Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-07-07
Splendid
Address
CONTINUED from page 2.)

party to-day which is out Of harmony
with his teachings o inconsistent
with his character. We do not Oh
ject to our opponents quoting him
praising him-eyen claiming him as
their own. If it is not sincere, it Ii
still a laudable tribute to ackn0wl
edged excellence. II it is genuine
1t is still better, for even a Nebraska
Populist who reads his Lincoln is in
the way of salvation. But only those
who believe in human rights and are
willing to make sacrifices to defend
them; who believe in the nation and
its beneficent power; who believe in
the American system of protection
championed by a long line of our
greatest and best, running back from
Mckinley to Washington, and, as
Senator Deliver so truthfully said
ito the original sources of American
common sense" only those who be
lieye in equal justice to labor and to
capital; in honest money and the right
to earn it, have any title to name
themselves by the name of Lincoln,
or to claim a moral kinship with that
august and venerated spirit. ! ad
init it would be little less than sac
rilege to try to trade upon that be
nignant renown, whose light folds in
this orb o. the EARTH But We who
have always tried to walk in the road
he pointed out can not be deprived OF
the tender pride of calling ourselves
his disciples, and of doing in his name
the work allotted to us by Providence.
And | hope l am violating neither the
confidence of a friend nor the pro
prieties of an occasion like this when
| refer to the ardent and able young
statesman who is now, and is to be,
our President to let you know that in
times of doubt and difficulty the
thought ~oftenest in his heart is, What.
in such a case, would Lincoln have
done?"
As we are removed further and
further from the founders of our party
and their mighty work, their names
and their fame rise every year higher
in the great perspective of history.
The clamor of hatred and calumny
dies away. The efforts made to weak.
en- the hands of Lincoln and his as
sociates are forgotten. The suryiy-
ors Of those who so bitterly attacked
him and his cause, which was the
cause of the country, are now them.
selves astonished when confronted
with the words they then uttered.
But it was against a political opposi'
tion not less formidable and efficient
than the armed force beyond the Pc.
tomac that the Union men Of that
day, and their President, had to strug.
gle. It was not merely the losses in
battle, the waste of our wealth, the
precious blood of our young men, that
filled Lincoln's heart with anguish
and made him old before his time, bu,
it was the storm of partisan hostility
that ragged against him, filling the all
with ISLANDERS and thwarting his most
earnest and unselfish efforts for the
country's good. But in spite Of it all
he p~ersevered, never for a moment
tempted by the vast power he welded
to any action not justified by the mo.
raj and the organic law. | have always
liked the inscription on the medal
which the workmen of France, by
one-cent subscriptions, caused to be
struck after his Death: abraham
Lincoln. the honest III Wagctl
var. Abolis' I'd slavery. Twice elect.
ed President without yelling The face
of liberty This was an achieve.
ment new to the world: that a man
and a party, armed with an authority
SO unquestioned and SO stupendons,
in the very current of a vast war,
should have submitted themselves 50
rigidly to the law-and never have
dreamed there vas anything meri.
torious about it. Then, IL never be.
fore, We proved we were as fit to be
free as the men who achieved our
freedom.
The world learned other LESSONS
in swift succession. We disbanded
our army-sent them home to carr
their livings as simple citizens Of the
land they had saved, without terms
or conditions; they asked none: they
wanted peace; they were glad to get
to work. And there we're no reprisals,
not a man punished for rebellion or
treason: not an act OF violence sui
RlIR RlnAF arm