New Britain herald., 1921-11-14
HARDING SPEAKS
AT CEREMONIES


dent which he said made WASHINGTON
ION his private and personal side.
a very model of good citizenship"
1T is an impressive fact" Mr..
Harding said, worthy Of our especiaI
thought, that in the century and
half since WashingtonA, became the
leader the heart and soul of its strug
gle for independence and unity this
nation has so many times found oc
caslons to record devotion to the pre-
cepts which he laid down for its guild
ance. SO today after more than n
century's delay, we are coming to
pay tribute to the foresight which
first encouraged and endowed the in
stitution here establishcd-an insti
tuition which Is to be alike a monu-
ment to those who sacrificed in n
noble cause and beacon to shed afar
the light of useful knowledge and
grateful understanding among men.
Not Only a Soldier
1T has seemed to me that our
studies of Washington have been too
much from those pursued from which
we view him as a military chief, the
inspired leader of the colonies the
statesmen and guide Of constitutions
making times, the welding force
which hammered fragments OF COM
munities into a great nation; as the
first president; and as the author Of
that body of domestic and foreign
policies which he bequcathed in his
farewell address. l think it may be
said that If on the one side Washing
ton was the great personal force that
wrenched apart the two chief
branches of the English speaking
race, he was on. the other the great
est personal factor in saving this con-
tinent to Anglo-S Saxon domination;
and in doing that he contributed very
greatly to making possible the wide
flung family of English speaking ma
tons.
Served Mankind Well.
If as leader Of the revoltirg COL
onies in rs, this time aided by
France, he tore them from the grasp
of England it is equally true that two
decades earlier he had saved them
from the possible domination of
France. I am sure that today our
faithful friends and trusted allies of
France and England would agree that
in both cases, viewed in the light of
subsequent events, he served mankind
we'll.
Amasscd Great Fortune
washington was not only a great
soldier and great statesman; he was
also a man of great business affairs
and an eminent humanitarian. Provi-
dent and always methodical he
amassed fortune which has been
rated by many as the greatest of his
time in all the country. But plainly
1t was not his belief that society is
best served by the transmission from
generation TO generation of such inn
posing aggregates OF wealth. There
fore his will after dcvising minor and
largely sentimental requests to many
relatives and friends, directed that
the residuary estate should be di-
vided into % equal shares, to be dis
tributed among the heirs whom he
named. Thus it comes about that an
estate which. if held together and
wisely administered might have be
come very large, was deliberately so
distributed that in a few years its en-
tity was gone and its portions had
been absorbed into the general body
of the country's wealth. If that pro-
cess of disinteEration and absorption
involved some loss, it is probable that
in the sum of results the nation was
the gamer by the policy of Washing
ton,
Model Citizens.
washington as model citizen
shines forth with peculiar radiance
from this last testament. The first
provision is that his debts shall be
paid promptly. All the world needs
the example of kept obligations. The
second items makes generous pro-
vision for his wife; and then comes
the direction that at her death all his
slaves shall be given freedom.
Next follow devises of funds to aid
education of poor or orphaned chill
dren and for the endowment of
university in the central part of the
United States Another specific be-
quest goes to Liberty Hall academy,