The National tribune., 1895-11-28
TIE GRAND ARMY.
What is Being Done by the Veterans
for the Good of the Order.
THE @. A. R,

ffons-Speech of erin Chief Il. n
3yalIser to Lafayette Post, New York, Nov
10, 1895.
COMMANDER AND COMRADES: rejoice that
am permitted To be with you for few moments
tbis evening As ] look into your faces / an
glad that ] was born just when i was; that
bad the strength and courage TO go into the
Army aud TO do my duty AS a soldier, that !
might have the right to call you comrades
esteem il privilege TO be with you IN this
social and patriotic hour.
The REGARD made bv the soldiers the volun-
teer army OF the United States, has never been
eoualied in the history of the world; not only
in its achievements in war, but for its equally
renowned victories in peace. The world never
knew the time before when victorious army
ola million men blended quietly, easily, natur-
ally, into the great body polite, and not one
svmptom of illegal act, Of riot, of disorder
all becoming peace, law, government order.
and harmony. j say il has never been paral-
lelea and it, my friends, al any time there
should come trouble. or the appearance OF
trouble. without or within, the Grand Army of
the Republic to the last survivor would be ar
rayed on the side of law and order, on the
side of the Commonwealth OF New York and
of the United States OF America.
The men who saved the Union-the private
soldiers-were thinking men. They were
taught to think in our public schools. nave
no respect for the man who does not THINK ana
have his own convictions. Ours is Govern
ment from the people mp, not from aristocracy
down We need no great standing army. Our
best army is the schOolhouse; our safest protec-
fion the home; our most effective cannon, the
intelligence and integrity of the masses.
The Grand Army Of the Republic as an or
ganiZation is unique in conception, illustrious
in achievement-the breath OF Patriotism and
the color-ruard of Liberty" 1t is the organized
love of the men who marched together and who
fought together in the army of the Union.
The Union soldiers should never forget the
.piace the sabers and bayonets gave them In
history. How many men in the days to come
will reckon the date of their nobility back TO
Shiloh, TO Gettysburg. or TO AppomattoKI How
the sons will say: My ancestor stood with
Thomas at Nashville; with herman at At
lanta. or with Grant in the Wilderness; and
that is my letters patent of nobility"
One of the missions of the Grand Army is to
see that no man who helped to write upon the
pages Of history Malvern Hill and Antietam
Stone River and from Atlanta to the sea, is a
tramp or pauper; TO see that no boy or girl
whose father gave the best years of his life to
his country is uncared for.
We believe in liberty and we believe in prog
ress: but we believe also in the rights of prop
erty and in the supremacy of the law. The
Union soldier stands for law, and order. and
Justice. There has already been too much red
Gag permitted in this country. People who
do not like this country, its institutions and
its laws, should get out of il.
This is a great, strong free Nation; but no.
where is there any room for, nor will there be
tolerated. any other flag than the Stars and
Stripes. Recently have been glad to witness
more vigorous Americanism than remember
to have seer for 30 years; and by American
ism do not mean that Wanting pride in our
institutions that was formerly INDUCED in by
some of our authors and speakers until they
made rs ridiculous TO foreign Nations; but
u. At. A. L.
stitutiOns more often reflected upon than spo-
ken-those swelling thoughts which inspire
and expand the thinker until he fills his coun-
try TO its uttermost limits.
IL is the desire 10 the mind of every loyal
American that the starry constellation shall
burn in Ornaments where il has not been seen
for years. II is the desire and aspiration that
the stripes shall float and wave like the north
ern lights in skies unvisted before. ] have
witnessed another thing upon which we can
all congratulate ourselves to the rcviving
spirit of Americanism; the flag floats over the
scboolhouse. 1t is raised at 8 o'clock in the
morning and is lowered at $50 or in the
afternoon. Ny attention was most forcibly d.
rected to this recently. On the opposite cor
ner OF tie street in which ] live is a school
house, and as sat at my desk and looked out
j saw the flag COUP. ] saw the children troop
ing in, aud soon j heard the sound Of music,
the sweetest sound in all the world-the sound
sweet soprano of the schoolma'am soaring like
IN angels song. And they were singing
Ny country tits of the,
Sweet land Of libertys
OF thee sing.
laid down my pen as the music entranced
my hearing, and ] thought that if that were
going on in the schoolhouses throughout the
land, this country in the hands of those little
men and women would be safe foreVermore
is lp mi Efn NJ ~ inn
90 inspire the young, both by precept and ex.
ample, with the true spirit of patriotism; with
stories and song TO recount the tender memo
Ties Of the war; TO see that Memorial flowers
are planted upon the graves of our dead 20
shield that roll OF honor, the pension register
not, like laRo rOusing the passions of Otbello,
by the tongue of suspicion, but openly. and
with soldiers honor to purge the roll from
the undeserying, II such can be honestly found
We demand for comrades that lust treat
ment that the country gladly comedies. and We
protest against the niggardly policy Of reducing
pensions that have been regularly granted
upon acceptable and accepted evidence, under
the guise OF reissues. unless fraud can be proven
Is the Republic getting tired Of usP DO we
live too lougf Alas JET not the pension roll
trouble any hostile soul. Those rolls have now
practically reached their zenith, and are :rav-
cling with arithmeticsl progression to the set
ting sun Death stands at the Capital, and
with merciless hand sponges of whole regi-
meEts from the register daily. The percent
age OIL mortality pursues them with a death
rate far beyond that Of ordinary men. Soon |
too soon, the story viii he told. Where now
are Grant and Sherman and Sheridan: and
Thomas and Hancock and Logan; and Farraeut
and Porterp AS with officers, so with men /
Their serrated graves make batte-lnes Of the
dead. AT roil-cslls they are not present" but |
with sOrrOw, are accounted for" TIE bugles
of God sounded their recall" They marched
out Of the darkness of the night into the
brightness Of eternal day.
IL is sometimes said that when we old vet
Grams get together we seem TO live in the past:
AND there lie some truth in il. We carry in our
hearts and IA our memories volumes of reco-
lectionh aud, comrades, can't help living in
the past. Bot why shouldn't we be proud OF
the recordt And why shouldn't you 20 down
into your hearts and bring out the story and
tell il 10 your comrades and 10 your children,
that il may be handed down to coming genera
tions, that 1t may live forever making patriots
10 this laDdl
Let Us preserve the memory of the time when
the slcdEehammer Of destiny, the anvil Of
fate, welded in the fiery heat OF civil war the
oiscordant elements of a common country into
united Nation. Aud recent events have de-
monstrated' that il is a united Nation. If any
foreign power attempts 10 interfere with the
weh-settled principles Of the Monroe doctrine
they Will receive a practical demonstration Of
the fact that will satisfy them forever.
The wheels of industry in the South will not