February, 1923
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
Declaration of Independence first
and foremost, the Constitution it
self, and especially the bill of
rights, this great Address of
Washington’s, parts of the North
west Ordinance of 1787, and about
four or five of Lincoln’s utter
ances,—his two inaugurals, his
Gettysburg Address, and his sec
ond annual message, of December,
1862,—and this last I desire to
commend to you all, as fraught
with the spirit and principles
which are needed to preserve the
Republic today.
WASHINGTON
By Edward O. Sisson, Reed College
J T IS ONE OF our national weak
nesses that we abundantly use
the names of our great men and at
the same time know little about
them. Our maps are dotted thick
ly with Washingtons and Frank
lins and Lincolns, but the very
people living .under the names are
almost totally uninformed of the
lives and services and the elements
of greatness in these national
heroes. In 1862 President Lincoln
in his proclamation concerning
Washington’s birthday, urged the
reading of “that immortal docu
ment, Washington’s Farewell Ad-
Address.” We must confess with
grief and shame, that that great
document is not immortal but
practically dead. I have tested
many hundreds of Americans and
find not one in a hundred who can
give even the most meager account
[of its contents: indeed not a few of
them can be easily bullied into ad
mitting that there is no such
thing!
I can think of few incidents in
history more moving than the cir
cumstances of this address: it is
[unique in history in more ways
than one. Behold the modesty and
the affection with which the great
[commander and first president of-
Ifers his parting counsel to the na-
Ition which owed both its existence
land its constitution to him more
[than to any other human agency.
I “In offering to you, my countrymen,
[these counsels of an old and affectionate
[friend, I dare not hope they will make
[the strong and lasting impression I could
■fish; that they will control the usual
[current of the passions, or prevent our
[nation from running the course, which
[has hitherto marked the destiny of na
tions. But if I may even flatter myself,
[that they may 'be productive of some
partial benefit, some occasional good; that
[they may now and then recur to moder-
late the fury of party spirit, to warn
■gainst the mischiefs of foreign intrigue,
Ito guard against the impostures of pre
pended patriotism; this hope will be a
Bull recompense for the solicitude for
[your welfare, by which they have been
■¡dated.”
I There are only thirteen pages of
[ordinary print in the whole ad
dress: yet I do not know a single
[school history that contains so
Knuch as one page of it. In the mass
of reading that everyone performs
13
these days,—literally acres of
print,—how many of our hundred
millions have turned their minds
this Washington season to the
truly immortal letter which he left
to us as a legacy? Are we not in
danger of losing the precious
wheat of our political literature in
the overwhelming mass of chaff?
If I were writing an Eddy bill I
would leave bookkeeping to take
care of itself, and refrain from try
In the Address itself are two
ing to hogtie the schools of the fu
ture, but insist on a small number points of peculiar moment today.
of infinitely precious documents of Washington does warn his people
true patriotism and humanity: the against foreign entanglements:
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yOUR NEIGHBOR and your
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