The broad ax (Salt Lake City, Utah;Chicago, Ill.), February 6, 1904
Tribute to the Memory of Thomas Paine.
By Julius F. Taylor.
Friday evening last the members of The Secular Union and Free Thought Federation, and other admirers of Thomas Paine, met at the Hall House in commemoration of the 167th anniversary of his birth, and the following tribute was paid to his memory by Julius F. Taylor:
Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen:
Thomas Paine was one of the greatest characters so far produced by the human race. Time will not permit me to eulogize on his marvelous intellectual attainments. Suffice it to say that he was the first person in the world to write against the continuance of the African slave trade, which met with the highest approbation of the orthodox clipping dummies, and which received the support and the encouragement of the vast majority of those professing adherence to the religion of the Nazarene.
Thomas Paine announced the editorial policy of the Pennsylvania Magazine. The first article written by him for the Magazine was an attack on slavery, for he thought it was “a stain on the character of so just, so generous, and so enlightened a people.” He also attacked hereditary monarchy and advocated the rights of man.
The sentiment in favor of releasing the Negro from bondage by those two great patriots continued to grow and sprout until the shackles were finally stricken from his limbs, and my good friends, when the soul of Thomas Paine, which was always full of love and sympathy for his fellow creatures, took its flight out into space, or the universe, two of the five persons who remained true to him, to the end of life’s journey and who followed his remains to their temporary resting place were Negroes.
Therefore, as an humble member of the Afro-American race, from the bottom of my heart I warmly thank you, one and all, for being accorded the honor of giving expression to these crudely uttered words in behalf of the memory of Thomas Paine.