Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-23
WASHlNGToNS COACH
DISPLACED BY MOTORCARS
But Some Unthinkine Statesmen Prefer
the Coach, Forgetting That the
First President Used the Best
Thinu He Could Get

IN AN open shed at Mount Vernon there
stands exposed to the view of every
visitor to the famous shrine the coach in
which Washington was wont to do his
travelling. 1t has large, clumsy wheels
resembling those on the ash carts in use
in this city. 1t has no springs as springs
are known today. The cushions on the
seat are thin, suggesting that journey
in the vehicle would be hardship which
few persons accustomed to modern facili-
ties would like to endure.
But this coach was the best that could
be made at the time. Washington was
one Of the richest men in the country, and
he could and did command the luxuries
and the necessities that were available in
the eighteenth century. He was not
handicapped because no one had any
thing better.
If Washington were alive today a
garage would take the place of the open
shed. There would be in it three or four
automobiles. One of them would be
large touring car with limousine body,
upholstered with deep cushions which
would absorb the slight shock that was
not taken up by the cantilever springs.
1t would be propelled by many-cylin-
dered engine with double ignition. 1t
would be equipped with a self-starter,
electric lights inside and out, speedom-
eter, wheel chains for wet weather,
luggage carrier and whatever other con-
,eniences commended themselves to him.
And Washington would look at the
world in the automobile age with the
same adjustment to contemporary condi-
tions with which he contemplated the
world of the age when coach and four
was the highest form of comfort in
travelling.
Like every other man who has done
anything worth while, he faced the eX-
isting conditions and used the tools at
hand to accomplish his tasks.
Washington had firm grasp OIL GER
tain fundamental principles which, so
far as the human mind can discover, are
eternal, and he also had clear concep-
ton of what was necessary for the firm
establishment of the new nation which he
had assisted in setting up.
There are men nowadays so i'll
equipped to do their own thinking that
they seek to find in the words of Wash
ington an nfallible> guide for the United
States when it has grown into a nation
Of 11O,OOO,O00 people inhabiting the
greater part of continent. They rest
their argument on "authority" rather
than on reason.
There is no higher authority than that
of Washington when one is considering
the essentials of democratic government,
unless it be the authority of the common
consciousness of freemen everywhere, in
tolerant of tyranny and insstent on the
right of the majority to rule. But we
respect Washington's pronouncements on
these matters because he put into words
those truths which commend themselves
to the Judgment of mankind, and because
when the opportunity to profit by disre-
parding his principles came to him he re-
fused to embrace it. He preached and he
practiced democracy.Ci
A grievous error is<lnade when states
men fail to distinguish between the
fundamental principles which Washing
ton proclaimed and the cXpedient adjust
ments which he urged upon his country
men 10 meet Inc ColuiCioii9 III "hiSH 'HVS
lived
Every schoolboy knows that when
Washington was President there were no
railroads. no steamships and no telegraph
lines. very schoolboy also knows that
the United States was then six weeks or
two months distant from Europe, and
that it would take from three to four
months to write to Paris and get reply.
The European political problems were
chiefly dynastic. Popular rule as we know
il was unknown. The kings and en-
perors used their subjects as pawns in
the game they were playing, with the
enhancement of their empires as the
stakes. The United States was then
new nation with little commerce or
wealth and torn by jealousies among the
different commonwealths. It's first duty
was at home. 1t was imperative that it
should establish itself, and in order to
do this it must have a. little as possible
n do with the affairs of the rest of the
world. The policy which Washington
laid down under these circumstances was
Of the highest political expediency.
Today we can communicate with
Europe in ten minutes and get a reply in
half an hour if the wires are, cleared
steamships cross the ocean in 1--WE days.
We have great wealth and multtudi-
nous industry. Our foreign commerce ex-
tends to every civilized country on the
globe and to some of the semicivilized
countries. We have possessions in the
middle of the Pacific ocean and we con-
troll a large group of islands that form
one of the boundaries of the China sea.
The nation has not only been established
but it's citizens have vital interests in ali
parts of the world.
The specific foreign policy which
Washington outlined is oUtgrown as far