The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-11
american Duty will
Never Be Shirkeu


Last Night by Postmaster General
Charles Emory Smith.
GP HE WAR of the past year has
been full of revelations of noble
ness as we'll as success. Never
u before did Il triumphant nation
send the living soldiers of its van
Quished foe back to their homes at its
own cost, Never before did a nation
undertake to bring all of its own
heroic dead even its unidentified de-
Tenders, back from fields beyond the
sea to be buried on their own soil. The
scene at Arlington last Thursday, on
the picturesque heights overlooking
the national capital was as unprece-
dcnted as it was impressive. There
were the serried lines of open graves
and waiting caskets, each draped
with the American flag. There We're
10000 mourners, for all the people
We're mourners, watching with rever-
ent mien under the bright sunlight.
There were the president and his as
sociates standing in the solemn pres
ence with uncovered heads. The
prayer was said; the requiem was
sounded the last salute was fired, and
the fallen heroes of the nation, equal
first thus Jointly honored since the
side in the great national cemetery,
TO he cherished with a nations devoted
care.
This is suggestive hour. 1t links
the past the present and the future.
Yesterday was the 34th anniversary
nv,
first anniversary of the presidents s
memorable message on Cuba, which
opened a new chapter OF history.
Within ten days will come the ami
varsary of the declaration of war.
That war was so marvellous in its tri-
umphs and So swift in it's momentous
and fan reaching in its conclusions,
We have lived so fast and so much,
we have entered upon such new and
mighty questions, that we can hardly
realize it is not yet Il twelve month
since the opening gun of the conflict,
laundering the quiet order of Dewey,
signalled a new star Of hope and prom
ige in the East and new giant among
the world powers. AppomattoX usher
ed in the peaceful and wonderful de-
vclopment of thirty years which
brought the nation to a point where,
in its own progress and in the pro-
gress of the world, il must enter upon
wider sphere; and the inescapable
duty of last year became the un-
sought but unavoidable means, under
an overrulinS Providence. of realizing
that national necessity.
O.
The obligations and the mandate of
that national duty cannot be disputed.
Two weeks ago | stood under the
sunny sky of Cuba. l saw some of the
villages of palm-thatched huts where,
under the cruel order of concentration,
thousands of helpless Cubans were
herded, like sheep for the slaughter,
to die of disease and starvation. II
was a deliberate holocaust of exter-
mination. Two hundred thousand hui
man beings We're literally starved to
death. If our government had not in
terferred when it did, half a million
men, women and children would have
nerlshed and their blood would have
beon on our skirts. When the presi-
dent summoned Spain to withdraw
he left open the pathway of peace
| with justice. But when Spain blindly
| refused, a command greater than
national ease, a duty higher than any
material interests, a voice from God
| and from man left no course but tC
enforce the withdrawal and rescue
! a doomed people. The atrocities O
| Bulgaria reused the eloquent voice oi
! Gladstone, stirred the stout heart OF
| England and recast the map of the
! Ealkans. The later horrors of Ar
menia found Europe divided and bal.
anced with iealousies, and she stood
! dumb and palsied in the presence OF
| that awful massacre. But the great
! Republic could not remain silent ol
| impOtent with the hideous wrongs OF
| Cuba at our own doors. We should
have been false to humanity and re,
creant to civilization had we failed tC
stretch forth our saving arm. Th'
cool, dispassionate verdict OF histor!
will pronounce it the most obligatory
and the most righteous of wars, al
it was the most faultless in its direc
ton end the most astonishing an
overwhelming in its success.
Granted the war, where could W,
have stopped short OF where We nov
stand? Point who can to a single steI
taken thus far which was not the in