Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-04-16

need the conservatism of the south
The law-loving forces of the north
will need the law-breeding instincts
Of the south. The Americanism of the
north will need the Americanism Of
the south. Then, indeed, shall both
sections learn what racial homo
geneuity means and know for certain
that blood is thicker than water
THE mysteries of Providence are
hidden from you and me; why the
negro was brought hither from the
wilds of Africa and sold into slavery,
his redemption thence. and all his
redemption cost US; but, assured that
behind these mysteries lay some vast
deign, feel that God has always been
with us and is with us now. Why
Washington, the patriot, instead of
Lee, the adventurer, Why Lincoln, the
seer. instead of Seward, the scholar?
If it was not the will of heaven that
the confederacy should fall, that the
union should prevail, why were all
the accidents of the war with the
north and against the south? the death
the valley Of Virginia, the arrival at
the critical moment of the Monitor in
the waters of Hampton roads? If it be
not the will of heaven that we shall
carry the Christian message of free
dom and civilization to the end of the
earth, Why did not the Lord send
Dewey home? No, no, gentleman. as
God was radiant in the stars that
shone over Washington at Valley
Forge, over Lincoln at Gettysburg,
over Grant in the Wilderness, over
the fleets in Manila bay and the bull
lies III front of Santiago, does his
radiance shine upon us, brothers in
blood and arts and arms, whether
Our knees go down amid the SHOWS
or the flowers. Long ago the south.
J forgivirg all, accepted the verdict in
perfect faith. It is for the north,
/ forgetting all, to seal it in perfect
! love"
! Francis w. Cushman of Washington
! followed Mr.. Watterson saying that
within the thirteenth, fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments to the United
States constitution, are gathered the
fruits and final results of the war of
the rebellion. These are the amend
mentS that in our organic law guaran-
tee freedom, citizenship and suffer-
age to the negro. What is the charac-
ter of these amendments? Are they
! merely figures of speech with which
to adorn the ford rhetoric of a polit-
ical perOratiOn, or do they constitute
a guarantee of rights to the negro as
! the foundations of our government?
To me these amendments constitute
ipsO facts, to the greatest onward
stride made by this the greatest ma
| ton that has reared its head above
! the claim in forty centuries. These
amendments represent the inviolate
promises of the past, the sacred duty
| Of the present, and in them are
wrapped the hopes of the future.
when you wantonly destroy that
| legislation you are plotting out the
! hopes which cast their faint and trenl-
| bling beams across the blackness of
the past" he said. when you mutt
| late that legislation, the past of our
nation thrills with agony and the dust
Of cur dead sbUdders in shame. When
you blot out that legislation, you dim
the eyes Of hope with the tears Of de
spair, and you blur the most glorious
pages of your cOuntry's history. To
write that legislation on the statute
book two million men marched in the
serTied ranks OF war, and half a mil
lion died The American who today
would wantOnly destroy that legisla-
ton, or sit supinely by and permit it
to be nullifed, is a political vandal
who would mutilate the bloOd-stained
and time honored monuments Of the
war
"The best way for us to cherish and
perpetuate the memory of Abraham
Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant is to
stand firm for the priceless principles
for the preservation of which one gave
his life and the other gave his sword
Other speakers were Edward L.
Hamilton and Rev. Thomas P Green,
who spoke on kindred themes.