BIO: John Travis, Tillard Pen Pictures, 1911, Blair County, PA Contributed April 2003 for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches by J. N. Tillard Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911 A Philosopher With a Level Head JOHN TRAVIS Always Had The Courage of His Convictions. While Respecting The Opinions of His Fellows, He Always Reserved The Right to Disagree TWENTY-FIVE years ago the writer had the honor to be secretary for a local free parliament known as the "Single Tax Club." Its title would seem to signify that all its members were disciples of the late Henry George and subscribed to his peculiar economic doctrines. Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth, though "Progress and Poverty" had touched a vibrant chord. Just at that period single tax clubs were being formed all over the country, and The Standard, published by Henry George in New York, was in some sense the organ of all those who dissented from orthodox economic teachings, and when this body of students of social questions got together, they so named their loosely-knit society largely for the reason that they had to have some common meeting ground and the single tax organization offered the best nucleus. As a matter of fact, a more cosmopolitan crowd, or one that differed more in fundamental questions along all lines, could scarcely have been imagined. And they were not the sort of men who easily surrendered their opinions for the sake of peace or politely agreed with their neighbors in order that the amenities might be observed. As individuals they had none of the instinct of the politician in their makeup, and in their search for truth would fight just as hard for an abstraction as their more thrifty and time-serving neighbors would for a personal advantage. They were so absorbed in their discussion of what they regarded as the eternal verities that they were scarcely aware that the representatives of vested interests, and the worshippers of established fetishes looked upon them askance, and doubtless felt that they were bad citizens, or, at the best, very foolish ones. The men who composed the club were of all ages and nationalities, and while a few of them, like the late Dr. Emil Tietze, had the culture of the schools and had developed naturally brilliant intellects by association with the best minds of the world in long-continued companionship, for the most part the Englishmen, Scotchmen, Germans and Americans, who made up this debating society, were employes of the Pennsylvania railroad shops, and when they were not discussing abstract problems, were building locomotives and cars, and a majority of them were fine mechanics, at that. But the introductory recollections of the society of debaters as a whole have crowded on so rapidly that the one character that this sketch was meant to delineate has almost been lost in the shuffle; though he never got lost in the ardent debates of the past. Though never conspicuous or self-asserting, John Travis was always a force to be reckoned with when it came to a show-down in the discussions of that day. John was always asking Pilate's question himself, so far as economic truths were concerned, but, unlike a number of others, there were certain fundamental matters in reference to the final destiny of man that he never questioned. The inborn conservatism of his British ancestry stood him in good stead when some one tried to lead him into the deep waters of metaphysical or religious questions, and that which he had settled for himself in the days of his youth along these lines remained settled and were not to be disturbed by every wind of doctrine. And, indeed, when any constituted authority in economics was attacked, Mr. Travis was mostly "from Missouri, and had to be shown." But none the less he enjoyed the discussion, but usually from his quiet seat in the corner he listened to the fiery assaults of the more enthusiastic iconoclasts, and when he thought the balloon had been swelled beyond the bounds of the environment, he deftly punctured the bag by an incisive thrust of his wit or logic, and great was the collapse thereof. While some of these debates must have sounded very amateurish and sophomoric to those who listened to them, there was no evil in the minds or hearts of the men who composed the club, and they were all honestly, striving to make the world better in the best light that was theirs. But some of them were profound, if not professional economists, and there was no doctrine laid down by Adam Smith or John Stuart Mill with which some of these old men were not thoroughly conversant, and when they attacked the dismal doctrines of the "Malthusian theory," they knew whereof they spoke, or, at least, became entangled in the same intellectual brush that held the professors in thrall. But, taking it by and large, what that outfit needed was balance, and that was what John Travis supplied. He never went off at any tangents, and when the most radical of the bunch soared into the clouds of philosophic anarchy, John had a way of good-naturedly bringing him back to earth with a jerk. He could always put his finger on the exact spot where the weakness lay in hiding, and his opinions were held in profoundest respect by his associates. Of the older men who composed that circle, most of them have passed off the stage of earthly action, and their insistant question, "What is truth?" has been solved in the white light of eternity, where all things are revealed, or maybe, as some of them thought, lost forever to their intelligence in everlasting oblivion. The two most prominent of those still living are Mr. Travis and Rees J. Prosser, and the younger ones of the number are scattered to the four corners of the earth. In all probability most of them have revised their views with the flight of years, and personal prosperity may have made some of them more conservative, though it has come to pass that the President of the United States now proclaims most of the advanced opinions they then held from the housetops and enforces them with the big stick. But they were honest men, with the courage of their convictions, and there is not one of them who will not wish their old mentor many happy days to enjoy the ease to which a life of toil has entitled him. #