HUDSON MAXIM’S 100 YEAR OLD PLEA AGAINST CURRENT POLITICS – FREE DOWNLOAD

To preserve our rights as Americans many have turned to the US Constitution and look for guidance as Constitutionalists.  Although not as mighty as the US Constitution, I have found great reference in a Plea written by Hudson Maxim on its centennial anniversary called: LAKE HOPATCONG THE BEAUTI FUL A PLEA for its Dedication as a Public Park and for its Preservation as a Pleasure and Health Resort for the Benefit of all the People.  It is a long title for a plea and a published book but, that was Hudson Maxim’s detailed and descriptive style of writing.

 Besides being a great inventor, Hudson Maxim was a great linguist of the English language and a distant version of an early 20th Century rapper artist.  He wrote The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language (1910). He studied the intrinsic beauty of the written word.  He was the celebrity star of his day where he was invited to the hottest lecture halls in NYC as the top billed keynote speaker.  His speeches even inspired US presidents.  He wasn’t just an interesting author and speaker; he was the popular, celebrated, recognized and highly influential pundit of his day. Other aspiring authors asked him to preface and endorse their books with his name.   

This is why 100 years later Hudson Maxim inspires me because; I got to know the man and his philosophy in the words of his plea in LAKE HOPATCONG THE BEAUTIFUL… Here he is challenging a corporation from encroaching on the public commons to all from being drained of all its natural resources.  Ironically, so much has changed in technology that even Hudson Maxim would be marveled by it. But yet, so little has changed when it comes to Special Interests vs. The Common Public Good. When I see the business, land trusts and grant contracts put forth by my local elected officials, I often think to myself “what would Hudson Maxim do?”

If you live in Hopatcong or on the shores of Lake Hopatcong you should make a point to read this Plea of one of our regional founding fathers of natural recreation for all the people as part of your summer reading list. Below is the preface of this centennial plea to save Lake Hopatcong.  You can download the book in a few format versions for free.  A scanned gift copy of the book from Mrs. Woodrow Wilson is now available at the Library of Congress here is the link http://archive.org/details/lakehopatcongbea01maxim

A Preface from Hudson Maxim’s Book:

This book is a plea for the life of New Jersey's most beautiful lake, and a plea for the life of the communities around that lake, and a plea also for the life of thousands of people in all parts of the State who, if that lake is preserved as a summer and health resort, will continue to find renewal of health and life in visiting it.  This plea is addressed to the Morris Canal Investigation Committee, to the Legislature, and to the people of the State of New Jersey.   Lake Hopatcong is threatened with ruination; the prosperous communities around it are threatened with extinction, and our most precious mountain-lake resort is in imminent danger of being wiped off the map.  

 Armed with fore-knowledge of the intentions of the enemy, and having the facts, the truth and justice as my allies, I hope and I trust that I shall be able to convince any citizen of this State that he should join issue with the defenders where also his own interests lie, and help to prevent a great wrong being done to the whole population of the State as well as to the immediate lake communities.   People of the State of New Jersey, let it be known to you that there is a movement to take away from you, without any sort of compensation whatsoever, a very valuable lake and summer resort property which belongs to you.   

Citizen of the State of New Jersey, you are a member of a company, an actual shareholder in a corporation, which is the State, in which also every man, woman and child in the State are shareholders. A part of your annual dividends, due and payable to you, are your rights and privileges in your lakes, public parka and summer and health resorts.   There is a scheme afoot to rob you of your best and most valuable mountain-lake and summer resort property, in order to appropriate Lake Hopatcong as a city water supply, which would benefit only about five per cent, of the population of the State, at the expense of the rest — in other words it is proposed to rob twenty Peters to pay one Paul, and you and I, reader, are among the Peters.   Now, it is your duty to yourself and to your family, and to every friend and neighbor of yours, that you should lend a helping voice of protest to prevent you and them from being robbed. The reasons why you also should raise your voice in defense of your own and the people's own, are exactly the same reasons which are actuating me to make this plea.   It matters not whether or not my interests may be greater or less than yours our interests are certainly identical and mutual.   My sense of duty has led me to make this plea. Your sense of duty should, at least, make you read it.   No special activities or efforts are asked of you. If you will read this plea through, your activities and your efforts will take care of themselves.

 HUDSON MAXIM.   Landing, New Jersey, Feb. 3, 1913.