The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-06-06
A REMARKApLE TRIBUTE.


have ever seen. 1t is from one of the
largest and ablest dailies in the Great
Northwest-The Portland Oregonian. an
extremely broad, liberal paper in its
editorial conduct 1t deserves to be read
carefully by every Southern man.
The time is past with thoughtful men
when on Memorial Day we think only
Of the Union dead In the restricted sense
which refers only to those who fell In
defense of the Stafs and Stripes. In the
enlarged field of historical vision that
has at last come into our possession wo
cannot help thinking Of the dead Of both
sides; the illustrious obscure who by
thousands on both sides fought with equal
tenacity and equal valor. Thoughtful
men have learned long ago to abstain
from bitter. Understanding denuncia-
ton of the great civic and military lead
ers of the Southern Confederacy. We
know today nothing but the news OF
peace prevented New England from seces-
sion in 1914. We know that Lee and
Longstreet and Joe Johnston bore arms
against the Union not because they were
secessionists, but because blood was
thicker than water. They could not fire
upon their domestic affairs. upon their
neighbours corn fields and their kinsmen.
We know that Lee as strongly disap-
proved of slevery as did Washington;
We know that the North was equally
responsible with the South for the plant
ing of slavery within the Constitution
and its National protection. We know
that the South, IL capacity for unstinting
sacrifice of it's best blood and treasure
and endurance of extreme hardship be
the test of earnest patriotism. was as
patriotic at least as the, North.
Many of the Confederate soldiers who
fell in the last assault upon Lees lines
before Petersburg had nothing but
COOLERS tpeanuts) in their haversacks.
Nothing could exceed the valor with which
the tattered remnant of Lees famished
army fought up to the hour of surrender.
When we remember all these things to-
day. 1t is impossible not to think of the
Confederate dead as well as the Union
dead with equal respect If not equal
gratitude. The rank and file OF the
Confederacy certainly were not in love
with slavery. for they did not own any
slaves and they knew that slave labor
was fatal to their social and industrial
advancement and influence The struggle
on both sides, so far az the rank and
file were concerned, was fought out by
men who knew very little about the con-
stitutional merits Of the quarrel The
North knew that the flag had been fired
upon: the South knew that Its soil was
invaded Provincial ignorance, sectional
prejudice. political creduIity. were COM
mon enough on both sides among the
rank and file. The leaders knew what
they wanted, but it is quite certain that
the confederate Army cared nothing for
slavery, and 1t is equally certain that
the Northern Army cared nothing about
1t.
Under these circumstances the sections,
like two big giants, pounded each other
without much scientific skill for four
years. The North finally struggled,
| stumbled and Numbered its way by sheer
strength and endurance to victory.l The
South was exhausted by hunger and
hardship; the North had considerable
strength left, but suffering from the
severe punishment it had taken. In the
| incidents of this great conflict there Is
no Just reason for sectional hate, but in
| its consequences is there anything be-
yond the extinction of slavery that is a
subject for National congratuiation? In
our judgment, next to the extinction of
| slavery, which was wrought through the
hand of war and was not unwelcome to
| the rank and file of the Confederate
armies, for 1t was the beginning of the
1 end of their political depression, the
greatest benefit of the Civil Wa was the
| tremendous capacity manifested by the
people both North and South for grim,
| ''pizen mad" pigheaded fighting. The
| valor. the tenacity, the endurance, the
energy, the enterprise. the inventive skill,
| the fearful losses in battle, were a most
impressive object-lesson to all Europe.
| Before the Civil War the great powers
of Europe never lost an opportunity to
snub us. They knew that but for
4 fAw- tod n had
been lost, and that in 1Sl2-A we had
won little glory on land and had suf-
| fered much shame. Our victory over
Mexico was won over an inferior race,
so Europe was not afraid of us and
rated the North as mere Yankee ped
dler who would fight with gold but never
| with Steel But after the great battles
and awful losses on both sides of Shiloh,
Antietam, Stone River, Fredericksburg,
| Charlottesville. Gettysburg. Chickamau-
ga and the Wilderness, Europe woke UP
to the fact that the 3o,0o0,000 of American
people were possessed of enerm Jus mill
tary endurance. valor and enterprise.
That military object-lesson to Europe was
| worth all the Civil War cost. and to that
critical lesson the South contributed as
much as the North. For this reason, If
| for no other, We can all afford to assent
| to President McKinley's conclusion that
/ the time has come when both sides could
| afford to take pride in and help care for
| each others graves. The Civil War
had to- come; let us concede what is
probable, that jeff Davis was as sincere
| a man as Abe Lincoln, and, allowing for
| the imperfect intelligence of the people on
both sides and their lack of judicial spirit,
| the war between the sections. soon or
| late, was sure to come.
| Only through this war could slavery
be killed; only through this war could
the people of both sections ever discover
that an American, born and bred North
| or South was formidable fighting
man; only through the Civil War could
either section ever really know how the
other lived. Only through the Civil War
could the Southern intellect be enamel
pated so that 1t could take It's true place
| in our literature and in our business
world Surely the material loss OF
property by the war was small price
to pay for this beginning of the intel
IectuaI redemption of the South from the
social paralysis of slavery. To a thought
full Union veteran its seems on Memoria
Day as IL he could gladly bless the
memory of the heroic veterans of botf
North and South who fired into eacf
others bosoms unfiinchingly in 1S6l-65
murmuring with the japanese patriot
martyr. ut is better to be a crystal ant
be broken than to remain perfect like 6
tile upon the housetop."
|
| When we want to learn something about
cheap labor and low prices we must &C
to China and study their methods and
prices. Take fire-crackers as fair ex'