People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-06-01

frov.. .IA.y ia VIC siuCe lnen gone out
from this life mid scenes OF peace
while scores of thousands OF them vet
i've. For a third of a century apone
tnelr hands have been strangers to
musket stocks and sword hilts. Their
country has not 10 that time needed
oil them armed service. Nevertheless
no living veteran has fought ali his
battles yet. There is still a good
1gnt for him to fight which does not
uemand such weapons as those he
used on southern battle.helds. Wrong
that was conquered when IL assumed
the shape OF rebellion has since then
assumed other forms and is to-day as.
SAILING the Interests OF multitudes OF
our fellow citizens and threatening
the life Of the nation itself.
lie who fought for the right In the
dark days OF the civil war should
JOIN with his sons and the sons OF his
comrades and with all LOYAL citizens
and fight for his county Just as brave.
" now. Twill not do to look always
backward and think that the battles
which have been gained and the issues
That have been settled assure our
country's future.
The present has its battles and the
need OF earnest patriotism and loyal.
" is as urgent now as IL ever was in
1851.
Do you ask what form wrong as
sumeS to-day that there is need OF de-
Tending our country against IL? 1t
assumes not Ohe form but many. The
time would fail me to tell OF all.
They are legion. There Is the bitter
ness into which men have fallen
which causes them to deny the pat
riOtiSm OF those who differ from them
on political questions and which
causes them TO magnify the difference
until they lose sight Of the interests
they have in common; there Is the
political corruption that is abroad in
the land that enables demagogues to
sit in the places which statesmen only
can till and gives The Boss" supreme
power In the decision OF elections and
the formation and policy of admins
tratiOns and put municipal govern
pentS under the control Of the worst
elements; there is the anarchial spirit
and teachings of certain classes of the
foreign population which unrestricted
immigration has added to our great
cities; there is the increasing differen-
tlatl0n OF classes caused by our un-
Just social and economic order which
enables few men to lay hold on and
control the wealth of this country
without producing a dollar oft, while
those who do produce it get but the
merest pittance Of 1t; there is the hell
born traffic in rum which is the most
prolific source OF crime and corruption:
and which leaves TO mark It's track
corrupted courts and governments,
tears and broken hearts and wasted
lives and ruined homes, and prisons
and blood, and graves. In all these
and thousand other forms wrong is
striking at our cOuntry's honor and
her life. Against these things every
loyal Americans heart must burn
with Indignation. The battle against
these evils is on now, and the time
has come when the veterans of the
civil war and their sons and daugh.
ters and fellow countrymen, inheri-
tors OF their spirit, should rise and
lighting good fight, smite these evils
dead.
The veterans need not be concerned
about the past. The record OF their
deeds is w.itten on the imperishable
page Of history. When tablets OF
brass shall rust, and the tallest mar
BILE shaft that ever kissed the clouds
shall crumble under the touch OF
Time. the record of their patriotism
! will still be bright. l pray you then.
veterans Of hard-fought battles, by
the patriotism that moved you then,
BY the memory Of comrades fallen on
tie bloody field by our country's pres
ent need, and In the name of God rise
against every evil and fight a good,
fight now. The welfare OF every age
and sex, OF those who now live, and
OF the generations yet unborn, Justice
and God, demand 1t. Then yours
will be double honor, homer for past
deeds so glorious and honor for pres.
ent service nobly rendered.
To the generation that has arisen
since the civil war, you are teachers
OF patriotism, but the best way to
to teach them is not alone TO turn
back and recount what has been done
but also TO fight a good fight now
against the evils that beset US. The
issues OF war time are irrevocably
settled. Others have arisen for set
tlement and those who live to-day
must meet them. Were it a physical
contest where men must stand
against the shock Of charging SQUAD.
rOns, the veterans Of to-day, aging
rapidly as some Of them are, broken
some Of them by the hardships and
exposures of the past, wound be un-
fitted for the battle; but in molding
public opinions to despise partisan
bitterness and sectional hatred, and
political corruptions in opposing the
lmpious, traitOrous teachings of for.
eign demagogues who are misusing the
liberties accorded them in this land:
| In combating the heartlessness of
greed and in the reconstruction OF our
social order; in helping to rid our
country of the rum traffic; in opposing
wrong in all its forms they can still
fight good fight and teach as grand
lessons OF pltriotism as they did on a
hundeed fields OF blool
And let ne say to all present here
to-day, II you would fight the coed
fight best of all put yourself under the
Captain Of he Lords Host. -
He must be blind to the teachings
OF life's events who does not see the
hind Of God in the history OF our be-
loved country: who noes not recognize