The Anaconda standard., 1896-05-18
ROARS BY PATRIOTS
The G. A. R. Selects Col. 7. 0'Leary
as Memorial Day Orator.
LOUD PROTEST BY A. P. AS.
He Fought for His Country. Not
With His Mouth, He's an Irish
man and That's Too Much for
the Saviors of the Nation.

There is a roar going up in patriotic cir
cles which beats any roar ever heard
here before 1t is a howl which discounts
any howl that Rome ever howled. 1t
seems that the @. A. r. OF Butte has
been so unpatriotic and so un-American
as to select Colonel T. O'Leary of Ana
conda for orator OF the day in Butte in
the Memorial day exercises. Wouldn't
that kill you?
AS IL it were not enough to compel the
A p. A to swallow Mckinley. Carter.
Mantle. Hartman. Sigh, Leonard and all
these other things without forcing
o'Leary down their throats! This is the
bitterest pill of all.
When IL was first learned that the Lin
coin post of the C. A. r. contemplated
inviting Colonel O'Leary to deliver the
Decoration day Grafton in Butte the A.
p. As. started in to down him. They
went individually to the committee in
charge of the affair and labored with
them singly and collectively. They rep
resented that Colonel O'Leary is a per-
son of Irish extraction, IL not OF Irish
birth. and even worse than that. he is
a Catholic of the Catholickest type. He
had been suspected of having uttered
sentiments inimical to the A. p. A. and IL
would be the utter ruin OF the whole
United States of America to have such a
man deliver a Memorial day address be-
fore the people of Butte.
To which the members OF the G. A. r.
replied that It was sufficient for them to
know that Colonel O'Leary fought on the
battlefields of the South under the stars
and stripes for the preservation OF this
glorious union side by side with the other
men who now comprise the membership
of the G.. A r.
I'm those dark days Of the civil war"
said a member of the committee to a
STANDARD W.
inquired of the man who stood shoulder
to shoulder with us whether he was a
Catholic or a Protestant or a Jew or any
thing else. We never inquired whether a
man was born in Ireland or England or
Germany or France or America All we
wanted to know was that he was with
us and that his face was to the enemy.
Then he was our brother. II IT comes to
question of patriotism. we know that
Colonel O'Leary is a patriot. for he
proved II on the field of battle. The only
reason we have to believe that these fell
lows who are fighting him are patriots
Is that they say so. They are mouth pa
triots, and with the members OF the G. A.
r. one deed is worth a millions words
Who are these people who attempt to de-
fine patriotism to the c. A. R.7 Who are
these people who would dictate to us
that we must discard men who fought
side by side with us to preserve this
country? Would they have us forget the
men for whose services we were very
thankful i'm 1861 simply because they may
worship God at another altar from us?
We want no dictation from the A. p. A.
We were patriots before their organiza-
ton was heard of. and so was Colonel
O'Leary. To the @. A. r. the stars and
stripes means something more than the
holding of office. and the preservation OF
the union under the constitution is of
greater consequence than the preserva-
tion of a secret organization whose whole
history has been an effort to mlslnterpret
Americanism and disrupt and divide the
real patriots of this nation"
So the committee stood firm. the invi-
tation to that rank Catholic and old SOL
der. Colonel O'Leary, was sent, and he
will deliver the Memorial day oration in
Butte one week from Saturday. d. v.