Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2874 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSAmerican youths in all the great American colleges, and is fixed in literatureas one of the few classics in American oratory. One sentence of this oration,"And when he died he was literally loving a nation into peace," is gravenupon Grady's monument in Atlanta, and will live as long as the story of thelife it commemorates. Prom the day of the Grady memorial John TempleGraves was in demand all over the country. Every platform was open to him.He could choose his audience anywhere in the republic, and in the measureof his strength he met the obligations, of his genius and opportunity. He hasfilled more than 2,000 lecture platforms in the cities and towns of the UnitedStates.Colonel Graves was the pioneer advocate of the separation of the whiteand black races, and his fame is inseparably linked to that advocacy and tothe advocacy of a definite and progressive democracy as opposed to the ultraconservativetype. His fame rests not only on the pages of history but. alsoin the hearts and minds of countless people. His influence has penetratedthe national life in no uncertain way, and his impassioned utterances, bearingever the mark of sincerity, have swayed thousands. Can a better estimateof the man be offered than that given in his own response to a public tribute:"I have never felt that I had any greater gifts than others. I believe if there beany merit in my work it is in its sincerity. I have never in one consciousmoment of my public life said one word I did not believe to be true. I havenever with pen or tongue championed an unworthy cause. I have never usedposition, power or opportunity to gratify a private grudge or prosecute aprivate gain. I have loved my country, loved humanity and reverenced God,and in the greater honors than I have deserved, which have come to me solavishly, I have always felt the pain of my own unworthiness, and offered tomyself and to the world no other explanation than that I was sincere.''From 1902 to 1906 Mr. Graves was editor of the Atlanta News, whoserepute was won by his editorial work. In the spring of 1906 he becameeditor of the Atlanta Georgian, which paper was founded and builded withphenomenal rapidity around his name and talents. He is staunch in hisallegiance to Jeffersonian principles of government and in 1906 he became.for the only time in his life, a candidate for office of political order that ofrepresentative in the United States Senate. He finally withdrew from therace when his prospects were of the brightest and most assured, this actionhaving been taken by reason of his impaired health. Both he and his wifehold membership in the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder.April 10, 1907, was the occasion of the most famous speech of our brilliantGeorgian's life. The democrats, after various defeats, were demoralized anddiscouraged. Theodore Roosevelt, the republican President, had become aconvert to the cause of the people against selfish corporations and predatorywealth, and was making an heroic and successful fight along that line. Aboutthis time the Tennessee democrats held a great national banquet at Chattanooga, at which Hon. William J. Bryan was the principal guest. At thisfeast Mr. Graves, with surpassing eloquence and courage, urged in hisspeech that the democrats should rise above selfish party success, vindicatetheir real love for the people, continue the President in the position in whichhe was rendering such splendid service, and that Mr. Bryan himself shouldinaugurate another "moral era of good feeling," by putting in nominationTheodore Roosevelt for another term in office. The speech created a nationalfuror and evoked more universal comment than any other political utteranceof the decade. It fixed the orator's fame as a potent factor in national politics and had marked influence upon the general sentiment of the democratic party.In October, 1907, there came a significant and distinguished recognitionof the admirable editorial ability of Mr. Graves, when he received a call tothe position of editor in chief of the New York Daily American, and after