Salt Lake Telegram | 1935-02-22 | Page 4 | Two Immortals

Two Immortals OBSERVANCE of the anniversaries of Americas America's Americas America's Amer- Amer U ica's leas tw two immortals T Washington ashington and Lincoln oln in in the month serves un- un varyingly val to turn reflection upon their lives and characters Orators so 50 often pause to ask What would VasI Washington say or do if it lay Jay with his wisdom to chart a course for America merica today Or they may declare that Lincoln faced with some present crisis would have laye done thus and so r We e are arc apt to forget that men are the products of their tin times cs Either the Father of His llis Country or the Great Emancipator Eman Eman- c pator confronted with today's complexities would be e baffled by his complete inadequacy to meet them A century an and a third has passed since time tIle first president embittered by the enmity of his former political friends yielded his hig life life at Mount fount Verl Vernon on Many fany commentators agree that he lie alone of his contemporaries realized the greatness of the nation he lie 16 was founding But he was not the seer to vision the profound profound pro pro- found change to come either to America or to the old world Meager reager as were the means of his da day they were sufficient to meet the challenges of the times Life was simple if it Was ivas as hard Seventy years rears have marched on since the martyrdom of Lincoln In his time too despite the expansion of the republic despite changing chang chang- ing thought despite we had Ind become a fledgling ling ing world power we were still a simple peo peo- pie Our problems were almost wholly na na- na- na It was our own business that we were about With the advantage of a backward look of more than three score years to Washington's Washington's Washington's Wash Wash- ington's time nothing in the knowledge or e experience ex- ex of the Great Commoner could have VC implemented him to confront the tIle internal or om external ex- ex perplexities we are called upon to meet We Ve cannot therefore draw upon history as they hey made it for guidance except to consider some ome of the fundamental principles which guided them as mariners at the helm of the of state There were eternal verities critics motivating mo- mo them in their time upon which we wc may place full reliance as we seek actualities of our national aspirations f Our political politic l labels of today y had their t counterparts in Washington's time time A react was a monarchist a conservative was a 8 tor tory a liberal was a democrat and an out out- out and radical extremist was a n. Jacobin A landed handed country gentleman probably the richest rich rich- est in in America and an aristocrat b by birth and rearing Washington could be bOt both I conservative conservative conserva conserva- tive and a rebel and was But lIe he was neither a tory nor a Jacobin As the nation was forming there were powerful pow pow- erful influences demanding that it be le contaminated contain contain- mated as ns little as possible b by this Uris pernicious democracy business some who even wanted a II monarchy and would have accepted y asli n ton as king Then there were ultra-radicals ultra who wiio hio wanted a democracy as absolute as pos pos pos- sible Washington ton steered the fair course between between be- be tween ie the extremes lie U mana managed ed Hamilton and Jefferson which tran translated into a problem of ol today todar would mean hitchin hitching O Ogden Mills and Norman Thomas in the same team The fhe ourse e. e ten by was po not t i. Jar lar A middle course never is But it was the solid beginning for the worlds world's greatest experiment in self RO Out of the magnificent store of wisdom left to posterity by Lincoln we need today only to togo togo too go o to his Cooper Union address for a formula to apply to present issues Let us lis have faith that right makes might and in that faith let letus letus letus us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand understand un un- understand it And from his first inaugural Wh Why should there there not not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people 1 Is there any aimy equal or better hope in the world 1 No written or spoken word can enrich the memory of these Americans Nothing we docan do docan docan can evidence so well the honor and respect in which the nation holds hold them as DS to strive as the they did to make the United States a land laud of liberty and justice for all nIl