Evening star., 1933-02-19

the wide dissemination of knowledge of the
man and his career he is no longer frigid,
aloof figure of history, known to the gener-
ality of people only as the great military chief
tain and statesman. Today mankind is very
close to the man himself, his spirit and the
qualities which made him pre-eminent in SO
many ways. And of transcendent significance
to a despairing world is the revelation of his
words and deeds when tides were rushing
swiftly against him and his cause.
IA THAT, then, would be Washington's course
w were he alive today? A satisfying clue
to the answer is to be found in the study of
his life and perusal of his voluminous writings
His written word abounds with reflections of
his reaction to problems similar in essence to
those which have the world groggy today. This
is not to say that they disclose any panacea,
but that they are worthy of contemplation even
th6s far removed from their time cannot be
gainsaid
It is of more than passing significance to
the American of 1888 that George Washing
ton, among his many other eminences. was a
business man, the most successful American of
his century. study of his activity in many
lines of business will therefore bring insight
into his unusual abilities as a practical modern
spirit without diminishing his greatness as
public man. Moreover, it will reveal the atti-
failure. A modern estimate Of him reads like
q pattern for the crying necessities of today:
~Infexibly honest in his private dealings his
immense influence President directed
toward a settlement of just debts, the estab-
lishment Of a sound currency the fostering
OF foreign commerce, proper system of public
accounts. the equitable distribution of taxation,
and the creation Of feeling of joint national
responsibility for the business affairs of the
Government. He also saw the necessity of
encouragement of both shipping and domestic
manufactures, provision for future needs the
establishment of substantial means of trans
portation, the building up of banks and other
commercial corporations and the protection of
public interests against local pressure and
against extravaganza. To him the Government
OF business and the business of government
were combined for the welfare of the Ameri-
can people"
''No man." writes Rupert Hughes in his Life
Rf Washington" was ever purer patriot
tfan he, but the necessary alloy was not
lacking. He fought also for the sacred and
inalienable right to make money! right
which the theologist and the anarchist alike
revile, but one that is none the less admirable
and essential"
Another tribute to Washington's business
sagacity and vision in dark days is paid by
Paul Van Dyke, in whose biography of the
first President this appears:
before ne QieQ ne saw the price OF western
lands rise to $40 acre. He clung to his
prof1tless investment all these years not simply
from business reasons or commercial obstinacy
but because he was one of the small number
of men who beheld the gains of speculation,
the vision of what America was to be-"
How fully this confirms the Judgment of
economists that there are men in the United
States today buying up plants and resources
which some day will yield them millions, just
as in another depression the Fricks and Car
negies gathered the coke lands and steel mills
that were to make them industrial emperors
The Nation may eternally rejoice that it is
to WashingtonS undaunted faith and vision in
time Of experiment and doubt it owes the
establishment of the most beautiful Capital in
the world, the city which bears his name.
HIF Washington had been timid man."
writes Charles Moore of the Fine Arts
Commission. ''f his mind had only dealt with
the present, if he had not been endowed with
vision that penetrated into boundless fu-
things not seen, he never would have approved
LEnfant's plan and adopted it for the Nation
nor would he have striven with all his energy
and influence to realize it."
Even in the designing OF the White House,
Washington maze sure that Hoban drew plans
for not too large a structure for the needs of
that day. but susceptible of enlargement SO
that the building remains adequate to this day.
. There were times, it is true when Wash
fngton's very soul revolted at conditions which
he felt were nullifying the heroic efforts of
his soldiers and at uch crises he lashed out