The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-12-04

'tOISt dSIlIlRI DI
Tor the doctrine of Frederick the
Great translated into mendacious
phrases Of peace. l go back TO that
serene and masterful soul who pointed
the way to power and glory for the
new and then weak republic, and
whose teachings and admonitions even,
in our majesty and dominance we dare
not disregard.
know well the answer to my con-
tention. 1t has been piped about of
,late from a thousand sources-venal
sources, disloyal sources, sinister
lsources-that Washington's wisdom
was of his day only and that his
teachings are out of fashion-things
long since sent to the scrap heap of
history-that while he was great in
character and noble in soul he was
UNFRAMED in the arts of statecraft and
unlearned in the science of govern
ment. The puny demagogue, the bar
,ren editor, the sterile professor now
vie with each other in apologizing for
the temporary and commonplace ex-
,pedients which the father of our
country felt constrained to adopt in
building a republic.
What is the test of craftsmanship?
lis it the formation of theories, the ut
terance of abstract and incontroverti-
ible truths, or is it the capacity and the
power to give to a people that con-
crete thing in human happiness called
free institutions and to establish over
all and above all the blessed and
eternal reign of order and law? If
this be the test, where shall we find
another whose name is entitled to be
written beside the name of Washing
ton? His judgment and poise in the
hour Of turmoil and peril, his courage
and vision in times of adversely, his
firm grasp of fundamental principles,
his almost inspired power to pene-
trate the future and read there the
result, the effect of policies, have
never been excelled, if equalled, by
any of the worlds commonwealth
builders.
Peter the Great, William the Silent,
and Cromwell the Protector, these and
these alone perhaps are to be associ-
,ated with his name as the builders of
states and the founders of govern
But in eXultation of moral
rt1r,nnCa in thn nncalficb oh apaotnr nf
his work, in the durability of his pol
icies, in the permanency Of the insti-
'@tutions which he more than anyone
else called into effect, his service to
mankind stands out separate and
apart in a class by itself. The work
of these other great builders, where
are they now? But the work of
Washington is still the most potent
influence for the advancement Of
civilization and the freedom of the
For Union, Not confederacy.
Reflect for a moment over his
achievements. He led the revolution
airy army to victory. He was the very
first to suggest a union instead of a
c%onfederacy. He presided over and
counselled with great wisdom the con-
vention which framed the constitu-
ton. He guided the government
through it's first perilous years. He
dignity and stability and honor
to that which was looked upon by the
world as a passing experiment, and
finally, my friends, as his own peculiar
and particular contribution to the
happiness of his c%ountrymen and to
the cause of the republic, he gave us
his great foreign policy under
which we have lived and ~prospered
and strengthened for nearly a century
and a half. This policy is the most
sublime confirmation of his genius as
a statesman. 1t was then, and 1t now
is. an indispensable part Of our whole
scheme of government. 1t is today a
vital indispensable element in our en-
tire plan, purpose and mission as a
nation. To abandon it is nothing less
than a betrayal of the American peo-
pie. I say betrayal deliberately, in
view of the suffering and the sacrifice
which will follow in the wake of such
a course.
But under the stress and strain OF
these extraordinary days when strong
men are being swept down by the on
rushing forces of disorder and change,
when the most sacred things of life,
most cherished hopes of a Christian
world seem to yield to the mac forces
of discontent-just such days as
Washington passed through when the
mobs of Paris, wild with new liberty
and drunk with power, challenged the
established institutions of all the
world, but his steadfast soul was I'M
shaken-under these conditions come
again we are about to abandon this
policy so essential to our happiness
and tranquility as a people and u
stability as a government.
No leader with his commanding In
fluence and his u%nquailing courage
stands forth to stem the current. But
what no leader can or will do expert
ence. bitter experience and the people
of this country in whose keeping, az
fer all. thank God, is the republic, VIII
ultimately do. If we abandon his