EDITORIALS The Salt Lake Tribune Thursday, Feb. 12, 194 Established April 15, 1871. Issued every morning by The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., Salt Lake City, Utah Abraham Lincoln, Man of Peace and War, Honored Today by a Proud Nation No one American in history has evoked the immense flood of writing about him and his life than the man whose birthday we observe today. Abraham Lincoln has been the subject of plays, biographies, anecdotes, tributes and in his own day criticisms without number. Although he has been dead for only 83 years, he has become a legend and a symbol and his fame is known throughout the earth. Not even George Washington, the father of his country, has been the subject of so much literature and the object of so much historical research. Something about that rugged and homely personality has caught and held the imagination of peoples of the world as well as of his own countrymen. From his modest origin to his place in the national capital as a wartime president Lincolns life typified American democracy. His role as the emancipator of the Negro slaves was more or less thrust upon him, but his courage and steadfastness of purpose were his own. Those who knew him loved and admired him, those who came in contact with him respected. him, those who agreed with him worshiped him and those who differed with him hated him and vilified him with the bitterness only great men can engender. And he was a great man by any standards. When the mists of prejudice and fratricidal war in this country lifted, the true stature of Abraham Lincoln was recognized. Long before that his greatness was known in lands across the seas. The paradoxical nature of Lincolns life has been the subject of much writing and contemplation. Failure dogged his career from early youth and yet he achieved greatness. Tragedy and sorrow were his lot throughout life, but he always retained that homely sense of humor which helped to make him famous. The learned men and the polished statesmen of his day looked on him with scorn and yet he uttered speeches that became historic literature. Men and women of the south regarded him with hatred, yet his assassination turned out to be more disastrous for them than for any other group of Americans. Lincoln was a man of peace, a believer in peace and an ardent lover of peace, although he waged a destructive civil war. He was ready to make almost any concession to the southern states to prevent an outbreak, yet when war finally came he pursued it with firmness and determination. Although he was a devout believer in freedom and democracy, he jailed two New York editors during the war who had published misleading statements and ordered the union army to occupy the newspaper premises. Abraham Lincoln was a compassionate man. He could be moved by a mothers tears or the touch of a babys hand. But he also was stern and immovable when faced by necessity. He could crack a joke with members of his cabinet and he also could crack down on them with a relentless iron hand. Mr. Lincoln did not profess to know all the answers to his multitudinous problems. He met them as they came and did the best hi knew, a practice which turned out better more times than not. He was not a poser, nor did he voice platitudes pleasing to the ears of his admirers. His language was always plain and his statements simple, but he left no doubt as to his meaning. He was eloquent at times, but his ordinary conversation was couched in terms that any man could understand. Lincolns humanity and his gentleness so swayed his soul as he sought wisdom with which to make his decisions that his enemies called him a wavering weakling, but once he had reached a conclusion he became a rock of certainty. He gave an impression of vacillation as he struggled for the truth, but when he reached it his strength was boundless. To him fell the task of making countless vital decisions, but he never shirked, never dodged an issue and never sought to escape from responsibility. No American president since Washington had faced so critical a situation in the history of his country as that which confronted Lincoln and no leader struggled any harder to keep his country united. He stood alone in his time of trial, a giant surrounded by pygmies, and he found the power needed to fight within himself. The assassins bullet that laid him low came near to undoing all of Lincolns lifework. There was much to do yet before the countrys wounds could be healed. There were many tasks confronting that lonely man in the White House. His leadership had preserved the union, but only the miracle of his memory could have carried the nation through the confusion that followed. Those words that fell from his lips near the end of his life are still alive and meaningful. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he would again implore his countrymen from the bottom of his heart to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Saturday, February 14 Go up to house twice Read. Write letters. Sunday, February 15 Go to Sunday School Nice a day. Eat dinner at home. Listen to Radeo in eveng Prest J Reuben Clark Jr Dr. John Carrey Presbyterian Catholic Bp Hunt