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Show LINCOLN AND OUR PROBLEMS-By f, r gmim rpIMBS almost innumerable in the last two years the familiar words of Lincoln have recurred 4t to us: , "A house divided against itself cannot stand. This government cannot permanently endure half I ,, slave and half free." The Great Emancipator seems to be speaking to this generation as welj as to his own. Inter- , preted in terms of our owji tinies his warning and V his prophecy seem to run thus: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. The world cannot permanently endure half slave and half free." And as the world sets about the titanic task , of loosening the fetters of oppressed peoples vv everywhere we recall those other words of Lin-Y Lin-Y coin, quite as familiar, impressive and appropriate appro-priate : ' "It is for us to be here dedicated to the great , task remaining before us that from these hon- m' ored dead we may take increased devotion to that " cause to which they gave the last full measure of i devotion that we here highly resolve that these ' ' dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedpm, and that government of the people, by the people and Tor the people shall not perish from the earth." I .' This thrilling message has been on the lips j f of men constantly since the outbreak of the death combat of the nations. In all free countries it was felt that the real issue pf our Civil war the J Btruggle between Jhe free North and the slave V oligarchy of the South was being fought out lij again again between the nations devoted to liberty and the nations committed to autocracy. SOME have traced th,e genesis of our war of the Btates to a period two centuries before, to the revolution in England, the conflict between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers, between the aristocratic aristo-cratic state and the Nonconformists. And the an-4 an-4 ology is so far true that the North was settled 'I by Puritans while Virginia was colonized by I the Cavaliers. Moreover, the South, despite its I ' technical adherence to a party calling itself demo- I cratlc, was distinctly based on autocracy the 1 white slaveholders at the top of the scale, the black man at the bottom, submerged and oppressed. op-pressed. Lincoln saw that such a civilization could not endure half slave and half free. With a slower t vision wo have come to see in our own day that , y the principle which he applied to the nation ap . plies to the world. Either the world must be a wholly dominated by despotism or by free instl- , tutions. At the peace conference in Paris the successor of Lincoln is attempting to convince his 10 conferers that free governments cannot easily live ' at peace with autocracies and that the best solution solu-tion is to abolish all despotisms and establish democracy the world over. Often the statesmen of our own reconstruction period turned with a feeling almost pf despair J from the problems that beset them to reflect upon the character and works of the martyred president. presi-dent. They questioned themselves vainly to discern dis-cern the reasons why a mysterious Providence had removed him from the scene just at a time when his influence, his character and his wisdom appeared more necessary than ever. Tojlay we i cannot help wondering what Liucoln would do if &'' ho were called upon not only to give sage counsel . at the peace conference but to cope with the problems prob-lems of construction which face us at home and which already find us timorous and misty-minded. After the war of the states the American peo-' peo-' pie committed the work of reconstruction to the party of Lincoln and today that same party, guided by the spirit of Lincoln, is seeking to restrain the nation from plunging into socialism and Bolshevism. Bolshe-vism. REVERENTLY we ask "What would Lincoln have done if he were to step from out the land of Shades back into this land of realities and attempt to advise and lead us. Can anyone imagine im-agine Lincoln as a Bolshevist or even as a social 1st. So loyal was Lincoln to his oath of offl.ce to support and defend the constitution that he placed the safety of the Union above all else. Writing, I believe, to Horace Greeley in the very midst of the war he said that if he could preserve the Union by allowing slavery to survive, or if ho could preserve it by freeing only some of the slaves he would do it. I cite these words to show that, above all, he was a man of order. Elihu Root has said that democracy is "organized self-control." self-control." I can well imagine that Lincoln would have approved of that definition and of that other definition which, I think, is to bd ascribed to Mr. Taft "liberty under law." IN striving to conjecture how Lincoln would meet the problems of the day If he were among us we will be aided by contemplating his character. We may be certain that this "man of the people," who was proud that once he had been a rail-splitter and a boatman on the Ohio, would be unswervingly unswerv-ingly zealous in behalf of the plain people. Whatever What-ever smacks of injustice and of autocracy in our social or industrial life would find him as earnestly earn-estly hostile as he was that day he stood in the Blave market of New Orleans and whispered fiercely to himself "If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, so help me God, I'll hit it hard." ONE of the tendencies of our own times which would appear strange to him, but which would stir him to quick antagonism Is the tendency tend-ency to substitute class rule for genuine democracy. democ-racy. We observe the tendency not merely in far-off Russia where the most ingnorant, debased and brutal elements of society have set up the "dictatorship of the proletariat" but in our own country where the I. W. W. and other radical labor organizations wish to establish the dominion of their own class. OUR ideal of republican institutions Is that they shall so operate as to give all an equal opportunity, op-portunity, denying special privileges to any class, rich or poor. But today we find labor seeking special spe-cial privileges at the expense of the majority and trying to control by their might. I can imagine that such a perversion of true democracy would have aroused the patient man of the people to stern and inflexible opposition. Just as we are on the threshhold of world-wide republicanism ,of liberty under law, of organized self-control new despots appear to deny us entrance. en-trance. In Russia the Bolsheviki have substituted the "dictatorship of the proletariat" for the despotism, des-potism, of the czar. After ages of ignorance and oppression masses of Russians seize upon power with no thought pf true liberty. On the contrary they would hurl aside ordered liberty and set up a new slavery the slavery of society In general to a particular class organization. I RECALL reading in a lecture by Lyman Abbott something about Lincoln's attitude toward labor. la-bor. In a Cooper Union address Lincoln, citing his own career as an example, held the American ideal to be equality of opportunity. Lincoln emphasized em-phasized the chance that lay before the young men of America to pass freely by toll, struggle, Indus- i try and ability into the employing and professional classes. H For more than a century that ideal has won the devotion pf our workers, but npAy .arjse a class M which would substitute for the free competition M of ability and Industry a despotic contrpl by means of labor dictation. I do not mean tq say (hat the H great mass of union men in this country indorse M that view. On the contrary, I feel confident that H Gompers and other conservative leaders share fl rather the view of Lincoln. But wo have in our midst radicals of various degrees who are trying to duplicate in our own land the debacle of Russia. M They know not what they do. They do Aot un- M derstand that our industrial system, with all 'its M faults, is the fruit of long years of labor and jH brains. It has raised us to a pinnacle among the H nations. So rich and powerful did we beepme by this free interplay pf enterprise and rivalry that H wo were able to decide the greatest war of Ml history in a few months. As we had o' . H grandly in peace times so, when tho wn a H thrust upon us, we were able to accomplish m.io H than other nations by reason of the latent powers H of our system. H I note this by way of proving that the American H system, the system to which Lincoln alluded in his H Cooper Union speech, has in it potentialities for H the general good which the fanatic of a particular' H class, whether laborer or capitalist, is apt to see H obscurely or not at ail. H i H THE trend toward government ownership is due H largely to this lack of vision. Many take it H for granted that public ownership will free us of M all those ills to which we have been subject under H private competition. Lately we have seen this M theory somewhat disproved by such experiments M as we haye been making in government control, M but even if it were true that government control H eliminates certain evils there is a higher truth M which Americans must not lose sight of. It is M quite possible to cure certain ills and finally kill M the patient. M If we destroy the American spirit of enterprise M we destroy a quality which has won for us great- M ness, prosperity and, despite all argument to the H contrary, a general contentment which has never M befpre been equalled. H I believe that Lincoln, were he among us, H would see that government can kill as well as H cure. If government goes too far in its control it H can paralyze and petrify the spirit of American H energy and business daring. H Government is not a discoverer, an inventor, H an ambitious contender. It seldom takes . risks. H It does not combine those peculiar qualities pf H boldness, enorgy, ambition and caution which H bring success in private business. H m LET us suppose for example that when the first J H automobile was invented the government de- H clard a monopoly pf the automobile business, H I need not stop to number the thousands that have obtained lucrative employment in this trade I to count the millions added to- the national wealth, I pr to point out the other businesses which have I v been developed by the use pf the automobile. All I of us who have been able to observe for twenty I years have seen this wonder grqwlng before our eyes. H What would government haye done with the, H monopoly of such a business? Would therq. have been any incentive for a government clerk to ac- I compllsh the marvels that have been accomplished I by a dpzm cai vains in this industry? -Tha an- I (Continue1 on Page 14.) ' I B I LINCOLN AND OUR j PROBLEMS Ht , W (Continued from page 5.) iswor is so obvious that It need not be set forth in precise terms. And If wo can say that government would have failed to develop the automobile auto-mobile business as it has been developed devel-oped by private enterprise to the great good of capital and labor alike we can argue with justice that all of our gigantic industries would have M stagnated under government control. H I suppose the day has passed when H anyone can argue sensibly against H j government regulation of industry. H Certainly such is net my purpose. I Hi am simply trying to show that if we H take away from the energetic, entor- H prising ambitious American the H prizes hitherto offered to these quail- H ties we have taken away something B we can never restore to our industrial B Hj And I believe that Lincoln, if he Hj ' could counsel us, would advise us to H , cling to tlie best that we have, to H i make haste slowly with all these new H J! and dazzling reforms presented to us H H for our adoption and to remain loyal M ' to the American constitution and to B representative government, to avoid H class legislation and class despotism, H and to preserve in its full potentiality H the achieving American spirit. |