The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-31
sEwALL AND THE VETERANS.

which was happily short, resolved itself
to the following propositions:
That the soldiers of the Civil War
are living beyond their time among
men who ere strangers to them and to
their deeds.
That the Grand Army of the Republic
hes not had the position of full regard
in this community to which it is en-
titled.
That the organization as whole has
been prosecuted for quarter of cen
fury.
1t was Sadi, the Grand Vizier, who
said, when his August Master showed
him his latest volume of spring verse:
May my soul be the sacrifice, but this
is bosh." Mr. Sewall's address was the
pure elixir of bosh poured over a few
commonpiaces of patriotism.
To particularize! 1t is not true that
the soldiers of the Civil War are in any
sense forgotten or outgrown. To every
OCdy but mere boys and girls, whose
education in American history is yet TO
come. Gettysburg and Appomattox are
as familiar as Manila, and more so tnal
San Juan. There were thousand bet
ter fights than that of San Juan in the
Civil War; there were several deadller
and better matched sea battles than
that of Manila; and they are living facts
of history, as fresh and familiar to true
Americans as the story Of Trafalgar or
of Waterloo is to the true Englishman,
or as the immortal tale of Marathon or
Thermopylae is to the modern Greek.
Some things never die, and of them are
the annals of heroic warfare. And
some men are never passed over while
they live, nor individually soon forgot
ten when they perish, and these are
of the men who saved their country on
the battle field. England cherished the
survivors of Waterloo to the last man,
and is caring for the survivors of Eala-
klava; France built a palace lor the
remnant of Napoleons cont" ing
army; and America, far from forgetting
her veterans, is spending more money
to keep them in comfort than Germany
pays to sustain the greatest and finest
army in the world.
The second proposition which Mr.
Sewall advanced-one that fairly reeks
with the blatherskite politics Of the
man is that the Grand Army post of
Honolulu has never had proper recog-
milton here. Surely that complaint did
not come from the post itself. The only
General officer belonging to it, man
Of high preferment for many years, but
lately had chance to decline our loft
lest judicial place. Officially, socially,
every other way, the post has always
been an honored institution here, and
so we'll did it love the present Govern
ment that its members, almost to a
man, volunteered to take arms against
Clevelands marines in the event that
by attempting to restore Royal institu-
tions in Hawaii. Every 3Oth Of May
Honolulu has closed it's shops and Of
fees to do honor to the Grand Army
and its dead comrades. Nothing that is
elsewhere done to crafty the veterans
has ever been Intentionally left undone
here.
AS to the charge Of persecution for
a quarter Of a century, it is as baseless
as Mr.. Sewall's other allegations Since
the Grand Army was organized there
have been seven Presidents of the
United States. Six were Grand Army
men, including Mckinley, the present
incumbent For twenty years more
than one-half the Governors of States
and of the Northern Senators and Con-
gressmen were Grand Army men, and
there are host of them in high office
now. For a generation each party has
striven to get Grand Army men on it's
tickets. Meanwhile, despite the out
cries Of demagogues, which never had
lie strength of persecution" the pen
sion list has steadily grown until now,
according to Mr.. Sewall himself, 1t has
100000 names. What sort Of "perse-
cLtion' is it when a nation gives Its
veteran soldiers carte blanche to it's
highest political honors and to a live
lihood besides?
Mr.. Sewall's speech, as Both of May
address, should have had memorial
quanCies; instead he saw fit to foment
discomfort and display cheap politics;
turning aside withal, for nasty fling
at this community. 1t was a sorry eX-
hlbition for man who has been Min
lister OF the United States and who
thought himself fitted for the Guberna-
torial station-but at least it was char
acteristic, so let it go at that
-+
The return of Liliuokalani is preced-
ed by the announcement now officially