The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-31
One of the InpIacables.

The orator of the day at the G. A.
R. memorial exercises in the Audito-
rum yesterday was Gen" I. N. Walk
er. Of Indianapolis, ex-national COM
mander of the organization.
There was nothing stirring in Gen."
Walkers address; nothing new in the
line Of ideas. 1t was a thoroughly
starched and ironed fabric of words, of
the high-sounding quality. Really, the
most remarkable thing associated with
it was Gen" Walker himself.
This gentleman is a product Of our
civil war, of the Fire Alarm" Foraker
scrt-egotistlcal, bigoted, sectional in
his views of patriotism, malignant in
his hatred of the Confederate soldier,
incapable of measuring growth, expan-
sion and development Of reason in 9TH
ers. being himself unreasoning, i'm
placable and possessed of only stunted
powers of comprehension.
Only few years ago, two. if we mis-
take not, some patriotic members of the
G. A. r. in the East, cooperating with
leading ex-Confederate soldiers
throughout the country, started g
movement to bring together as many
| representatives of the blue and the
Gray as could be assembled in a grand
reunion and demonstration in New
New York city, each man to wear the
uniform of the army in which he
served. The old soldiers of the South
responded graciously to the PROPOSE
ton, and G.. A. R. men in every COM
munity expressed approval thereof and
signified their readiness to co-opera tie
in the good work. Just as the enthu-
siasm was at its height came the cold
announcement that Communicating
Chief Walker, Of the G. A. R., refused
to issue an order permitting the men
in that organization to participate in
the ennobling and patriotic demonstra-
ton proposed, and, as a consequence,
all efforts to effect the reunion were
abandoned.
There is an assembling of men today,
however, which, thanks to the AL
mighty, the narrow-rninded Gen"
Walker cannot check by his frown or
his command. While this distinguished
patriot was belching forth his big
words and thunderous phrases yester-
day in the Auditorium, the sons of the
Blue and the Gray" of 1875 were
mingling in the camps of war by the
waters of the gulf, arrayed in the COM
mon uniform of the federal soldier.
With some of the most distinguished
leaders of the Confederate army as
their commanders, and all beneath the
single banner of the United States of
America.
Gen" Walker entered a protest
against "the niggardly policy of reduc-
ing pensions that have been regularly
granted upon acceptable and accepted
evidence, under the guise of reissues.
unless fraud can be proved" And then
he asked pathetically, almost fearful
ly: us the republic getting tired of US
Do We live too long?"
This is a compound as well as a COM
pick question; but an answer something
like this may perhaps be appropriately
given: The republic has not been mig
gardly in the matter of granting pen
Sions, Worthily or unworthily; it will
never grow tired of caring for the mer-
itorious soldier who served his country
in the triumphant cause Of the Union
nor for his widow, nor for his orphan.
But the republic does get very tired of
the man, on either side of the line.
South as we'll as North, however well
he may have fought, who persists in
dwelling among the noXious gases Of the
battlefleids of a generation ago, and
refuses to lift his head and expand his
nostrils and inhale the pure atmosphere
OF reunited country, that 'natio,
which, under God, has had it's new birth
of freedom" as if in response to the
| prayer of Lincoln at Gettysburg. AS
| to the length of time such must con.
tinue to dwell among us, that is a mat
ter we cannot control. There are af-
| fictions which cannot be escaped and
which must be patiently borne.