The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-30

thanks to the wisdom Of It's framers, all understood the meaning of the Declara- tion of Independence, and through the medium of that greatest governmental document ever presented to the people of the world, they moulded what has grown to be the grandest power in Christendom.
 Slumbering under the silent sod of the free republic which they gave to the world, are they. who fought and died for the noble principles embodied in that immortal declaration, which made of the American colonies a new nation, whose starry emblem was soon unfurled to the breezes of every cline, proclaiming a new era for the onward march of progress and civilization. As the ages come and as the ages go, and as generation after generation more fully realize the great blessings won for humanity's sake by those mo- ble American heroes who gave up their lives for the betterment of the world, and to establish a fair and just name for their beloved country, the more ought they to deem it a pleasure as well as a duty they owe to the memory of those departed lives, to greet each re- turning spring time with arms out stretched with 8 wealth of flowers to be laid on the graves of our heroes dead. That part of our history from the founding of the government to the out break of the war of the rebellion deals with many great and stirring events. The rapid striles made in manufactur- ing and commercial pursuits by the new nation of the west astounded the nations of Europe, and while they looked on in amazenlent at the success of our republican form of government, our population was continually being increased by the large influx of people from the old world. The treasury of the United States had been placed on a sound financial basis, and the debts contracted through the various wars were being rapidly paid off. The mer- chant marine service was engaged in carrying American products to the dif- ferent markets of the world and un- furling the Stars and Stripes to the breezes of every sea. The welfare of the children was being guarded through the medium of a wise public schooling system, and all classes generally were happy and contented save one dark blot on our early history, which had ag- itated the people little at first, but finally burst with such force upon the nation that it caused its very founda- ton to trenble from the fearful on- slaughts made against it by the chil- dren of those who had helped to mould l 1t into glory.
 The Declaration of Independence de- clared that all men should have free and equal rights before the law. The question arose: How could the United States, nation which boasted of it's I freedom, live up to that declaration and at the same time keep a human race within it's own borders under the | lash of slavery? The northern states were outspoken against the awful traf- | fic, while the cotton raising states of the south were just as strongly in favor | of it. It had continually been source of contention in the halls of congress, and there many a bitter conflict had I LdkGH pldCE pGIWGCu JitG dAFOIdLSSG anu adversaries of slavery. Political par ties made of it campaign issue, and prominent statesmen were trying to prevent the fearful consequences which they foresaw if this question was not soon settled In some favorable manner. But regardless of all the energy of state-craft, regardless of all the plead ings of the church and those opposed to war, the conflict over slavery contin- ued only to reach a c limax when Abraham Lincoln, who was to play such a prominent part in the world s
 history, was elected president of the
 United States.
 Scarcely had he taken his office when
 the guns of the south belched forth
 their defiance against the authority of the Union, and compelled heroic Ander-
 son to lower the Stars and Stripes
 which had for years floated so majesti-
 cally in the breezes of the southland.
 The fires which had been kindled and
 ready to be ignited over the question of slavery were now blazing away with all
 their fierceness. This grand nation
 which had been secured through the
 sacrifice of the most precious lives in
 all history, and the toll and brain of
 those who thought more of the freedom
 and equal rights of men than the riches \ of the world, was brought to the
 threshold of the most terrible crisis in
 it's history.
 The nation must be saved, and at the
 first call to arms issued by Lincoln he
 found men in every walk of life; from
 the farms, stores, factories and work
 shops of all descriptions; tradesmen
 merchants. ministers, lawyers and pro- fessors; from the humble cabins of the
 studry toilers to the mansions of the
 wealthy were they ready to sacrifice
 their lives and all that was near and
 dear to them to save the Union and
 wipe out the one dark blot that had
 been the cause of the civil war.
 From the northern states the Boys
 in Blue" were. marching. on to Wash
 ington to save the national capital from failing into the hands of the southern