The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-02-12
WOULD Have
FAVORED BILL "a
tcontinued from page one,


glorified Abraham Lincoln of fiction,
but with the real Lincoln. who was
described as the most hated character
in America from 1882 to 1865. a man
excoriated, cartooned and derided to
his death. And when he died, M. A.
Thomson stated in introducing the
speaker of the afternoon, America
lost one of its two greatest patriots.
The other. he said, he would not
name.
Lincoln in death is nothing to me-"
| said the general manager of the Nom
partisan league. Lincoln in life was
everything. Much that is not true has
been written of Lincoln and his lowly
beginning. Lincoln in boyhood was in
much the same situation as is the
North Dakota farmer boy of today. He
belonged to the same pioneering per-
iod. There was. prehaps, more agi-
tat1on for the principles of human
rights then than now. Lincoln's in
spiration came from the declaration
Of independence. He believed that
when any form of government be-
comes destructive Of human life, lib
erty and pursuit of happiness then it
is the right of the people to amend
or change or overthrow that govern
ment.-
"You men get the same cartoons
and ridicule today that Lincoln did.
But I haven't lost a moments sleep
since l came to North Dakota over
what the newspapers have said about
me or pictured OF me. 1t didn't make
any difference to him how many times
they attempted to put him in an in
sane asylum. nor how often they
called him a free-lover and a Niger
lover. 1t doesn't matter today.
There's many a man who will point
to the flag and sing patriotic hymns
OF America, shed tears and slop over
in his overflow of patriotism who
doesn't know the first attributes of
patriotism or Of the principles of
Lincoln so far as the rights of the
people the concerned"
Coates then quoted from a book Of
Lincolnt debates, saying: This is the
greatest book in my library. have
four histories of Abraham Lincoln
but I'd pitch them all away before
would lose this book. Histories of
Abraham Lincoln are usually 80 per
cent hot air. This Is a compilation
Of all the recorded utterances Of Alb
| raham Lincoln-it is the real Lincoln"
Statements of the Emancipator as
to the right Of the people to change
their form of government were read,
and the speaker referred to these as.
sertions as having had prophetic
bearing on the chamber of commerce
Of Minneapolis and the Fifteen per
cent sharks" of North Dakota. Keep
in mind" he said, "the fellow who is
sitting in the shade and taking your
profits" and he proceeded to draw an
analogy between the North Dakota
farmer of today and the down -trodden
slave. of Lincoln's early manhood.
Who's going to decide whether the
grain gamblers and the fifteen per
cent sharks are going to continue to
live on the prosperity of North Da-
kota, the men in palatial homes on the
hills of st. Paul. Minneapolis. Chicago
| and New York. or the men and women
| and boys and girls of North Dakota?
| "If some people were to read these
statements of Lincoln's they would
accuse him of Safeguarding the
chamber Of commerce of Minnesota
and would brand him the most dan
North Dakota. The trouble is that the
modern agitators haven't the courage
Lincoln had, He lacks backbone"
He quoted from an address of Lin
coin in 1854 as to the dangers Of plac-
ing capital on an equality with or
above labor. Capital is there today"
said the speaker. That's why you're
having such time to get terminal
elevators and other things you're try
ing for"
He quoted Lincoln's statement as
to ability to change governments
through changing public opinion. HE
would have qualified his statement
had Lincoln lived in North Dakota in
1917-he would have said that if you
wish to change sentiment in 1917 you
must go back to 1914. He didn't know
we'd have been foolish enough to have
elected some people ten or twenty or
thirty years ago who would dare set
public opinion of 1917 at naught
Dare say in the senate of North
Dakota this coming week what Lin
cold said more than fifty years ago
about the farmers right to rule be-
cause of his being Of the most num-
erous class, and that other interests
must yield to his interest, and they'd
you in an insane asylum. But guess
he would have voted for House Bill
44-yes, think he would.
And / don't believe he would have
sat silent in his seat and been belit-
tied by the orator of the house.
There's lots of fellows who tomorrow
will say that Lincoln was great
character and that they believe in
him. who don't believe in him at all,
because they don't know and can't
understand his principles and the
things he stood for. They don't be-
lieve in him when he said. Whenever
the people grow weary of a govern
ment they may exercise their consti-
tutional right to amend and change 1t
or their revolutionary right to dis
member and overthrow it, Thousands
tomorrow will praise Lincoln out of
their mouths but in their brains and
hearts they do not understand him
and do not believe in him, and they're
standing today in the legislatures of
our country and in the national con-
gress against the principles OF Lin
coin. Yet they'll be glad tomorrow TO
display their oratorical powers by
shooting hot air about Lincoln"
In closing he pleaded for q revolu-
ton effected by the peaceful ballot
rather than by the bloody bullet" and
he commended members of the pres
emit legislature whom he declared are
making history and handing a heri-
tage to posterity through standing
for the things that Lincoln stood for.
He did not neglect to allude to Gov
ernor Frazier, who, with Mrs, Frazier,
was in the audience. and his reference
to the leadership Of the chief execu-
rive brought forth hearty applause.
Society Brand. Hirsh Wickwire. and
Style-Plus, SIT suits and overcoats for
4 - n