The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-12-24

(By E Goodhue, c. d. Holuoloa.) -.
How persistently we forget that It
is the Man who should confer honor
on the office and not the Office which
should honor the man.
That it is not what man possesses
in material wealth, but what he is
able honestly to acquire and properly
use.
That it is not what man acquires in
learning but what he is capable of
assimiating for the interest of his
fellows.
That the life of an individual is of
no value at all unless it perpetuates
something beneficent.
We are apt to look upon the newly
elected President or Senator as we
might upon a Seven-day wonder.
He has been transformed in an hour;
| suddenly converted into great man!
Alas, for the misnomer!
! We honor" him, that is, lionize
! him; we stand in a measure of awe in
his presence.
Let us shake hands with him, not
because we are particularly glad to
see him, or because he has deserved
his prominence, but because he is
prominent.
We fancy the intimacy honors us.
! Possibly the new man is less deserv-
! ing of the position he occupies than
his predecessor was, but that is not
material.
The out-of-office man in America is
little sought after or talked about. He
sinks INTO "innocuous desuetude.
Even in honoring one of our greatest
heroes, Abraham Lincoln, we are apt
to forget that he was great from boy
hood up; that his qualities of heart and
head were largely developed in young
manhood; that his soul was what was
great about him.
He was just as great when he was a
he signed the Emancipation Proclama-
ton.
1t was in him to be President of the
United States when he was boy Choir
ing for old Crawford, 1.-The meanest
man in his county,
And it was not egotism but a self
recognition of his own abilities that
made him say to his mistress one day
that he would yet be president of the
United States.
The point l wish to elucidate is that
Lincoln's transcendent qualities though
brought out by the responsibilities OF
Office, were still intrinsic, and during
his obscure life he had shown the
same sort many time.
But he had not reached the position
when he could command the respect
and praise of people; when he could
force them to recognize him as great.
When Johnson was President people
talked about him, and as many sought
him for this and that as sought Lin
colin. lie was President of the United
States whether by virtue of ability or
not, did not matter. The lackey in
us which persists through all these
Democratic years, inclines us to wor-
ship Office.
What does it matter to the society
woman who is seeking recognition
whether the President or Senator or
Governor be a great man or not?
And the mass of us is infected with
the same faint.
1t is this failure to distinguish be-
tween men and their accidental hold
ings, which makes political success OF
so little value in the United States.
With few exceptions the great men
have failed to secure Office.
One or two great Senators only. A
very few Presidents. One Governor
may be. The rest deserve little no
tice except as historical figureheads
But in the rank and file, how many
great names we have had. These
whose lives were an example in vlr.
: tue and goodness; who said and die
something worth while, will be re-
membered and loved for their con-
tribution to the permanence and sta
bility of the government.
Time, however, tears away the mask
of political fame.
The real hero finds his niche. The
real man persists in the records. While
: 4, LIZ IL COZ