The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1918-01-25
A COMPARISON

IN little item emitted Courage,
the New York Herald of Tuesday
says:
According to Washington reports.
President Wilson likens the move
lment for war cabinet to an attempt
to curtaii the power OF President Lin
coin"
Then it adds
1T certainly takes a brave man to
invite comparisons between the VIII
son cabinet and that of Lincoln"
Coming down to brass tacks. one
will find the Heralds proposition not
very difficult task.
If one will read the newspapers of
the civil war period he will find that
Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet were
made of flesh and blood the same as
other people. and were the objects
of very hostile criticism
4 A perfect pandora box of cahmny
was poured out on the head of the
martyred president and those caIum-
MES were kept up during the greater
/ part of the time he occupied the ex-
ecutiye office.
His critics were as harsh in their
denunciations as any that Mr. Wilson
and his cabinet have been subjected
( to, and were made by men as promi-
nent III public life.
II can be truthfully stated that
many of those calumnies were insti-
gated and kept alive by members of
his own party
One of Mr.. Idncoln's most promi-
nent critics was Mr. Horace Greeley.
the founder of the New York Tribune
and one of the most influential editors
in the nation
1t is all a mistake not to believe
that Mr.. Lincoln was not surrounded
by his LaFollettes. Hardwicks. Reeds
and Heralds, who gave him the same
measure of embarrassment as these
men are giving Mr.. Wilson
AT this distance Of time one can
take measurement of those compos-
ing the cabinets of these two wonder
full men with some degree of fairness
and if one will undertake the task
dispassionately he will find that the
cabinet of Woodrow Wilson will not,
suffer by the comparison
Mr.. Lincoln chose for his secretary
of State Mr. William Fl Seward. who
was his rival for the presidential
nomination
Mr.. Seward came into prominence
by wave OF anti-Masonic excitement
that was then sweeping over the
country and afterwards by his radi-
cal higher law" utterances concern
ing the institution of slavery.
He was too violent and vindictiveI
TO have been d great man.
Against Mr. Seward Mr. Wilson
chose for his secretary of state Mr..
William J. Bryan. who rose to popu-
larity and power by the possession of
extraordinary genius and intellect.
and beside Mr. Seward history will ac-
cord to Mr. Bryan the higher place.
Mr. Lansing is Nh Bryan's success
or and his state papers rank immeas-
urably greater than those of Mr. Lin
coins secretary of state
Mr. Lincoln's secretary of the treas
ury was Mr.. Salmon F. Chase. He,
rose to prominence by being an abo-
lition democrat very high value is
given him for his handling of the f.
nances, but beside the great financial
record made by Mr. William McAdoo
it is like placing pigmy beside a gi
ant
Mr. McAdoo did not come into prom
inence by any exciting political topic
but did so by the exercise of his own
genius and extraordinary achieve
mentS
His handling of the finances in the
greatest crisis of the nation in man
ner that is almost inconceiyable will
give him a place as financier far
greater than those of any of his prede
CesSors
Mr. Lincoln's secretary Of war was
Mr. Edwin NJ Stanton While be
was energetic, if one will read the
record he Will find that he was con
stantly embroiled in controversies
with politicians, members of congress
and officers of the army. He was en-
gagged in broils particularly caustic
with Mcclellan and sherman and was
irasible and despotic.
Against Mr. Stanton Mr. Wilson
has Mr.. Newton y Baker.
While Mr.. Stanton was gathering to
gether an army OF less than half a
million of men Mr.. Baker is gathering
an army of more than nine millions.