The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-25
Anaconda Nel0s.

| teaching our people that the reign of
| the demagogue in official positions
within the gift of our people is treason,
and that the abuse of power in posi-
lions of public trust is little better, IL
any, than anarchy.
Third-The war has taught us the
beautiful lesson of self-sacrifice, and
how great a price our people were Will
ing to pay for liberty and union. Large
numbers of men gave money to carry
on the war. Not a few made great
loans to the government. This was
necessary and we are grateful for II.
That is not the self sacrifice / mean.
Nor do / refer to the sacrifice of the
men who stayed at home and grew
wealthy while their fellow townsmen
marched down into the dark valley;
nor do refer to the board of trade in
one of our great cities which equipped
battery, and sent the soldiers down
South to sleep on wet ground ana
live on bareback, while the members
of the board drove home in carriages,
slept on downy beds and ate from
grooming tables, but / mean the sacri-
fee of mothers who said to their only
sons: 60 my boy, your country needs
you" When they turned back into
their humble homes they found the
light all gone out. Those who were
true to the standards of the Bethany
done what she could" teach us this
lesson-those mothers and fathers who
did all they could and gave their sons;
those sons of fathers who gave all they
had-their lives-that shows us the
beautiful lesson. But those at home
kept singing through the long black
night of war: when Johnnie Comes
Marching Home, but, alas! into so
many homes, Johnnie never came
marching home. What, oh what exam
pies we have by which to teach our
children.
Fourth-Once more the war has
taught us the strength Of a representa-
tive government. Despots have con-
stantly argued that the inevitable and
rapid tendency of republican forms OF
government is to factions, strife, an
archy and dissolution" and Macau-
ley in speaking of our ship of state said
IL was all sail and no ballast. Thirty
IL was all sail ap6 no ballast. Thirty
fict, the like of which would nave
shattered the government and structure
of any nation on the planet. That is
I not an extravagant statement, tof civil
! conflicts far inferior to our own nave
tested the wisdom and strength of great
| governments to their utmost We have
| before us a fact quite the reverse. We
have a national government inferior to
| none the history of progress that mas
| surpassed the expectations OF the most
sanguine and a unity of feeling that Is
| beyond our brightest hopes and In re-
| gard to Macauley's statement surely
| our ship is not all sail and no ballast
| unless Drawing the most dreadful storm
that has beat upon this stormy century
and keeping a steady course through
| IL all is an indication of top-heaviness.
| But YOU ask what of our future? L
dare not predict great glory or great
defeat. My own belief is that the gov
eminent "of the people, by the people
and for the people" shall not perish
from the earth; that as long as nations
| endure and time lasts that next under
| the cross shall wave the stars and
| strIpes and the banner of st. George.
No foreign enemy could successfully in
wade our country, even though the
| much-talked-of coast defenses are
wanting. open rebellion within our
borders has been put down, and those
| who were once our enemies are now our
| friends. If we ever disband our ma
| tional existence we shall be the cause
| of our own ruin. All the great nations
| that have fallen along the course of
| time. have fallen because of internal
| corruption, and IL We are ever compen-
ed to disband our national organization
IL will be because of moral and poitti-
cal wiokedness within our own borders.
We then, as individuals, have COM
| mitted 10 us sacred trusts in defending
| the interests of the nation in times OF
| peace. as the heroes of 81 did in times
| of dreadful war. Our duty may not be
as clearly defined now as then, but 1t
| Is none the less important.
The preacher then mentioned briefly
| some of the enemies we have to fight
and some of the problems that are
| given us TO solve.
Among them he mentioned the labor
problem the emigration problem, the
, race problem and the liquor problem,
all of which could find no other solu-
| ton than the proper application OF
| Christianity to them.
! The speaker. after pronouncing an
| apostrophe to our national flag, closed
his sermon with these words: There
| is no more war in America to-day; no
hostile sound is heard in all the scene
| of the recent conflict from the Potomac
to the Rio Grande. The fair face of the
South is no longer tread by the iron
hoof of war, and nature has well nigh
! hid her scars with verdure. The old
| fort embankments are covered with
| orange groves and the birds chant their
| morning songs among the grassy en-
/ brasures from which the cannon blazed.
| The peaceful pennons of spring are
| waving over the once shot-plowcd sod
| and rich harvests are growing where
| stood our guns Sweet violets spring
from the soil once strewn with dying
| and drenched with blood. Merry child
| rem chase the sunny hours away where
| once the stern commandary moved long
. columns of men in the array of battle
flushed is the slogan of charging lines,
the bugle's blast and the roll of drums
! The last vestiges of the war are fast
| passing away and soon the last soldier
| will have gone. We are thinking Of
civil peace to-day. but may IL not be
an emblem Of the better peace which
Christ offers? Standing here tonight.
I wish TO offer, in His stead, pardon and
peace to all, especially TO the old SOL
| diers.
by and by there will be a grand re-
view. Then IL will be known on which
side of the battle OF life you fought
whether you fought against God or not.
The gospel / wish To bring you tonight
is this: That IL you will you may be
victors in a grander war. and those fad
ing coats Of blue may be changed for
| white robes and In that uniform Won