The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-02-21
WOULD WASHINGTON
HAVE LIKED Us?
Continued From Page One.

who makes a confident grab for the
moon on a bright night. But when we
think OF Washington our b~raShness
seems to ooZe away and we wilt up like
a. toy balloon which has had an argu-
ment with a pin. Through long exer-
else we have .schooled ourselves to be-
lieVe that Washington was an alabas-
ter patriot with a million candlepower
mind who lived surrounded by un-
equaled men Of Himalayan motives;
and that the progress of the United
States morally and periodically has
been one long, joyful toboggan slide
since 1890. 49,
This is not a healthy state of mind.
Moreover, it is not necessary. We
should cheer up. We can admire and
even revere George Washington with
out looking at him and his times
through smoked glasses. Personally,
we doubt very much whether Wash
ington, If set down among III today,
would not buy a building lot in any
good American city except the one
named after him and run for con-
gress. And after he had discovered
that he could run for congress with
out asking permission of the partic-
ular lord of the. manor who sort Of
suggested the nominations for that
district. he would feel more than ever
inclined to mingle with us. q .I
;. We firmly believe that Washington
would like us because he had a pas
sion for improvement. no matter how
much of a muss it made. Washington
never hung back on the lines. Hesnev-
er yelled to his nation to cut down the
speed and rest awhile in the mud. He
never called attention in plaintive
tones to the fact that capital was go
ing to suffer terribly unless the peo-
| pie backed off and let well enough
L Il Inv a~ d" q xyAS1n " nn ono hal r6 hi0
voice at the beginning of the i'll feel
ing of 1774 soaring aloft with a ban
shee wall as he Rugged his large plan
tation to his breast and pleaded with
Virginia to choke off that flannel
mouthed Pat Henry who was bring
ing on a business disaster by his til
rade. . >. -" =.
washington had no personal need Of
progress. Indeed, progress stepped
horribly On his financial toes. The
continental congress wiped out his
credit and imperiled his investments,
but he did not sit on the fence and
howl: you're hurting business" He
was the equivalent Of a millionaire
when the war began. A little later he
Forge in the dead OF winter and blow
ing on his frosted flnfers as he did so.
while British armies roamed the coun-
try offering amnesty to everyone but
him, and the king Of England was ex-
pressing an earnest desire to set his
head on London Bridge. If Washing
ton Ia been the sort of chap who
views us with alarm today. he would
mot have been at Valley Forge. He
would have been at home, giving out
interviews to the effect that he had
laid off seventeen slaves on account OF
slack business and would rent them at
famine prices.
Granting. then, that washington
was progressive to the bone, how
would we affect him today? We admit
that he would probably want to drink
hemlock when he saw his fine old
home with sight-seers scattered all
over the law and poking umbrellas at
his portrait, his army boots and the
bed on which he died, for Washington
was horribly exclusive. And when he
strolled through the average American
city with It's disoTdered dreams OF de-
sign, no two alike, like a postage
stamp collection. and viewed the Mum
erous surviving relics of the jig-saw
orgies Of the seventies in house archi-
lecture, he would undoubtedly yell for
opiates. Modern women in dresses
much more unconventional and auda-
cfous than a wink of the eye wouldI
lhorrify him. Modern noise would ter
rify him. Modern sex drama, In which
language is allowed to run around the
stage IN an entirely uncIOLneQ state,
would cause him to jam his powdered
wig frantically over his ears and rush
from the theatre in shame and confu-
sion.
Epithets Then and Now.
All Of these things WOULD undoubt-
Iedly3 irnpel the distressed father of his
country to take his offspring across
his knee and reason with it in the
good old way. On the other hand, the
newspapers OF modern times would
delight him. Their fairness and gem
tlenlally methods would more than
make up for their tendency to split an
infinitiye down to the chin occasion
Tally. Reading the comments OF a hos