Evening star., 1932-02-23
N|NE-MONTH PERIOD
OF CELEBRATION IS
BEGUN BY AMERICA
President Leads Nation in
Opening Observance of
BicentenniaI.
THOUSANDS COME HERE
TO NATIONAL SHRINES
True Eulogy of Washington Is
This Mighty Land" Hoover Says,
Addressing Congress.

Launched with epochal tribute In
which the President of the United
States joined with millions OF his fell
low citizens of high and low degree, the
Nation today was embarked on the
nine month observance of the 200th an
niversary of the birth of George Wash
ington, which will reach into every cor
ner of this land and extend across the
seas wherever the American flag flies.
THE true eulogy of Washington is
this mighty Nation" President Hoover
said yesterday in an address before a
joint session of Congress which marked
the opening of the Bicentennia1.
1t is that thought that will be the
keynote as through the year this coun-
try in reverence, reflects upon its origin
and finally, upon Thanksgiving day,
writes fitting end to this homage with
a prayer of reconsecration to the ideals
for which Washington stood.
Thousands Visit Virginia.
And while the President was voicing
this message, heard by the thousands
gathered at the Copitol and elsewhere
through the land, those shrines Of
nearby Virginia, where Washington was
Graded, also drew their host of pilgrims
from far and wide.
There, too, President Hoover jour-
neyed-first to Alexandria, where
Washington walked as a humble sub
ject of the crown and as leader of a
great Nation; next to Mount Vernon,
the home where he rests.
The Coast Guard cutter Hamilton.
riding easily in the Potomac, crashed
a 21-gun salute as the President crossed
the river.
In sun-lighted Washington street,
where throngs had been masSed for
hours, John Garland Pollard, Governor
of Virginia, stood to welcome the Chief
Executive, as the gathering cheered.
Parade Is Reviewed.
For the brief period that a crowded
day allowed, they stood to review a
spectacular military and civic parade.
Then came Mount Vernon. its greening
slopes a mass of humanity.
Down the winding hill to the tomb
the President went to lay a wreath.
Then, returning to the mansion, anc
directing his remarks to the members
of the National Education Association,
gathered there, he bespoke them, that
they should inculcate in the minds Of
the youth of the Nation all that Wash
ington represents.
To these, President Hoover said: 1T
is a signal event that the representa-
tives of teachers of our whole country
should meet at Mount Vernon this day,
because our teachers, more than any
other group, have both the privilege and
the duty to guide the steps in each new
generation on the road of democracy,
to instruct them with understanding
and reverence for the spiritual benefits
which flow from this history of this
great man, and to instill our children
with the accomplishments of the men
who have made and guided our Nation.
Greatest Man of Our Race"
I'VE meet here today in one of the
places which physically in itself is en-
chanting and beautiful in its grounds,
buildings and associations, but it is not
these which attract hither the steps
or thoughts of millions of Americans.
1t is the memory and the spirit CT the
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