The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-06-05
ADDRESS ON
MEMORIAL DAY
Delivered by Charles krich-
baum at MassillOn.
WAR LEFTMATCHLEss EXAMPLE
Of Heroism and Self Sacrifice which the
World Has Ever Seen Established
a Great Moral
Principle.

Great Moral
Principle.
One of the grandest Decoration day
addresses delivered last Wednesday
was that of Mr.. Charles Krichbaum, of
Canton, at Massillon. During the
course of his remarks Mr.. Krichbaum
said:
"The gorgeous springtime Is not more
beautiful than this beautiful custom OF
annually honoring the memory of the
soldiers of 61. To the honored dead
God has given his enduring sleep, and
that sleep to them, dead, is as sweet as
life is to us, living. Living, they could
not touch our lives and our prosperity
more deeply and nobly than they do
now, dead. Death hath this also,' says
Bacon, that it openeth the gate to
fame Eminently and beautifully true
is this of the soldier of 81, whether he
pershed on the battlefield or has passed
since that fierce whirlwind of civil war.
His good fame is as enduring and
blessed as his sleep is deep and abiding
To us his fame is the white light upon
the path of patriotic duty; and because
of that fame this Goth of May is the
bright, consummate gem of each sue
ceeding year. 1t is the eye of patriot
ism that annually opens and looks out
benignly upon us from the f1owery
springtime. l need not add that the OBJ
ject of this day is to give adequate and
sincere expression to the best things
that are in us. What shall we say
how shall we express-how shall we
speak, the value, the riches, deep and
incalculable, of the fresh young life
and manhood, full of auspicous hopes,
secure in the affectionate bonds of do
mesticity, of home and its sanctified en-
vironments; 100000 that in 1866 lay un-
der the southern skies sleeping the long
sleep in the narrow house far, far
from the place of their birth? How
shall we adequately express the valor,
the heroism, the beauty of heroic deed
of these battle Scared veterans here,
fewer than ever before, like receding
stars before the rosy tinged dawn?
"In order to justly estimate the great
results and achievements Of the Union
army of 1861, 1t is necessary to remem,
ber that our country has passed through
two critical periods. John Fisk says
that the five years following the peace
of 1888 was the most critical moment in
all the history of the American people;
that the dangers from which we were
saved in 17SS lin the formation of the
constitution were in some respects
greater than the dangers from which
we were saved in 1865. am inclined to
thin kthat Mr.. Fiske has slightly exag-
gerated the truth, for in my judgment,
If may be permitted to urge 1t against
so eminent an authority, the crises of
II, s-t T.,
1888 there was no Union, there was not
even a sentiment of a desire for one.
The experience of mankind seemed to
warrants great and overpowering move
ment in the direction of self-govern-
ment. The danger of outside interfer-
ence in domestic affairs had been so
wanton, So frequent, that men were
suspicious of unions and compacts of
every description. Massachusetts was
Jealous of New York and New York Of
Pennsylvania and little Delaware de-
spised Maryland and Virginia. The
love of union as a sentiment inspiring
men with enthusiasm to hazard life for
it, had little or no existences among
the people of the several colonies. This
sentiment for union, this high and noble
conception, the keystone in our great
republican arch, was wanting. At this
critical moment Washington was the
star regnant in the political sky. 1t is
a fact well established and beyond dis
pute, but fact not universally known,
that Washington himself set about to
form such a sentiment, and did, through
and genius, create sentiment for the
Union.
Washington, the soul of the reyolu-
ton, the one overpowering personal in
fiuence in the constitutional conven-
ton, stronger than any reason, dom
mated by powerful instincts, OWNED
the necessity for the union. In short,
it was the love of the highest in man
that moved him. The absence of the
sentiment for union at that critical pc
riod was the result of the doctrine of To-
cal self government; the famous town
meetings from New England, the larg-
est liberty of the people of each COM
munity without infringement the price
less legacies of Athens and Sparta, run
mad. 1t was the spirit of liberty be-
reft of it's governing and sustaining
principle, the love of humanity; union,
identity Of life, identity Of thought,
identity of purpose. Washington saw
and felt the extremes of this noble
principle, intensified by the savage an
tipathy and clanship of little localities,
and he began preaching anew the phi
losophy of Christianity. 1t is said on
good authority that the delegates in
that famous convention, after hesitat-
ing and wavering, anxiously inquired
on which side of the question Washing
ton stood; and so 1t is apparent that
Washington and a few Of the great pat
riotic leaders in 1888 were engaged in
forming and did create the sentiment of
an indestructible union and indestruct-
ible states, again demonstrating the
truth that revolutions begin in the best
heads and hearts and run steadily
Gown to the multitude. Think of 1t,
that which makes us great people,
that sentiment which binds US with
hooks of steel into one brotherhood, had
no existence in that dars hour of our