Evening star., 1928-05-13
Going On and Up.


This = .a2B, and an election year
Election years are nilessones along the
road to that mysterious destiny that ties
somewhere over the hill for this big
country, AS We approach the passing
point OF this milestone we hear the
plaintive warnings OF those who like 10
believe that the road is already lead
ing down hill. declining sharply toward
that limbo of the lost that sometimes
goes by the name Of the bow-wows. An
election year encourages this pessimis-
tic mood. The thought Of possibilities
always presented by the vicissitudes Of
politics is apt to be depressing. What,
one asks, is the country coming to?
Where. one cries, are the mighty giants
of olds When. one sobs, will the
pygmies who control our Nation today
step aside--and out?
This is Is2e-not the crest of the
hill. surely. but vantage point which
allows a brief look backward. q retro
Spective view over the milestones passed
on the upward climb. And because one
hundred years is q good round number,
why not choose the milestone Of 1878
for one brief and hurried glance7
It was then that the twelve million
people of the United States were about
TO choose . President. The friends Of
Andrew jackson, feeling. as they did.
that the scholarly John Quincy Adams
and Henry Clay had done him out Of
the presidency four years before py
trickery and subterfuge. we're cunning
for President Adams in their own
rough and ready fashion, for It was q
rough and ready age. Congressional
committees on the Hill were sitting as
long as they sit nowadays. and they
were bent on digging Up all manner Of
dirt. some Of the dirt being used to
plaster Mr.. Adams, some Of 1t to plaster
Gen. Jackson. There was the story ef
Mr.. Adams bin for repainting and re-
papering the White House. There was
the story Of how jackson. at New
Orleans, made six deserters kneel In
their cofins. and. while fifteen hundred
soldiers looked on at parade rest" had
them shot. A pamphlet entitled 'sRem-
tniscences. or an Extract from the Cat
alogue Of Gen. Jacksons Youthful In.
discretions Between the Ages Of Twen-
ty-three and Sixty" detailing. with
other things, some fourteen duels.
hrawIx. shootings. cuttings and other
forms Of exercise INDUCED in by the
candidate, was given wide circulation
and read with avidity.
Near Baton Rouge. Miss, one night. q
TAN. lanky backwoodsrnan, eighteen
years old, taking fat boat cargo from
Indiana 70 New Orleans. was attacked
by seven men, who sought 10 rob him
Of his wares. he put them al to fiigss
with stout club cut from . crabappAe
tree and continued his cruise. On this
cruise he heard the name Of Andrew
jackson passed from tongue TO tongue
~ the man who would save the Nation
from calamity. and when he returned
to Indiana he wrote q rhyme about IT,:
Let snid aeausIntanes be forgos
x.Ana Ana ssysr 5Touship p.iSans % mind
And Adams left behind,
The tall, tsnxy backwoodsmsn was
Abraham Lincoln.
In France q kix-year-old boy was
playing around In the sunshine, and In
the back Of his head somewhere was
tfaat latent and mysterious force which.
before he died, was 70 make the name
of Louis PasteuT immortal A phii0so-
plser and chemist, Samuel r. b. Morse,
was interested In the electro magnet.
but four years were yet TO pass before
he conceived the Idea of the telegraph: !:
sixteen years were TO pass before that
first message What hath Ood
wrought nt9"--woul6 fash from the su-
preme Court at Washington TO Bait :
more. Here In Washington pigs
Kosuaed the streets, and would continue
50 10 roam for many long years Ard
down near the river the barraeoons. OF
slave barracks, housed thousands oi
negroes every year, chained togethei
and waiting 70 be bought and sold
Charles Darwin was yet to set sail Ii
the Beagle. and II was only fourteen
years before that Robert Fulton steane1
up the Hudson In mis- crazy craft. tn
CIeEmont.
And when Andy jackson went int
tie White House all Government en-
psoyes receiving over $1,000 had 70 slio
scribe 10 the Washington oiote--or los
their t0ss.
Tiaat wss only hundred years ago
After all, We move forward.
-sps~saa~~--~--zvr-s- 1890 ~o>~-srv~~as~zHa@+
japan may ind way 10 allow ChinI
- 4 HasaA