Evening star., 1909-05-31
Addressed by Henry Watterson.

Henry Watterson delivered the address
of the day. He began with a sketch of
the men who laid the foundations of the
republic and the conditions which had
provoked the war of sections, evolving
Abraham Lincoln out of the primitive
elements of American life and thought,
and continued as follows:
1--WE are assembled today upon the spot
where Abraham Lincoln was born to ded-
icate memorial in his honor. This me-
mortal is a tribute from the state of his
nativity. 1t is a fitting tribute. for it
comes ungrudgingly.
THE men composing a majority of the
official body which ordained it called
themselves democrats. He called himself
republican. They were partisan demo
Gratis. He was partisan republican.
The republican party and the democratic
party yet abide. They face each other
sometimes in angry and always in spirited
controversy. How comes 1t that demo-
Gratis find inspiration in the name of that
| republican who more than any other. who
more than all others, gave life and per-
petuity to the republican party, and
gather lovingly about the site of the cabin
in which he first say the light, to join
their republican fellow-citizens In heart
felt homage?
The answer to this question discloses a
national asset and constitutes a blessed
heritage. 1t is that, underlying the
thought of the people, party is second to
country; that party lines are not lines of
battle, separating hostile armies, but di-
visions of sentiment and opinion touching
exigencies which are constantly shifting:
that there Is usually certain amount of
| truth and error on both sides of our pop
ular contentious; that we strive in the
ultimate squatiOn to reach the least objec-
| tionable of the sum totals: that, in short
disputing among ourselves as partisans
| at home, we are instantly ready when
pressure comes from abroad to unite as
Americans: and that after election. the
| fight being over, its passions are laid. un-
| der the genial influence of al political syS-
| tenn organically resting upon public opin-
ion and party responsibility.
Held to Keynote.
| Il grew to manhood in the mid period OF
the republic. The keynote of the popu-
| lar aspiration was love for the Union. 1t
was intense, overmastering, all pervasive.
| The merest handful at the north. scarce
ly more than a group at the south, ven
tured discord. But when the final trial
came the one American who held to the
! keynote was Abraham Lincoln. He could
not be diverted from it. He stood. Doric
the embodiment of the Union. We owe
| it's preservation to his wisdom, to his in
tegrity, to his firmness and his courage.
| AS none other than Washington could
have led the armies of the revolution
| from Valley Forge to Yorktown. none
other than Lincoln could have maintained
the government from Sumter to Appomat
tox. All of us now are Cnionists: and
though upon the south side of the school,
room the educational process was some
what warming, seemed extra disciplinary,
partaking overmuch. as some of u
thought, of birch and ferrule, we are
none the less Unionsts that we ranged
ourselves in Confederate ranks and made
faces at the schoolmaster.
God rules the world, the winds ant
the waves. He raises mortals to the
skies and He casts them down beneath
the surface of the earth. In Abraham
Lincoln He gave us a symbol of Ameri-
can liberty and type of American man
hood which might be marked and known
OF all men and seen from afar; gnarled
of bark. fine of grain, of fiber solid an6
of texture rare; adapted to all uses and
capable of exquisite polish In his career
| we may learn what an American partisan
ought to be as distinguished from what
he ought not to be. We only need to read
the documentary history of his admins
tration to discover that he was not merely
in intellect the foremost man Of his time
but that in character he ranks with the
few great men of all time. In collision
with him. the rest appear but as paste
board men. He grows In length, breadth
and thickness the longer we survey him
Never Lost His Balance.
True to his ideal he never missed the
cue of the moment; though facing a con-
stant stress of weather. sorely tried from
hour to hour, he never lost his balance.
or tore a passion to tatters. His was the
genius of common sense. the soul Of COM
mon honesty. Knowing the people, he
put his hand to the pulse Of the nation.
judged its distemper, and was ready with
a REMEDY. / have said that he was a
republican partisan. In point of fact he
| was an old conscience whig, commls
stoned. by God to steer the bark Of the