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Show iiiSTOfii:;i n:is HfllilG OVER Dr. VVtitman't Story, I t:MSaTing Oregon." Not ! - Bated on Fact, Claim EUGENE, Or July 21. ProaU dent Harding's apparent gocopupco. In hla address at the opening of tha Oregon Trail . big b way at; Meacham, of tha diarredlted legend of Marcus Whttmaa'a "saving Ore-j ton" la likely to damage hlstortans'j lung fight against acceptance of thle , myth as th truth, In th opinion of i Or. Joseph Hcha-fer. auperlntendent j th Wisconsin Btate Hlatoricn) , society, who, for twenty years, was head of the history department of the University of Oregon. I v Ir. Hchafer, who la the author of i aoveral books on northwestern and; Pacific coast history-, and has conducted con-ducted researches Into th history of th Oregon boundary dlapute b- twoeit the United States and GreaJ Britain, said: . "Th thoughtful citizen' will not he disposed to find fault with th president tor utilising in hla Meacham Meach-am address th beautiful and dramatic dra-matic legend of how Whitman 'aavad Orgon. To crltlcis him for doing ao aa on httsorlcat grounds on would rrltlotso th ordinary lee turor would bo to misapprehend tha renditions under which such incidental inci-dental addreseea necessarily msde by th president, whoa tlm on the trip fa mrmssed with a multitude of duties that rigorously axclude th preparation of speeches. Addresses on questions of policy, of course, are pre pared by him In advance. For auch othera aa orn to be called for. bf local situations, llko th one at Meek am. he la compelled to depend Upon others. "in th present can it fa clear that eomeon who was Interested ih exploiting as If It War historical th long-exploited - myth about Whitman aavlng Oregon, obtained th preeldent's oar and probably placed th typed manuscript of tha address tn his hand. By doing thla and persuading th president to read It, that per eon aauredly scored th season's groatoot feat In advertising. adver-tising. For, notwithstanding the : president's oral statement that eome doubted the truth of the story he was about to present, he did In fact present It aa history, and hla speech, printed becaua It wna his, will pns with mlilion of peopl as fully i authenticated historical narrative, j In all probability a new brood of books on western history - carrying i th president's Mochem speech by; way ofrstortng tn new form trie long discredited Whitman myth, will bo on roault. Inasmuch aa It has required haJf at century of controversy contro-versy and a vaat expenditure of effort ef-fort on tha part ot defenders and opponent alike, to radlcat th lognd from tho histories, thla, If ltj should happen, would be an unfortunate unfor-tunate circumstance. For It goes ' without aay in g that historically minded men and women will not ao- I oept fiction for faot, thoujrh all love th memory of Doctor Whitman for hla splendid Christian character and for tha achievements which can bo. rightly credited to him. : "Th Incident suggest a that If thai president Is likely to require other addresna of a local or regional char- f , acter, the managers of hla progrese ought to slngl out, for th respon- J sibility of historical 'adviser, that 1 one of hi literary entourag who la beat equipped with hlstoricaj scholarship scho-larship and who la familiar with the literature of American history, Any-, on who haa en the late Kdward , Oaylord Bourne's Th Legend of , Mareu Whitman' wou d uni.eallat- lngly have advised against the ac-. ceptance by the president of aha pa per eupplled to him tor the MoacA-am MoacA-am occasion." |