The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-11
The LOYAL Leoion.

The Annual Session at IndianapolIs-Ors-
ton BY Hon. George X. Peek Of Kansas
A Tribute to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. July a-Ths
Loyal Legion of Indiana met here yes
terday in annual session. Prominent
members of the order were present from
all points of the Union. The grafton Of
the day was delivered by Hon. George
r Peck. of Kansas Following is an
extract from the speech:
Companions, Ladies' and Gentlemen:
From the distant West, the historic. fruitful
and now peaceful fields of our first civic
strife. I brin you salutation and a greeting.
The day and the occasion are happily mated.
From immemoriai times. men who have
borne arms have enjoyed q certain distinc-
ton, the tribute that human nature yields
to those who have played the big stakes Of
life and death Responsive to, or, perhaps,
created BY this settlement Is the tendency OF
those who have been in the stress and rigor
OF the game TO look back with q feeling
which Is partly love and partly pride on the
old days and the old cause.
It matters little that many seasons have
passed since arms were stacked; nor that
we, who where young and gay, have felt the
frost in our joints and on youthful forms the
rust of the implacabie years. The soldier
must not question fate. This much IL ours:
to know that II eyes beam somewhat less
brightly and heads reveal the gray autumnal
touch, the things that once were dear are
precious yet, and the faith of other days has
not departed.
The Loyal Legion signifies to US at least,
that loyalty is virtue which should never
go out of fashion. Love of country Is not,
and should not be, a sentiment that responds
only to the bugle and the drum. II IS indeed
true that the finest impulses lie dormant,
waiting the call that shall transmute them
into vital convictions But yet It is also true
that ration Is best endowed when it has the
common every day affection of its people,
in peace az well as in war.
p The people of the United States call them
selves Americans, claiming the name of the
continent to mark their aspirations
and their destiny. But what Is that
ideal feeling we sometimes call "the
American spiritg' Surely it is not a selfish
lust of possession; the vulgar satisfaction
of knowing that we inhabit an imperial do
main, and that no one must trespass on
what we call our own. Some better reason
must be in our hearts. some truer feeling
must inspire our lives, before we can know
what patriotism Is. Even the brute loves
his own jungle. The tiger will fight to the
death for the greensward On which it has
played, or the spr ng at which it has
quenched its thirst only men fight for a
sentiment; only men give up their lives for
the things they have not seen. Fields of
cotton and fields of corn will grow under
any sun that yields its compelling rays The
harvest cares not what sickle shall reap t.
Nature Is calmly indiff .rent, dealing out the
rude Justice of the seasons, and needing not
the losses nor the gains. But men think;
they alone have "that large discourse look
ing before and after which 10 the real
basis of moral responsibility. The true
American loves not simply the United
States, but tn at for which the United States
stands. The American flag Is something
more than harmonious blending of colors
Who has not felt the awe and mystery that
dwell In holy EN- blems7 What faith has not
been quickened by signs and symbols that
represent those invisible and eternal things
OF which human lips can never rightly
speak? The United States is greater in what
1t means than in what it Is.
The Declaration of Independence is incom-
parably the greatest wisest and clearest
statement Of human rights ever put upon
paper And it Is a curious fact that neither
the men who framed 1t nor their contempt
raries we're always successful when they
put their hands to the pen. The articles of
confederation were, from the first, hope
less failure. Ten amendments to the Consti-
tuition were made almost Immediately after
finally. as you know too vel, three more were
written in blood. Even now there are many
respects in which IL doubtless could be i'm
proved. But toe Declaration of Independ-
ence remains forever lone entire and per-
feet chrysollte," and is confessedly the true
gospel OF our freedom, the true standard of
American rightA In that great statement or
the equality OF men s found the best medi-
cine for National disease, the best balm for
the hurts and bruises of the body polite.
IL means equality of opportunity; a just
share in the gifts of nature; a fair chance
In the race Of life under laws that
all have helped to make. The right to these
things is inalienabie. They can neither be
taken away nor can they voluntarily be
given up. for the Declaration of Independ-
ence means that you can not rfghtfully
make your brother a slave even by his own
consent In short, this great charter, in the
lines and between the lines, declares that
the golden rule of legislation and govern
ment, like the golden rule OF human con-
duct, is the Gnselfish recognition of the
rights of others 1t Is high ideal; too high
perhaps for the eighteenth or nineteenth
century, but not too high for the age that is
coming, when the ashes of the dead shall
blossom in hopes made real, and the blood
of martyrs shall crimson the flower that
truth sets in the wreath of the immortals.
Something might say, il it we're right to
say any tnHE. VI sotneNuat euusiNe Joy
that marked a recent tribute to a great SOL
der, who gave his name and his sword to q
cause We believe to be unspeakably wrong
IL is not for US to decide how far military
ssiIl or personal character can lessen the
guilt of treason. But of this, oh, loyal
hearts. be sure, neither bronze nor marble
can endure long enough to change
wrong into right. nor to cure the broken
oath of Robert Z. Lee. Some day, perhaps,
another colossal I'm will stand by the side
of his, grand, massive and heroic, the statue
of one who simply thought that q soldiers
plighted word meant what il said; a man
who spoke little of his honor but kept Il
stainless as the snow; a soldier OF the an
tique type, the greatest son Virginia gave to
the war-George II. Thomas, the Rock Of
Chiekamauga-