Show I BENJAMIN FRANKLIN I I r STATUE UNVEILED IX CHICAGO I WITH APPROPRIATE CEREMONIES > II No Man in History Ever Equaled Franklin in AH Things in Which He Was Great Search for His Peer i You Will 1 f CHICAGO June 6 This afternoon the statue of Benjamin Franklin or given by Joseph Medill tO the OldTime Printers association andjby that body to the commissioners of Lincoln park I was unveiled in the presehce of a large I crowd This statue of Benjamin I Franklin is said to be the finest in the United States I is the work of Park the noted sculptoraSjThejbronze figure is1Ive feet high ami xUi upoli a granite pedestal twelve feet high On the face of the graceful pedestal is carved Franklin in plain black letters let-ters Mr Medili made an eloquent address ad-dress in presenting the statue Alderman Alder-man Kahler accepted the statue in behalf be-half of the OldTime Printers and transferred i to the Lincoln park commissioners com-missioners William Penn Nixon accepting ac-cepting it in behalf of the latter H D Estabrook delivered the oration of the dayMr Mr Medill in his presentation I speech said I Franklin believed that the best and surest way to improve the condition of the masses was to educate them and thereby cause them to think for themselves I them-selves He saw that ignorance was darkness and that i bred error suner stition and weakness while knowledge was power and would enable the people Ito I-to defend and preserve their personal and political liberties acquire competence I compe-tence and enjoy happiness Hence he constituted himself a schoolmaster and labored to instruct the masses in economy industry and I mprality which would emancipate them from poverty and intemperance In his Gazette and Poor Richard and I public essays those useful lessons were i imparted to them = in the clearest and I most persuasive way From all around I I him came men to obtain his advice on I the affairs of life To the university hefounded young men came to obtain a higher education He himself was I I i selfinstructed He became a scholar j I i and had college degrees conferred upon r him without ever entering as a student Franklins accomplishments may be thus sumarized First he was a printer in all its branches a past master mas-ter of the craft Then a publisher editor author business man inventor legislator electrician scientist political economist diplomatist statesman philosopher philanthropist Some men were superior to Franklin in a particular speciality and others may have been his equal in two or three things but no man known < to I I Io history ever equaled him in all things in which he was great Think over the many things Franklin excelled in and I I then search for his peer in all or half of them You will discover that he was I I more nearly a universal genius than i any man of ancient or modern times He possessed a brain that seemed to grasp < and comprehend every subject of human thought |