Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-03-01
CHAIRMAN ADAMS At
THE LINCOLN LEAGUE
preston News Service)

Chicago, Ill, Feb. 21.-'This is Lin
coins birthday The day, above all
others, that seems to bring us closer
together on common ground, and to
make us more truly Americans all"
declared Hon. John T. Adams chair
man of the Republican National Com
mttee in his address before the Nat
ional convention of the Lincoln Leag-
ue here on February 18th. Continuing
Mr. Adams said
Everywhere, today, the story OF
Abraham Lincoln. is being told anew
In the Halls Of Congress, in the vii
lage school house. here in Chicago
everywhere, from border to border
Americans are pausing again in their
daily tasks, to speak for moment OF
their most precious national memory.
Lincoln is immorta. So long as the
Republic lasts, his name will last. SO
long as his memory remains, the Ma
tion will remain. You and I, perhaps,
are merely incidents along the way, as
the spirit Of Abraham Lincoln moves
staunchly onward, generation after
generation, into the ages. Customs will
change standards may alter, faces will
fade and new ones will appear, but the
story of Lincoln will ALWAYS appeal
and bind each new era securely back
to the man and the day that made our
Union sure.
cit must have been wonderful
thing to live when Lincoln lived-to
lie his contemporary. 1t is a wonderful
thing to be only little way removed
to be able still, to talk with persons
who talked with the Great Emancipa-
tor persons who saw him, and knew
him. and witnessed the acts which as
sured him to us all, and to those who
will follow 1t is a wonderful thing to
he able to say: Lincoln was Republi
can-and I am Republican,
"Often, there is a very real penalty
attached to greatness. Almost always
to Immortality. First we idolize-and
then idealize. 1t is then that we strip
from the memory of man all that
made him human-his flesh and blood
and bone-and leave in their place
mere marble and bronze and careless
praise. There are many memorials to
Abraham Linioln. He sits in silent
splendort close to the banks Of the Pa
tomac. He is remembered in granite
and bronze in many places.
"But none of these things however.
beautiful, however inspired-are Lin
coin. We must not permit ourselves
to look upon them as such. The things
that are Lincoln cannot be wrought
from metal or shaped in stone. Humil-
ity of heart, LONELINESS of mind, and
gentle patience with lesser men
these were the simple attributes that
made Lincoln an immortal memory.
Without them he would still have been
great-but he would not have been
the Lincoln we love to recall. Because
Of these attributes, he brought a rup'
tured Nation through the horror of in
ternal war with its soul single and in
tact. Because of them, he cleansed Vic
tory of vain glory and gave dignity to
defeat.
Lincoln was Republican and we
are Republicans. That is why we are
here together. Never before has it been
more of privilege openly to reassert
our faith in our party. But it is not
enough to say merely that we are Re-
publicans. We must aspire to that ster
ling Republicanism which was laid
DOWN for us so clearly by the man we
remember now.
when the nation. was new-When
none could reasonably have dreamed
Of the America of today-a mere hand
full of men brought into existence a
document so fundamentally sound, so
thoroughly American, that no man or
movement or plot has been able to dis
place it. That document W the Con-
stitution of the U. S. And thus
it was with Lincoln and the Republi-
can Party. B y word and by deed, he
established Republicanism so true
in principal and purpose, SO right and
SO strong. that it remains today the
well of inspiration for all who believe
in party government, and Nation SUI
preme.