Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-09-12
Mr.. LEMKE

.NN ~is>A N'A'e SiN y
and perhaps prayerfully-from every angle, Mr..
Lelnke announces his acceptance Of the Nonpartisan
league endorsement for governor. Inasmuch as Mr..
Lembke was present in Bismarck where it was de-
clded that he should be a candidate, and was a most
active member of the conferences which preceded
that action, his acceptance is deprived of the ele-
rnent of surprise. In view of the general under
standing that for reasons Of his own he insisted on
this nomination, and that other leaders of his fac
ton accepted it reluctantly, and with strong reser-
%vations, it was really expected that he would run.
Williams letter of acceptance is a literary gem.
William has been known chiefly as a politician, For
some reason he has acquired the reputation of being
a cold, callous schemer. devoid of Sympathy, and
careless of the graces which beautify human inter
course. With one wave of his typewriter as it were,
he brushes these misconceptions away and reveals
himself as an adept in the fine art of rhetoric, and
an injured and misunderstood man., :
In an old poem in which the speaker is sup
posed to address an Egyptian mummy, exhumed
after being in dry storage for three thousand years,
the orator exclailns f~eelingly:
A heat has throbbed beneath that leathern breast,
And tears adown those dusky cheeks have rolled.
This realization could not have been more i'm
pressive in the case of the mummy that the touch
OF nature which William gives us in his digni6ed
utterance. The modesty of his statement, and its
touching appeal bring to mind another famous ap-
peal, that Of Mark Antony:
For | have neither wit, nor words, nor worth.
Action nor utterance, nor the power Of speech
To stir mems minds to 1nutiny and rage;
And then, as he is about to reveal Caesars wounds:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
There is something about Mr.. Len1ke's state
ment that impels one to drop into poetry, not pro-
fessionally. of course, but, like Mr.. Wegg, as a
friend, and there is no limit to the number of touch
ing things that are suggested by his interesting pro-
duction.
AS to the subject matter. Mr.. Lemke takes the
people into his confidence, and assures them that the
stories which are told of him, and which reflect on
his character, arc false. And he recognizes the diff
6culty Of the task which he faces when he says that
this detraction has deceived the very elect, "and
left a few of the greatest souls among us, warriors
for liberty, tossed by doubt. and uncertainty as to
the motive behind my acts r
The acts themselves, as Mr.. Lemke 50 truly
says, cannot be doubted, but these great should
grope for the sinister motives that inspired the acts.
This cropping, we are told, is in vain. This is dis
tressing. 1t is to be hoped that Mr.. Lemke will
later find himself at liberty to inform the public on
these points, for while there, is a pretty fair knowl-
edgeiof what he has done, it would at least be inter
esting to know why in thunder he did it, inasmuca
as he ought to have known better. y
1t is impossible to do justice to Mr.. Lemke's
statement in one comment. 1t is SO full of meat that
it cannot be digested at one meal. But, like that
other great apostle, he assures US that he has fought
a good fight, and has kept the faith. With char
acterjstic and becoming 1%nodesty, in his search for
a comparison, he goes no further than the apostle
Paul-at present.