The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1901-05-31
DECORATION DAY.

Great nations have always observed
great memorial holidays. As Christ
mas, New Years day and Easter are
kept by all christendom as memorials
of the foundation Of our faith, so also
WashingtOn's birth day, Decoration
day and Independence day are observ-
ed as becoming memorials of the foun-
datiOn and preservation of our nation.
Faith says of its Divine Founder: "He
died for US, rose again and ever Iiveth
as our advocate and Lord" In less
exalted sense, but no less real, the one
keeping in spirit these great national
days remembers the sacrifices made by
the founders and preservers of the
nation. Devoutly it may be said:
fThese died for me-"
1t has generally been supposed that
Decoration day observance was a new
thing under the sun, and was first in
augurated after the great civil war in
America. But this is a mistake. The
Greeks gathered in their dead from
distant battlefelds and buried their
fallen heroes in national cemeteries.
Here, on stated occasions, they gather
ed to strew flowers upon their graves,
and listen to eloquent panegeric
of their devotion and heroism. GA
touch of nature makes the world akin"
Thus did the great Greeks with less
hope of immortality; thus do the great
Americans with fuller hope, and surer
grounds of faith.
No person who has come to adult
hood or born and grown up since the
civil war can have a just appreciation
OF its magnitude, its cost in blood and
treasure, its unutterable horrors and
the transcendent achievements of that
conflict without pains-taking reading
and special study of the history of that
critical period of our national life.
The cost Of that war on both sides. and
the property destroyed, is difficult to
estimate correctly, but s4OOO,OOO,OOO is
not probably an extravagant estimate.
The direct cost to the national govern
ment, exclusive of pensions since paid,
cannot be less than s2,5OO,OOO,OOO.
Students of universal history have
at1rmed that when the extent of mill
tary operations are considered, the
number of men engaged, the ferceness
OF the conflict and the casualties on
oattletields, that the civil war in the
United States was the most stupendous
conflict of history. Some figures are
here given to assist the mind to an ap-
probation of this statement. The line
on land stretched from the Atlantic
ocean TO the state of California. On
the water, it embraced the entire sea
board, the Gulf of Mexico, the Missis-
sippi and its larger navigable tributa-
rIes, the West Indies and pursuit of
confederate privateers in distant seas.
In the Revolutionary war there were
5O9,f01 men engaged, a very large force
Tor those times. In the war of 1872,
there were 576.622 engaged; in the Mex
lean war, 1920; Ia the civil war there
were 2,T72,40S; 10 the Spanish
can war 274, III were recruited, but
only 10000 actually engaged.
In the civil war the deaths by dis
ease, wounds and killed in battle we're
1904, or 1927 more than were enrol
led in the war with Spain, and nearly
SIX times as many as were actually en-
gagged.
Suppose the soldier dead of the civil
war were buried in a hneaI burial
ground one rod in length and placed
end to end, and the lot one rod square.
This burial ground would be ]. 1888 miles
long and would contain 21S7 acres.
There are 20 national cemetaries
established and maintained by the
general government, in which are
buried S1s,sTO men, mostly victims of
the civil war, and Of this immense host
14Ts56S are unknown dead"
1t is simply appalling to think of an
army Of nearly 10000 dead should be
unidentified. This shows more elo-
quently than words can express the ex-
agencies and ferceness of the conflict
All the great battleReids of the civil
war are national cemeteries where vast
assemblies gather on this memorial
day Well may the nation honor the
heroes. slain and honor with devout and
religious fsrvOr this unspeakabls sac
riRee.