The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-15
LINCOLN AND M'KINLEY.

The birthday Of Abraham Lincoln.
which fell on Monday of this week, was
celebrated in n number of cities AMI
towns of this country with a good dea'
of eclat in places and a plenitude OF
oratory in every instance. In New 1ork
particularly it was made the occasion
of wealth. of food and hypcrbole S'lch
as obtains nowhere in the world
outside of that cGllosal aggregation OF
bet erogeneity and provinciaism. There
and everywhere the day seems 10 have
been, with some strange faulty. made
the occasion of celebrating Mr. Mckinley
as tho triumphant successor Of Abraham
Iincoln as the head of militant Repuo-
Gcanism: to have been seized upon as an
opportunity for instituting comparison
that can but be regarded by the sane
individual as amazing and ridiculous IN
about equal proportions.
So far as the South is concerned. it Is
q,,.te wiling TO DO full justice, and does
full justice, to Abraham Lincoln. His
most distinguished biographer is South
erner, Henry Wattcrson of Louisville,
Kentucky. The South recognizes that
Lincoln was at heart oIe Of the most
democratic men this country has pro
ductd-which means that he understood
the masses of his fellow citizens and held
their good as the supreme object. II
holds with Edwin Markham that:
1.-The color of the ground was in him, the
red earth,
The tang and oder Of the primal things
The rectitude and patience of the rocks,
The gladness of the wind that shakes the
corn,
The courage of the bird that dares the
sea,
The justice OF TIE rain that loves ali
leaves.
The pity OF the snow that hides all scars,
The loving kindness OF the wayaide well,
The tolerance and equity Of light"
To the praise Of Lincoln the whole
country will. in the main, give most
hearty assent and no section more readi-
~ than the South
But the celebrants did not propose
that the euloeigs should carry no further
than Lincoln. They must also embrace
Mr.. William Mckinney, must declare him
n secord, if not a greater Lincoln. Thus
General Rushing, of New Jersey, asked:
What would Lincoln have done had
he been President in place of William
Mckinley"
He answered the question, apparently
to his own utmost satisfaction.
'.He would have dore what William
Mckinley has done He would have
listened attentively TO that suffering cry
from Cuba and when the Maine was
blown up i'll the harbor of Havana, he
would have prepared for war. He would
have sent Dewey 10 Manila and when
the Philippines fell into our hands he
would not have turned them back under
the cruel dominion of Spain, nor have
sold them to the Germans. nor have left
them to the helpless anarchy Of their
own creation. He would manfully have
accepted them as a. grave national re.
SFonsibility as William Mckinley has
done
Postmaster General Charles Emory
Smith eased his bosom thus:
'Lincoln's conservation is our example.
We face a national duty today as clear
and commanding as the duty Lincoln
faced. And equally the great President
who. Of all American leaders is most Ike
L;ncolp in his moral attributes and his
popular sympathy in his rare insight
and his mastery of men, did not want
war or new pathways: but when the
duty comes he is equally fulfilling his
appointed and lofty mission of taking
the flag of Americans liberty where lin
coin left it pure and unsullied and carry
ing il forward to wider sway and infiu-
ence in the world.
Most like Lincoln i'll his moral attrib-
uteS and popular sympathy" Could the
bootlicb go further?
One might canvass the list of men
who have filled the presidency of this
country. from Washington down and
halt on none less like Lincoln than Viii
!iani Mckinley Lincoln who could nos
lee Swerycd by friend or foe, one hair
breadth from what. rightly or wrongly,
lie believed 10 be his duty-McKinley ar
automaton that moves when a cabll of
boodlers who supplied the funds for his
election pull the strings. Lincoln who,
IN The midst of bloody civil wa" re-
fused to yield one iot 10 the greatest
power Of Enrope- Mckinley. who, in
times Of peace makes concessions that