Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-06-05

! revolution, lie, liberty and property OF
/ non cOmbatants were reckleSsly disre
garded by the Spanish soldiery. Prop
! erty was destroyed with ruinous disre-
gard of the sutferings Of the innocent.
The penal laws of Spain We're enforced
| with exaggerated cruelty. On February
! 16, 1897, the Spanish cabinet adopted
policy Of so-called recommendation
! whereby thousands of innocent people,
pacificoes, We're required to leave their
peaceful pursuits and quiet homes, and
to concentrate by the thousands in GER
tain specified enclosures, that were
mOnStrOus in their lack of sanitation and
food supply.
The policy OF RECOMMENDATION. ratified
end approved by the Spanish cabinet,
eesulted in the death through disease,
Exposure and lack Of food of 10000 in
nOcent men, women and little children,
not one Of whom had ever raised hand
against Spain, but were then, and had
been, pacifcOes, friends of the govern
ment, not Of the insurgents. To find
further justification in the American
conscience you need not be reminded
that the extreme of friendly relations
was prOffered to Spain; that in the
interest Of peace, to promote amicable
relations, the Maine was sent to Havana
and Spanish war vessel to New York
You need not be reminded that submar-
inc mines are ACKNOWLEDGED government
property. The Nyar of 1860 was forfree-
dom and nationality; the Spanish Am
erican war was war for humanity
The old army had marched on. The !
musket and sword had passed from
father to son The mantle of sixties had |
fallen from the shoulder of the soldier |
Of the sixties upon the youth of ninety |
eight. That war may have been hasten
ed by the tickers Of Wall street There |
may have been vast sugar and other |
commercial interests in hazard, but 1T
was not for these, it was not for lust Of |
conquest, 1t was not for vengeance that |
the American public who paid the taxes
and who furnished the boys in blue pre- |
cipitated that war. 1t was for hu- j
mainly that the boys i'll buff and brown |
went forth to do and to die for an Op- |
pressed people that Were struggling for |
the inalienable rights of mankind.
There Were many who never came |
back. | should be recreant to the best |
part OF mans nature, recreant to the |
confident trust of bOyhood, did [ not |
speak Of one such lad in buff and blue !,
that died for his country. True, he died |
not on the field of battle, but he died |
just as truly for his country as though |
he fell charging the ramparts Of the |
enemy. He was the friend of my boy
hood. We played together about the |
streets OF WatertOwn, and studied the |
same tasks iii the school room should |
be untrue to the earliest and best in |
human nature, to the faith OF those boy !
hood days, did not speak of his hon |
esty, OF the integrity OF his character, |
of the nobility native to his boyhood |
He died, his soldierly duty done, the |
hardest of all deaths for soldier. the |
lingering death of a fever hospital. He |
died as he had lived, stainless and true
Earth cannot take unto herself a son |
more true than that WATERFOWL lad |
who died IN that fever hospital Of the |
south
There Were many such homes bereav-
ed, and While we do honor to the living |
and venerate the dead we should not |
forget that there are boys in buff and |
blue lighting under the flag in the rice |
fields under tropical sun. To-day the |
partisan should merge into the patriot. |
The righteousness or injustice of the |
war we are prosecuting is not for us to |
determine to-day With our praise for
the living, and our tears for the dead. |
there should be prayers for the fighting. |
This day is not for the dead. 1t is for |
the living The flowers we place there |
on the hillside viii wither Honor's |
voic. cannot provoke the silent dust
"They sleep their last sleep,
They fought their. last haiti