The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-06-03
Roosevelt Calls Attention to South.
ern Soldiers in Philippines in
His Speech at Arlington.
barbaritieS in Islands are Rather Exception
Than Rule and Will be Punished. Thou
sands of Dead in ArliDgtonFitt
ly Remembered by Living.

Washington, May 31.-Lead by Pres
ident Roosevelt the nation paid tribute
to the country's dead yesterday, Deco
ration day. In Arlington cemetery,
where so many of the wearers Of both
the blue and gray lie buried, impress
sive services were held.
All the arrangements we're under
the charge of the department of the
Potomac snd a parade including the
G. A.. r. and other patriotic organiza.
tons preceded the exercises in the
cemetery. A national salute was fred
by the 4th battery, United States field
artillery, at 12 o'clock.
A special committee of the different
organizations strewed the graves of
the unknown dead. When the process
sion broke up and the decoration of
the graves of thousands of the dead
began, the graves of a number Of the
Confederate soldiers were not forgot
ten.
ROOSEVELT CHEERED.
An immense crowd was assembled
in the amphitheatre where the ex-
ercises were held. The Marine band
opened by playing, Nearer, My God,
to Thee" President Roosevelt was
greeted by an outburst OF applause
when he appeared and took his seat
E. e. Hay read Lincoln's Gettysburg
address and President Roosevelt fol-
lowed. He said
1t is a good custom for our country
to have certain solemn holidays in
commemoration of our greatest men
and of the greatest crises in our his
tory. There should be but few such
holdings. To increase their number is TO
cheaper them. Washington and Lin
cOln-the man who did most to found
the Union, and the man who did most
to preserve it-stand head and shoul
ders above all our other public men,
and have by common consent won the
right to this preeminence. Among the
holidays which commemorate the
turning points in American history
Thanksgiving has significance pecul-
iarly its own. On July 4 we celebrate
the birth of the nation; on this day,
the 30th of May, we call to mind the
deaths of those who died that the ma
tion might live, who wagered all that
life holds dear for the great prize OF
death in battle, who poured out their
blood like water in order that the
mighty national structure raised by
the far-seeing patriotism of Washing
ton. Franklin, Marshall, Hamilton,
and the other great leaders of the
Revolution, great trainers of the Con-
stitution, should not crumble into
meaningless ruins.
CRUSHING LOAD OF LEADERSHIP.
You whom | address today and your
comrades who wore the blue beside
you in the perilous years during which
strong, sad, patient Lincoln bore the
crushing load of national leadership,
performed the one feat the failure to
perform which would have meant de-
struction to everything which makes
the name America a symbol of hope
among the nations of mankind. You
did the greatest and most necessary
task which has ever fallen to the lat
of any men on this western hemi-
sphere, Nearly three centuries have
passed since the waters of our coasts
were first furrowed by the keels of the
inherit this fair land Over a century
and half Of colonial growth followed
the settlement; and now for over
century and quarter we have been a
nation.
During our four generations of ma
tional life we have had to do many
tasks, and some of them of far-reaeh-
ing importance; but the only really
vital task was the one you did, the
task of saving the Union. There were
other crises in which to have gone
wrong would have meant disaster; but
this was the one crisis In which to
have gone wrong would have meant
not merely disaster but annihilation.
For failure at any other point atone-
ment could have been made; but had
you failed In iron days the loss would
have been irreparable, the defeat ir-
retrievable. Upon your success depend
ed all the future of the people on this
continent, and much of the future of
mankind as whole.
A REUNITED COUNTRY.
You left reunited country. You left
Ms the right of brotherhood with the
men in gray, who with such courage,
end such devotion for what they deem
"a the right, fought against you. But
you left us much more even than your
achievement. for you left US the me-
mory of how 1t was achieved. You,
Who made good by your valor and pa
ly1otism the statesmanship of Lincoln
nnd the soldiership of Grant, have set
- the standards for our efforts In the
future both the way you did your
work In the war and the way in which
when the war was over you turned
o0siR u the work OF peace. In war
! - n peace alike your example win