The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-05-31
A MEMORIAL GRAFTON
SECRETARY OF STATE GARDNER. OF
MICHIGAN, AT TOMLINsON HALL.
He Recalls the Efforts
ihat brought Forth the Sinews
for the Union Cause.

The Memorial day demonstration closed
with the mass meeting at Tomlinson Hall
last night. but owing to the extreme sultri-
ness OF the evening the meeting was not at
all largely attended. Those that did come
sweltered in about 30 degrees of heat dur
ing the rendition OF the programme. The
programme was not a lengthy one. Com
rade Schilling first sang a song. Our Sol
diers' Dead" with the Memorial chorus.
AFTER this the ritualistic opening exer-
cises were conducted by George c.. Web
ster, master of ceremonies. The opening
exercises were those of the G. A. r. ritual.
and the same as always given. Flag OF
our country" words and music by c. f..
Merrifeld, was next given, and then the
prayer by Chaplain A. b. Charpie. Miss
Nellie Ross sang My Heart Turns to
ihee. and then came the grafton of the
evening by Hon. Washington Gardner, Sec
rotary OF State OF Michigan. Following the
Grafton the chorus sang My Country" and
Mrs. b. M. Lawrence read an original poem,
entitled Our Silent Victors.' America"
ing In the song. The patriotic song stirred
80 small audience and they entered into its
spirit as they sang the words. [ the con-
pronounced, and the audience filed out of
the house as taps were being sounded.
After reviewing the causes that led up
TO the war. Mr.. Gardner called attention
TO the manner in which the sinews of war
were obtained. Said he:
while on this day of all others when the
work of the soldier and the sailor NAV
properly be emphasized, we cannot justly
fail to recall the fact that to the united
and earnest efforts of all the loyal people
does the Nation owe it's perpetuity. Com
ing as we do fresh from the fiag-decked
ana nower-laden mounds of our soldier dead,
let US not, my comrades, be unmindful nor
unappreciative of the services of those
devoted men and women who, in the home
ana In the school, in factory and field, in
legislative hall and judicial tribunal. in
cabinet council and executive chamber, did
their part as periodically as did you war
Scared veterans on the tented field or at
the battles front. 1t was upon the great
hearted. answering loyalty of those who
remained at home that they who were in
the Held were dependent for money, for
supplies and for men to carry the conflict
or arms to a successful issue. One of the
gravest difficulties that confronted the Ma
tlon,. when its life was in peril, was the
problem OF finance.
Ways and means must be provided for
raising, equipping and sustaining an army,
ana for building and maintaining a navy,
involving an outlay of money such as the
world had not previously witnessed. When,
on the eve OF conflict, the great secretary
OF finance assumed the duties Of his of
nee, he found the national treasury empty;
the credit OF the government deprecated
at the monetary centers of the world, and
the Nation paying as high as IL per cent.
per annum for funds borrowed to meet cur
rent expenses. At the end of the first year
or the struggle such was the uncertainty
as 10 FEDERAL supremacy in the final issue
that the bonds of the Confederacy were
more popular in Europe than those of the
United tSates.' The bankers of England
and the continent were unwilling to invest
IN our national securities. The Golfers OF
the world We're closed against us. So far
as foreign help was concerned. insolvency
stared us In the face, and unless the ma
tionaa credit could be maintained, dissolu-
ton and ruin were inevitable. In this ex-
tremity Congress devised ways and ap-
pealed to the people of the loyal States to
the emergency. That appeal was not in
vain. The fathers and the mothers who
had devoted their sons did not now withhold
their treasures from the altar or sacrifice.
Measured by the standard of material
support, what splendid devotion was mani
tested toward the great cause! Before a
State seeded, or a hostile blow was struck,
the government found ii dimcult to ne
gotiate loans aggregating the comparative
ly paltry sum of III ,0J1,OO0 though pay
ing thereon the exorbitant average rate of
1913 per cent. per annum. With one-third of
the people in arms against, and endeavor-
ing to destroy, the government; with our
ships of nearly driven from the
seas: with more than two and one-half
millions of able-bodied men Withdrawn for
a longer or shorter time from productive
pursuits. it is written upon the pages OF
the worlds history and destined TO shine
are to be, that from 1861 to 1866 the gov
eminent Of the United States Of America
not only fought the battles of self-preser-
walton at the front, but that it raised and
paid into the national treasury more than
two thousand millions of dollars: that with
in five years its annual revenues rose from
forty-one TO the enormous aggregate of
&5S,O00, 900, and that while the national debt
assumed the gigantic proportions of 81, 49,
$1,000, its credit had so far improved at
the close of the war that the average rate
of interest paid by the government was
but 6 and 62-100 per cent. per annum. What
manship. the splendid fnanciering and the
-c~onsummate devotion of the people to ma
tional unityi
- A. 1.1 80 tI;rtv -, -
peace to commemorate those slain in war,
it is a source of patriouc pride and salts
faction that in the interval the government
they died to maintain has resumed specie
payments. promptly met the interest on the
national debt as IL accrued, Cancelled nearly
two thousand millions of dollars of the OBJ
legations growing out of the war, paid over
one billion five hundred and seven mill
lion dollars in pensions to surviving SOL
diers and the widows and orphans of SOL
diers deceased, lessened the interest on the
national debt TO an average of below 4 and
to a minimum. of 2 per cent. per annum and
reduced our debt per capita to less than
that OF any nation on the globe. In vain
do men search for a parallel in the field Of
national finance. The infexible purpose OF
the loyal people at homo was surpassed only
by the heroism of the soldiers in the field.
On the military roll of our country's- de-
sons. In $500 engagements they sealed their
devotion with their blood. On the altar OF
sacrifice there lay of the Nations young
manhood. 1000 killed or mortally wounded
in battle; so. 156 whose lives went out while
prisoners of war, and l99, 720 who yielded TO
the fatauty Of disease.
ut is written: All that a man hath will
he give for his life by this
priceless standard the fearful cost of ma
tional unity was 359,57S human lives from
the armies of the North and approximately
as many from those of the South. OF the
survivors multiplied thousands who were
MANNED and shattered in body on the field
of carnage have already descended prema-
turely TO the grave, while thousands more
are passing the remnant of their days
attended by disease and suffering incident
10 the privations and hardshIps OF active
military service. BY the defenders of the
Union. the justification of TINS fearful loss
of life and entailment OF suffering rests
upon the ground OF self-defense. On the
part OF the government the war was
waged. primarily, for self-preservatlon. The
attitude of the national authorities and the
sentiments of the great mass of the people
of the North were correctly represented by
the chief executive, when. on the 4th of
March, 1861. standing on the steps OF the
Capitol, with uncovered head and sad face
~cauthward turned. he appealed to the citi-
zens of the rs5ellious section. saying: I'VE
must not be enemies. but friends; in your
hands. my dissatisfied feiow-countrymen,
of civil war. The government will not
assail you. You can have no conflict with
out being yourselves the aggreSsors. You
can have no oath registered in heaven TO
destroy the government, lille L shall have