Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-17

would have been an incafcdla6fe calamity.
not only for our people-apd most of all for
those who in such event, would have SEEM
ingfy triumphed-but for all mankind. The
great American republic would have become
a memory of derision; and the failure of the
experiment of self-government by great
people on great scale would have delight
ed the heart of every foe of republican in
sututions. Our country, now so great and
so wonderful, would have been split into
little jangling rival nationa llties, each with
history both bloody and contemplate. 1t
was because you, the men who wear the
button of the Grand Army, triumphed In
those dark years that every American now
holds his head high, proud in the knowledge
that he belongs to a nation whose glorious
past and great present will be succeeded by
an even mightier future; whereas had you
failed we would all of U.S. north and south,
east and west, be now treated by other ma
tons at the best with cOntemptuOus toler-
ance; at the worst with overbearing inso-
ience.
Effect CT Success of Union Armies.
Moreover, every friend Of liberty, every
believer in self-government, every idealist
who wished to see his ideals take practical
shape, wherever he might be in the world.
knew that the success of all in which he
most believed was bound up with the sue
cess of the Union armies in the great strug
GLE confidently predict that when the
final judgment of history is recorded 1t will
be said that in no other war of which we
have written record was 1t more vitality eS-
sential for the welfare of mankind that vic
tory should rest where 1t finally rested.
There have been other wars for individual
freedom There have been other wars for
national greatness. But there has never
been another war in which the issues at
stake were so large, looked at from either
standpoint We take just pride in the great
deeds of the men of 1776, but we must keep
in mind that the revolutionary war would
have been shorn of well-nigh all it's results
had the side of union and liberty been de-
feated in the civil war. In such case we
should merely have added another to the
lamentably long list of cases in which peo-
pies have shown that after winning their
liberty they are wholly unable to make
good use of 1t.
1t now rests with US In civil life to make
good by our deeds the deeds which you who
wore the blue did in the great years from
81 to '65 The patriotism, the courage. the
unfnching resolution and steadfast endur-
ance of the soldiers whose triumph was
crowned at Appomattox must be supple
mented on our part by civic courage, civic
honesty. cool sanity and steadfast adher-
ence to the immutable laws of righteous
ness. You left US a reunited country; re-
united in fact as we'll as in name. You left
us the right of brotherhood with your gal
liant foes who wore the gray; the right to
feel pride in their courage and their high
fealty to an ideal, even though they warred
against the stays in their courses You left
us also the most splendid example of what
brotherhood really means; for in your
careers you showed in practical fashion
that the only safety In our American life
lies in spurning the accidental distinctions
which sunder one man from another. and
In paying homage to each man only be-
cause of what he essentially is: in stripping
Off the huSkS of occupation, of position, Of
accident, until the soul stands forth re-
Vealed, and we know the man only because
Of his worth as a man.
No Patent Device for Securing Victory.
There was no patent device for securing
victory by force of arms forty years ago;
and there is no patent device for securing
victory for the forces of righteousness in
civil life now. In each case the all-import-
ant factor was and is the character of the
individual man. Good laws In the state,
like good organization in an army are
the expressions of national character
Leaders will be developed in military and
in civil life alike; and weapons and tactics
change from generation to generation, as
methods of achieving good government
change in civic affairs; but the fundamental
qualities which make for good citizenship
do not change any more than the funda-
mental qualities which make good soldiers.
In the long run in the civil war the thing
that counted for more than aught else was
the fact that the average American had the
hghting edge; had within him the spirit
which spurred him on through toll and
danger. fatigue and hardship, to the goal
of the splendid ultimate triumph. So in
achieving good government the findament-
al factor must be the character of the aver
age citizen; that average citizens power
of hatred for what is mean and base and
unlovely; his fearless scorn of cowardice
and his determination to war unyielding
against the dark and sordid forces of evil
The continental troops who followed
Washington were clad in blue and buff,
and were armed with clumsy 9intlock
muskets. You, who followed Grant wore
the famous old blue uniform, and your
weapons had changed as had your uniform;
and now the men of the American army
who uphold the honor Of the flag in the
far tropic lands are yet differently armed
and differently clad and differently trained:
but the spirit that has driven you all to
victory has remained forever unchanged
So it Is in civil life. AS you did not win in
month or year, but only after long
years OF hard and dangerous work. SO the
night for governmental honesty and eff
hciency can be won only by the display of
similar patience and similar resolution and
power OF endurance. We need the same
type of character now that was needed by
the men who with Washington first in
augurated the system Of free popular gov
eminent, the system of combined liberty
and order here on this continents that was
needed by the men who under Lincoln per-
petuated the government which had thus
been inaugurated in the days of Washing
ton The qualities essential to good citi-
zenship and to good public service now are
IA oil tioti tSSeHudlS exactly the same as
In the days when the first Congresses met
to provide for the establishment Of the
Union; as in the days. seventy years later
when the Congresses met which had to
provide for its salvation.
There are many qualities which we need
alike in private citizen and in public man,
but three above all-three for the lack of
which no brill1ancy and no genius can
atone-and those three are courage honesty
and common sense.
The benediction was pronounced by Rev.
H. w. Mccormack of New Jersey, vet
eran chaplain.
A greater part of the afternoon was spent
by the President In an inspection Of the
points of historic interest on the battle
field.