The New York Times, May 31, 1925. PAGE NUMBER 9
Inventor, as Vice President of Historical Society, Breaks Ground for Museum.
3,000 ATTEND CEREMONY
Norman Thomas and Dr. Muzzey Praise Paine as a Pathfinder and Founder of American Independence.
Special to The New York Times.
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y., May 30. — Ground was broken this afternoon for the Thomas Paine Memorial Museum on North Avenue near the site of Paine’s home, by Thomas A. Edison, First Vice President of the Paine National Historical Association. The ceremonies opening the work on the Paine Memorial were attended by about 3,000 people.
Among the speakers were Norman Thomas, editor and at one time Socialist candidate for Governor, whose topic was “Thomas Paine, Pathfinder,” Dr. David Saville Muzzey of Barnard College, whose subject was “Thomas Paine, Founder of American Independence,” and Dr. John Franklin Brown, editor of the Department of educational books, of the MacMillan Company, who spoke on “Thomas Paine’s Contribution to Religious Freedom.”
Mr. Edison in a letter to William M. Vanderweyde, President of the Paine National Historical Association, said: “I must heartily favor the idea of a memorial to the man who first proposed American independence and to whom we are so much indebted for its accomplishment. It is high time that such a memorial to Paine was erected. Thomas Paine was one of the greatest men of all time.”
The reading of this letter took the place of remarks that it was expected that Mr. Edison might make upon the occasion of the breaking of the ground.
The new memorial is within a few feet of the spot of where Paine was buried and a short distance from where Paine’s homestead and monument stands. This homestead, the property of the Huguenot Historical Society, is now used as a museum, but the Daine relics will be transferred to the memorial building upon its completion. In addition to the present relics there will be several letters that Paine wrote while a resident of New Rochelle.
Dr. Muzzey said that the present attitude of “America first,” if wrongly held, would place the United States in the same light that Germany held under the Hohenzollerns.
“Paine saw the great danger of the United States becoming the nuisance of the world, the same as Germany was under the Kaiser. ‘America first’ is all right, but it is only right that the attitude should be America first in naval equipment, in avoiding entangling alliances, in war strength, in wealth. It should be America first in the spirit of brotherly love and for help to others. Thomas Paine’s Americanism was akin to the attitude of many who cry ‘America First’ by misapplying it.”
Norman Thomas pointed out three things in Paine’s life of special interest he said had special significance. They were his belief in the rights of others, his tolerance, and his method of “humanizing knowledge,” making it readable so that he popularized without dreasing great ideas.
A stone upon which the ground was broken is to be one of the exhibits in the museum. It is expected that the building will be completed late this Fall or next Spring.