Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-02-04
TELEPHONE NUMBER NINE
HIS WASHINGTON EDUCATION NEGLECTED
By GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD

Members of the House of Representatives went gun
ming at a recent session for Representative Sol Blooms
plan of advertising Washington as director of the
George Washington Bicentennial Commission. They de-
clared that Washington was so well known that he did
not need advertising. Every school child in America,
they declared, knew all about Washington.
Then Representative Huddleston of Alabama, while
denying the need of advertising Washington, proceeded
to demonstrate that there is still need of such publicity,
and that it might well start with the member from Ala
bama.
The Revolutionary War would have been won, Con-
gresham Huddleston said, Washington or no Washing
ton. If Mr.. Huddleston knew his Washington he would
not with confidence make such an assertion. The evi-
dence is all the other way. The cause more than once
hung by a thread, and only the great weight of Wash
ington's leadership prevented the collapse of the struggle.
Washington was called to the command of the Ameri-
can armies by the Continental Congress only because he
seemed to be the one man for the hour. Early in the
trouble between England and the colonies, Washington
had offered to raise a Virginia regiment at his own ex-
pense and march it to the defense of Boston. From a mil
itary standpoint he was the chief man of the colonies; he
was the one man in whose abilities both the northern and
southern colonies had confidence. He had displayed his
generalship at Braddock's defeat during the French and
Indian wal, saving the army Of British regulars and
colonlals from destruction. Indeed it was at that time
that the colonists first gained confidence that they could
meet red-coats in battle. They saw them try European
tactics on the frontier, and knew that Americans were a
match for the Brltons on their home grounds.
Washington alone could have commanded the conf
dence of the army and of the Continental Congress during
years of defeat and Encouragement. The fact that he
persisted in the face of such obstacles gave confidence to
the colonsts in dark periods like those of Valley Forge.
His policy of striking blows and then retreating alone
kept an American army in the field. When he descended
on Trenton, captured the Hessian army and then got
away through his brilliant stroke at Princeton, the wor-
Id marveled at the genius of this man who could fight the
greatest military power in Christendom "on a SHOE
string.'' 1t was after Princeton that Frederick the Great
sent Washington a sword, inscribed: "From the oldest
general of the Old World to the greatest general Of the
new"
A wen the prestige of Washington did not prevent
man would have been easily endorsed. The fact that he
was serving without pay helped protect his from the sus-
picion of self interest. There grew on the colonists the
comprehension of the greatness of Washington's charac-
ter as the war wore on. There was no surprise at the end
of the war when, in view of the chaotic conditions of the
country his army associates urged him to accept a crown
he Indignantly repealed the suggestion, or when, peace
concluded, he returned his sword to Congress at Annapolis
with the declaration that he was retiring forever from
public life to leturn to the tranquility Of Mount Vernon.
1t is possible, but improbable, that without Washing
ton the Revolutionary War could have been won. Conf
dence in Washington made possible the diplomatic
achievements of Franklin in Europe, which brought es-
sential aid to the colonists. Even during his. lifetime
Washington became in Europe a legendary figure.
George Washington cannot be too much advertised =
The facts about his achievements cannot be too well
known; his ideals and principals, still essential to the
p%erpetuity of the nation, cannot become too familiar; his
example cannot be too widely commended to Americans
young and old. Here was a military genius who never
ont the character of the soldier above that of the citizen;