The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-14

was continuously surrounded by other
passengers.
There was no change in the man
by reason of his elevation to the first
place in the nation, and his neighbors
and friends felt that he was one of
them. He made his last visit to his
stepmother, who. indeed. had been a
mother to. him in childhood and in
manhood. Sae was, in the western
phrase, just a common, homespun
woman, and tc her he remained to the
end My boy. Abe
| Lincoln did not have the advant-
ages of common school or collegiate
| instruction. He was a soldier in the
Black Hawk war, an employe of a
country store. surveyor, and post
master. He mad Travelled to some ex-
| tent, having gone down the MISSISSIPPI
| pi to New Orleans on a fiatboat and
returned upon Mississippi river
| steamboat. He had but few books and
| his reading was limited, but he was a
keen observer There is a saying, Be
ware of the man with one book One
| book thoroughly masterd is better
| than whole library read with mop
| skip and a jump.
his future tasks. He was a plain man
among plain people. By heredity and
training he knew the people with
| whom he came in contact-thelr
hopes, their prejudices, their fears,
their devotion to the law. and their
courage and willingness to make sac
rifice for the common good
Best Monument to Lincoln.
For more than a generation poets,
orators, historians, artists and arch1-
| tects have been trying to build endur-
| ing monuments to Lincoln, as men OF
less ability and pretension have been
| cropping after means for expressing
| their appreciation in that way which
| touches all levels of humanity, treas
ured memory of plain man who was
/ fcd0 crn a mr. a n
| ity to meet all the responsibilities
placed upon him by his fellowmen; but
to me the most fitting monument to
Lincoln is the party he helped to or
policies he helped develop, for the last
ing benefit of the whole country
east and west. north and south, white
and black, bond and free.
1.-THE party of Lincoln has had
| longer life, longer control of the gov
| eminent than any other party, and I'M
der its administration has been writ
ten the most marvellous history of hui
man achievements ever recorded by
any people, in any time since the be-
ginning. Lincoln was one of the found
ers of the Republican party. its first
| great leader, and the principles en-
| bodied in the first platform are still
the principles of the party.
Lincoln will always be known as
| the first and foremost Republican, as
| he will ever be known as second to
no other American. He was a party
man, battling for principles which his
| party represented which he believed
of vital interest to the American pee
pie. He led in the great contest. When,
for the first time, a majority of the
! electors Endorsed the principles and
| policies laid down in the Republican
platform. The young men who read
the Republican platform of 1908 will
find in it the platform of 1860. The
majority of the people have only twice
in so years failed to sustain This plat
form. After each of these experiments
i with other policies they have come
back Ike the prodigal son, chastened
by their experience and glad to see
the old home again.
LincOln's First Platform.
Neither Lincoln nor the political
policies he represented were sudden
| discovery. The man and what he stood
for had been developing in the great
new west for quarter century. When
| Lincoln returned from the Black Hawk
| war and stood as candidate for the
Illinois legislature, from Sangamon
county, in 1888. though the state was
| overwhelmingly and enthusiastically
Democratic. he published his platform:
| I am for the national bank; l am
for a high protective tariff, and the
system of internal improvements. These
are my sentiments and political prin-
| ciples'
| He also declared his opposition 20
| the extension of slavery into the terri
tories. These became the cardinal doc
| trineS of the Rpublican party, and Lin
| coin, probably more than any other one
man, by his consistent battle in the
west, developed the public sentiment
and quickened the public conscience
that created the Republican party
twenty years later.
Lincoln was no fair weather sailor.
going with the wind and tide, nor was
he like one crying aloud and sparing
not with fanatical hate and prejudice
to arouse revolution against a system
that had been in existence since the
organization of the republic. He felt
the cruelty, inhumanity and injustice of
slavery as keenly did any man, but
he had profound belief in the autonomy
of the state, and he never allowed him
self to join those who cried for aboH-
ton and advocated methods that would
destroy the equilibrium of authority be-
tween state and nation as provided by
the constitution, and centralize all pow
er in the federal government. He held
to that safe ground that the territories
were under the direct authority of con-
gress by explicit mandate of the con-
stitution, and that congress should ex-
ercise such power to make true the
declaration that this is a government OF
position against the extension of slav-
} cry into the territory, and he asso.
ciated with that contention the policies
5 which he believed essential to the pros.
: perity of a free people.
His advocacy of a protective tariff
was not limited by time or conditions
l He demanded protection to American
: industry, not in the infant stage or any
; other stage. but as a permanent polio!
of advantage, if not of necessity, fO
l the development and advancement o
the United States among the nations o
the earth. He proclaimed his belief IL
the doctrine of Alexander Hamilton a
a time when it seemed that the popu
larity of Jackson had given the Demo
cratic party perpetual lease on tn,
5 will of the majority.
Lincoln continued his advocacy o
s these political principles on the stuml
} and in the legislature, until he becam