The Portland daily press., 1895-05-31
THE NATION'S DEAD.
Continued from Third Page.


mad struggle for daily bread?
While they were tenting on the old
camp grounds their brothers who re-
mained at home raised big crops, manu-
factured supplies for the army and lent
money to the government. The soldier
got about forty cents on each dollar he
earned. The bond holder lent forty cents
to the government and got back a dollar.
These, my friends, are cold facts. More
fortunes were made during the civil war
than at any other period of the nation S
history-how were they made if not as l
have suggested? Now l do not wish to be
misunderstood on this point. 1t was
home and furnish the tsinews of war, ,"
and it was perfectly right that they
should, in the process make all the money
they honestly could. l only ask them
now, in their prosperity, not to forget the
men who, with their swords, helped them
make their fortunes.
Fellow Citizens, to day there are null
toil-stiffened hands, their faded coats
OF blue, with many an empty sleeve,
their white hairs and sorrow-riven faces
who are facing penniless old age and a
pauper grave!
They are asking the tax payers, not for
charity, but simply for the fulfillment of
the pledges which thirty-fo years ago
were made as man to man.
We can, t give them back their lost youth,
we can't erase the scars of battle or fill
each empty sleeve with an arm of flesh
and blood, but we can keep our promises
to them and that is all they ask.
Now 1 do not deny that there are un-
are receiving aid which they do not de-
serve. But there are, as well, worthy
members who are not receiving the aid
they do deserve. Shall we make it the
rule of life to condemn every noble in
stitution in which perchance, are to be
found unworthy members? Is Christian
| ity failure because it numbered Judas
| IscariOt? Is patriotism false because a
Benedict Arnold has lived? Is Free Mas
onry to be condemned because of it's arch
traitor? Shall we condemn the Grand
Army because, as hypocrites creep into
| the church or traitors among patriots,
certain sharpers have crept in and used
| its noble name to advance their schemes?
| Would you judge the majistry of the
pyramids by the serpents which hissed at
you from their baseS
| What plead for is a just discrimina-
ton! Conceding, as | do, that there are
unworthy members who are receiving
pensions they are not entitled to, l fail
to see how it remedies the situation to
cast slur upon the entire organization.
Ii men have fraudulently obtained pen
sions it is the fault of the power which
examined them and granted their claims
The Grand Army has nothing to do with
| it. The Grand Army does not grant pen
sions, nor does it desire unworthy mem
bers to obtain them; and yet, forsooth,
it must bear the blame whenever some
unprincipled sharper outwits the pension
| department. and gets his claim.
go consistency thou art jewelp'
All the Union soldier asks is the full
filment of the promises made him when
he enlisted. And I have faith enough in
the integrity of the, American people to
believe that they mean to redeem every
pledge either publicly made or tacitly un-
derstood; and I believe they have the
common sense to lay the blame, in the
matter of pension abuses, where-it be-
longs, and that is not at the door of the
Grand Army of the Republic.
| Fellow Citizens The noble monum ent
upon your public square bears this in
lscription: Honor and grateful remem-
brance to the dead, equal honor to those
who, daring to die, survived. - So long
as this remains the sentiment of the peo-
pie truth and justice will prevail All
honor to loyal Portland for these splendid
words They are worthy of bronze and
marble Long may they stand, mighty
rebuke to the voice of slander whenever
it shall dare to blacl1en the glittering
And to night you will join me, as one
man, when say there is but one senti-
ment worthy of the citizen-soldier of the
Grand Army of the Republic: "Cheers
for the living, and tears for the dead -
Rev. Dr. CIV. Parsons was then intro
duced, and was given a very f1attering
reception.
DIR. PARSONS ADDRESS.
DR.. Parsons said that the soldiers of the
Grand Army had just come from decorat-
ing the graves of the comrades, feeling
sorry that neither the flowers of nature
or of speech can fifty express the tribute
we would pay them. We speak .of them
as "our dead" and yet they are not
dead. 1t may be that 81 May days have
passed since they passed from your ranks.
1t may be that the dispatches that we
read with burning interest 80 years ago
we, criticize today, still if the drama is
over, the actives still live. The immor-
tails do not die, their souls go marching
on.
A right celebration of Memorial day
means much to the citizen and to the
rising generation, but more to you of the
blue coat and bronze buttons. You who
stood shoulder to shoulder on the edge
of the battle, while death galloped along
the line If in 1850 the kings of Europe
said: "The great republic will fall, :" the
scales fell from their eyes in 1861, when
you said: "We're coming Father Abra
ham 70, 600, 300, OOo 600, 900 more" (Great
applause That mighty uprising showed
that we are one Heroic men are not born
of peace The bloodiest blossom of war
with heart of fire is symbol of better
things Whatever is good and grand is
born of suffering. The graves of the
dead, the wounds of the living charge us
to remember the difference between 10y
atty and freedom, disloyalty and slavery.
Had you not responded disloyal forces
would have marched on Washington, and
Philadelphia and New York. New Eng
land would have been conquered provin-
ces and the threat of the fry Toombs
would have been kept, and the roll of
elo1oe would bovo hoay, 1la6 on R1,n