St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-31
HEROES, every One.
Patriotic Minnesotans Deck
Graves Of Dead Soldiers
With Flowers.
Their Gallant Deeds in Bloody
Battles Reeounted by
Orators.
Statesman Johnson Is Squeez--
ing North Dakota's Del
egatiOn.
Arcadia Converted Into a
Desolate Waste by a
ClOudburSt.
sneo,sI TO the Globe.

Special to the Globe
DULUTH. Minn., May 30.-Memorial
day was fittingly observed here, and,
for wonder. almost perfect weather
prevailed. Ignatius DOnneliy's Grafton
and Nat GOodwin's recitation were the
features. The procession was a mile
and a half long. and th3 services were
held in Temple opera house. EXcur-
sion trains were run from neighDOring
towns. and about 5000 visitors were
present. The music of Walkers band
set the audience wild with enthusiasm,
the veterans keeping time with feet,
hats. canes, heads and hands. Even
the Sage of Nininger was visibly af-
fected. Mr.. DOnnelly said: The
greatest fact on this planet is the
American republic. The great est Incl
dent in the history of the republic is
the suppression OF the rebellion OF 1861.
The greatest men in our country are
those who then secured. by their ValOr,
the triumph Of a nation. Every sue
cessiVe generation which shall dwell in
peace and prosperity under the shadow
of our flag will but add to the glory of
their fame and the enduring sense OF
the worlds gratitude. IN the last, the
final analysis, everything in this world
rests on fOrce-and was born Of force.
Government, even the most peaceful
is an implied threat. Behind the law
books stand the cannon. A truth is
nothing unless there is some one ready
to die for it. We exist to-day as a
united people because twenty-seYen
years ago there were more than
a million of men who said
the nation must IiVeI and
who were ready to perish to prove the
truth of their conviction. MOntaigne
observed that if any man cared nothing
for his own life he was thereby master
of any other mans life. All things
belong to the resOlute. Fate is the
bond slave of those who are ready to
sacrifice themselves for their opinions.
1t was the men Of the last generation,
who put aside the love of life
and the dread of death, who alone
made peace, order. union, culture
and national existence possible.
Can we do too much for them?
They Were the Nation.
All the rest waited for events-they
made history. If there had been no
such men the mighty constellation Of
the Union would to-day be broken into
scattered and erratic fragments, lumin-
GUS with the flames of Self-destTuctiOn
We lay flowers before their graves.
How little a thing! They have covered
our lives with flowers. Our hearts are
singing the sweet songs of peace
while they are dust. We lift up our
heads in eXQltatiOn. the greatest ana
nOblest race on earth, while those who
f1t1 rHay4
brothers to the insensible ciOd.
How little can we honor them by such
ceremonies? How greatly can we honor
ourselves? Their ears are deaf to our
praises. The world sees that we are
not shallW and heartleSS ingrateS. But
we owe as much to the living soldiers as
to the dead. The latter are beyond our
sympathy; the former are yet with US.
Let Us make their lives hopeful and
pleasant. Let US see to it that no man
who faced the bullets of the enemy
shall ever encounter want. How your
whole town would turn out to honor one
of the revolutionary soldiers if he could
appear among yOu-One OF the men OF
Valley Forge and YOrktOwn-hOw
young and old would cluster around
him; what hOnOrs would you pay him?
And yet the war of 1861 was as
y
equally heroic, in greater age and on
a grander scale. When death has
thinned the ranks of our patriots the
time will come when for an old soldier to
strike his breast and say l fought under
Grant and Sherman will be equal to a
title of nobility. The nation will be
ready to perish when it fails to honor it's
heroes, living and dead. And vet.
withal, on this day there should be no
bitterness mingled with the tenderness
of our memories. The rage of battle has
passed away with the sound of the
booming cannon. There is no place in
our hearts for revenge. Sectional feel
ing is lost and merged in the rising glOr-
les, the great dawn OF an
August Nation aIism.
We remember that the South fought
for It's ideas as we aid. To the man
who is ready to perish for a principle
that principle is right. We NAV not ar
que with the heroic dust of fallen and
tell it it died for an error. 1t is enough
that the South is still with us--nOt as a
bOnd-slave but as a brother. The glO-
ries of the republic belong to it as well
as to US. it will share with US in all the
splendOTS of our uneXampled growth,
in all the tributes of admiration
laid at our feet by aStonished
mankind. Who viii grudge the South
the hOnOrs it pays its heroes? The men
of the South would be unworthy to be
our brethren if they lacked these at
tributes of high manhood. when
Abraham Lincoln stood on the field of
Gettysburg he uttered the moral which
must come to all hearts on occasions
such as this: Let us here highly re-
solve that these dead shall not have
died in vain; that government of the
people, by the people and for the peo-
pie shall not perish from the face Of the
earth" That. after all, includes every
thing. It is the cause that glOrifieS these
dead. While we praise them for their
sacrifices in the past, let US see to it that
we do our duty in the present. Let us
see to it that the nation which success
fully resisted the bullets of armed in
surTectiOn does not die of the dry-rot of
universal political corruption" Mr..
Donnelly then proceeded to speak OF
the dangers which
Threaten the Republic
in the vast accumulation of wealth In
the hands of the few,and the correspond
ing increase of poverty among the work
ing classes. He said that in his judg-
ment the republic was in more danger
of overthrow to-day than it was when
Lees legions lay encamped within
sight of the national capitol. The danger
now was greater because the process
of attack was more insidious. ''We
need soldiers to-day who will face, not
bullets. but purchased ballots; oblOquy,
denunciation, personal and political os-
tracism, in defense Of liberty and JUS
tice. All good men should unite to pre-