Frank O. Lowden

“ And it is interesting to note that though Lincoln emphasized the right to liberty—for slavery was the dominant issue at the time—he never referred to the Declaration, so far as I can find, without coupling with the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness. Life means much; liberty means much; but both fail unless life can be lived and liberty enjoyed under conditions of well-being. Any form of government is but a means to an end, and that end is the happiness of the individual. ”

“ The American Republic {7}has been an inspiration to the lovers of liberty everywhere. It is the last and best hope of the world and he who would imperil its future by excess of love for other peoples and other lands is recreant not only to his country, but to mankind everywhere. The Republic, during its almost a century and a half of existence, has had a mighty influence throughout the world. Its power has come from its success as a self-governing nation. Our influence has run around the globe because we have contented ourselves with being an exemplar to, rather than a ruler of mankind. ”

“ Justice, gentleness, righteousness were words invented by the weak to protect themselves against the strong. To pity a foe was weakness; to spare him was a crime. Kultur was a denial of the moral law; was a blind faith in the power of the laws of life which Darwin had declared.
On the same day, in a cabin in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born. If heredity and environment had been all there was in human life, we never should have heard his name. While Darwin delved in rocks to find vanished forms of life, Lincoln studied men. He learned to know men. ”

“ For every invention, for every improved process made under the stimulus of private initiative, though the inventor may profit, society profits immeasurably more. A steadily reducing amount of human labor is all the time required to produce the necessities of life. If we shall abandon the ancient landmarks and substitute for private initiative and private industry a socialistic state, the progress of mankind will be arrested and retrogression will set in. ”

“ But the happiness and well-being of the average man and woman must be steadily advanced if our institutions are to endure. The economists may explain, the statesmen may excuse our failure to accomplish this, but the fact remains that our civilization will fail if the well-being of the men and women and children of America shall not continuously improve.
This cannot be, however, in my opinion, if we destroy private initiative in industry. ”

“ Again Lincoln speaks to us: it is a message for to-day—“The legitimate object of gov{6}ernment is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot so well do for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere.” He also warns us—“let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” ”

“ I am sure that in our almost a century and a half of existence, since that great day of Independence, more men have lived happy lives in our country and under our form of government than in any other in all the history of the world. ”