s many great men here as are to be
found anywhere. The greatest error in judging great men is that we think
that they always hold an office. The world knows nothing of its greatest
men. Who are the great men of the world? The young man and young woman
may well ask the question. It is not necessary that they should hold an
office, and yet that is the popular idea. That is the idea we teach now
in our high schools and common schools, that the great men of the world
are those who hold some high office, and unless we change that very soon
and do away with that prejudice, we are going to change to an empire.
There is no question about it. We must teach that men are great only on
their intrinsic value, and not on the position that they may
incidentally happen to occupy. And yet, don't blame the young men saying
that they are going to be great when they get into some official
position. I ask this audience again who of you are going to be great?
Says a young man: "I am going to be great." "When are you going to be
great?" "When I am elected to some political office." Won't you learn
the lesson, young man; that it is _prima facie_ evidence of littleness
to hold public office under our form of government? Think of it. This is
a government of the people, and by the people, and for the people, and
not for the office-holder, and if the people in this country rule as
they always should rule, an office-holder is only the servant of the
people, and the Bible says that "the servant cannot be greater than his
master." The Bible says that "he that is sent cannot be greater than him
who sent him." In this country the people are the masters, and the
office-holders can never be greater than the people; they should be
honest servants of the people, but they are not our greatest men. Young
man, remember that you never heard of a great man holding any political
office in this country unless he took that office at an expense to
himself. It is a loss to every great man to take a public office in our
country. Bear this in mind, young man, that you cannot be made great by
a political election.

Another young man says, "I am going to be a great man in Philadelphia
some time." "Is that so? When are you going to be great?" "When there
comes another war! When we get into difficulty with Mexico, or England,
or Russia, or Japan, or with Spain again over Cuba, or with New Jersey,
I will march up to the cannon's mouth, and amid the glistening bayonets
I wi