The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-05-31
DECORATION DAY
REFLECTIONS
An Address Made at Mend
ham, N. ]. on Monday
May 80, 1904
BY JOHN GILMER SPEED

suffered and died that this republic
lshould remain undivided and indivis-
lible. The deeds. the sufferings and
the sacrifices were as noble as any that
are known in history. But it is due to
us. the men and the women and the
children Of to-day, to prove and to-
demonstrate whether or not all this
was worth while. We say in a careless
and hamboyant way that this is the
greatest country III the world and none
other is comparable to it. / hope to
lGod that this will be the greatest
country in the world and superior to all
others, and have faith that it will be-;
sbut do pity the rest of the world if
sthere be no other nationality, no other
dominion less lacking in the great vir-
tues which crown citizenship with dig
Unity, honor and integrity. This may
seem an ungracious thing to say on a
day given over to honoring those who
have died for the integrity and unity
of a great nation. Far be it from me
to belittle their deeds or underestim-
| ate their service. But feel it to be
my duty to call your attention to the
solemn fact that it is as we act our
part whether or not those sacrifices
were made in vain.
| Lincoln said, and it has been repeat
ed so often that it has become hack
neyed saying, this is a government Of
the people, by the people and for the
people. We cannot bear that too
much in mind. This government can
never be better than the people who
make it. Our tributes of flags, Of
flowers and of el0quence to those who
preserved us nation are most appro-
Iprlate; but it is only by our own yir-
tues, our own abnegation of selfish
ness, our own steadfastness to the truth
and the Righteousness which knows no
other road whatever that we can show
that we are worthy to profit by the
sacrifices that they made.
| We have in our Hill Top cemetery
| the graves of men who have died in all
the wars Of the republic. Allhonor to
them! All dishonor to us, unless we
keep pure and undefiled the heritage
they have preserved forus. One great
duty and privilege Of every American
man, unconyicted Of crime, is to cast a
ballot when election time comes, free
and untrammeled and uninfiuenced by
sordid considerations as to whether
one man is to have the advantage, or
that the people are toget the best that
can be had. This is a government by
the people and for the people, and tits
an axiom that no people ever geta gov
ernment better than they deserve.
That we have so good government,
considering the reckless way in which
a considerable per centage of our citi-
zens vote, fills me with amazement,
for | tell you, what may be many of
you already know, that there are many
and many among us who buy and sell
votes just as they would turnips or
cabbage.
When we think of Decoration Day,
| it Is usually with reference to the great
Civil war, between the sections, a war
primarilyon constitutional grounds as
to whether one state had right or
not to secede from the Union. Really,
however, the great question was one
as to the morality of human slavery.
Both these questions have been set
| tied. The Union cannot be dissolved,
land no man is the chattel of any other
man according to the established law
of the land. But if a man sell himself,
| il a man buy another, is not that slav-
ery?. Is it tnota more debasing slavery
than that when the slave was com
PEELED by force his slavery? Ithink
50. a thousand times more debasing,
for here a free man sells his freedom
and gives up his manhood for petty
cash. / tell you, that unless we check
with our disapproyal and all the force
which we can command, this corrup-
tion Of the people that those brave
spirits we have met to honor, died in
vain.
These seem tingracious words, but
| they are true, and blinking at the
truth or ignoring it simply means that
we further the march towards a per
dition ignoble and dishonorable. We
lmay not do these things ourselves,