Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1921-02-12
SATURDAY MORNING. FEBRUARY 10. 1921
Can zoe aOonder that men perish
and are forgotten q0lsen their noblest
ana most enduring aOorks decay?
-Ausonius.
a Man Who Could Not b. Spared

The life of is essential to the general
scneme OF things Now and then in a crisis for
OF leadership because a dead leader an enter
Price has failed for the it was so tran
sitory that there was no time for adjustment But
IN great enterprises those involving whole peoples
and nations there always be men for places
ana when places suddenly there are
men to take their places
But there have been two Americans without
"hom we are accustomed think, and with apparent
reason. issues would have been dfferent-washing-
ton and Lincoln. When Washington was chosen com
mander-i chief OF the American forces he was not
the most conspicuous of his countrymen. There
were other men more experienced in statecraft and
tnerc were several more exprinced skilled in
military art. There was nothing of the genius in
washington He apparently commonplace
leader. accepted n compromise
But looking back over the then unforeseen perils
ana nardships which were to beset the Connientals
we can perceive leader of tht time who would
nave Possessed the tenacity and headedness
necessary to lead the people through them. We may
well believe that If Washington had fallen the revou
ton would have dsintegrated. Though the wrongs
which had precipitated the revolt would some time
nave been righted and America would have risen,
mere would have been a long delay
Lncoln's position different. Though denied
the advantages of early training his record in the
Thrtieh congress, his debates with Douglas and his
famous antl-slavery speech at Springfield had made
him national figure. though in popular estimation
he ranked far below his opponent Seward in the re-
publican national convention of 1860.
Events though then not interpreted were prepar-
ing leader for the struggle to determine whether
the Union was to survive and out of them was Sc
lected the only of the time possessing the quail
ties which were to the Union. There were other
men more learned others equally courageous but in
none OF them that infinite patience which was to
Enaf4f hath viuJor
country's greatest need.
OF all the who rivaled Lincoln at the time
ne took the presidency there was none who
did not within the next four years hotly critcise
some course Of his in the handling the greatest
problem ever laid before statesman. They could
not grasp the question in all its complexity Each
OF the critics big enough only to consider some
one phase OF It, 1t all within the view and
grasp of Lincoln.
II at the suggestion of any of his critics he had
departed from his and yielded on one hand to
expedicncy and compromise as some advised or had
been swayed by intolerance at the insistence of
others; II he had possessed less of that charity for
alp' had entertained malice" toward the enc
mics Of the Union. there would been disintegra-
ton
Lincoln made mistakes many of them but ne did
persist in them; he was not blind to them until
it was too late to correct them. But they were
minor He never lost sight of the general
plan OF campaign to be followed He was an Amerf-
can whom America could not have spared and sur
vived nation zone and undivided"