The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-14

world in distress, seeking harborage
from battering storms and raging I'M
known deeps, might well lay the
course of civilization itself"
Text of Presidents Address.
The text of President Harding's ad-
dress was in part as follows;
sThere begins here today the fulflllment
Of one of the striking contempIatlons CON
tanned in the last Will OF the Iather OF ms
country. 1t is an impressive tact, worthy
Of our especial thought, that in the century
and a half since Washington became the
iaader the heart and soul of its struggle
for independence and unity, TINS NATION
mas so many times found occasions to re-
cord devotion to the precepts Whlch ne
laid down for his guidance. so TO-DAY,
after more than a centurys delay were
come to pay tribute to the 1oreslght Whl ti
first encouraged and endowed the 1nsu-
tuition here and beyOnd-an institution
which is to be alike a monument to those
who sacrificed In noole cause anu ana a
knowIedge and grateful understanding
among men For 1 need not remind you
testament first conceived the idea which
we here see shaping into forms that shall
combine Ioftiest sentiment and truest util-
-'y.It has seemed to me that our studies
Of Washington have been too much from
those public sides from which we view
MIN as the military chief, the inspired
leader of the colonies, the statesman and
guide Of constitution making times, the
Welding force for which hammered frag-
ments of communities into great ma
ton; as the first president, and as the
author of that body Of domestic and for
efgn policies which he bequeathed in his
farewell address, All this wekqow; but
we have not gathered all Of inspiration that
waits to reward the contemplation of the
virtues and ideals that made Washington,
on his private and personal side, very
model Of good citizenship
Nation Owes Debt to Him.
perhaps there has never been a nation
which has owed so much to one man as
our repubIic owes to Washington .
''Washington was not only a great SOL
der and a great statesman-he was also
man of great business affairs and an
eminent humanitarian. ProVident and al
WAYS methOdical he amassed a fortune
which has been rated by many as the
greatest of his time in all the country.
Had it been his desire to found monu
mental estate, the vast tracts of carefully
selected land of which he was possessed
and in whose future value he had the ut
its ample foundation. But plainly, it
was not his belief that society is best
served by the transmission from genera
ton to generation of such imposing ag
gregates of wealth.
'Therefore, his will, after devising minor
and largely sentimental requests to many
relatives and friends, directed that the
residuary estate should be divided into
% equal shares to be distributed among
about that an estate which. If held to-
gether and wisely administered, might
have become very large, was deliberately so
distributed that in a few years, its entity
was gone and its portions had lRen alb
sorbed into the geI) raj body of the coun-
try's wealth. If that process of disinte-
1t is probable that in the sum of results,
the nation was gamer by the policy of
Washington.
Was Model Citizen.
washington, as a model citizen, shines
forth with a peculiar radiance from this
last testament The first provision is that
u DC dnElf ha1 hn mr. 1raf1 fIa
world needs the example of kept obIiga-
lions. The second item makes generous
provision for his wife; and then comes the
direction that at her death all his slaves
shall be given freedom; that those who
need it shall be cared for by his estate;
and that they all are to be taught to
read and write and are to be brought up
to some useful occupation
Next follow devises of funds to aid
education Of poor and orphaned children
and for the endowment of university in
a central part of the UniteB States =