helm of will ;
But float as to a tryst
And pass with veiled eye
Orion, and descry.
Like one Who leaves a mist.
The sister Pleiades,
Like radiant charities
To charm the soul to Heaven !
And also Seven Sanctities
That stand like angels seven.
Pausing before the Throne
Till the Unknown is Known !
When from their hush shall all the patient choirs
Lighten and leap and lift their singing fires!
Oh ! never storm may blow
On that unmurm'uring mere.
As to their goal they go.
Faring from cloud to clear.
There stars are dim and lights are soft and low
And Death lies dead with self-inflicted sting ;
And Life is like a lover, whispering
Of deathless love in the long afterglow.
Now that the yellow sere
Lays blight upon the year
And all the trees their golden crowns have shed,
I lay the last pale bloom
Upon their seeming tomb.
Whom death no more shall dungeon with the dead.

JOHN CARLTON ELLER 243
Oh! nevermore shall change
From hope their hearts estrange.
And nevermore their peace one sorrow mar ;
Now after day is done
Beja>nd the set of sun
They shine on us as shines the evening star.
Leonard Van Noppen.
Riverside, Conn.
October the eighteenth, 1909.

244

FRANKLIN PLATO ELLER

"Appendix

COLLEGE RECORDS FROM THE ORIGINAL
ENTRIES OF THE REGISTRAR

Franklin Plato Eller, Ph. B. (Degree)

1889-90

1st Year.
1 Term.
1 Math.
88
ILat.
77
lEng.
96
Hist.
85
IGer.
74
2 Term.
1 JMCath.
90
ILat.
89
lEng.
97
Hist.
95
IGer.
83
2d Year.
1 Term.
2Lat.
83
Chem.
80
2 Eng.
93
2Ger.
77
2 Math.
74
Phys.
93
2 Term.
2Lat.
86
2Ger.
Chem.
79
2 Eng.
88
2 Math.
72
Geo.
76
3d Year.
1 Term.
Physics
(a)
3Lat.
3
3 Eng.
1
Physiog,
. 2
1 Saxon
3
2 Hist.
3
1 Hist.
2
Psychol.
4
2 Term.
Physics
4
3Lat.
4
3 Eng.
1
1 Hist.
2
1 Saxon
2
2 Hist.
2
Logic
4,
JOHN CARLTON ELLER

245

COLLEGE RECORDS FROM THE ORIGINAL
ENTRIES OF THE REGISTRAR

John Carlton Eller, Ph. B. (Degree)

1892-93
1st Year.
1 Term.
2 Term.

2d Year.
1 Term.

2 Term.

3d Year.
1 Term.
2 Term.

4th Year.
1 Term.

2d term
for degree.

1 Math.
Phys. 1 Math.
Physiog.

2 Math.
Chem.
1 Hist.
2 Math.
Chem. 1 Hist.

Psy.2 Hist.

Psy.

2 Hist.

2
2 1
2 1
1 1 11
2
3 2 1 1
1
2 12 2
1 1

ILat.
Elem. Phys.
Elem. Phys.
ILat.
2Lat. IGer.2Lat.IGer.

1 French
2Ger. 1 French
2Ger.

232
2 2 1
2 11 1
21

1
2 1 1
2 2

Hrs.

1 Eng. 1
1 Eng. 1
1

2 Eng. 2 1
ISax. 1 1

3 Eng. 1
1 Geol. 1
3 Eng. 1 1
1 GeoL 11

16

16

2 Eng. 1
1 Sax. 1 18

IS

17

17

Es.&Or. 1 Logic 2 Sci. Ed. 1
4 Eng. 1 Phil. 1 His.Ed.l
PoUt. Ec. 1 3 Hist. 1 12
marks not recorded; Logic and Sci. Ed. not needed

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