The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-03-25
PULPIT EDITORIALS.
Delivered by DIR. Frank Crane at Trinity
Church Chicago, Preceding the Usual
Sermon Sunday, Feb. 20. 1898.
THE MISTAKES OF WASHINGTON.
copyright, 1881


| We are living In the end of the age
We are wiser than men ever were be-
fore. Our lecturers tell us the mistakes
Of Moses. We sift out the Bible by
higher criticism. We improve Chris
tianity by vaccinating 1t with Buddhism.
1t Is a little strange that the icono-
clasts have spared SO popular an idol
as George Washington. There really is
no reason why, "in this era of down
| pulling and disbelief, when even the
very devil has been upset and one cam
| not so much as believe in him." to use
a saying of Carlyle, the father of his
country should escape.
Washington has been extolled in ex-
tremest terms of praise. Lord
Brougham. the Earl Of Chatham, Burke
and Napoleon have Wed in singing his
praises, and thousands of smaller men
have adopted the fashion they set. Now,
at his birthday, the fountains of oratory
and adulation will be again Embossed in
many a schoolhouse and town meeting
When he was alive children spread
flowers before him and hailed him as
his country's savior. After his death
he was honored, as Gladstone said was
most fitting, by the highest monument
of all monuments. His name has been
given to the capital of our nation. do
not understand the strange silence of
our age-end and up-to-date friends
amid this universal acclaim. AS a rule
when everybody thinks one way, that
Is sufficient reason for them to think the
opposite way. Nowadays, we do not
construct, believe and praise; we de-
stroy and sneer. 1t is high time Wash
ington was removed from his pedestal,
to make room for Ingersoll. the denier;
Vanderbilt, the getter; Quay, the man.
ipulator; or Fitzsimmons, the puncher.
Let us consider the mistakes of this
man, who may have served well
enough as a hero when people believed
things, but who now is manifestly be-
hind these swift and rafting times,
when the intellectual vandal is putting
the torch to temples and ideals. A great
deal Is made Of Washingtons patriot
ism. But in the electric light of our
present politics we discover that he was
not loyal man at all, for several rea-
sons. First, he was not Republican.
And did not the Republican party save
the Union? Is not loyalty to the Union
really loyalty to this party? Are not
their service or value to the nation, but
to the party? Second, he was not a
Democrat. He had the misfortune to be
born before Andrew Jackson began the
glorious custom Of turning the ras-
Gals out" He never made any speeches
for bimetallism and never indicated any
desire to leave his bones whitening on
the battlefield in defense of the glorious
ratio Of 16 to /. Third, he was not
Prohibitionist. He unquestionably par
took occasionally Of the festive cup, and
he never pledged himself to the total
suppression of the manufacture and
sale of alcoholic beverages. How can
good people still retain this man In the
calendar of saints? How can they, II
they vote as they pray? Fourth, there
Is little doubt he was that most des-
picable Of all human monstrosities, q
mugwump. He was so benighted he did
not believe in parties at all. Indeed, in
his farewell address he expressly con-
dennis them and warns the people Of
the supposed danger of party heat
Now, how can we stand that sort Of
thing? Are we not told constantly by
our political bosses these days that this
is hypocrisy, pharisaism, theory and not
practice, utterly foolish and vain? Why,
there isn't any chance to be loyal to our
country; that is myth; 1t means moth
ing while our party is tangible, visi-
BILE, full Of glory and offices.
Sometimes, when we consider such
facts as above, we almost doubt that
such a man as Washington ever ex-
listed. For 1t is an axiom that 1t is
impossible to be elected to any Office
xx,tth ortx hAh Ind i've
elected once, it is utterly out of the
question to be reelected unless you
have been taking care of your friends
during your flrN term. AS we know
Washington was not a partisan and adj
ministered his office on purely patriot
ic policy, according to all accounts, 1t Is
very improbable that such a strange
being ever lived. At any rate, let us be
prepared to let him go when the critics
get at him, who have melted into thin
air Moses and Isaiah and Romulus and
Remus.
Another mistake of Washington was
his business policy. He was certainly
not very bright, If what is said Of him
Is half true; that he took no salary as
general of the continental army, but
kept an account of his expenses and
turned 1t in to congress Think OF
statesman refusing a salary! He Is even
said to have gone out of office poorer
than when he went in. We have men
right at home here who are doing better
than that Humble governors and clerks
and tax collectors, as well as presidents,
today are retiring into well-feathered
nests after only a short chance at the
official bag. And to think of how much
this supposed great man let get past
him!
That episode at Valley Forge showed
how slow he was. He abode with his
army and shared their privations in
stead Of getting in on some beef con-
tract and making good thing for him.
self. What was he doing? 1t Is actual
ly said that he was praying-praying for
his country instead of preying upon It'll
He refused a crown. He voluntarily