Evening star., 1933-02-12
LINCOLN PROPHECY
OF DOOM DOUBTED
Library Of Congress Unable
to Trace Supposed Fears =
for u. S.
By THOMAS r. HENRY.

Did Abraham Lincoln predict the
downfall Of the United States due to
. rapacious capitalism?
The Library Of Congress has been
called upon so often for the exact ref
erence to an alleged Lincoln prophecy"
to this effect that David G.. Mearns
Of the library staff has made an ex-
has been unable to trace it TO any writ
ten words Of the Civil War President.
The passage, quoted from Lincoln
over and over again In radical ntera-
ture, is as follows:
II see In the near future . crisis
approaching which unnerves me and
causes me to tremble for the safety Of
my country. As result Of the war.
corporations have been enthroned and
an era Of corruption in high places will
follow and the money power of the
country will endeavor to prolong its
reign by working on the prejudices Of
gregated in Q few hands and the Re-
public - destroyed. feel at this mo-
ment more anxiety for the safety Of
my country than ever before. even In
the midst Of the war"
Letter Never Found.
One reference attributed the original
publication OF this quotation to broad
side issued shortly after the Civil War
by Rev George e. Littleton of Boston.
who credited II to a Lincoln letter to
a friend which Is now in the posses
sion Of physician in Maine" Such
letter never has turned up. william
y. Guest Of Washington followed this
lead In q magazine article published
In 1905 and expressed the conviction
that the paragraph was q forgery which
could not be found In Lincoln's hand
writing and was in . literary style very
different from that Of the president.
The prophecy appeared again In q
book called money Power and the
Contracting Currency" published In the
midst Of the Mckinley Bryan campaign.
NO authority was cited and at that
tary and biographer, declared 1t was an
"unblushing forgery"
library investigator N a book, "The
Money Question" also published In the
days OF the free silver agitation, where
1t was attributed to "Lincoln,s letter to
his friend Elkins in Illinois in 1854" "
The citation continued: 1.-The above was
published In collection Of Lincoln say
1ngs, years and years ago, by Mr.. Jesse
Harper. He Is still living and q re-
spected citizen OF Danville, H."
Correspondence Unlikely.
Now, the investigation showed, there
were two men named Elkins who en-
tered the life OF Lincoln. so far as is
known. One was q Baptist minister
who preached at his mothers funeral.
The second was william r. Elkin, a
pioneer Illinois legislator, with whom
Lincoln undoubtedly was acquainted.
But no correspondence whatever can be
found between this man and Lincoln
and there is no reason to believe they
ever wrote to each other
Furthermore, it has been impossible
to find the slightest trace of any book
on Lincoln by Jesse Harper and the
chances are very small, indeed, that he
ever wrote one. Harper undoubtedly
knew Lincoln intimately in Illinois and
was associated in some law cases with
him. No evidence can be found that
the two men ever corresponded.
But, 1t was found, in 1879 Harper be-
came prominent in the affairs of the
so-called National Greenback party
and made stump speeches for It's candi-
dates During these speeches he Is re-
ported to have made offhand quota
tions. probably without checking them.
from prominent political figures of the
past, including Lincoln. This seems the
most likely origin of Lincoln's
prophecy"