The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1909-10-27
DlSCORDANT AND UNJUST.

Newark Evening News; Senator Geb-
hardt, of Hunterdon county, struck a
dlscordant note and uttered peevish,
unjust criticism in his remarks made at
Trenton on February Q, in the course
OF the Lincoln centenary exercises.
Why he elected to thus earn for HIM
self this bad eminence is not explained,
for there WAS no reasonable warrant or
the slightest excuse for the part he took
upon himself. fit was because he, be-
ing a Democrat, could not bring his
partisan conscience to speak well of a
Republican, it merely emphasizes his
insutierable egotism and his lack of
common sense.
The Hunterdon Senator could not
agree with all the eulogies of Abraham
Lincoln, particularly those uttered by
Governor Fort. He found, to his own
satisfaction at least, that up to the age
of twenty-five Lincoln stuck at moth
ing had no desire to work at any
one thing; drifted about from pillar to
post and was inclined to be shitless.
After twenty two years he studied law
but never succeeded at it (as Gebhardt
did); went TO the Legislature and was
not great man Gas Gebhardt is) went
to Congress and was an Indifferent leg
islator (as Gebhardt would certainly
be). He wasn't great At any time till
elected President and then his greatness
aseemed to come to him. us Gebhardt
puts II, Lincoln was only a good,
honest, tfuslful man. And that was
nothing, from the Gebhardt point of
view
What did Senator Gcbhardt expect ?
Where was any opportunity whatever
afforded 20 Abraham Lincoln to mani
fest either craftsmanship or greatness
before he was twenty two What man
in the worlds history, SO hampered and
amid such low environments has shown
in early life any greatness as a states
man What chance was there TO be
great as clerk in a store, as helper on a
farm, as driver OF an OK team, as occli.
pant OF ''the most miserable cabin in all
that section of the country ?" to use Mr.
Gebhardts own words.
And after he was admitted to the bar,
what chance did horse trials and the
petty cases of a thinly settled country
district offer for respondent greatness,
and how could an untried and modest
AssemDlyman from district much
worse than Hunterdon county expect
to make himself conspicuous and call
the attention Oh the State To himself
during the time he was there
Only an utterly false estimate OF the
man could expect of him in the early
years OF his life, what Senator Gebhardt
seems to have expected; yet Lincoln
was man, even then, vastly too great
for his environment There was no
place into which either his physical
stature or his great intellect seemed to
fit. He had not where 10 lay his head,
because his brain far outmeasured the
log cabin, the farm, the store, the law
Office, the State Legislature and even
the then Congress itself, Inevitably he
went from pillar TO post until he found
his rightful place as President oil the
United States, with a problem to solve
as great as the brain and the heart that
God created to solve it.
Notwithstanding all his lailures-as
Senator Gebhardt characterizes them
the people OF Illinois formed a vastly
higher estimate Of Lincoln than the
narrow-minded Hunterdon statesman
comprehends after study Of all his
achievements and the people Of the
United States saw, in this "shltless"
man the one worthy to be President,
the one only who could save the Union.
And since then, though great men have
risen and great questions have demand
ed the exercise OF their utmost abilities
none have measured to the standard OF
Abraham Lincoln.
This is the centennial of his birth.
The whole United States and the civil
lied world are uniting in paying hon.
age to the greatest man Of his age, the
greatest American who ever lived.
There is but one miserable, puny, harsh,
discordant, unappreciative note in the
universal concord Of praise for Abra-
ham Lincoln, and that comes from
William C.. Gebhardt, for time Sena-
tor from Hunterdon county.
HUNTERDON'S APOLOGY.