Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-09-21
MAJ. WARMERS ADDRESS.

One of the best speeches at the recent
encampment of veterans at Louisville.
KY, was that delivered by Maj Viii
liam Warner, of Kansas City, Mo-, in
response to the address of welcome by
Henry Watterson of Louisville. Maj.
Warner said:
Col WatterSon and Citizens OF Louisville:
Our annual pilgrimage has brought US to
your beautiful city to hold our national en-
campment. You have received US as though
we were the princes of the earth. Never ala
realize the poverty of speech as realize it
now, IN attempting to convey to you what
know to be the heartfelt thanks of these vet
Grams and myself for your royal reception and
unstinted hospitality You possess the rare
faculty. peculiar to southern people. of max
the stranger within your gates feel that he Is
at home, and that he is in the house of his
friends Foremost among those to welcome
the veterans of the blue to the commonwealth
of Kentucky the state that gave to the nation
that great commoner, Henry Clay, and that
greatest of Americans, Abraham Lincoln, have
been the veterans who wore the gray.
1t may have occurred to some OF you that we
are here on business. If so, you are laboring
under delusion. We are here bent on ipleaS-
ure. determined, in reasonable, orderly and
semt-Sober way. to have good time True to
the Soldierly instinct we expected to do some
fcraging, but to send out foraging parties we
find would be unnecessary waste of energy,
for you have not only anticipated, but have
bountifully supplied every want of the inner
man. 1 am convinced that Kentucky raises
more and tenderer chickens than any other
state in the union, and that no color line is
drawn at the legs of the fowl A hungry man
is more affected by depleted hennery than by
deficit in the treasury.
NY friends you may have noticed that some
of the boys slightly bent; that the heads Of
many are wearing the gray, and here and there
one that is little unsteady of step, but to each
tonight the boys of 1861 and 1865, with
hearts young. forms erect, heads as
black, steps as steady, as when we marched to
the front thirty-odd years ago to fight for
home. country and God. May these boys, God
bless them
always be youthful and happy and gay,
Till the last oear companion drops smiling
away.
At our campires we sing the old army songs
as we used to sing them as we were marching
from Atlanta to the sea. With feelings of COM
radeship toward the brave men against whom
we jostled from Fort Sumter to Appomatox
we recount the sufferings of the frozen camp,
the hardships of the forced march, the dangers
of the battle and horrors of the prison pen, and
again drink from the same canUeen.
The Grand Army of the Republic is an or
ganization that has had no predecessor and
can have no successor. 1t was born when the
first union recruit was enlisted in 81: it will
die when the last survivor of the union armies
and navieS is gathered to his fathers.
1t is organization, the warp and woof Of
which are fraternity and charity, woven in the
loom of loyalty. In the post room the strong
and the weak, the rich and the poor, the Jew
and the Gentle, the white and the black, the
general and the private, touch elbows as COM
radeS
1t Is political, but non bipartisan organiza-
ton: its comrades are not divided by party
platforms. They stand united the broad
plain of AmericaniSm. In the highest and best
sense it is political. 1t demands that the rights
of an American citizen shall be protected at
home and abroad, in every land and on every
sea: it demands respect for Old Glory where
the sun doth shine; ii demands obedience
to the constituted authorities: 1t believes in
the enforcement of law; it believes in liberty
without license: it believes in religion without
bigotry: it demands loyal support to free
public schools, and that they shall forever be
kept non-Sectarian; it believes that church
and state should be kept separate; it demands
honest elections and purity in public affairs:
it believes in a free ballot, free press and
free speech it demands from the government
the fulfIlment of its pledges TO him who has
born the battle, his widow and orphans
The Grand Army of the Republic is rellg
ious organization, free from sectarianism It
teaches charity, without which all forms of
divine worship are but as a sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbaL" When the old broken
veteran falls by the wayside under the burdens
of life, the comrade does not Enthusiastically
pass by on the other side. The charity of the
Grand Army Of the Republic is human. 1t is -
charity that throws the mantle of forgiveness
over the shortcomings of a comrade, rather
than turn upon him the sea rchlight of criti-
ciSm.
''In faith and hope the world will disagree
But all mankind's concern is charity;
All must be false that thwart this one great
end
And all of God that bless mankind or mend"
The Grand Army of the Republic is patri-
otto organization It's members are imbued
with a love of country. They know but one
flag, flag which they are sworn to maintain
unSullied, a flag which. ere long, trust the
patriotism of the whole people will unfurl to
be kissed by the breeZes of heaven as it floats
over every public building and over every
school house in the land. When that glad day
shall come. as come it will the old veteran,
with feelings of noble eXaltation, may exclaim:
Thank God, helped put Old Glory there
The Grand Army of the Republic is nation
al organization. It's members fought for the
preservation of union in which every citizen
of the United States is guaranteed equal rights
with every other citizen on every inch of
American soil They have begotten a spirit OF
stalwart Americanism
Never since the time when the cornerstone
of the republic was laid has national pride
been more pronounced than now; never since
the day when the stars and stripes, the emblem
of nationality, first unfurled has it been
more revered than now
The union of the states is no longer likened
to rope of sand the constitution is no longer
characterized a covenant with hell To set
tie for all time that this is an indissoluble
union of indeStructible states, the baptism OF
blood was necessity.
The God of nations led through the de-
vouring flames of the furnace of the civil war
to the end that we and our children might work
out upon this continent the perfection of hui
man government
The fires of patriotism burn brightly upon
the altar of liberty, states are not pinned to-
gether with bayonets " the union is enshrined
in the hearts of the people and from the SEN
tinels upon the watch towers of the nation
comes the cry: "All is we'll"
In our government all start equal in the race
of life in it to the man Of intelligence and high
purposes, the greatest of all boons, absolute
freedom of opportunity, is guaranteed In this
government by the people there is no prefer
ment to which the man of BRAIN industry and
honesty may not aspire. For the man pos
sessing this trinity of virtues, although born
in howell and reared in poverty, the highway
of fame has been blazed by the immortal Lin
cOln
We would not din the luster of the achieve
b. r4ss loo 80.