Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-02-13

lUCSfs, uO OlAcA I"OkOoA IASA 20 6ACNI.
Widely though the problems Of today
differ from the problems set for solu-
ton to Washington when he founded
this nation, to Lincoln, when he saved
1t and freed the slave, yet the qualities
they showed in meeting these. prob
lens are exactly the same as those we
should show in doing our work today.
Lincoln saw into the future with the
prophetic imagination usually vouch-
safed only to the poet and the seer
He had In film all the lift toward
greatness Of the visionary, without
any of the visionary's fanaticism or
egotism, without any Of the vision
ary's narrow jealousy Of the practical
man and inability. to strive, in prac..
teal fashion for the realiz alton Of an
ideal. No more prac teal man ever liv-
ed than this homely back GODS ideal.
ist, but he had nothing III common with
those 5pract teal men; hose consciences
are warped until they fall to distin-
guish between good and evil, fall to
understand that strength, ability,
shrewdness, whether in the world Of
business or of politics, only serve to
make their possessor q more noxious,
"a more evil member of the commune
ty, If they are not guided and con
trolled by 2 fine and high moral sense.
,.Lineoln's Qualities Needed Now.
We of this day must try to solve
many social and Industrial problems
requiring to an especial degree the
combination Of indomitable resolution
with cool headed sanity. We can profit
by the way in which Lincoln used both
these traits as he strove for reform.
We can learn much of value from the
very attacks which following that
course brought upon his head, attacks
alike by, the extremists of revolution
and BY the extremists Of reaction: He
never Wayered In devotion to his prin-
ciplei .Sins III love tkor the Union and in
his ahhprrence sof 81 avery. Timid and
,lukekarm people we're always denounc-
IND him because he was too extreme;
hi, u. ii matter Of fact, he never}went
toextremes 5tt.s
Yet perhaps u the most wonderful
thing Of all and, from the standpoint
81 the America OF today and Of the
future, the most vitality important was
/ the extraord inary way IN which Lin.
coin could fight va1iantly against
what he deemed wrong and get pre-.
serve undiminished This love and re-
spect for the brother from whom he
differed. In the hour of a triumph
that would have turned any weaker
mans head, in the heat of a struggle
which spurred many good man to
dreadful vindictiveness,S he said truth.
fully that SO long as be had been I'm
his Office he had. never willingly plant
ed u thorn in any mans bosom and
besought bis supporters to study the
incidents Of the trial through which
they were passing as philosophy from
which to learn wisdom and not as
wrongs to be avenged, ending with
the solemn exhortation$ that, as = the
strife was over, all should reunite in
4 common effort to save their common
country 49,,
p. "Miahtiest Of Americana"
He lived In days that were great
and terrible, when brother fought
against brother: for what each sincere.
" deemed to be the right, in a con-
test SO grim the strong men who alone
can carry sit through are rarely able to
do Justice to the deep, convictions of
those with whom they grapple in NOR.
tai strife. At such times men see
through a glass darkly. To only the
rarest and loftiest spirits is vouch.
safed that clear vision which gradually
comes to all, even IS the lesser. as the
struggle ..adesI Into distance, and
wounds are forgotten and peace creeps
back to the hearts that were hurt But
to Lincoln was given this supreme "
sion. 5e did not hate the man from
whom he differed. Y Weakness was as
foreign as wickedness to his strong.
gentle nature But his courage was Of
quality SO high that It needed no
bolsteting Of dark passion. He saw
clearly that the same high qualities.
the same courage and willingness for
self sacrifice and devotion to the right
as It was given them to see the right.
belonged both to the men OF the north
and to the men OF the south. As the
years roll by and % all OF us. wher
ever. We dwell, grow to feel an equal
pride In Tie. svalor land self devotion.
alike sof the men who wore the blue
and the men who wore the gray. 80
this whole nation will grow to feel a.
peculiar sense of pride in the mightiest
OF the mighty men who mastered the
mighty days, the lover Of his country
and 81 all mankind, the man whose
blood was shed tor. tho union of his.
people and Tor the 1feetlom Of race.
Abraham Lincoln.