The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-12
(By Associated Press,)


Hodgenville, KY, Feb, 12.-The
centenary of Abraham Lincoln's birth
will be observed generally through
out the United States, but nowhere
will the commemoration exercises
command more interest than those
that are being held in this little
town. Two miles from here. on the
Lincoln farm, which has been pur-
chased by a national association,
formed for the purpose, President
Roosevelt laid the corner stone of a
memorial building now being erected
by popular subscription to mark
Lincoln's birthplace and to protect
for all time the little log cabin in
which the martyr president was
born.
The centenary address on this oc-
casion was delivered by President
Roosevelt, General Luke E. Wright,
the secretary of war, spoke on be-
half of the Confederate soldiers, Gen.
eral Grant Wilson represented the
veterans of the Union army, and
Lincoln's state was represented by
Governor Augustus E. Wilson of
Kentucky. Other addresses were
made by Bishop Galloway of Missis-
sippi and Ex-Governor Joseph W.
Polk of Missouri.
The following is the address in
full of President Roosevelt:
1--WE have met here to celebrate the
hundredth anniversary of the birth
of one of the two or three greatest
men of the nineteenth century; of
one of the greatest men in the
worlds history, This rail splitter,
this boy who passed his ungainly
youth in the dire poverty Of the poor
est of the frontier folk, whose rise
was by weary and painful labor, lived
| ing flames of struggle from which
the nation emerged, purified as by
fire, born anew to loftier life. After
long years of iron effort, and of fail
ure that came more often than vic
| tory, he at last rose to the leadership
of the republic, at the moment when
that leadership had become the stu
pendous world task of the time. He
grew to know greatness, but never
ease. Success came to him, but never
| happiness, save that which springs
from doing we'll painful and vital
task. Power was his, but not pleas
ure. The burrows deepened on his
brow, but his eyes were uniimmed
| by either hate or fear. His gaunt
shoulders were bowed, but his steel
thews never faltered as he bore Cor
a burden the destinies of his peo-
pie. His great and tender heart
shrank from giving pain; and the
task allotted him was to pour out
like water the life-blood of the young
men, and to feel in his every fiber
the sorrow of the women Disaster
saddened but never dismayed him.
AS the red years of war went b.
they found him ever doing his du:v
in the present cver facing the futu e
with fearless front, high of heart,
AMI dauntless of soul Unbroken by
| hatred, mistaken by scorn, he worked
and suffered for the people. Tri.
umph was his at the last; and barely
had he tasted it before murder found
him, and the kindly, patien-. fear
less eyes were closed f)rever.
AS people we are indeed beyond
measure fortunate in the characters
of the two greatest of our public
men, Washington and Lincoln. Wide
ly though they differ in externals,
the Virginia landed gentleman and
the Kentucky backwoodsman, they
were alike in essentials, they were
alike in the great qualities which
rendered each able to render service
| to his nation and to all mankind
such as no other man of his genera
ton could or did render. Each had
lofty ideals, but each in striving to
attain these lofty ideals was guided
by the soundest common sense Each
possessed inflexible courage in ad-
versity, and soul wholly unspoiled
by prosperity. Each possessed oil
the gentler virtues commonly ex-
hibitei by those towering masters
of mankind who have too often
shown themselves devoid Of so much
as the understanding of the words
by which we signify the qualities Of
duty, of mercy, Of devotion to the
right. of lofty disinterestedness in
battling for the good OF others. There
have been other men as great and
other men as good; but in all the
history of mankind there are no
other two great men as good as
these, no other two good men as
great. Widely though the problems
of today differ from the problems
set for solution 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 problems are exactly
the same az those we should show
In doing our work today.