The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-08

In seeking To interpret the careers Of
famous men. it is usually possible. and
often not difficult, to trace out some
dominating influence or discover some
determining factor in their lives which
reveals the secret of their success. The
result however, is rarely OF any prae-
teal ben Eft TO humanity. The circum-
stances that gave the impulse to such
men or served to mold them are not, as
q rule, with the experience OF the or
binary individual They are excep-
tionai extraordinary. or hopelessly
unique. The man who awaits some
marvellous crisis in his life or expects
some intervention of Providence, such
as favored this or that historic eharac-
ter, deceve himself with false hopes
All the chances are against a repetition
of the conditions which produce any
particular hero.
But with Lincoln the case is very
different. tt is not possible to place a
finger on any one fact in his history
and declare with certainty that that
was the melting cause of his success,
or to demonstrate that any special
chain of events made him what he was.
He was subjected to no great inspiring
influence, no wonderful experience de-
termined his life. His career was not
a climaetsTic awakening-it was nat
ural development.
If this be true it practically elini-
mates the distinction between Lincoln
the man and Lincoln the president. AMI
disposes of the claim that his achieve
ments as the head of the nation were
due To the sudden enlargement of ex-
traordlnary latent powers. To some
this offers the only rational explanation
of his craftsmanship. Despite the fact
that he was over 80 years of age whcn
ne became pres dent. and that his re-
ord was. up TO that time. largely due to
qualities which are part of the common
heritage Of all his countrymen. many Of
his eulogists cannot believe that these
same qualities served to effect his his
toric results. No man, they conteh J.
whose equipment was really on pla ~
with his fellows could possibly have
accomplished what he did. Masters Of
men, t is asserted, are not nodded fro n
ordinary clay. and it is incredible tn 1t
the great logician, resourceful diplom l.
list. and guiding spirit Of the civil war.
lacked the intellectual endOwments Of a
genius.
A Moral Force.
Nevertheless. if Lincolns achieve
ments be carefully examined, they will.
in the final analysis. be found to rest
upon moral qualities rather than men,
tai attributes. and those moral qualities
are all plainly disceTnible in the life
training which fitted him for his great
task. To assume that he suddenly de-
veloped brilliancy and revealed super
human endowments at the call of high
Office is to ignore the man in the max
ing and put a needless tax upon Gre
dulity. What was there in his service
to the state that demands such a sac
rifice of probability? The magnitude t
his results should not exaggerate tho
means by which he effected them. The
preservation of the Union and the sup
preston Of slavery we're not ACTON
plished by an intellectual tour oe force
and the great crises Of the periOf We're
not met by mastery strokes Of genius.
1t was LiucolH's daily example OF reso-
luton. foTtitude and patience that pre-
vailed during the life-and-death StruS-
bic of the nat on. II was the forbe3 =
ance of the hour-the tact of the N
ment that nodded the event.
During his whole life. PRIOR Ia ne
presidency. he -elied on the influence -
simple virtues and their all-conqueri /;
power. and his handling of public quss-
tons, great and s1nall. during his #
fetal career displays the same traits t
mind and character. The country law
yer whose sense of justice restrained
his rapacious clients was The same
man who, against his personal inclin3-
ton and the heaviest of moral pres
SURE, resisted every effort of the abb
litionists 20 deprive the south IF lef
property without due process of Ia v,
and it was not until every legal expedi-
ent had been exhausted that he co -
sented, as mftaTy commander to Issue
~ 7Irr
writer who produced the haste rpi : =
of Gettysburg WIS not literary genius,
but one whose lips sDok. what =
teaTt suggested. and whose modes -