Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-02-12
Concentrating Lincoln

Obviously there is little significance In cele-
brating the birthday anniversary of Abraham
Lincoln unless the commemoration takes the
form of service to the ideals for which he
labored. Either the philosophy which he ex-
pressed in his inaugural addresses and in the
speech at Gettysburg is precious to the American
community or it is not. If less worthy. doctrines
claim our allegiance and we yield obedience to
them, we should abandon the pretense of 10y
atty to the Emancipator. Certainly the present
period Of our history is one in which we need
the conceptions which he set forth We, too,
ARE engaged in a great war" and we ARE
met on great battlefield of that war;" To us,
as to our forefathers, 1t is question whether
a nation dedicated to liberty and equality can
endure. Our free democracy is challenged by
rampant materialism, framed to defy the
spiritual impact of fellowship under social law.
The conflict between the power represented by
Lincoln and that Of the modern monolithic
state is the primary issue of the prevailing hour
People are dying in the struggle, and people are
living under its blight in slavery hardly less
endurable than death
The world, and not merely America requires
what the Emancipation called "a new birth of
freedom" renaissance of the elemental prin-
ciples of liberty in practice. He spoke for "gov-
eminent Of the people, by the people, for the
people" not simply in the United States. The
next-and the equally important-thought of
his pronouncement at Gettysburg was an afir
nation for the entire world. He appealed for
democracy for all the nations of the earth. Four
score and seven years later, we strive today in
Korea for that ideal. Tomorrow the fighting
front may be universal If so, our aim and our
hope must be as large. Otherwise, there is no
point in remembering Lincoln.
But our purpose never can be what COM
munism is-a selfish dogma of class hatred and
violence minority dictation narrowly partisan
rule. Here in the city of Washington the Amer
lean commonwealth has created Memorial
for its sixteenth President in which the ele-
ments of his religion of freedom and mutually
are announced in his own words He speaks
from It's walls explaining the issue which caused
the war In which he also was to die. The con-
test arose from an economic interest of vast
social and cultural connotations. So in our era
a. selfish factor is the basis of contention on an
expanded and aggravated scale. Lincoln
answers 1t in the name of liberty and in con-
tradction of ensavement, even for the alleged
benefit of the enslaved. Then, at the end he
re-dedicates himself-and uS-in the beautiful,
inspiring words: with malice toward none,
with charity for all, with firmness in the right
as God gives us to see the right let us strive on
to finish the work we are in" But he does not
vision only the conclusion of the struggle OF
1851 to 1865. No, his mind goes forward into
the ages and he commits his country to the
sacred task of world leadership for freedom,
cooperation and progress In the Injunction:
"Do all which may achieve and cherish just
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations"
That is what Lincoln means to us on his
birthday in 1851; either that or nothing