The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1916-02-17
The Cincinnatus of the West.
Whom envy dared not hate.
Bequeath the name of Washington.
To make men blush there was but onel
Lord Buron.


life L ar1stocrat1c should De re.
garded as the father Of American de-
mocracy.
And to the p~resent-day point of view
1t is all the more strange when We re-
call the reproach made against Wash
ington that "the great Virginian held
slaves"
But Washington, to be judged fair
ly, like everyone else, must be consid-
cred with reference to his time and
surrounding conditions.
Washington deserves little credit for
not yielding to the temptations to as
sert his aristocratic lineage by becom-
ing a tory. He vas directly affected
by the unfair attitude of the mother
country in imposing taxation without
representation. What he did was a
natural outcome of what he was.
Where he did merit the highest honor
was in his rising so magnifcently to
his responsibilities and opportunities.
A man selfish and arrogant might have
exacted more for himself, might have
striven to establish himself as a per-
manent power over the nation he had
helped to create. But there is no evil
dence that Washington ever felt such
a temptation. Aristocrat as he was
and Shareholder, he was all the more
extraordinary in being able to turn
from the prejudices of his training to
a realization Of the democratic ideal.
Perhaps we can reach a little clear
er understanding of what Washington
was and of what he did by placing
| him in our own time. It was as If, at
the present time, a man of distin-
guished position and of wealth, were
to become a leader in the labor move
ment. For, from the point of view of
England, the %colonials were humble
folk, mainly tillers of the field, work
ers in small enterprises. To their
aus Washington gave dignity, as
we'll as marvellous personal courage.
With his tattered, half-fed, poorly
trained troops he defeated the pro-
fessional soldiers of England and the
Hessian m~ercenaries. He had, of
course, the ~superlative advantage of
being sustained by the power of a sub.
lime moral idea, all the more effective
because 1t was opposed by the weak.
ness that goes with self-conscious and
contemptuous superiority.
Really Deserves More Credit.
Washington has not been accorded
!. by the world the credit he deserves
for his share in establishing democ.
racy as a working force in annation,
We are likely to forget that democ'
racy, while he fought for it, was not
accepted by the world as practicable
To a few 1t was a beautiful theory, an
ideal. To the many it was impracti
cable, a denial Of what they regarded
as the natural unfitness Of human be
ings in large masses to govern them
selves. From France, mainly through
Rousseau, had come the great demo
cratic theory. But France had yet tt
seek its establishment In the blood o.
the French revolution.
Our next Washington is not likely
TO be e soldier-statesman. He will no
lead In q war between nations or be
tween foes identified with any geo
graphical limits. He will give dignit,
and coherence and organization to /
cause now Id need OF apowerful chan,
picn.s ne Will strive, not against taxa
Hon without representation, bu
against production Without fair com