Evening star., 1932-04-24

Like President Hoover George Wash
ton had great many interests; he was
farmer, stock raiser, manufacturer, ex-
porter, importer, trader in lands, an
owner of slaves, money lender and at
times conducted thriving retail traffic
in the product of his estates. When his
critics turned upon him they had plenty
of material, simply because he had lived
busy, crowded and important life. They
charged in documents that still exist that
he cheated his neighbors in their various
business dealings with him; the weight
to be given these charges is very clear
when one observes that his standing as
a business man was of the highest until
he became political figure and the life
of the Nation was in doubt. Not until
then did it appear that any one had suf-
fered misfortune by trading with him or
borrowing from him.
THE intensity of the hysteria can be
judged by the fact that his most gen.
erouS acts brought him the SevereSt criti-
cism; for example, he served as Com
mander in Chief of the Army without
pay, and this led some of the most
thoughtful patriots in the Army and
Government to fear that he intended to
make himself King. Even John Adams
criticized this act of generosity. 1t was
a time of general alarm, and the Amert-
can people were then setting the pattern
of conduct from which they have never
deviated; the Commander in Chief Is
their scapegoat.
There is another significant phase of
the criticism in time of hysteria-name
ly, it usually charges the leader with the
sins of the mob. In WaShington'S day
there was great deal of profiteering,
so they had to charge him with cheat
ing in business. In Lincolns day there
was great deal of treasonous communi-
cation with the South, so the charge
was made that military secrets were be-
ing transmitted direct from the White
House to the leaders of the Southern
armies. In this case the charge was
made that Mrs. Lincoln was the traitor.
People knew that Southern spies were
operating with amazing success. They
were frightened to the point of hysteria
so they turned to the White House for
a scapegoat.
For reasons that will be clearer to the
trained psychologist than to the ordinary
layman, it Is necessary in time Of ma
tional danger also to indulge in sense
less, scandalous abuse. For example,
when Gen. Washington removed his
mother to place of safety because of
the danger from Indian raids, the scan
dalmongers reported that his purpose
was to prevent her from being seen at
the public functions of the day-in short,
that he was ashamed of her. There was
never the slightest ground for even sus-
picion of such motive. When his step
son, young Custis, died, the charge was
published in the newspapers that Gen.
Washington attended a very gay ball
when he should have been attending the
funeral. The fact was that he made all
the arrangements for the funeral and
attended it, and that the ball did not
take place because of the death of his
stepson. verifcation of the facts at the
time could scarcely have been difficult;
a grand ball is not given secretly, nor is
it Cancelled without the need for notify
ing many persons. Yet that libel was
published and widely believed.
The national crisis had not passed even
after WaShington's administration, and
we find John Quincy Adams referred to
rs "a hoary traitor" while Thomas JEFF
ferson, still steering the ship of state
through dangerous waters, was accused
of obtaining his property by fraud and
robbery, the specifications including the
charge that he robbed a widow and
orphans of an estate of which he was
the executor. In spite of all this, history
has accorded him fairly respectable
place in the American Hall of Fame. His
difficulty, like that of Washington and
Adams, was that he served during turbu-