The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-14
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 Nothing has happened. since the fatefui days Of isss. which shows more completely how sectional feeling has been obiiterated than many of the in- eidents connected with the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Certainly, any feeiing of i'll will towards him long since disap- peared in the old slave states, whose people suffered the loss of hundreds of millions of. up to the time of the emancipation proclamation. re- cognized property, Indeed Mr. Lin- eoin in his public addresses in the campaign of 1860. and in his inadsu- raj address on the 4th Of March. 1881. distinctly announced his opposition to any interference with slavery in the States where 1t existed. His whole ambition was to prevent it's spread into other portions of the country, and of course the only possibility for that was in the then territories. Looline back over those eaiamitous times one is now struck with the real conserve tive feeling of Mr. Lincoln as cons trasted with other great leaders of his party who if they had possessed the power would have recognized none of the rights of the Southern people.
 On last Friday the most elaborate celebration of the day was on the. spot where he was born. The old log cabin and the incidents which memory would recall at least to the very old inhabitants were in evidence. It is not likely that a single person who lived in that neighborhood In Lineoln's childhood days was there but tradi- ton has preserved much that would easily enable one to hark back to the timc of the pioneer Lincoln and his family, one of whom became the we'll loved President of q great country. It is noticeable fact that the Press ident of the association which Is mak- ing cs inc old home national place. to be tenderly looked after for all future days. is former Governor of slave State. Missouri and more than that native of Tennessee. All of his people were Confederates in sym pathy and no doubt Governor Folk himself. if old enough at the time. was an enthusiastic southerner in hope and feeling. Another active partici- pant in the celebration was a brave Southern soldier. General Luke E. Wright. In other ways there was q distinctly Southern flavor to the whole affair although the President of the United States was of course the central figure. Every lover of his country should rejoice that this is so. for no man. whatever his feelings in the days of s1-s5, lcan fail to recognize the fact that Lincoln was great big hearted man and a real lover of his country.
 If his life had been spared many of the troubles which befeil the South, as the. result of extreme party feeling and reconstruction hate. would have been avoided He had already shown in his efforts toward readiusting Louisiana to changed conditions that he regarded all of the ssceded states as stin in the Union and entitled to the same rights and priyileges as the others when certain Indispensable State legislation was enacted. He would have been strong enough to enforce his views, which Andrew Johnson was not. The latter sought to break the fury of the storm but failed. Lincoln would have succeeded and some of the darkest pages of American history would not have been written. The Southern people can we'll look with satisfaction upon honors paid to the memory of Abra- ham Lincoln.