Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-13
PAYS ITS
HOMAGE TO EMANcIPAToR
Continued from Page 1

L
slavery. They saw nothing worth
saving in a union of states that legal
lied a traffic in human chattels They
were emancipationists. Lincoln was
not of their school though no doubt
abhorring slavery as deeply as they.
The Emancipation Proclamation was
finally issued and justified as meas
ure Of warefare to preserve the union
and not as priceless gift to the
slaves justifiable and demanded as
such.
Shared in Their Feelings.
Therefore strict fidelity to history
compels the conclusion that 1t was not
so much the proclamation of President
Lincoln as the righteous and unalter-
able determination of liberty loving
America both at home and upon the
battlefield, that gave freedom to the
slave AS one of those liberty loving
Americans, Lincoln shared In their
feelings, kept step in their progress.
Neither tagging behind nor running
ahead, he reflected accurately the
and in his proclamation he but official
ly registered what had already been
irrcvocably decreed and publicly
recognized what was already an &C
complished fact. Great Emancipat-
or?' Yes, call him that If you like
but his chief credit on this score lies
In the fact that while at the head Of
a system of popular government the
very life of which was on trial, seces-
sion stabbing at It's heart men at
home palsied with fear conse!ing sur
render, others in a frenzy of rage de-
handing rash measures at the bottom
the safe, sane and common sense judy
ment and purpose of the majority
that throughout all this stress, excite
>,,t 7
accurately to measure this strong and
abiding undercurrent Of public opinion
and purpose and not too soon nor too
la e but just at the right time to give
it, expression and official sanction.
| Those were perilous times and who
| shall undertake to say what might
have occurred II instead of Lincoln
there had been timid, hating Buch-
anan or a madcap Johnson In the
White House from 1861 to 1865?
Lincoln was typical American OF
hi; time. His ancestry is traced back
to early colonial DAYS. They were
| plain, Industrious frugal. honest and
decent
The story Of his early life during the
pioneer years of Kentucky and Ind
lana. living in log cabin. surrounded
by primeyal forest, toiling with the
family to win plain living from the
soil hunting wild game and gathering
Wild fruit and nuts with which to
round out their homely fare at school
for few weeks each year in the log
school house, these and other incidents
of his boyhood and youthful days
make story with which all Ameri-
cans are familiar. This story Of his
early life as we'll as his later achieve
ments is our common heritage. But
candor compels us to say there was
nothing especially remarkable in Lin
! ~, "a 70 n
the major part of the boys and men
Of his day. Poor he surely was if
measured in dollars and cents: want
ing in all the luxuries and comforts
of a complex and highly developed
state of society. But his was not the
| degrading poverty and squalor Of the
| city, a poverty that dwarfs the mind
trary his youne life may be said to
have been singularly rich in those es-
| sentials and stimulants to the broadcast
and highest developments. This from
tie. In young republic was the land
| of promise. Everything was instinct
| with hope and lofty resolve. The
broad prairies and virgin forests were
inspirations to ambition and high en-
deavor Nowhere in that youthful
land was there ought to discourage the
heart of hope but everywhere the hand
of fortune beckoned onward
| OF such forbears and such environ
ment we should reasonably expect the
| young Lincoln to be just about such
| a man as we find him, strong, cour-
agcous, sound Of limb and head and
| clean of heart.
MANY his Equal; Some his Superior.
In these qualities he was but typical.
Many of his own age no doubt were
his equal, some even his superior.
Thus equipped Lincoln reached his
majority and started out to do his
part as citizen Of the republic. In
part through force of circumstances
and part from inclination and choice
he found himself after few years
of drifting about engaged in trying to