The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-07-11
The LOYAL LEGION.
The Annual Session as Endlanapolis-Ora-
slon By Hen. George r. Peck, OF Kansas
a Tribute to the Declaration OF INDIE


The Annual Session as EndlsnaPolis-Ora-
ton BY Hen George r. Peck, OF Kansas
A Tribute to tke Declaration OF IHds-
peadence.
INDIANAPOLIS. Ind, July g. The
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
b 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 bring you asaiutatfon and q greeting.
The day and the occasion are happily mated.
From immemorial times, men who have
borne arms have enjoyed a 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 riSor
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 implacable years The soldier
must not question fate This much is ours:
to know that IL 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 ieast,
that loyalty is a virtue which should never
go out of fashion Love of country is not,
and should not be. sentiment that responds
only to the bugle and the drum. 1t Is indeed
true that the finest impulses lie dormant,
waiting this call that shall transmute them
into vital convictions But yet it is also true
that nation is best endowed when it has the
rv-da aft nf ffa
in peace as well as In war
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 feelipg we sometimes call "the
American spiritT' Surely 1t is not a selfish
lust of possession; the vulgar satisfaction
of knowing that we inhabit an imperial do
what we call our own. Some better re son
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 1t has
quenched Its tn rst 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 VIII grow under
any sun that yields Its compelling rays. The
harvest cares not what sickle shall reap 1t.
Nature Is calmly ind srent, deal IN out the
rude Justice of the seasons. and needing not
the losses nor the gains. But men think !;
they alone have shat large discourse look
ing before and after" which is 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 nag is something
more than a harmonious blending of colors
Who has not felt the awe and mystery that
dwell In holy embems7 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
It 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 IL Is a curious fact that neither
the men who framed 1t nor their contempo-
raries were always successful when they
put their hands to the pen. The articles of
confederation were, from the drst a hope
less failure Ten amendments to the Consti-
tuition were made almost Immediately after
its adoption, two shortly afterward, and
finally, as you know too well, three more were
written in blood. Even now there are many
respects in which it doubtless could be i'm
proved. But the Declaration of Independ-
ence remains forever lone entire and per-
feet chrysolite." and is confessedly the ne
gospel of our freedom, the true standard of
American rights. In that great statement of
the equality of men I g found the best medl-
cine for National dis tease, the best balm for
the hurts and bruises of the body polite
1t means equality OF opportunity; q Just
share in the gifts of nature; fair chance
in the race of life under laws that
all have helped to make. The right to these
things is inalienable. They can neither be
taken away nor can they voluntarily be
given up, for the Declaration of Independ-
ence means that you can not rlghtfully
make your brother q 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 unselfsh recognition of the
rights of others. 1t is a 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 shah crimson the flower that
truth sets in the wreath of the immortals.
Something might say, IL 1t were right e
say any thing, of a somewhat ELUSIVE Joy
der, who gave his name and his sword to q
cause we believe to be unspeakably wrong.
1t Is not for us to decide how far military
81 Ill 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 K. Lee. Some day, perhaps,
another colossal form will stand by the side
of his, grand, massive and heroic. the statue
of one who simply thought that a soldiers
plighted word meant what 1t said; a man
who spoke little of his honor, but kept 10
stainless as the snow; soldier of the an
tique type, the greatest son Virginia gave to
the war-George II. Thomas, the Rock of
Chlckamauga.