Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-04-27
GRANT DAY IN GALENA
Continued from First page.

Continued from First page
among the mighty dead loom the
three great figures of Washington,
Lincoln and Grant. There are great
men also in tie second rank; for, in
any gallery of merely national heroes,
Franklin and Hamilton, jefferson and
jackson would surely have their
place. But these three greatest men
nave taken their place among the
great men of all nations, the great
men of all times"
Glorious Tribute to Grant.
The distinguished orator paid a
glorious tribute to each of the three
great Americans alluded to in the
opening of his remarks and particu-
larly to Grant, he said: Grant and
his fellow soldiers who fought through
the war, and his fellow statesmen
who completed the work partly done
by soldiers, not only left US the hertz
age of reunited country and of a
land from which slavery had been
banished, but left US what was quite
as important. the great memory of
their great deeds, to serve forever as
an example and an Inspiration, to
spur US on so that we may not fall
below the level reached by our
fathers. The rough. strong poet OF
democracy has sung of Grant as the
man of mighty days, aud equal to the
days The days are less mighty
now; and that is all the more reason
why we should show ourselves equal
to them. We meet here TO pay glad
homage to the memory of our illus
trious dead; and let US keep ever clear
before our minds the fact that mere
lip loyalty is no loyalty at all, and
that the only homage that counts is
the homage of deeds, not words. 1t
is but an idle waste of time to cele-
bratc the memory of the dead unless
we, the living, in our lives, strive to
show ourselves not unworthy of them.
If the careers of Washington and
Grant are lot vital and full of mean
ing to us. if they are merely part of
the storied past, and stir US to no
eager emulation in the ceasless. end
less war for right against wrong, then
the root of right thinking is not in US,
and where we do not think right we
cannot act right" Grant was spoken
of as a man of deeds and not of words,
one who stood for the great element
ary virtues, for justice, for freedom,
for order, for unyielding resolution,
for manliness in it's broadcast, highest
sense. His greatness was not so much
greatness of intellect as greatness of
character; including in the word char
acter all the strong virile virtues.
Present Problems of Government.
T..
occasion to refer to the great prob
lens of government and statesman
ship of the present hour, of the great
duties that face in the Philippines.
He commended that we were not there
through choice, but through the
fortunes of war, and that we must
stay there, not through choice, but be-
cause duty so pointed. Part of Grants
great strength lay in the fact that he
faced facts as they were, not as he
would prefer them. TO do. our
duty" said Roosevelt, that is the
sum and substance of the whole mat
ter We are not trying to win glory;
we are not trying to do anything bril-
liant or unusual. We are setting our
selves vigorously at each task as the
task arises. and we are trying to face
each difficulty as Grant faced innum-
cradle and eminently greater Difficult
ties. The sure way to succeed is to
set about our work in the spirit that
marked the great soldier whose life
this day we celebrate; the spirit of de-
votion to duty, of determination to
deal fairly, justly and fearlessly with
all men, and of the iron resolution
never to abandon any task once begun
until it has been brought to a success
full and triumphant conclusion"
Special trains were run from the
surrounding country. The city was
decorated with flags and bunting. A
special train bearing Gov. Roosevelt.
of New York, Mrs. Nellie Grant Sar-
toris, her son and daughter and other
distinguished guests, arrived at 2.