The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-09-07
Birthplace of Emancipation, Now
Encased In Marble Monu-
ment, Is Turned Over
to Government.
WILSON VOICES HIS PRAISE
President, In Speech Accepting
Memorial, Pays Highest Trib-
,'te to Man Who Saved
Tnion of States.


ands of persons made the pilgrimage
to Hodgenville today by train, In auto
mobiles, afoot and in horse drawn CON
~veyances to be present at the cere-
monies attending the transfer to the
and the cabin in which Abraham Lin
coin was born.
The Lincoln cabin, inclosed in a
magnificent Granite memorial building
was given to the government by the
Lincoln Farm association under a spe-
cial act of congress-. The program
called for speeches by President Will
son, Secretary Baker, Senator John
Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, and
former Governor Folk, of Missouri.
President Wilson arrived in a special
train, accompanied by Mrs. Wilson,
Senator's Williams and Newlands and
Secretary Baker.
The president was welcomed by a
cheering throng of more than 25, 1000
people. AS he stepped from his private
a several bands began playing and
the applause was deafening. The presi-
dent stood in his automobile and bowed
again and again. Large crowds were
gathered at every wayside station be-
tween Louisville and Hodgenville, and
applauded with enthusiasm as Mr.. Will
SON special passed through.
At the Hodgenville station an auto
mobile parade was formed and pro-
ceeded to a statute Of Lincoln in the
town square, where the president laid a
wreath of flowers The streets were
lined with cheering throngs. From the
statue the parade proceeded to the
Lincoln cabin two miles from Hodgen-
vile. There, temporary stands had been
built at the foot of the broad granite
stairs leading up to the Lincoln men,
orial, topping a hill.
Mr.. Wilson's Speech.
The president said:
No more significant memorial could have
been presented to the nation than this. 1t
expresses so much Of what is singular and
noteworthy In the history Of the country;
1t suggests so many of the things that we
prize most highly in our life and in our
system of government. How eloquent this
little house within this shrine Is OF the
vigor of democracy. There Is nowhere In
the lam any home so remote, 80 humble,
that It may not contain the power Of mind
and heart and conscience to which nations
yield and history. submits its processes.
Nature pays no tribute to aristocracy, sub
scrtbes to no creed OF caste, renders fealty
to no monarch or master of any name or
kind. Genius Is no snob. 1t does not run
after titles or seek by preference the high
circles of society. 1t affects humble com
pany as we'll as great. 1t pays no special
tribute to universities or learned societies
or conventional standards of greatness,
but sercnely chooses its own comrades, its
W haunts, its own cradle even, and its
oWb AS " dNNNlN'lS GIN VI uilill
Here is proof Of 1t. This little hut was the
cradle Of one Of the great sons OF men, a
man of singular, delightful, vital genius
who presently emerged upon the great
stage of the nations history, gaunt, shy,
ungainly, but dominant and majestic, a
natural ruler of men, himself inevitably
the central figure OF the great plot. No
man can explain this. but every man can
see how IL demonstrates the Vigor of de-
mocracy, where every door Is open, in eV-
cry hamlet and countryside, in city and
ufl1arpaec allFp FOR the ruler IN aTnarpa
when he will and claim his leadership In
the free life. SUCH are the authentic
proofs of the validity and vitality OF de-
saocracy.
Source of Democracy.
Here, no less, hides the mystery Of de-
mocracy. Who shall guess this secret OF
nature and providence and a free polity?
Whatever the vigor and vitality of the
stock from which he sprang, its mere Wig
or and soundness do not explain where
this man got his great heart that seemed
to comprehend all mankind in its Catholic
and benignment sympathy, the mind that
sat enthroned behind those brooding, mel
ancholy eyes, whose vision swept many
an horizon which those about him dreamed
not of-that mind that comprehended what
II had never seen, and understood the
language Of affairs with the ready ease of
one to the manner born-or that nature
which seemed In its varied richness to be
tho familiar of men OF every way of life.
This Is the sacred mystery Of democracy.
that it's richest fruits spring up out of
soils which no man has prepared and in
circumstances amidst which they are the
least expected. This Is a place alike Of
mystery and OF reinsurance.
tt Is likely that in q society ordered
otherwise than our own Lincoln could not
have found himself or the path of fame
and power upon which he walked s%erenely
to his death. In this place 1t Is right that
we should remind ourselves of the solid
and striking facts upon which our faith
In democracy Is founded. Many another
man besides Lincoln has served the ma
ffnn In itg hiphaEt nlACna of counsel and
of action whose origins were as humble
as his. Though the greatest example of
ton, and force of democracy. he is only
one example among many, The permeat-
ing and all-pervasive virtue of the free
dom which challenges us IN America to
make the most of every gift and power
we possess every page of our history
serves to emphasize and illustrate. Stand
ing here in this place, it seems almost
the whole of the stirring story.
Here Lincoln had his beginnings. Here
the end and contamination of that great
life seem remote and q bit incredible. And
yet there was no break anywhere between
beginning and end, no lack of natural Sc
quence anywhere. Nothing really incredi-
BILE happened. Lincoln was unaffectedly as
much at home in the White House as he
was here. DO you share with me the feel
ing ! wonder, that he was permanently
az home nowhere? 1t seems to me that in
a spirit,-like Lincoln the question where
he was is of little significance, that it is
always what he was that really arrests
our thought and takes hold of our mag
ination. 1t Is the spirit always that is SOW
ereiGn. Lincoln, like the rest of us, was
put through the discipline of the world
a very rough and eXacting discipline for
him, an Indispensable discipline for every
man who would know what he is about in
the midst of the worlds affairs; but his
spir { got only Its schooling there. 1t did
not Derive it's character or its vision from
the experiences which brought it to its
fu.l reyelation. The test of every Ameri-
can must always be, not where he Is. but
whar he Is. That, also, Is of the essence
OF f.l ocracy, and is the moral of which
this place is most grayely expressive.
We. would like to him OF men like
Lblcoln and Washington as typical Amer
leans. but no man can be typical who is
so unusual as these great men were. 1t
was typical of American life that ii should
produce such men with supreme indiffer-
ence as to the manner in which 1t pro-