The Benson signal., 1920-03-27

few, and the most of the people were standing.
Democrats and Republicans packed into
solid mass together goodnaturedly talking and
chatting each other. Upon the stage seated
prominent men of both parties. chairman and
secretary, and time keepers who had previously
been agreed upon, early in their seats, but
made no effort to restrain the great crowd until
after the speakers had arrived and received the
deafenng applause of their followers.
1t curious sight when the contestants
aScended to their places the platfOrm-Lin
coin was so tall and Douglas short, Lincoln
angular and Douglas so sturdy Lincoln so
spare and Douglas compact and rotund. They
alternated in opening and closing the debates
the opening speaker hour, his competitor fol-
lowing with an hour and a half. and the opening
speaker closing with half an hour
And the whole country realized the Importance
of this local Illinois contest. 1t was understood
that this not much contest of men as Of
principles From the beginning all semblance Of
a local personal struggle vanished The eyes of
the nation were on the two champions. Every
newspaper detailed their speech and action. Every
speech was published in full. Men on either side
made the arguments of their champion their own.
1t was "Old Abe" and "The Little Giant over
again at every crossroads. Illinois the po-
litica and. moral battle ground of the nation.
And at Freeport Lincoln made it plain that he
stood ready to sacrifice the senatorshp in order
to advance the anti-slavery cause At the Ottawa
debate, six days before Douglas had asked seven
questions as to LincOn's attitude toward the va
rous phases of slavery and it's management. At
FreepOrt Lincoln answered these questions
frankly. He confessed his repugnance to slavery,
but said he did not believe in immediate drastic
action to abolish it. He opposed it's extension.
He declared it the duty of congress to pro-
hibit slavery in the territories. And then he put
in turn four questions to Douglas, of which the
second was the momentous question with the far
reaching results.
Lincoln put this question to Douglas against the
frantic protests of his friends and political ad-
visers They told him it would cause his defeat
and would lose him the senatorshp. And Lin
coins reply was this:
"Gentlemen, am killing larger game If Doug
las answers, he can never be president, and the
battle Of 1860 is worth hundred of this"
Lincolny as history has shown, was 100 per
cent patriot and American 1t is dsparage-
ment to add that no shrewder politician ever ran
for office. To appreciate the shrewdness of this
particular move a glance at previous events is
necessary.
The historic Missouri Compromise" act of 1920
prohibited slavery in the territories north of Sc
degrees thirty minutes, latitude. This was re-
pealed and congress substituted for it Douglas
Kansas Nebraska act of 1854. This empowered
the people of the territories to determine for them
selves whether not they should have slavery.
Then came the "Dred Scott decision" of the
United States Supreme court in 1857. This held
that congress has exceeded it's authority in the
passage of the Missouri Compromise act that
slaves were property, and that the owners of
slaves had the right to take this property into
the territories and hold it there like any other
property no matter what the wishes of the people
of the territory in question. This decision was
the direct opposite of the doctrine of Douglas
Kansas Nebraska act. The decision meant that
slavery could exist in Kansas whether the Kansas
neople were or were not willing. Moreover it
onened the door wide for the extension of slavery
TO the West and North
When Lincoln ended his single term in congress
in March of 1949 he practically gave up politics
and devoted himself to his law practice. The
massage of the Kansas Nebraska act in 1854