The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-31

AS OOIhtIJs nOHCNtl PAO0o &c may
her institutions, however Jealous of her
good name. few there are who will give
up the ease and comforts OF home and
friends and encounter the privations and
perils of war without feeling an unfaltering
trust that. having done his duty as a SOL
der, whether living or dead, he snail re-
ceive the grateful remembrance and gen.
erous, unbidden plaudits of those whom
he served. 1t must never be forgotten that
II is the pubiic's appreciative favor and
not the promise of bounties and pensions
that induces our young men 10 put on
their country's uniform.
War is often a necessity. and soldiers
are urgently needed. Conditions arise IN
civil government when states can neither
be made nor saved without II. The war
OF 81 saved us a nation, and encircled
American citizenship with whatever Is In
spring and ennobling in the term. In bl
there was no power under the sun to save
US from disunion but grim-visaged war.
The fighting battalions of Prussia nodded
the great German empire, and the thun-
dering warships of Japan in a Chinese har-
Dor carried that little kingdom from OBJ
security TO a prominent place among ma
tions-
"War is Gods power exercised in default
of adequate human effort to correct ma
tional wrong and promote national right
eousness. Before the war of '6l this fair
land was dominated by jealous, Quarrelng
States, one section scheming against the
other for political mastery, intriguing in
the halls of legislatures, subverting the
freedom OF the ballot. invading with i'm
proper influences the sanctity of the courts,
neglecting all the elements or prosperity
and social happiness. For eighty-five years
good men in both sections had vainly en-
deavored to correct the public abuses and
restore peace and public tranquility be-
tween the sections. but on went the coun-
try madly and blindly, losing the respect
of other nations. losing the public credit
and impairing confidence in the stability
CT republican government until the war
came along and as a sort of furious philan-
thropy dashed the public thought and con-
science into soberness and opened a new
epoch In American history.
EMERGENCY OF WAR.
1.-THE emergency of war has arisen since
1861 and may again arise. AS said by
Jefferson. the tree of loyalty must be re-
freshed from time TO time with the blood
of patriots and tyrants. Good men all over
the civil world preach peace, and the great
powers recently discussed at The Hague in
ternational arbitration and disarmament,
but they all continue the construction of
warships and arsenals, and more ships and
larger guns are now under construction
than at any other time in the history of
the world.
WAR is not always an unmixed evil.
Great moral reforms follow in the path Of
armies. The choicest blessings of life have
strong men; lazy peace makes slaves and
weaklings. The blood, and brain, and Drawn
of men are enfeebled by the 'cankers of a
calm world and long peace Said a dis
tinguished statesman: The exigencieS of
war are the whips and spurs to thought
and energy that develop a measure OF pow
er and enterprise not otherwise produced
The war of the rebellion was a great
war; il was a great national opportunity.
1t entered every family in the land: 1t
touched the heart, the brain and sinews of
every citizen and set in motion the forces
that have carried us TO a station among
the nations of the earth nor then dreamed
of. 1t was the greatest war in ancient or
modern times, in numbers and results. Its
exploits were over a territory SOC, 900 square
miles in extent-as large as the whole Ger
man empire and England, France, Spun
and Portugal combined. Its marching col
umns would reach across the CONT
nent.
"Yet, with all its awful carnage, with all
it's woes and waste of treasure, in a ma
tional sense the war was worth to us all
that Ii cost. Secession is dead; slavery Is
dead: State sovereignty is dead and popular
government has had it's supreme and final
test. From petty warning States there has
come a colossal Nation OF freemen thai In
progress, in invention, in prosperity and
material wealth stands first among the ma
lions of the earth. We now sit in arbitra-
ton on the rights OF other nations. We
cult tasks in South Africa; We send steel
bridges to span the great Russian rivers
on the other side of the globe and we send
the works of our handicraft into every
| nook and corner of the world, not because
they are the cheapest, but because they
are the best.
SPANS POWER DESTROYED.
9Th spirit and mental activity born
of the civil war made the men and the
ships that, in a quarter day, destroyed the
sea power of a naughty nation at Manila
and Santiago and sent our boys yelling
and lighting up the embattled slopes of San
Juan hill under the pealing notes Of the
band, .There'H Be a Hot Time in the Old
Town Tonight 1t was a desperate war
by men of the same blood, nor for conquest
or spoils, but, as both sides then believed,
| in vindication of constitutional rights. 1t
was in truth unconscious regeneration
through self-inficted chastisement. The
good and the evil, the heroisms, the atrocl-
ties, the tendernesses, the forgiveness.
the lonely agonies, dropped by the great
| struggle into the century and the Republic
were but the poisons and the sweets that
have ripened into the purple fruitage of
our marvellous prosperity. And, comrades,
we should congratulate ourselves that we
We're able to pear some part nnnnr tmG and
| strength to render to our country a more
| valuable service than will come to the lot
| of any other generation OF men. our
| young men may now fight for national
| honor. as they have most valiantly done.
| Our forefatherS fought for national inde-
| pendence, but we fought for national life.
comrades, we nave cOme mere ~ oui
I friends TO spend an hour in the silent pres
| ence Of our dead. 1t is here that we again
feel the touch of the elbow; that We again
see through these dimmed eyes the whirl-
| wind of battle that swept our comrades
from the ranks. And here, under the flag
they made triumphant, We give greeting TO
| their immortal souls. You have sent up TO
| them music and praise. You have plucked
| the first flowers of spring, the first because
the purest and brightest You have blend
| ed them into wreaths and bouquets, and
crystallized about them your warmest af-
| fections; and thus beautified and sanctihed
you will, by the hands of these innocent
4 children, enderly beStow upon their
graves. These ceremonies are most fitting
the honorable service they rendered, the
honorable death they died. 1t is in
nurturing patriotism, that broad, unsec-
tional. national patriotism. that uncompro-
misingly resolves that this government OF
the people, for the people and by the peo-
pie. shall not perish from the earth"
At the conclusion of the Grafton the band
played 1.-THE Star-spangled Banner" the
school girls decorating the graves with
| flowers. A wreath or bouquet was laid al
the head of each soldiers grave, after
(which the chaplain pronounced the ritual
4 address, all the comrades responding. The
infantrymen then loaded their rifles and
fired three volleys as a parting salute tc
the dead. After the benediction had beer
pronounced by the chaplain the trumpeter
sounded TAPS" and the exercises were
over.
AT GREENLAWN CEMETERY.
Graves of All known Soldier Dead