Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 10

10 Decatur, Illinois, Thursday, February 12, 1959. DECATUR HERALD Editorials: our opinions Illinois Has a Special Pride in Abraham Lincoln Way for South ABRAHAM Lincoln be- longs to the ages and to the world. The 150th anniversary of his birth is being widely observed todav in the United States, the Union he preserved indivisible, But in this Lincoln sesqui-centennial year the people of the State of Illinois proudly assert a special claim to Lincoln. For he was a young man ia Illinois. He worked in the timber on an Illinois farm.

He lived in an Illinois village, practiced law in Illinois courts, represented an Illinois district in Congress and owned a home and raised a family in an Illi-rfois town. He rests todav in a quiet tomb beneath a handsome monument in the capital city ot Illinois. Abraham Lincoln knew our tore Dears, some ot them as friends and neighbors. He spoke our language and in the Gettysburg Address gave that language a nobility that is at' once a cause for pride and for self-reproach. How do we express our ap- 1 1 linois home on a bluff overlooking the Sangamon River west of Decatur, the restored village of New Salem, the home of his father and stepmother in Coles County, Lincoln's own home in Springfield, the Lincoln-Douglas debate' cities and the county seat towns in which he practiced law while riding the circuit, and the Monument and tomb in Oak Ridge cemetery, Springfield.

At least one of those associations is easily accessible to every resident of Illinois. They are worth a visit. Have you read a good book about Lincoln this year? Is there a standard biography of Lincoln in your home? Do you know enough about him to answer, the questions that are asked by friends and relatives who live in other states and who come to Illinois as they follow the Lincoln trail? We in Illinois have a fine Lincoln heritage. That cost us nothing. We nave a responsibility, too, in that area.

That demands an active interest in the life and career of a great man who once lived among us or travelled this wav. 1 "PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT LINCOLN IN 1858 Lincoln's Candidacy in 1860 preciation for being a fellow- some manner by the State of II-citizen, even at a time interval linois the site of his first Il David Felts' Column ON ACCOUNT today is the sesquicentennial birthday of Abraham Lincoln, we lead off the column with the text of a Lincoln letter in the William E. Barton Collection at the University of Chicago. Rev. Mr.

Barton 'was a prolific writer on Lincoln and -an earnest researcher in such special fields' as Lincoln's an-" -cestry and religion. On January 22, 1861, Abraham Lincoln in Springfield addressed this letter to Isaac Fen-no, Dear Sir You note of the 1st together with' a very substantial and handsome overcoat which accompanied it by Express, were duly received by me, and would have been acknowledged sooner but for the multifarious demands upon my time and attention. Permit me now to thank you sincerely for your elegant and valuable New Year's Gift, and the many Kind expressions of personal confidence and regard contained in your letter. Your obt. Servt.

A. Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was then the President-elect, but would not be inaugurated for several The letter does not identify the fabric. Surely it was not vicuna or the letter would have been publicized last summer. In the Barton collection, also, is a letter written by Mrsi Grace Bedell Billings in 1923 to explain why she wrote a letter in I860 to suggest that he grow a beard.

That Grace Bedell letter is a familiar item of There is, of course, a book about it, "Lincoln's Little Correspondent." During a vacation in Mexico three vears ago a member of our party was George Billings, a Minneapolis business man. When the talk turned to Abraham Lincoln, as it can- do so easily, Billings confided that his grandmother was the Grace Bedell who had suggested that Lincoln grow a beard. Small world EVERY now and then we salvage a useful item from the bales of duplicated publicity that comes across the desk of a man who has been at the same editorial address for 23 years, 1 1 months and three weeks. For instance, this lead sentence from Textile Industry News: "Red China now looms as the world's greatest textile threat." Looms. We get it.

THE CHAPEL, on the campus of McKendree College at Lebanon, 111., is going to be torn down. The 100-year-old. building is unsafe and college authorities would rather spend the substantial funds required for restoration to build a new chapel. McKendree is the oldest college in this country under the continuous supervision of the Methodist Church. The pressure to preserve and restore the old chapel is exerted by some students, by alumni, by religious organizations and by the National Trust.

But as a McKendree spokesman ruefully commented "The old grads have more feeling than money. We have plenty of sentiment. That's all." It's an old, old story. Every college that has 50 or more years of history has its "old main," or a hall of chapel associated with a founder. Some of the old buildings might have been saved had attention been given to them before they were beyond repair.

Buildings in Harvard Yard still in. use quartered troops during the Revolutionary War. The alumni usually shed the tears. Current generations of students have no sentimental regard for rickety, drafty old fire-traps. But the alumni are persuaded to give their money for new, functional buildings rather than for rehabilitation and restoration jobs.

OF THIS Oh Yes AND THAT: When we grumbled about the special sales events scheduled for Lincoln's birthday we were reminded of the special selling events that precede the birthday that is Christmas. A redbird sang in the backyard maple tree on a Wednesday morning, a most welcome note after the storm and sleet, the ice and snow. All the women in the neighborhood heard the redbird and some, tried to call it to the attention of breakfasting husbands. An early Valentine for the romantic Peaceful Integration Norfolk Points By DON IRWIN N.Y. Herald Tribune Service Norfolk, Va.

TEN thousand Norfolk school children are- the guinea pigs in continuing experiment that can contribute toward solution of the South's segregation crisis. For five bitter, unproductive months, -these children were locked out of all the city white secondary schools: three high schools and three junior highs. The step was forced by Virginia's code of "massive resistance" to integration because federal courts had ordered admission of 17 Negroes to the schools. Three weeks ago, "massive resistance crumbled betore state and federal court rulings. On Jan.

28, Gov. J. Lindsay Al- 1 .1 -1. mond jr. teiuctantiy wroie cue code's obituary in a message to the General Assembly.

He con ceded that the closed schools had to reopen and that some integra tion couldn be stopped. He asked and got legislation to abol ish compulsory school attendance and provide tuition grants tor students who may-prefer to at tend private schools. He named a commission to study the problem The governor, an experienced and respected lawyer, made it plain that he was bowing to the Is Not Enough Bowler, Returns the modern derby is compared to the brown thing that Al Smith used to wear in the Twenties. "We don't want to sell derbies on the basis of the 1920's," he said. "Who wants to look like his grandfather? -T-l I .1 ine weignt ot tne modem derby is half what it was.

It's flexible instead of stiff. What do you want with a hard hat? They used to wear it for protection against yeggs hitting you over the head- You don need that now adays. The crown is lower, the curl of the brim is sharper and the silhouette is slimmer, trim mer. Mr. Sarnoff said that the Thomas Begg stores are selling 10 times more derbies than they did last year.

ine young men this year have shown a tremendous inter est in the off-the-face look," said Mr; Sarnoff. "We are witnessing a return to the Empire feeling, a return to elegance, not only among women but men." among tjc Rn. us. r. cm.

"Sometimes I wonder inevitable in law without re nouncing his determination to keep as much segregation as possible in Virginia. He also voiced his determination to act within the law as it is construed by the supreme Court much- as he dis agrees with arid to brook no violence anvwhere in Virginia. Massive' to 'Passive' The Almond withdrawal from "massive" to "passive" resist ance was answered in kind from Washington. Moderation was the keynote of the seven point civil rights package President Ei senhower submitted to Congress last week. And Administration sources emphasized that the President's decisions to reject proposals backed by more extreme in-tegrationists was conditioned by the orderly acceptance of inte gration orders in the six Norfolk schools and schools Arling ton, Alexandria and elsewhere.

The Norfolk schools reopened Feb. 2 against a background of unspoken official apprehension that appearance of the Negro children might kindle the venomous mob spirit of Little Rock. For once, the big story was that nothing eventful happened. Good Order Prevailed Good public order and good manners- are ingrained in Virginia's traditions. Even at the special session where the philosophically divided General Assembly adopted the governor's program because it had no choice, words were measured and talk was calm.

In Norfolk, there are iocal conditions favorable to die experiment. The big port is Virginia's largest city with 315,000 population. Its Southern traditions are tempered by personnel from all states of the Union stationed at the naval base that is the city's largest single employer. This group puts before Southern customs. The prevailing mood which reporters, caught among white students was impatience with the delays brought by the school shutdown and a determination to get back to work.

Sixty three student leaders from die three closed high schools helped establish this tone when they bought full-page newspaper advertise ment the day betore school opened to urge maintenance of order. It was evident that they didn't make their case completely. third of the normal enrollments over 3,500 pupils failed to turn up tor the first day classes, partly because 900 were enrolled in segregated schools unaffected by the integration orders, partly because about 1,000 others had left the Norfolk area or quit school entirely. Sulky Minority At the schools, a sulky minority stood to one side muttering gibes at die Negro pupils but when the school bell rang, most of them followed the crowd to class. The determination to maintain order shown by school officials and student leaders was strongly reinforced by Norfolk's tough, burly police chief, Harold Anderson.

He detailed police to watch inconspicuously for trouble around all the schools. Most were in plain clothes on theory that an excessive show of force builds a counter reaction that can produce trouble. Segregated schools in the Norfolk area may well increase their enrollments with assistance from Gov. Almond's tuition grant plan provided that plan survives court tests. Meanwhile, continuance ot public schools with a degree of integration seems in the cards.

i-9 if I like of Abraham Lincoln? It is not enough to wear on our automobiles a license plate that flaunts the legend "Land of Lincoln." It is not enough to close banks, schools and public offices on February 12, take a day-off and give nothing in It is not enough to turn on the radio or television set and accept whatever Lincoln Birthday program is on the air, a program available generally, in Maine or New Mexico or to anyone who happens to be listening in Georgia. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of our ancestors who were Lincoln's contemporaries, to know as much as we can about the private life, the public services and the eternal contributions of this man from Illinois. It is indeed a wondrous story and Lincoln lived 30 of his 56 years, all save five of his adult years, in Illinois. There are in our state many places of Lincoln association, most of them now marked in of "brinkmanship" which, his detractors charge, has exposed this country several times to the danger of a third world war. But his critics cannot deny that the United States continues to be at peace, even though the situation is generally called "cold war," and the United States has maintained that status with honor.

All this after a succession of headlined crises, several of them said to carry the seeds of world nuclear war. In representing the United States in formal conferences and in meetings with foreign ministers and heads of state Mr. Dulles has been willing to go anywhere at any time. He is now past 70 and in November, 1956, he underwent surgery for cancer of the stomach. He has been willing to give his life in performing the duties of his important office.

All men are mortal and no man is indispensable. If Mr. Dulles, despite his stout heart and stern sense of duty, can no longer meet the demands of thes secretaryship of state, some other man "must take over. For our foreign policy is not Mr. Dulles' patented property.

It is the foreign policy of the Eisenhower administration and of the United States. Wednesday was such a pretty day the Old Para-i grapher idly wondered if Princess Margaret ever thinks of that group captain. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he well, for one thing, he would be 150, years old. How Many States Are Continental? IS ALASKA properly regarded as part of the "continental United States?" This question has been vexing Washington officialdom, and not least, federal employes in Alaska who have been enjoying tax-free cost of living allowances. Dodging the main issue, the Internal Revenue Service in mid-January reversed an earlier ruling and decided that there will be no levy on the allowances.

The ruling. was based on "economic or in other words, the higher cost of living in the 49th state. The Interstate Commerce Commission also blundered into the picture by stating that its reports would employ the phrase "within the continental United States" rather than "within the United States." Alaskans protested the discrimination implicit in this phrase, and the commission went back to the old one. Still, one professor of history calls Alaska "part of our overseas expansion." The probable admission of Hawaii a group of islands as the 50th state sometime this year raises the delicate question of whether the continental states and uh Alaska should be-called mainland states. The whole problem is likely to leave government officials in the state of confusion.

If the Old Paragrapher ever got a chance at a question on a quiz show, the question probably would be: Wn is lieutenant governor of well, almost any state? of a generation, Decatur Convention By RICHARD SPONG Washington THOUGH he ended a martyr, Abraham Lincoln for most of his career seemed the special darling of The political background of his nomination for President in 1860, for example, shows time and again the intervention of fate, or chance, or luck whatever one chooses to call it and it presents some ironic parallels with our own time. First off, Lincoln was certainly lucky to be runner-up for the vice presidential nomination at the Republican convention in Philadelphia in 1856. The man who finally received the nod as running-mate for Col. John C. Fremont went on to defeat with "The Pathfinders," of course.

But that Lincoln received 110 votes for the second spot on the ticket widely advertised his name in the North. So did his active campaigning for Fremont. Historic Debates Then, came the historic debates with Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. At stake was the Senate seat of Douglas, the Democratic candidate.

In a sense, Lincoln lost the debate and won the is-sue. The districts Douglas carried were over represented in the Illinois legislature. So though Lincoln received a 4000 plurality in the popular vote; the law-making body elected Douglas, 54 to 46. But the contest had lifted Lincoln to, national prominence. Over and over Lincoln disavowed abolitionist doctrines, as if consciously trying to erase the taint of radicalism that colored the young Republican Party.

Lincoln in the following year made speeches in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Kansas. He was being mentioned as presidential possibility. Then on Feb. 27, 1860 came his great Cooper Institute address in New York City. The key policy he enunciated was exclusion of slavery from the territories.

With dignity and elo quence Lincoln pleaded for un derstanding and sympathy for the Southern people. Republicans-should "yield to them if we possibly renouncing "pas sion and ill temper. 'Neutral' City Lincoln bv -then had become the foremost Republican in Illi nois, as he had been the foremost Whig. The state Republican convention held in Decatur in 1860 named him as its choice for the presidency. This after Lin coln's former campaign manager.

Norman Judd, had persuaded the Republican national commit tee to hold the 1860 convention in Chicago as a "neutral" citv. in a state which had no tavonte son. On the eve of the convention, the obvious front-runner, with the greatest apparent number of delegates, was Sen. William H. Seward of New York.

But the galleries at the Republican Wig wam were to be packed with Lincoln supporters. More impor tant, it has become apparent that any Republican to be elected would have to take three of four "battle-ground" states: Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, all with favorite sons. Seward's opponents set out to sell delegates from these states the line, "Seward can't win." It worked in J86U as it was to work 92 vears later against another G.O.P. senator. Robert A.

Taft. Lincoln got the eventual support of all four states, and won the nomination on the third Made Him Favorite Son ballot, through the kindly intervention of fate or chance and, despite Lincoln's express orders, by dint ot a good bit ot shrewd backstage deal-making. Greatness Alone Symbol of Elegance? The Derby, or By DON ROSS N.Y. Herald Tribune Service New York THE DERBY hat is reappearing on men's heads and everv- one well, almost everyone wondering whether tnis portends a revolution in men's head gear or whether the small band of derby wearers will turn out to be an avant-garde with a following. The derby more than likely a flexible one with a lower silhouette than the hard hat of the 1920s is not to be seen everywhere.

Most often it can be glimpsed around the more- elegant regions. A man has' to be well dressed to look well in a derby. A sloppily dressed man in a derby too often looks like a survival ot the Weber and Fields Hat industry people some of whom have spent considerabl money tooling up their factories tor the derbv, say thev can des cry a great derby boom taking shape, two ot the most enthusiastic are Bernard Saleskv, Presi dent of the Hat Corporation of America, and Arthur barnoft, President of the Thomas Begs hat stores and a derby designer himself. (He prefers to call them bowlers because he thinks word derbv connotes what he calls "the high-crowned ungraceful hard hat of vestervear." For the past 20 years, the Hat Corporation has produced 700 to oOO derbies a year, Mr. salesky but now it's making 3,000 a week.

The biggest seller, he said, is black and then comes dark gray, brown, dark blue, light gray and light tan." Ivy League Style "The new derby is a sort of Ivy League hat especially designed for men in their twenties," Mr. Salesky said. "It goes well with the slim, trim Ivy League type clothes with narrow lapels and tab collar shirts. It gives you the more tailored look. You take a $75-a-week clerk who wants to give the impression that he's a executive.

He wears a derby." Mr. Salesky is pained when Exchange Table Illinois School Desegregation Chicago Sun-Times GEORGE T. Wilkins, the new state superintendent of public instruction, has indicated he is prepared to crack down on segregation in Illinois public schools. Fortunately, deliberate segregation based on local prejudice and bigotry is relatively rare in the state. In Chicago, for example, the existence of all-white or all-Negro schools results from their geographic locations in differing neighborhoods.

But there are some communities, mostly in Southern Illinois, where segregated schools are the product of racial discrimination. In the last such survey made, late in 1957, the State Commission on Human Relations reported that there were 75 all-Negro elementary schools and seven all-Negro high schools outsidj of Chicago. Many of these are the product of a deliberate policy of segregation, although the practice has been outlawed in Illinois since 1874. As recently as eight years ago, the Legislature voted to bar state aid to school districts whose officials do not file sworn statements that no segregation exists. But neither Vernon L.

Nickell, Wilkins' predecessor, nor Gov. Stratton attempted to enforce the law. Wilkins, however, made it clear the other day that he is prepared to do so. His course will be to try to persuade local authorities to act of their own volition. But if they fail to do so, he indicated, he would withhold state aid.

Certainly, state aid should not be used to help any group of individuals to defy any state law. Without state funds, many school districts could not maintain adequate schools. But so long as they receive such funds, those now practicing deliberate segregation are flouting state law. Wilkins is to be commended for his stand on the issue, and it is to be hoped that he will let nobody talk him out of it. IN TTHE HERALD 25 YEARS AGO TODAY ANNOUNCEMENT by Secretary of the Interior Harold L.

Ickes that no more applications for federal loans on public works projects will be received by PWA will not mean -abandonment of plans for an addition to Decatur High School, Lindlev Huff, president of the Board of Education, said yesterday. TWENTY or more members of the Macon County Young Republican Club will go to Springfield today for a statewide conclave of Young Republicans, preliminary to the spring primary campaign. NEW YORK Col. Charles A. Lindbergh last night telegraphed President Roosevelt that the "condemnation of commercial aviation by cancellation of all mail contracts will unnecessarily and greatlv damage all American aviation." Even as a youth he was extremely conservative, verily a young fogey.

Go-Ahead Given On Street Work THE WAY is now clear for major street improvements, in Decatur. The urgency of the favorable vote Tuesday on the two and a half million dollar bond issue was underlined by a consideration of the tentative timetable for the work. i Apparently none of the actual construction can begin this year on any of the six projects included in the program. Preliminary testing for foundations for a new, wider County Bridge, a major item in the improvement plans, is expected ti begin within weeks. Engineering work on the whole Route 51 north south couple may begin in two months but is not expected to be ready for bidding or construction in the 1959 season.

Even two relatively small projects which will be handled solely by the city must await plans. They are the widening of a block of Monroe Street from West Main to West Wood Streets and extension and widening of Decatur Street from Union to South Franklin Street. With so much preparation necessary, it is well that the voters gave the starting signal iX the earliest possible time. The urgency was noted in the heavy favorable votes in precincts both north and south of the city, where present Route 5 congestion makes downtown access difficult. Decatur voters proved they are wise investors.

The allocation of two and a half million dollars of Decatur's share of gasoline tax revenue for city street, improvements will bring about 10 millions more from state and federal funds. Decatur motorists pay eight cents in federal and state taxes on each gallon of gasoline they buy. The Tuesday action will bring home some 10 million dollars which might have gone elsewhere. The forst major hurdle has been cleared. Engineering, bidding and construction may now be pushed with all possible speed.

Any time the federal budget is in danger of be-' ing balanced, some of the spenders in Congress can fropose digging a tunnel to lavvaii. Secretary Dulles' Devoted Service WHETHER Secretary Dulles returns to his desk in. the State Department after recuperation from the surgery scheduled for this weekend, or whether he decides upon retirement which would not be unusual for a man of his years, he will have set a record for sternly unselfish devotion to duty over a half dozen most difficult years. Mr. Dulles has been under steady fire from critics at home as well as in Allied capitals for the policies he has applied, always with the firm backing of his chief, the President of the United States.

He has been criticized for taking an inflexible stand against the Russians vyho are known to exploit any least response to their continuously exerted pressure. He has been denounced for the policy i-1 i- i r- rt ii ri r- m- nit J- ijAitii.