The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-07
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KINDLY SENTIMENTS.
 On this page rne Advertiser prints an edit. rial from Republican paper in | far Northwestern State. The Minneapolis l Journal. and we republish it because of
 its unusually. generous sentiments. We have seen quite a number of references In other Northern papers to General Tor rance's circuIa.. almost without excep- l ton praising and endorsing It, but we cannot make room for them, and take l this from The Journal as a fair specimen of others.
 The Advertiser has never been one to beg for favorable expressions from our friends of the North, or to gush over any.
 word or act evidencins a desire to do our
 section justice. We. have always felt that the cause of the south could safely rest
 on it's deeds. and that the people of shs South and the armies of the Confederacy could we'll be content with the verdict of impartial history. Unfavorable comments from nnreconstructed Northern men can
 do our side no harm. and any: disposition tuCih V6st " 0O oS yaoShNo Ac AAASA - creditxbie to them than 'fiattering to us. for we feel fhat we have nothing to be ashamed of and no call to cringe or beg. These very reasons cause us to welcome more cordially such expressions as those
 of the Minneapolis paper. and to appre- cate to its fullest extent the noble act
 of General Torrance. As one of the men
 who helped to fight the battles of the Union. he knows what the Confederate soldier was, and his experience in the South during his tour last year. of which
 he speaks 50 feelingly in his circular which was printed In The Advertiser last Tuesday, fits him, to speak authoritatively of coalitions in Alabama And his posi- | ton as Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic gives weight and au- thority to his statements which would not attach to the words of another. For more than the third of century Alabama has been taking care of her dis
 abled and dependent veterans to the best
 of her ability. What has been done. and what the State is able to do is a mere pittance, at best. With each passing year the needs grow more urgent and | more onerous. In the North disabled Union soldiers-and others who are not disabled-receivs pensions upon which they can live comfortably to the end of their lives without other help. but in the South. especially n Alabama. the amount received by each veteran Is a mere trife. but the State can do no more. Help
 must come from other sources.
 r Under these circumstances the project
 to build Home at Mountain Creek is
 eminently proper and praiseworthy. and
 the generous movement initiated by Gen.
 erel Torrance, and the cordial reception
 1t is meeting with In the North. give re-
 newed evidence of the universal brother hood of man, and teach us in unmistak- able language that, in the touching words of Bayard Taylor.
 The bravest are the tenderest--
 The loving are the daring.
 | A disabled and worn-out Confederat . soldier suffering for the necessaries of l life or dragging out the miserable rem nant of his days in an alms-house is a hHmiliating spectacle to all Alabamians. The same soldier closing his earthly ca- | reer in a comfortable home provided by those who fought with him and those who fought against him Is a sight to make | us think better of human nature and to
 have kindlier feeling for our fellow- l men.
 ] That the Home will be success we have not a shadow of doubt. The brave men and the noble women of the South
 are behind it and they cannot fail, but | working in concert with them are those other brave soldiers who tested the fight | Ing qualities of the Confederate soldier on so many fields of glory af,d tcarnagc. ' Hardly had the circular been printed in the newspapers when the George H. | Thomas Post at Indianapolis voted $25 for the Mountain Creek Home. This was peculiarly appropriate beginning, for l "Old Pap Thomas" as, he was called, was one of the toughest propositions that any Confederate commander ever went up against. and it Is significant that one
 of the first contributions to, a Confederate
 Home should come from a Grand Army Post bearing the name of a soldier who
 won the title of '"The Rock of Chicka-
 mauga," for his services on that hotly 1 contested field.
 The Union veterans will heed the ap- peal of General Torrance, and the rations and the beds and the homes of the old
 veterans at Mountain Creek will be none
 the less comfortable and satisfying for
 that they are in part contributions from the brave men who tried so hard to re-
 tire permanently all Confederate soldiers.
 Many a Confederate ate heartily of ra- tions unwillingly furnished by their ene- l mics, and now they can as heartily eat of the food which their late enemies send them with words of kindness and fra ternal greeting. .rb,
 l The Republican, Dsmocratic newspapers | are now making war on Tom l.. Johnson. | TShaaa narS 1Afarnnfne0 that m