Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-01

/ the VlSOr OF prosperity. Inc BABY
lonian King was assailed in wine and
reveled in the wealth of plundered
nations, even while the hand was writ
ing his doom upon the wall. France,
reputed the first power in Europe, in
1871 went forth to battle. A soil con-
secrated with victory shook beneath
the feet of her grand army. Her
eagles floated defiantly on the breeze.
Her soldiers, the sons of those who
had won honor at Marengo, Austerlitz,
and Wagram, were shouting defiance
to the world, while the hand that wrote
at the feast of Belshazzar, was writ
ing the fate of France on the walls of
Tuilleries. 1t is good to have mill
tary strength but it is better to have
wise statesmen to forecast the storms
which might overturn the state. 1t is
indispensable to have faith and trust
in the arbiter Of nations-the Lord of
| Hosts, the God of battles.
Favor Liberty.
within the last half century the
councils of wise men and the arms Of
brave soldiers seem to have turned in
favor of liberty. During that time four
great events tending to human liberty
have transpired in four great divisions
of the globe. The serf Of Russia has
been liberated. The established
church of Ireland has fallen =
an institution which for refined
tyranny and sanctified injus-
tice has no parallel in the records of
the worlds history. 1t was an institu-
ton which compelled a population
ranging at various times at from five
to eight millions-working in a soil
they could not own on account of their
religion, to support church in which
they did not believe. The slaves of
Brazil have been set free In the
United States we have seen the last
lie removed from the constitution and
the last stain from the flag. In this
last elevation of the race have fallen
those brave men in whose mem DRY we
are here today. They gave their lives
in a good cause; slavery has disap-
peared from the land forever. To you,
veterans Of the army this day must
be one of peculiar interest. 1t cannot
fail to awaken vivid recollections of
the battlefield. The poet has said
that war is splendid murder. How
splendid it is you can tell when you
recall the thrill of martial music, the
gay paraphernalia of war. the pomp
and pageantry o. armies in battle ar
ray. How murderous. let the nation
tell when she counts the graves Of her
fallen heroes.
"You have passed through the war
and have seen it gloriously ended,
but million of brave men are miss
ing. Their kindred ask of you as their
comrades in arms: What of that
grand army that has never returned?
them wrapped in the battles smoke,
that part of the grand union army
which the cruel destinies of war have
retained to keep a solemn, silent pick
ct on flames eternal camping ground
They are gone. but the nation still
needs them. When faction would haz-
ard the common bond she will point
| to those graves as the pledges of
union. When demagogues would talk
of an appeal to arms she will point to
those graves as the cruel price of war.
WHAT need we say more? These men
have decorated their own graves. Or
ator and oratory are lost in the mute
elequence of freedom standing over
the graves OF her llberatOrs.
Veterans the Orators.
Veterans of the Grand Army, you
are the orators Of Decoration day, no
matter who may be the speakers. You
and your flowers and your medals.you
empty sleeves and your graves thrill
all hearts into patriotism, by your ST.
lent and visible eloquence. Yours is
the sorrow which makes us forget the
dismal countenance of death When
you enter the graveyards they become
gardens through which we walk with
smiles, and not with tears. You do
not march to the graves Of your COM
rades with black plumes and gloomy
faces, but laden with blossoms and
smiling, as becomes brave men at the
effacing hand of death. Future ages
will commemorate the prowess and
perpetuate the memory of the union
soldier by means Of statues and
monuments. 1t is my proud priv
| ilege today, to gaze upon the living
monuments of American valor, to
grasp the hands and look into the eyes
of the battle-scarred veterans, who
| form a noble remnant of that grand
army which went out to save the ma
tons life and make this broad land
freedoms own, and who brought back
a stainless flag-with all its stars.
Reward the Living.
while we honor the memory of the
dead, we should reward the living he
roes. The voice of economy is raised
against the pensions paid by the ma
ton to it's veteran volunteer soldiers.
1t argues that the soldier in war time
simply made contract with the gov
eminent, and the terms of the con-
tract were fulfilled by his daily food
and payment in the field. Shame on
the tongue that says it. Cato, the
Roman censor. earned the detestation
of centuries because he advised the
Romans to sell their worn out slaves
to save expense. Feed no useless
slaves in the house, said Cato, and so
our petty censors would sell the worn
out soldiers of the union to save a
paltry million yearly to the treasury
which they preserved for this and flu.
ture generations. The Athenians re-