Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-05-30
MARTYRS TRIBUTE.
confined 1rom PAGE Five.

not by the outward bands of force,
but by the inner bonds of love. That
was what you were really fighting for,
men, whether you realized if or not.
and that is what you secured. And
as YOU come to think about ii more
fully. and to appreciate more largely
the real result of your hardships and
the great cost of men and money,
i you will become more and more salts
fed, more Snd more proud that you
| had a part in securing so magnificent
a result.
Eve did not really know that this
new life had grown so such splendid
maturity, until the unexpected expert
| ences of the Spanish-American war
brought it out in full view. The ma
tional honor was again at stake, and
the call was made for men to leave
home, leave business. leave even cOun-
try itself. to go TO fever-infected Gu
ba, or the far away Philippines, to
| fight foreign foe in behalf of a weak
and an oppressed people. Did you ever
| see more glorious sight? The cOun-
| try rose as one man. 1t was not the
| north any more, nor the east, nor the
west, nor the south-it was the mani
4
| ii throbbed and pulsated all through
the whole body polite! Only one crit
icism was made by President Mckin-
ley-he did not call for enough men.
| Three times the number called were
anxious to be Immediately sworn in,
to do their country service. The men
of Wisconsin and Illinois were brigad-
ed with those from the CarOlinas and
the gulf states. and no one could tell
which were which. 1t was then that
the confederate general, Fitz Hugh Lee,
became a brigadier general of United
States volunteers, with Gen. Grants |
grandson as a member of his staff. |
Then it was that the New Orleans |
Picayune gave utterance to a sentiment |
of which any man might be proud. |
when it said. editOrially, u. 3. spells |
U.s. The great truth was that the |
south was as really part of us az
any other part of the country; and it |
was so as the result of the new nation
al life that had been brought to birth |
through the awful throe5 of the civil |
war.
Stars and Stripes in the South.
And | believe that this is The genu-
inc sentiment. | have been in four of |
the great southern cities; in Balti- |
more, where the Massachusetts 9th |
was received with a volley of stones
and bullets; in Chattanooga at the
foot of Lookout Mountain, and just
north of Mission Ridge; at Richmond,
the capital of the confederacy; and
at Atlanta, the starting point of that
terrible march where Sherman left q
path of desolation 60 miles wide all
the way to the sea. L sat in great
audience rooms in Richmond and At
lanta, which were more deliberately
decorated than any l ever saw else
where. and in both cities the only
decorative material was the American
fiag-our stars an dstripes- l person
ally conversed with gentlemen in At
lanta. who had themselves been Off
GERS in the confederate service, and
they asked me where | lived. | told
them l had lived in Illinois; and i'm
mediately they grasp my hand, and
babe me welcome to their southern
city and with pride pointed to its mate
rial development, themselves declaring
that the progress was due to the new
spirit prevailing as a result of the
war; and the insisted that the old
flag was as dear to them as it could
be to us, for now it was the one flag
of united people.
II went to the editorial rooms of the
Atlanta Constitution, where Henry
Grady. the apostle of the new life of
the south had formerly done his work,
and | read in the paper of which he
had been the editor. well matured and
l0yally-stated sentiments which in
earlier days he had tried to instill.
And l came back to my northern
home with a conviction fastened in
my heart. that these men of the south
land are our brothers. loyal and true
This. then, old soldiers. is what
you accomplished in your four years
in the valley of death This what
these helped to accomplish. who did |
not live to see all the benefits. l claim
| that it is magnificent result. | claim
| that il is better to boast of such a
result. than to talk and tell of how
we whipped the Johnnies. 1t is never
generous for victors to eXult over the
vanquished. and especially when the
defeated ones are our own kinsmen.
who were fighting for principles
taught them for generations. and /
which they mistakenly held sacred;
and more especially since they have
come to acknowledge that it is better
az it is. and now take a full share in
the national life.
NO. no; you have something better
TO talk about. some thing nobler of
which TO boast. just as construction is
i more difficult than destruction. and
SO lie -ame time. vastly more honor
able. \ mere boy can can break a |
costly plate Of FreHch glass. He has
destroyed 1t, but he has no room for
Boosting. An evil minded man may
easily wreck the Golden State Limit |
ed which has required the best brains |
of the country TO produce. Booth can
kill Lincoln; Guiteau, at least half |
crazy, may assasinate Garfield; the