The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-09-25

III L".. 5-
Sharpsburg, Md, Sept. IS.-Under low
ering skies the magnificent monumen
erected on the historic battlefield O
Antietam by the grateful state of New
Jersey to its men who fell in the grea'
engagement, was dedicated Thursday
The occasion was rendered particular,
notable by the presence at and partici-
patton in the ceremonies of the president
Of the United States and of Gov. Murphy
the chief executive of the stat which
vas honoring ita heroes.
Address of President.
President Roosevelt, as he arose to &C
cept the monument on behalf of the fed
eral government, was accorded an ova-
tion.
In opening, the president thanked the
people of New Jersey for the monument
to the troops of New Jersey who fought
at Antietam, and on behalf Of the a
tion accepted the gift. No other battle
of the civil war, he said, lasting but n
day showed as great a percentage of loss
as that which occurred upon the day
on which Antietam was fought. More
over, in its ultimate effects the battle
was of momentous and even decisive i'm
portance, for when 1t had ended and Lee
had retreated south of the Potomac,
Lincoln forthwith published that i'm
mortal paper, the preliminary declara-
ton of emancipation; the paper which
decided that the civil war, besides being
a wal for the preservation of the union,
was a war for the emancipation of the
slave, so that from that time onward the
causes of union and of freedom, Of ma
tional greatness and individual liberty,
were one and the same.
Duty of Present Generation.
TT now rests with us in civil life"
continued the president, ITO make good
by our deeds the deeds which you who
wore the blue did in the great years from
'61 to '65. The patriotism, the courage,
the un1inching resolution and s~teadfast
of the soldiers whose triumph
was crowned at Appomattox must be
supplemented on our part by civic cour-
age, civic honesty. cool sanity and stead
fast adherence to the immutable laws
Of righteousness.
Fight for Governmental Honesty.
In closing, the president said the fight
Tor governmental honesty and eficiency
be won only by the patience and reso-
and power.of endurance;,- such as
displayed by the revolutionary and |,
union armies. 1--WE need the same type
character nov that was needed by
The men who with Washington first in
augurated the system of free popular
government. the system Of combined lib
erty and order here on this continent;
that was needed by the men who under1
Lincoln perpetuated the government
which had thus been inaugurated in the
days Of Washington. The qualities es-
sential to good citizenship and to good.
public service now are in all their .es-
sentials exactly the same as in the days
the first congresses met to pro-
vide Tor the establishment of the union,
Three Foremost Qualities.
There are many qualities which we
need alike in private citizen and in pub
lie man, but three above all-three for
the lack of which no brilliancy and no
genius can atone-and those three are
courage, honesty and common sense"
After the benediction had been pro-
nounced, the president held an informal
reception In the rain, shaking hands
with several hundred e%x-soldiers. A
drive over parts Of the battlefield on
account of the storm had to be aban-
doned. The president, Gov. Murphy and
their party returned to their train imme-
diately after the ceremonies.