European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                              By Sid Whipple staff writer More than a Century and Throe quarters have passed since Benja min Franklin writing to George Washington in september 1789, from his sick bed in Philadelphia said i should have died two years ago but though these years have been spent in excruciating pain i am pleased to have lived them since they have brought me to see our present  present situation was that the new government the first government of the United states of America was now in being with George Washington a president. Four major documents had established the nation secured its Independence and guaranteed its existence As a self govern ing state the declaration of i depend enc the treaty with France the peace treaty with England and the Constitution. Franklin was the Only one of the found ing fathers to have signed All four of those state papers. Signing of the Constitution was the crowning act of Franklin s prodigious career. True he Felt the covenant had its faults but with his usual tolerance of other men s opinions he sacrificed his own ideas in the interest of the pub Lic  and As he went to the table to sign the historic paper on sept. 17, 1787, his gaze fell upon the Back of George washing ton s chair on which a Sun was carved. He said i have often in the course of the ses Sion looked behind the president without being Able to Tell whether the Sun was rising or setting. But now at length have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a settling  relieved Franklin of his suffer Ings on april 17, 1790. He was 84 Yea Sand three months old. Twenty thousand citizens escorted him to his grave inthe Christ Church burying ground in Philadelphia. So Many tons of Rich historical or have been extracted from the fabulous mine of Franklin s career that not single Nugget of information about the great Man would seem to remain uncovered. Historians however refusing to believe that the old mine has been worked out continue to sift the writings letters essays and reports including the Tittle tattle of contemporary society in a attempt to cast new Light on his manners morals and modes of thinking. Such task is manifestly enormous and per haps no one writer even if he devoted his entire life to the task could reconstruct an image of Franklin that would be faithful in every respect. If Ewill Ben the organizer formed Philadelphia Union fire def. Ben the student left fled Boston wound up hungry in Philadelphia lived on Charity. Ben tint Frenchman spent a Day at the Paris Aomand wrote a charming Little essay on the love life of the Camel. The third a Ger Man retired to an Ivory Tower and created a Camel out of his inner consciousness. A recent example of the eternal conflict Over a Complex character is a vol ume Benjamin Franklin philosopher and Man by Alfred Owen Aldridge. Prof. Aldridge Laboured faithfully he says to reveal Franklin As a Man first As a Universal Genius  he tried As he also says to avoid the error of another biographer in concealing Franklin s Lustines his acknowledged vanity and his occasional callousness towards fellow human be  whereupon a fellow historian an critic remarks in pleasant disparage ment of Aldridge s intentions that Asif to emphasize Aldridge s policy of concealing nothing the jacket of this Book portrays or. Franklin playing chess in a Paris drawing room while in the background sits a naked lady in a tub looking both Cross and  would seem to infer that the biographer not Only wrote the text but i ran Lulu himself no scr sought lit conceal his occasional slips from the path of Puritan a Iron \. ,. In. Recording air inc. He Here Are too Many Franklins Franklin the statesman the scholar the scientist physicist economist  the administrator educator philosopher editor and publicist. Frank Lin the devoted husband and father. And Franklin the twinkling philanderer of French drawing rooms. The trials of a Franklin biographer Are by no Means Over when he has Ana lazed the mass of material at his disposal and packaged it neatly he thinks in his new Book. At that Point the critics jump in with Joyful cries and Point out How Many errors of omission theauthor has committed. The fact is that the approach of two biographers to the same subject is never from the same Angle. One is re minded of the Story of three biologists who were commissioned to write a thesis on the Camel. The first an englishman put on a pith helmet and spent seven years in Africa returning Home to write a 10-volume work that disappeared inthe British museum. The second a to Aca nire and hol Sostand spas " ,1 Al l dressed in Paris like a frontiersman. Portrait of Ben the scholar in 1789, a year before his death. Ben the statesman guided colonies through revolution to Union. In awol of \ s Fema of is uhf Fin a of vhf of Kite painting shows Ben a Grey haired old Man at 46 with son William actually 21 at the time. Page 12 the stars and stripes wednesday v 1968 title Page of Only known copy of Ben s famous poor Richard almanac first printed in 1732. The Star and stripes Richard 1735. N for the year of Christ being the first after leap year Nix kit Jitter Toby the account of the Eastern Garth by the latin Church when o pm y by the  of if.  the  chronology by the tyt�4 babies. 7241 5494 wherein is contained the Lunation eclipses judgment of the weather Spring titles planets motions & Mutual apes Sun and Moon s Riding and set Ting length of Days time of High water pairs courts and  Days. Fitted to the latitude of forty degrees and a Sci Idin of five hours weft for /.muw, hut Mav Vil Hout Leo Filc error. Lervy do the id Pickut l.ic�, even Fotu sell stat it to set Phil Onur r p u i l a d id and ibid by i a cd i the i. Pago 13