The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1916-02-24
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom envy dared not hate.
Bequeath the name of Washington,
To make men blush there was but onel
Lord Buyon.

life were aristocratic should be re-
garded as the father of American de.
mocracy.
AND to the present-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 was 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 ne 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 little clear
er understanding of what Washington
was and of what he did by placing
him in our own time. It was as if, al
the present time, man of distin-
guished position and of wealth, were
to become 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
cause 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 mercenaries. He had, of
course, the superlative advantage of
being sustained by the power of sub
lime moral idea, all the more effective
because it was opposed by the weak
ness that goes with self-conscious and
cortemptuous 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 a nation.
We are likely to forget that democ-
racy, while he fought for it, was not
accepted by the world as practicable.
To few it was beautiful theory, an
ideal. To the many it was impractl:
cable, a denial Of what they regarded
as the natural unfltness 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 to
seek its establishment in the blood Of
the French revolution.
Our next Washington Is not likely
to be a soldierstatesman. He will not
lead IN war between nations or BE-
tween foes identified with any geo.
graphical limits. He will give dignity
and conference and organization to a
cause now in need Of powerful cham
pion.. He will strive, not against ,axa.
ton without representation, but
against production without fair com
pensation. ..