The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-01-10
BENJAMIN Franklin.

homme Richard helped to perpetuate in
singularly dramatic manner. But
for Benjamin Franklin there would
have been no American warship bear
ing the name Bonhomme Richard and
probably no such naval battle as that
which gave Jones his chief title to
fame. The money to equip Jones fleet
came from a war chest which Franklin
called into being in Impoverished
France, and the sum used for that out
fit was only a tritle of the treasure Sc
cured during our war of independence
from France as loans and cOntribu-
tons. Franklin is also credited with
having brought about the alliance with
France, without which the American
colonies could never have gained the
day over England. These two services
to the struggling republic-the gather
inc of treasure and the winning Of a
powerful ally-were performed by
Franklin after he had passed the age
of threescore and ten, since he was
born Jan. II, 11O6.
1t is small wonder that the arrival Of
Benjamin Franklin in Paris at the
close of 1776 as commissioner to the
court Of France from the revOlted colo
MES occasioned unusual excitement in
the Partisan world. He was known to
French thinkers and men of letters as
the humorous philosopher Of the new
continent and the new race and to
lovers Of liberty as one Of the men who
at the risk Of the rope had signed the
edict Of defiance to King George Of
England. There was no Washington
then in the public eye of Europe, no
one man who stood forth as the guild
ing spirit Of the American Revolution
beside whom the genial, astute and
cultured Franklin must appear as Sec
ond. And, after all that can be said Of
Washington, to give him the full need
of his deserts few will hesitate to name
Benjamin Franklin as the one other
great figure of the Revolutionary Pc
Rod.
Speaking Of Washington and Frank
lin, a recent writer in the Atlantic,
Mr.. William Macdonald, says: "Waiv-
ing all comparisons between those two.
SO equal and SO different, one may say
at least that there is no third name
which could replace either of them;
none that could break the solitude Of
Washington were there no Franklin,
none that could be set beside Frank
Inns were there no Washington" In
the movement for an Independent ma
ton on this continent, for constitution
al government, for human liberty,
Franklin may be said to have known
no superior as. q man Of force and
probably had no peer but Washington.
He was a broader man than Washing
ton and, because of that, what nova
days Is called a better mixer" The
humble people learned from him, and
the mighty were guided by his tact and
ulum1neO Dy DIS WISDOM.
The history of diplomacy, even of
that faithful. skillful and invaluable
kind which steers ship of state
through the storm Of revolution and
war, Is dull reading for the masses
The martial element treating of pictur-
esque figures like Mad Anthony"
Wayne, Light Horse Harry" Lee,
Francis Marion and Israel Putnam ap-
peals to the Imagination and seems to
be all there is worth while in the story
of revolution. Then, too, there was
a real Franklin, most amusing to read
about and hear about, the poor printer
who gained wealth and fame, the
maker Of poor Richards Almanac"
the humorist whose wit was godsend
to his own and to succeeding genera
tons. And there was "Franklin's |
stove" used to this day in wood burn
ing communities, at least in a modified |
drawing lightning from the clouds.
This early Ben Franklin has grown |
to be almost a legendary character in
American folklore He did. so many |
startling things that it seems too much
to believe that one man was behind |
them all. On this period Of Franklin's |
career the historical annalist and sketch !
writer have dwelt fondly and with
because it is all revealed In
his autobiography, that stops short be-
fore his great life work for the Ameri-
can people really began. Studies of
and Lincoln have started
at the summit or climax and worked
backward or downward, while the re-
verse has been largely true in Frank
Inns case. 1t is as though one should
forget 1S61-65 and, starting with Old
Abe, the rail splitter and side splitter,
IN 1860, follow the trail back through
legend and local annals to the log cab
IN and the float boat. Both Lincoln
and Franklin lived two lives, and the
marvel of it is that Franklin's second
life dawned at the age when most men
are falling into the scar and yellow