Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-22
Occasion Marked by Uncommon Attendance
and Excellent Addresses.
Or. ANDREWS DISCUSSES CITIZENSHIP
Chancellor Bxalts George Washington as a
Perpetual Model
JOHN |. WEBSTER ON ANOTHER PHASE
wnshinEton's Connection with the
Constitution the Theme of schOl-
arIy Address Dealing with
American History.

and learned men spoke earnestly Of the first
American, paying fitting tributes to his
many sided genius, his high conception OF
citizenship and his unfaltering adherence
to the convictiors he had formed after due
deliberation. 1t was a representative as
semblage OF Omaha men who had gathered
to listen to these addresses, and the occa-
sion. the third annual event in honor Of
the great presidents birthday, was made
a notable one in all respects.
II was s:15 o'clock when Edward Porter
Peck, president Of the club and POSTMASTER
of the evening, introduced DR.. E. Benjamin
Andrews, chancellor of the University Of
Nebraska, who responded to the toast:
Washington, Our Perpetual Model in Cit
! izenship." DR.. Andrews said in part:
There is no more interesting or amazing
! fact in American history than the persist
| ence with which Washington keeps before
! the public mind as the foremost American.
! We honor many other citizens. We par
/ ticularly honor Lincoln, and next after him
! Grant We honor Mckinley. Lincoln,
| Grant, Mckinley, are great names in this
| republic and will forever be-. II is, how
/ ever, clear that no one of these men Is
J thought of as occupying quite so high a
| niche I'm the esteem of the American people
| as Washington does
| This pre-eminence is the more remarkable
| in view of the fact that Washington's
| character. like all earth's greatest charac-
| ters. passed through its mythical period
! ington personally, all his deeds and char
| acteristics were magnihed to superhuman
| greater general than Napoleon or yelling
| ton. He was hero Ike ST. George,
! giant like Hercules, saint ike Thomas
kempis. Then came reaction. Critical
study revealed that Washington was alto
| gether human, having faults like other
! most; that he had hot temper leading on
one or two occasions to emphatic profanity
| and so on.
safe to Know the Truth.
But. and here the great wonder comes in,
dislodge Washington from the pinnacle of
| fame on which he had stood from the tirst
was found safe to know & the t1rtn bs9 ABOUT 3be
very worst that could be said touching his
life. conduct and character, there stood
forth an Incompatible manhood, an -un-
| 1t is worth while to inquire into this mar
keep his position as leader in spite Of the
| mighty rivals time has raised up. This
cannot be because ms career ds iS rernPvS1 at,TS
has so brought before us the events OF his
life that we know actually more Of him
than we do of Lincoln and almost as much
as we do OF Mckinley.
One confederation helping TO explain his
had many sides or aspects and that he was
a model in each. He was 'nrst In war
and also frst In peace warrior iSS, as ,Ni wei
dency came after his military work and
has gotten itself recorded much the more
fully, many admirers OF the great nan al
most forget his extraordinary talent as a
general. 1t is, however, safe to say that II
he had been a military man and nothing
else he would have ranked with the fore
Less of a Politician.
Again Washington was less a mere poll
tician than Lincoln. 1t is well known that
little II nothing more-politician not in the
worst sense and yet certainly not in the
besS He was party man, bent merely on
advancing party men and party measures
before ne seriously settled down to his
5eriod occurred in Washington's life. He
was always too serious and too patriotic
for mere partisanship. washington got and and
Z time TO any political device or contrtvsnce.
He never participated in any factional
work or descended to any of the ruses 80
: common among men whose mentality is on
, the political and not on the statesmanship
plane With these traits Of our great first
Citizen, that his civic character had many
facets and that he was never politician
) 10 any objectionable sense, went other civic
: for all time the model American. For one
: thing ne held just balance between Anglo
. Great Britain How could ne help doing
SO knowing that all that was best in our
a Institutions came from that source? But
whatever Jacobin ranters might say to the
contrary. he was never unduly or inappro-
priately ooseequious TO the British power
against which he had boldly drawn sword
in the carse OF the thirteen colonies.
Expansionist, but Not Jing0.
Washington was also a model American
in being an expansionist without being in
| any sense lingo. Jefferson is often re-
lean expansionist policy. No 50. Washing
, ton was before him in this. Washington
was the great expansion protagonlst. with
- him, moreover. expansion was not mere
v theory. He himself crossed the mountains
. into the Mississippi valley, a pathfinder
and a pathbreaker, in effect doing more "a
= enlargs westward the borders Of America
y than was accomplished by Jefferson in the
: Louisiana purchase or by Mckinley I'm the
e Spanish war. On the other hand, the great
man at no time sunk to jingo spirit he
Is did not wish war or conquest merely foI
y tanging alliances and led the country
e through one of its most critical periods.
- When We recall the fact that we are
= voters and citizens OF republic he made
y more than any hundred. more than any
be AS broad and as good a citizen as III,
:, first citizen OF the republic?
Washington and the Constitution.
l. Mr.. John L. Webster responded to tn
id toast washington and the Constitution.
In his opening remarks Mr. Webster brieh
but succinctly sketched the condition o
G the country during the four years from IT'S
to 1857. when the colonies were unite
r. under the Articles Of Confederation II
pointed out how anarchy and disorde
reigned, and quoted from Washington
letters TO show his prophetic foresight {
the condition toward which the countr
n was drifting The attitude Of the sever
IA parties into which the people had divide
a was also made clear OF the initiatory steI
Of to a constitutional convention, taken I
n Virginia at the instance OF James Madison
. OF the election OF Washington a deli
rs gate, and Of the effect OF this action G
7, the people Of the other states Mr.. Webst,
mt spoke. and then went on:
IN George washington so loved his retir
- ment from public strife that he hesitated
lp' attend the convention. Ii required the pc
hes suasive influence . Madison and EdmuI
lie Randolph and HeS.y Knox 70 have HI
| accept this new responsible duty. one
AZ the letters OF General Knox 10 GeOrl
lr- Washington Is OF more than passing lnte
81 est ia which he said.
For / take h for granted that howev
ICOntinued On Second PASs.)