New-York tribune., 1906-07-05
SPIRIT OF CITIZENSHIP.

Continued from first page
be as weak and as strong as silly and as wise,
as bad and good Let us therefore study the
incidents of this as philosophy from which TO
learn wisdom. and not wrongs to be avenged,
and he added later in the speech touching ana
characteristic expression of his saying: so
long as / have been here l have not Willingly
planted thorn in any mans breast
Now, friends, remember that Lincoln faced the
greatest crisis that this nation has seen since
the Revolutionary War. as great a crisis as the
nation can ever face. for it was a crisis which,
accordingly the result went one way or the
other, meant national life or national death; and
yet with all his firm resolution OF purpose with
all the unhending strength of his will, with all the
deep seated intensity and sincerity of beiief
which alone could have borne him up through
/ trials such as those he had to face. it was yet
possible for him to say with entire truth that he
pore no rancor, even TO those who had some
hepelessly wrong; that while endeavorlng ruth
/ lessly 10 cut out the evil, he yet did his work
without hatred to the doer OF the evil; that
while never for one moment binding himself to
the truth, to the philosophy of what was round
about him, ne vet did not treat anything that
was done against him wrong to be avenged.
| he treated the wrong as calling for remedy,
not as calling for vengeance. 1t is in just that
, spirit that we as a nation, if we possess the
power of learning Alright the lessons to be taught
us by Lincolns life will approach problems
of to-day. We haven't got the same problems
nor as great problems as those with which the
men of Lincolns generation were brought face
to face, yet problems are real and great,
and upon the way in which we solve them will
depend whether not children have cause
to feel pride or shame American citizens. If
Lincoln and the men of his geneFation-the men
who followed Grant in the field, who upheld the
craftsmanship of Lincoln himself in the council
chamber-if these men had not done their full
duty, not man here would carry his head high
as an American citizen No, any work done by
any man must largely have it's influence, not upon
the life of that man, but upon the lives of those
coming after him; and just as this was true OF
the man of Lincoln's generation, it will be
true of those that follow US.
COURAGE OF THE PAST A LESSON.
We who did not fight in the Civil War have
reaped immeasurable benefit from the courage
and sef-devotiQn of those who did fight. Had
the grapes they passed to their lips been sour,
our teeth would have been set on edge. Had
they shown themselves towards. heads
would nave been bowed in shame. So, If we
of this generation do duty when face to
face with our special industrial, social and po-
litical problems, children and children's
children shall be the better for it, If we fail
in our duty, il you men here of middle life, you
men with children If you fail in your duty. by
just so much do you add to the weight of the
burdens that your children shall bear. Our
duty calls for the exercise of more than
quality on our part First of all, it calls of
course. for the qualities of honesty and courage.
/ use honesty in the broadest sense honesty in
the sense Of disinterested devotion to what is
right disnterested devotion to the ideals ut
our national life. If we have not those qualities
first. then all else shall avail little. In 1861
the first qualities necessary were those qualities
of the heart which made the average loyaI citI-
zen resolute that, even at the cost of his
life the Union should be preserved, which gave
by lofty devotion to an ideal, snd the power to
put into actual fact that devotion. The man
needed 10 feel the lift of patriotism first. and
then he needed the courage to make his patriot
ism of avail.
There are old soldiers in this as in every other
audience that I address. and these know
that first and foremost it necessary to have
the power of love for the Union of love for the
nation and that next it was necessary to have
the courage to make that love good. do not
care how devoted the old soldier was to the
Union, If when the crisis came he ran away his
ion
no quality of courage aVailed the If he had
not in him the spur that drove that courage into
action, that made that courage of avail to his
neighbors.
MORAL QUALITY NEEDED.
In the same fashion We citizens of these
quality; and next back of that moral quality,
the courage, moral and physical well, that
makes the moral quality count Yet those quail
tiles by themselves not enough. The
greatest patriotism and the greatest courage can
be hopelessly marred by folly. None of you are
worth anything as citizens none of you can be
worth anything as citizens if you have not the
moral qualities which find expression in love of
country, love of neighbOrs. love of home; which
make you honest, decent, clean living, right
thinking None of you will be worth anything
If in addition to those qualities you haven't the
courage physical and moral, without which
American citizen can do his full duty q citi-
zen. And yet back of them and in addition to
them We must have the sanity. the common
sense the just judgment which neither hysteri-
cally overemphasizes nor blindly refuses to ac-
knowledge the wrongs that exist and the ways
in which those wrongs must be cured.
NO USE IN HYsTERIA
We have heard a good deal during the last
year or two of the frightful iniquittes in our
politics and our business, and the frightful
wrongdoing in social life. Now. there is
plenty of iniquity in business, in politics. in
our social life There is every warrant for our
acknowledging these great evils But there is
no warrant for growing hysterical about them
1t is a poor trick TO spend nine tenths of the
time in saying that there never was such in
iquity is shown in this nation, and the re-
naming tenth in saying that we are the most
remarkable nation that existed. We want
to be more careful in blaming ourselves and
more careful in praising ourselves. Overem-
phasis IN praise as well as overemphasis in
blame is apt to oVerTeach itself just as the
man who promises too much-especaly on the
stump--is apt TO strike the balance by per-
forming too little 1t is true that there is much
evil but in speaking about il do not let us lose
heads, and. above all, let us avoid the wild
Vindictiveness preached by certain demagogues
"a YlndictiVeness as far as the poles are
asunder from the wise charity of Abraham
Lincoln. Let us remember that many of the
men who 90 the things of which we complain,
even among those who do the worst, Ameri-
can citizens with much the same tastes, tenn
pers and characters as we have, but who have
been exposed TO special temptations
OF course. there are some men who are in
heTently wicked, and for these only drastic pun
ishment will avail But very many wrongdoers,
especially when the WTongdolng is committed by
a whole class are WrongdoeFs only through force
of circumstances. Try to remove the causes of
their wrongdoing; remove far may be
both the power and the temptation 10 do wrong,
but do not cultivate toward them a spirit Of
Tancorous hatred which in the end win react
most surely upon ourselves. War with the evils.
but show no spirit Of malignity toward the man
who may be responsible for the evil. Put il out
OF his power TO do wrong; If necessary, punish
him where he has done wrong but do not let
this nation ever get into the frame of mind
which, under infinitely greater proVocaton,
AbrahaIn Lincoln strove 70 prevent its falling