The National tribune., 1902-06-05
THE PRESIDENT AT ARLINGTON.
Imposing Ceremonies on Memorial Da-Thy Thousand Loyal
People Assemble to Decorate the Graves OF the Soldier Dead
The Presidents AddressSpeech Of ConmandernChef Tor
rance.

u
as usual however, were at Arlington. the
greatest of all the National resting-places
for the soldier dead. Fully 10000 people
were present. including hundreds of Gov
ernment officials. officers of the Army and
Navy, members of the Cabinet, and Com
mander-in- Chief and Senior-Nice Comman'
der-in- Chief of the Grand Army of the Ike
public. as well as the Department of the
Potomac, in full force. The Sons of Vet
Grams. Spanish Var Veterans. and other
military organizations. conspicuous among
which was local company of Minute
Men in full Continental uniform, joined
the Grand Army veterans in the process
sion. The chief Grafton of the day was
delivered by President Roosevelt. Com
mander-in- Chief Torrance also sroke brief
ly but eloquently. The Presidents ad-
dress naturally attracted the most atten-
ton, and it was. perhaps, the most I'M
portant speech that he ever made. we
give it in full, as follows:
PRESIDENT RoosEvELT's MEMORIAL AD-
DRESS.
Mr.. Commander, Comrades. and you,
men and women of the United States, VINO
owe YOUR being here to what was done ny
the men of the great civil war. greet you
and thank you for the honor done me In
asking me to be present this day.
IT is a good custom for our country to
have certain solemn holidays in commem-
Grafton of our greatest men and of the
greatest crises in our history. There
sbould be but few such holidays. To IN
crease their number is to cheaper them.
Washington and Lincoln-the man VINO
did most to found the Union and the man
who did most to preserve lt-stand head
and shoulders above all our other public
men. and have by common consent won
the right to this pre-eminenee. Among
the holidays which commemorate the turn
ing points in American history. Thanks
giving has a significance peculiarly It's
own. On July 4 we celebrate the Dirth
of the Nation: on this day, the 5oth OF
Nav. we call to mind the deaths of those
who died that the Nation might 1--we, VINO
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 farseeing patriotism of Washington
Franklin. Marshall, Hamilton, and the
other great leaders of the Revolution,
great trainers of the Constitution. should
not crumble into meaningless ruins.
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 destruction TO every
thing which makes the name American
symbol of hope among the nations OF man.
kind. You did the greatest and most
necessary task which has ever fallen to
the lot of any men on this western
Hemisphere. Nearly three centuries have
passed since the waters of our coasts were
first fnrrowed by the keels of the men
whose children's children were to inherit
this fair land. Over a century and half
of colonial growth followed the settlement;
and now for ever a century and quarter
we have been a Nation.
During our four generations of National
life we have had to do many tasks, and
some of them of far-reachlng 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,
bu. this was the one crisis in which to
have gone wrong would have meant not
merely disaster, but humiliation. For
failure at any other point atonement could
have been made: but had yOu failed in the
iron days, the loss would have been If
reparable, the defeat irretrievable. Upon
your success depended all the future Of
the people on this continent, and much Of
the future of mankind as a whole.
OUR SONS IN THE PHILIPPINES.
You left us a reunited country. You
left us the right Of brotherhood with the
men in gray, who with such courage and
such devotion for what they deemed tine
right fought against you. But .yru left
us much more even than your achieve
ment, for you left us the memory of how
If was achieved You, who made good by
your valor and patriotism the statesman
ship of Lincoln and the sOldiership Of
Grant, have set as the standards for our
efforts in the future both the way you did
your work in war and the way in which,
when the war was over, you turned again
to the work of peace. In war and IN
peace alike your example will stand as
the wisest Of lessons to us and our chill
dren and our children's children.
Just at this moment the army OF the
United States, led by men who served
among you in the great war, is carrying
TO completion a small but peculiarly try
ing and difficult war in which is involved
not only the uDDOF VI TIE nag, DuL INC
triumph Of civilization over forces which
stand for the black chaos of savagery and
barbarism. The task has not been as diff
cult or as important as yours, but, oh, my
comrades, the men in the uniform of the
limited States, who have for the last three
years patiently and uncOmplainingly
championed TIE American cause in the
Philippine Islands, are your younger
brothers, your sons. They have shown
themselves not unworthy of you, and they
are entitled to the support of all men who
are proud Of what you did.
These younger comrades of yours have
fought under terrible difficulties and have
received terrible proyocation from a very
cruel and very treacherous enemy. Under
the strain of these prOvocations | deeply
deplore to say that some among them have
so far forgotten themselves az to counsel
and commit, in retaliation, acts of cruelty
The fact that for every guilty act com.
United by one of our troops a hundred acts
of far greater atrocity have been COM
mitted by the hostile natives upon oul
troops. or upon the peaceable and law
abiding natives who are friendly to us
cannot be held TO excuse any wrongdoel
on our side. Determined and answering
effort must be made, and is being made
to find out every instance of barbarty OF
the part Of our troops, to punish thos'
guilty of it, and TO take, il possible, eveI
stronger measures than have already
been taken to minimize or prevent the Oc
currenee of all such instances in tn,
future.
Is it only in the army of the Philippine.
that Americans sometimes do acts tina