The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-02-03
alexander Hamilton
Speech by Hon. Samuel W. Mccall Member Of Congress

we call the immortals when more
than century and a half after he
came into the world and more than
century after he left It his birthday
is celebrated in so many places
throughout the nation he did so much
to establish. In a strict sense, II Is
the beginning and not the ending of a
career which we commemorate to-
night. The beginning is enveloped in
hope and fear; IL has all the chance
of failure or success, while the end
has the certainty of achievement; the
dangers have been passed, and the
completed record Is spread in the
clear light. Lord Rosebery said upon
the hundredth anniversary of the death
of Burns that 1t was perhaps more
fitting to celebrate the end and not
the beginning, for the coming of
these figures is silent. II is their
passing that we note. And yet we
find ourselves tonight as If we stood
on the day of the birth at Nevis fiji
led with the spirit of prophecy and
looking forward tracing the full
flight Of the spirit until it came to
its rest. We feel the fresh hopes Of
the coming and gathering shades OF
the going, the dawn and the sunset
and all the glory that lies between
them, and we see, too, the workings Of
h. 80 ~
Of the later generations of men. SO
when We celebrate the beginning We
celebrate II for what came after; we
celebrate the life and the deeds of
the statesman, not merely as they
we're unrolled but as they appear in
the light Of their results
When men deal greatly with the
eternal human problems. so far as
such problems may be eternal, they
are apt to involve their fame In al.
most eternal controversy. They put
1t on the ebb and flow of the ever
shifting tides of opinion. Systems OF
government are fundamental in their
importance. They involve questions
upon which men always have differ.
ed and probably always will differ.
Those differences are greater where
system is not the slow growth of
centuries and adapted by time to con.
ditions, but is creation contrived at
one time and set in motion by sin.
gle group of men. II was Hamilton's
fortune to be identified with basic
theories and basic policies of govern
ment perhaps more closely than anY
other statesman in our history. At d
time when we had no real Federal
authority and the affections of u
large majority of our people were cen.
tered upon the states, he was the
very. genius of nationality. He, more
than any othed man, was the aggres.
sive champion of central govern
ment strong enough to establish with
certainty real unity among the
States and to put an end TO the dis.
cordant policies, the weakness. and
even anarchy which then existed. He
breasted the pride of patriotism held
toward Is small nations. He shocked
the prejudices of men and achieved
political hostility which has not
even now wholly disappeared. And
then in that most critical time when
the Constitution was to be put In OPP
GRAFTON as practical mechanism,
when the invention, which was only
upon paper, was to be converted into
living instrument and the new and
meet the most delicate questions IN
foreign policy and almost insuper
able difficulties in our domestic az.
fairs, Hamilton was preeminent in
the part he took in setting the wheels
of the government in motion and
starting the new nation IN the right
direction. II required two generations
10 win forgiveness for the command
ing part he played to secure a nation
atty which should have no ambigu.
ity about It. Until the civil war had
ton desired to make il in the first ~
stances, and what he strove TO make
ii in Washington's administration, the
estimates of the character of his work
were almost equally divided between
violent abuse on the one side and IS
violent panegyric on the other, Thus
more than that of any other of our
statesmen his fame has been in dan.
ger of partisanship both from friend
and foe.
In what may we best see the char
acteristic quality of his statesman.
ship? To my mind 1t is in his swift
and unerring comprehension of com.
pick and difficult situations and the
surprising raDidity of his genius I'm