Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1903-09-21
sELEeRAPHlc NEWS.


special train bearing the President
Governor Murphy. New Jersey seuat
ors kean. Dryden and others arrived
at 3 o'clock this morning The Pres
ident made speech this afternoon
In dedication of the shaft which was
erected in honor of New Jerseys wa,
heros
The President in his speech said:
Governor Murphy and Veterans OF
the Grand Army. | greet you and
thank You OF New Jersey for the mon
ument to the troops OF New Jersey
who fell at Antietam and on behalf
Of the nation accept the gift.
We meet today upon one of the
! great battlefeids of the Civil war
No other battle of the Civil war last
ing but one day shows as great n per.
centage of loss as that which DC.
CURED here upon the day on which
Antietam was fought Moreover In
its ultimate effects this battle was OF
momentnous and decisive importance
for when II had ended and Lee had
retreated amid shouts the shouts OF
the Potomac. Lincoln forthwith pub.
lished that immortal paper, the pre-
| liminary declaration of emancipation
the paper which decided that the Civ
II war. besides ending "A war for the
preservation of the Union. should be
war for the emancipation of the
slave SO that from that time onward
the causes of union and freedom of
| national greatness and individual
greatness and individual liberty were
one and the same.
Men OF New Jersey, congratulate
your state because she has the right
to claim the full share of honor and
glory of that memorable day and |
congratulate your governor because
on that day you had the good fortune
to serve as a lad with credit and hon
or in one of the five regiments which
your state sent to the battle Four
OF these regiments, by the way, served
in division commanded by that gal
liant soldier. Henry w Slocum. whom
we OF New York can claim as our
own. The other regiment. that In
which Governor Murphy served. al
though practically new regiment.
eran organization upon the field, and
suffered proportional loss. This
regiment was at one time ordered to
the supnort of n division commanded
nv another New York soldier the gal.
lnnt General Greene whose son him.
self served as major-general in the
war with Spain and who ia now n no.
lice commissioner of New York. rend.
ering n signal service in civil life MS
he had already rendered I'm military
life
"If the issue of AntIetam had been
other than II WAS. 1t liz probable that
If least two great European mowers
would have recognized the Independ.
epce of the Coufederacy. so that YOU
who fought here forty.one wears ago
have the profound satisfaction of feel
iug that YOU played your mart in one
of these crisis with the fate of all
mankind You men OF the Grand
Army. by YOUR victory. not only rend-
cred all Americans your debtors. for.
ever more. but Won rendered all hu.
manity your debtors II the Union
had been dissolved II the great editice
built with blood and tears by the
might of Washington and his com
peers had gone into wreck and ruin,
the result would have been an meal
culabIe calamity. not only for our peo.
pie. but for all mankind. The great
American republic would have become
a memory of .derisiop and the failure
of the experiment of self government
by great people on great scale
would have delighted the heart OF
every foe of republican institutions.
"Our country. II not so great and so
wonderful. would have been split into
little rival nationalities, each with
history both bloody and contemptible
1t is because you. the men who wear
the button of the Grand Army. tri-
umphed In the dark years that every
American holds his head high, proud
that he belongs to a nation whose
glorious past and great present will
he succeeded by an even mightier fu-
ture. where had you failed we would
all of us. north and south, east and
west. be now treated by other nations
AT the best. with contentious toler.
ance and at the worst. overbearing
in silence"