The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-31
ALL FOR The REPUBLIC
Liv;ngston's Citizens Listen to
Mr.. Miller's Eloquent Address.
THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP
Memorial Day Was Honored by the
Local Public and Crowds At
tended the Interesting Ser
vices OF the Day.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.

Special Dispatch to the Standard.
Livingston. May 30.--Memorial day was
observed in this city with an enthusiasm
such as Is seldom witnessed here. By
proclamation of the mayor the places of
business were closed during the greater
part of the day and the citizens turned out
en- masse to do honor to the survivors of
the war and decorate lie graves of those
who have answered the final roll call since
the great civil strife was at an end The
usual decoration day services were carried
out at the cemeteries in the forenoon and
in the afternoon at o'clock an interesting
programme was begun at the opera
house, into which an immense audience
was closely crowded. Attorney H. j.
Miller made the address OF the day, as
follows:
I'VE do not wipe the tear of sorrow
from our eyes to-day, but come here re-
joicing in our hearts that the country
produced men who were willing to die
for the principles they Ioved--nobler and
Drawer men history speaks not of. I do
not desire to speak to you of human sla-
very or states rights, for they died and
were buried with the close of the great
civil war. Let us seek not to engender
hard feelings by making a living issue of
one whose death caused so much human
misery, sacrifice and bloedshed. Let the
generous sores remain healed and no
general discomfort will result. You are
all American citizens to-day whether you
wore the blue or the gray in the coun-
try's civil war. You associate together
as tnelghbors and friends and the pure
impulses of good citizenship stir you alike,
and were the bugle cali to arms to sound
to-day the only strife that would arise
would be to see who would get to the
front the quickest in the countrys de-
Tense.
What a great blessing to humanity It
Is that the men who fought the terrible
battles of the war should to-day feel that
it is best to let the dead past bury it's
dead. How dear to every loyal American
were the words so eloquently spoken to an
audience of ex-confederates at Atlanta
by Colonel Grady when he said: we can
now see that in this conflict loss was gain
and defeat was a substantial victory; that
everything We hoped for and fought for
in the new government we sought to es-
tablish is given to us in the old govern
ment our fathers founded. Had these
words been spoken there 80 years before
they would have been considered treason
to the confederate cause. So we can be
happy to-day in the thought that con-
tentment reigns supreme throughout our
country, and that there is no North, no
South, no animosities, all love and good
fellowship.
IF we reflect, however upon the cost,
what a terrible picture presents itself
1885 600 OF the nations bravest sons left
homes in which love and happiness pre-
Vailed gave the farewell kiss and an
swered in person to their country's call;
400,0 600 of those lives We're sacrificed on the
altar of true American patriotism and one
million came home bearing upon their
hNI N~ttN t,,y ~
Of battle: besides all this. the war had
cost in actual outlay of money s., 600, 900 COO
What the loss to our friends, the enemy
was no man will ever know. and all this
sacrifice of precious lives and property
interests that we to-day might enjoy a
fuller, freer and more perfect liberty. Is
it not strange that all of this bloodshed
was purely family matter? 1t was not
inspired by the selfish desire of Roman
conquests; no Caesar led the hosts that
he might become the ruler of the civilized
world: no Napoleon sought to elevate
himself by destroying the government;
no foreign enemy sought invaslon 1t was
a fight between brothers who commended
that an honest difference existed between
them and appealed to the field of honor
to decide the case. 1t took four years for
the jury to reach a verdict, but from that
verdict there was no appeal; justice tri-
umphed and the combatants returned to
their homes, where anxious mothers and
lovers greeted them. And what a great
tribute was paid to American loyalty
when they gladly re-entered the vocations
that they had left and quietly pursued
the labors which were to enhance the
riches Of their country.
To-day we assemble and give a living
example to our children of our apprecia-
ton of the great sacrifice that these he
roes. living and dead, made by tenderly
laying upon the graves of the dead the
greatest expression of the infinite's love
o. the beautiful-the f1owers-and in so
doing we are not selfish, for all over this
land to-day loving hands are decorating
alike the graves of the blue and the gray;
all appreciate that each mound contains
the remains of some loving mothers boy
Though some of them may have been
wrong in their conclusions. they gave their
life. their all, to conscientious action.
What great debt of gratitude we owe
to the living and the dead heroes of our
civil war A debt that we can never pay,
and l believe that. though many of these
uncrowned American kings sinned, when
the great judgment day arrives that a
nerciful father will cast a plying tear
uron them and when the roll is called up
yonder they'll be there
at was through their efforts that the
only pure republic that ever existed in the
Woriu was brought into being. Rome,
Egypt and Venice are called republics
but what monumental error, for were
they not established upon the twin evils
OF slavery and caste-hoth repugnant ele-
ments to the liberty vouchsafed by a re-
publican government. This government
itself, for which Washington and all other
heroes of colonial days sacrificed so much
was never pure republic until you wiped
away those two twin disgraces.
Now, that we have perfect liberty, how
can we best preserve this sacred institu-
ticn? l am no pessimst, for believe that
no matter how great the problems that the
future may present to the American re-
public for solution, American brains,
American energy and American patriot
ism will solve them to the satisfaction of
the world.
George Washington. the father Of our
country, who fought by day and prayed
by night, with mere handful of Amert-
ant he t,,aa