Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-02-12
LINCOLN, DEMOCRAT, SERVANT OF ALL.

thinking, that the two leading political parties OF the
United States take the titles of democrat and repub- az
liean. 1t makes 1t difficult to speak g democracy ana 90
republicauiSm without leading some of your auditors 90
to fancy that you mean one of the two great iob-hunt- 90
ing organizations. %
when l call L~incoYs&an democrat l have, of course, az
no intention Of identifying him with any political fac 90
ton, bt refer to the fact that he believed in the rule. 90
of the people and not of the classes, which is the root 90
meaniu& Of democracy. 20
To ur Lincoln was the greatest democrat that 90
ever I,,}-that is, no one seems to have had such an 90
utter confidence in the common people as he. 90
In the first place, he knew the people. Heidi oo
not com" down from some higher social level to edo -
them g"I.' lie was not a missionary to the people. 90
He was ono Of them. lie was born right. His par 90
ents. relatives, and all the n~eighbors of his early life 90
were just folks" %
II WAS q free, wide country he lived in. Every az
body worked. There were no endowed Ioafers, no 90
~self@tyIr] superior class. A man was a man for a. 90
that in Sangamon county, Illinois, in the forties and 90
fftic&. The only way to know a people is to be born 90
Of tIrn and to have your youth soaked in their envi- oo
ronmcnt. *
And Lincoln 'Scnsed" the people, knew what they 90
wanted, loved, feared, and hoped better than any 9TH 90
er man of his age, and, possibly, of any age. lie was 90
the peoples nerve, part and parcel Of their body; he ~
felt them. ..s 80
Then he esteemed them. He thought the whole &C
peopl" had more sense than any leader or wise states %
man. You are never a genuine democrat until you *
think that. He expressed it in his wondrous way when 81
he said: "Nou can fool some of the people all the 90
time, and all Of the people some of the time, but you 90
cant fool all Of the people all the time 90
And the people, he believed, We're not only wiser, 90
but they were also honester, purer, holier, and more 80
nearly right than any small number or specially train 90
ed or bred group. To him the will of that great peo- 90
pie from whom he sprang was the will Of God. Their 90
grim purpose was the purpose Of God. The majesty 90
Of their deep feeling he revered as if it We're the males ~
ty Of God. ooo
There was none of the clap-trap and hypocrisy of 90
the ofice-seeker in his appreciation Of the people. 1t 90
was through and through his soul. 90
lie was not a ruler, as julius Caesar. He was not 90
a leader nor teacher, nor guide to the people, as other ~
great men have been. He was one Of the greatest az
servants of the people that ever lived. 90
He did not twant to help them he knew they 90
could help themselves if they could find the right kind 90
of servant, and that he strove to be. 90
He knew the people did not need any king or oo
general or statesman to instruct them what to do, nor 90
any philanthropist nor Millionaire to do things for 90
themselves, to struggle out Of their poverty by their 90
own efforts, to remedy their own wrongs and to carry 90
out their own reforms when they got ready. "
And what Lincoln stood for is the thing America, * *
and all the world, for that matter, needs today-to-wit, 90
that the people do not need 50 much new laws, new and 90
fantastic schemes OF government, new gospels, wise 90
guides, benefactors, and helpers, but they simply need 90
agents who will carry out their will; they need simple oo
justice, a square deal, and a chance to paddle their 90
own canoe. az
The world today needs the faithful servant not %
the superior ruler. 90
In Lincoln was fulfilled the words Of One who 90
also took upon Himself the form Of a servant. oo
And whatsoever will be great among you shall oo
be the servant Of all.''-Dr, Crane, in st. Paul Dis 90
patch. 90
l wooa !, coai1atoa 80
!. - Nooo, : Gouing'on county farmer VINO 90
OWLS Z IA sectlon I lahd near the town OF Kan 90
peska, says that his taxes on his home in the city Of 90
Watertown has been reduced about SIS last year While 90
the state taxes on his farm increased about 40 per cent 90
during the same period. oo
90
That was a shrewd move by the Byrne-Crawford 90
machine to change the date when taxes become dein- -
quent from March II to April i. Tt was known at the az
time this date was changed that the date of the pri- 90
maries would fall on the Oath OF March and the ma 90
chine preferred that as many as possible would vote 90
before they found out what their taxes were. lit is a 90
rule that men never pay their taxes until they have to, ~ -
and hence it was figured that the big end Of the tax 90
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