The morning call., 1895-02-10


The correct answer doubtless is that
neitheris inflexibly good nor inAexibly bad.
As matter of pure theory the latter seems
preferable; as a result of actual practice the
former obtains in probably nine cases out
of ten. The problem, like so many others
IN human affairs, is relative. 1t depends
on the office, the time, the place; on Gus
tom, on momentary conditions; above all
1t depends on the man. If Abraham Lin
coin, at the beginning of the career, had
not sought the Office of Representative In
the Legislature of Illinois it is likely that
the Office of President of the United States
would never have sought Abraham Lin
coin.
The publication of Mr.. Lincoln's col
1ected works makes it possible to print, IN
their proper sequence, a few of the letters
written by him which set forth, with all
the spirit and interest of an autobiography,
his feelings and actions at the several
earlier crises of his political career. These
crises resulted at least as often in defeat as
in victory, but from each defeat his great
qualities of head and heart gathered new
resources of experience, OF hope and OF
Steadfast adherence to principle, which
carried him ultimately to that GROWING
success that has enshrined his name among
the immortals of history.
His advent into politics is marked by the
publication of his first address to the
People Of Sangamon County" dated March
9, 1882, and printed in the Sangamo Jour
nal of March Is. At the time of writing
this document he was % years old. He
was then living in the village of New Salem,
into which he had come one year before
an entire stranger, and, as he afterward de-
L H. I'D
pennileSs boy, working on a fiatboat at $40
per month" Even a part of that
year had been taken up by a Jour
ney to New Orleans on the t1atbOat
he had helped to build. Practically, there
fore, he had been among the constituents
whom he offered to represent only eight
months, and those spent in the seclusion
of a little village of twenty houses; an in
finitesimal corner of the county which
formed the legislative district estimated to
contain 2160 square miles. What could
have prompted this unheralded, I'M
fTiended, inexperienced stranger to aspire
to the honors of leadership, and the re-
sponsibilities of legislation for a county he
had scarcely seen, and people he could
not know, but that intuition of genius,
that consciousness of powers, which JUS
tify their claims by their achievements?
The confidence which inspired it grew
partly out of the primitive condition of
local politics. One of the strongest charac-
teristics OF the pioneer was the feeling of
equality. Wealth did not yet exist; there
was no recognition of rank or privilege,
and but little difference in conditions or
prospects. Every man was free to offer
himself; every other free to choose whom
he preferred Population was too sparse
to engender combinations; caucuses and
conventions were yet undreamed Of Lin
coin had, therefore, to do only what his
= IL
nounced as a candidate in the newspaper,
and this was accomplished by the card -
or address, mentioned above.
If we carefully read this address we
shall see that his description of himself as
being ''uneducated' was prompted by that
modesty with which he always under
stated his requirements and powers, for
the document is quite as well worded, as
clearly phrased and as cogently argued as
the average OF political manifestos from
collegians in their twenties. The same
may be said of the subject-matter of his
address. The prominence given to the i'm
provement of the SangamOn River as the
central topic was due to local and acct
dental causes. Unusual freshets were pre-
vailing that spring, which, for the
moment, gave the little stream a re-
spectacle width and volume, and the
whole county was on tiptoe at
the widely announced and expected ar
rival of the steamboat Talisman from Gin
cinnati and ST. Louis with mails, news
papers and cargo of new goods. The
TaHsman did come and thus justified the
argument of the young politician. He
could not then know that either she or any
other steamboat would ever make the
miraculous voyage again. But the address
does not cOntine itself to the improvement
of the Sangamon. 1t must be noted that,
among other topics, it already recognizes
no nf CTR
boat navigation-the railroad. mo other
improvement" 1T says, that reason will
justify US in hoping for can equal in utility
the railroad"
1t must be borne in mind that when
Lincoln wrote this, the first railroad in the
United States-a line at Quincy, Mass.
four miles long, and run by horsepower
was only six years old; that the first loco
motive had been imported only three years
before, and only a little more than one
year had elapsed since the first locomotive
was built in America, to be used on track
eighteen miles long, between Baltimore
and Ellicott's Mills It is striking illus
tration of the hunger of the American
mind for progress that the new system
was already thus being discussed in the
backwoods villages of Illinois, and no less
illustrative of the wide-awake intelligence
of this young frontier politician that he
hailed 1t as the infant Titan of transporta-
ZION. but ne also uSeQ as an argument IN
favor of his river scheme that its then in
surmountable cost made the adoption of
the superior commercial agent an impossi-
BILE hope; and, in fact, ten to fifteen years
passed before the first railroad train was
run in Illinois.
Perhaps the most promising sign in this
maiden address is the almost timid phrase
ology and transparent sincerity with which
he stated the secret of his desire to enter
the public service. He said:
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambi-
ton Whether it be true or not can say for
one that l have no other so great as that of be-
ing truly esteemed of my fellow-men by rem
dering myself worthy of their esteem. How
far shall succeed in gratifying this ambition
is vet TO be developed. am young and I'M
known to many of you. l was born and have
ever remained in the most humble walks of
life l have no wealthy or popular relations
or friends to recommend me. My case is
thrown exclusively upon the independent vot-
ers of the country, and, if elected, they will
have conferred favor upon me for which
shall be unremitting in my labors to compen-
safe But if the good people in their wisdom
shall see fit to keep me in the background
have been too familiar with disappointments
to be very much chagrined.
The whole world knows with what fidel-
ity he followed the pathway of unselfish-
ness which led him to the sublime height
of his am bition.