It is true, of course, that the fortune which he so willingly imperilled
and impaired recouped itself again after peace was established, and his
industry and wisdom made him once more a rich man for those days. But
what injustice was there in that? It is both natural and right that men
who have risked their all to secure for the country at large what they
could have secured for themselves by other means, should share in the
general prosperity attendant upon the success of their efforts and
sacrifices for the common good.
I am sick of the shallow judgment that ranks the worth of a man by his
poverty or by his wealth at death. Many a selfish speculator dies poor.
Many an unselfish patriot dies prosperous. It is not the possession of
the dollar that cankers the soul, it is the worship of it. The true test
of a man is this: Has he labored for his own interest, or for the
general welfare? Has he earned his money fairly or unfairly? Does he use
it greedily or generously? What does it mean to him, a personal
advantage over his fellow-men, or a personal opportunity of serving
them?
There are a hundred other points in Washington's career in which the
same supremacy of character, magnanimity focussed on service to an
ideal, is revealed in conduct. I see it in the wisdom with which he, a
son of the South, chose most of his generals from the North, that he
might secure immediate efficiency and unity in the army.
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