Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1908-08-21
RIDAy AFTERNOON, AUGUST 21. 1908.
Things Ought Know Herald
ILLINOIS TO LIVE OVER
Again the Days of the Historic Lin
coIn-DougIas Debates-GoIden
Anniversary of Controversy.

Special to the Herald.
Springfield, ILL.,, Aug. 21.-Beginning
today, and continuing until the middle
of October, Illinois will live over again
the days of the historic Lincoln
| Douglas debates. 1t is the golden an
niversary of the celebrated controver-
i sy, and the Illinois Historical Society
has planned celebrations in each of
the cities where the debates were
held
There were but seven of these
noted debates, all occurring in 1858
the places and dates being as follows:
Ottawa, August 81.
Freeport, August 27.
Jonesboro, September Is.
Charleston, September IS.
| Galesburg, October Z.
Quincy, October Is.
Alton, October IS.
At the initial celebration of the Sc
ries at Ottawa today the event is to
be commemorated by the placing of a
huge granite bowlder on the site
where the original debate took place
The scheduled speakers include for
mer Senator William E. Mason, J.
Hamilton Lewis of Chicago, Congress
man George Edmund Foss and others
of prominence.
Other notable celebrations of the
series will be those at Freeport and
Quincy. The speakers at the Free
port celebration will be Senator Dol
liver of Iowa, Colonel w. T. Davidson
and Congressman Frank O. Lowden
The site of the debate in Freeport al
| ready is marked by suitable memo
| rial erected by the Freeport Women's
Club and dedicated by President
Roosevelt in 1903. 1t was at Freepori
| that Lincoln submitted his famous
question No. to Douglas, namely:
Can the people of a United States
territory in any lawful way, against
the wishes of any citizen of the Unit
ed States, exclude slavery from It's
limits prior to the formation OF q
state constitution"
To which Douglas replied: ut mat
tiers not what the supreme court may
hereafter decide as to the abstract
question whether slavery may or may
not go into territory under the con.
stitution. The people have the lawful
means to introduce or exclude it as
they please, for the reason that slav.
cry cannot exist a day or an hour any.
| where unless it is supported by local
police regulations.
At Quincy the plans for the ami.
versary celebration are being made
on an elaborate scale. A local organi-
cation has been formed under the
name of the Lincoln-Douglas Semi
Centennial Society to conduct the Gel
ebration. The site of the debate in
Quincy was marked with a memorial
bowlder some two years ago. A num-
Der of people are still living in Quincy
who heard the great debate and they
will be among the prominent partici-
pants in the anniversary celebration.
1t was in Quincy that Cahrl Schurz
and Thomas Mast, the cartoonist, first
met Lincoln, and each of these notable
men has left recollections of the meet
ing.
At Jonesboro, where the debate
was held September Is, on the fair
grounds, arrangements are being
made for a suitable celebration of the
semi-centennial. Most of, those who
heard the debate at Jonesboro were
partisans of Douglas and Brecken-
ridge
At Galesburg, where the debate
was held October Z, the anniversary
has been observed several times in
recent years, and the semi-centennial
will be celebrated on an elaborate
scale The debate in Galesburg took
place in front of Knox College, and
the building is adorned with Lin
coln-Douglas memorial tablet which
was unveiled at the celebration in
1895.
At Alton, where the last of the Sc
ries of debates was held, the celebra-
ton will take place October 15 From
Quincy to Alton the two intellectual
giants Travelled on the same boat
The speakers stand in Alton was To-
Gated on the east side of what was
then the new city hall, which is still
standing and used for the same pur-
poses. The program for the Alton
celebration will include homecoming
feature and will extend over several
days.
Maves of TEXAS Preeidepf