New-York tribune., 1901-05-31
THE NATIONS NEW SHRINE.

IHE A3IION' NEW SHRINE.
The first Memorial Day of the twentieth
century has come and gone. 1t was true to the
best spirit OF the old observance 1t was
marked with all the tender tributes and solemn
pageantres which for full generation have
yearly made that day one Of the most impress
sive of all our public holidays. Its patriotic
significance was we'll maintained, perhaps more
perfectly than ever before. For there is patriot
ism in change as well as in constancy. The
dead who did not die in vain will never be for
gotten, nor will the cause for which they fought
and which through their sacrifice was rescued
and preserved. But that cause Is now so abun-
dainty secure that 1t is possible 10 let the old
rancor and bitterness pass away, and to mark
each recurring anniversary with an access of
fraternal unity throughout the nation. Forget
fulness of hatred may now prevail in equal
measure with memory of valor. And so it is
of auspicious omen that this first Memorial
Day of the new century was marked with
formal recognition of the fact that the two
great rival warriors of our civil strife have
passed from controversy into history, and that
side by side they are henceforth to stand in
the nations Hall of Fame
That was one obvious feature of the fine cere-
mOnal which was yesterday enacted on Uni
versity Heights, feature which made the deed
peculiarly appropriate TO the day. 1t not.
however, its sole or indeed it's most important
feature. For the Hall of Fame, of which New
York City is the fitting site and New-York Uni
versity is the no less appropriate custodian,
transcends in its scope the limits of a single
and of all wars and even, we might al
most say OF patriotism itself-assuredly of
merely militant patriotism 1t is an epitOme Of
all phases of the nations many sided greatness.
The kind of men the nation produces, said
Emerson, is the true measure of the nations
greatness This hall is the sample room of the
nations manhood. In it are enshrined the
names of representative men, in peace and war,
in thought and in action, in literature and in
commerce. in art and in invention in the
learned professions and in the practical pur-
suits. In some lands men of great achieve
ments have been worshipped as gods. In all
lands the records and examples of great men
have been cherished as worthy of observation
and of emulation. Surely it Is well that this
land should thus gather into one place some
brief memorials of those whom Ii loves to honor
TO be a shrine of patriotic memory and of in
spring contemplation.
Comparisons are odious," yet they are not
to be feared by the Hall of Fame, which stands
unique and supreme in its fulflment of the pur-
pose OF SuCn n building. 1fue IL is Idf sur
passed in age and in lustrious associations by
Westminster Abbey. But the Abbey can lay
small title to be England's pantheon with the
dust of Shakespeare and Byron and Bacon laid
elsewhere Indeed, the great majority of IA
nous Englishmen were buried outside that
famous temple. The Temple of Fame at
Munich may surpass this in some details of
splendor. But IT'S eighty immortals by no
means represent the Bavarian nation the
twenty nine already chosen at NewYork Uni
versity do and those hencefOrth TO be added
10 them will. represent the people, the genius
and the greatness of this nation. Neither one
Of these nor any other such institution is com
parable with our Hall of Fame in the catho-
licity and comprehensiveness of its scope, in
sonal or other influence, apart from the simple
merit of its subjects, and in the nationally rep
Tesentatiye manner in which the subjects of
its cOmmemoration are chosen. Not favor not
caprice, not chance, not power, but simply 'the
common sense of most determines what names
shall be inscribed upon its walls. If to these
we add this other singular and honorable cir
cumstance, that instead of being blazOned forth
as that of a munifcent benefactor the name of
held, that the building stands as a memorial
TO the illustrious dead and not as a self-gIorif-
cation of its builder he must be blind indeed
who does not perceive in this Hall of Fame
national shrine which the university NAV we'll
be proud 10 own, the city TO cherish and the na
tion TO regard