The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-09
DON'T DESECRATE
Lincoln Post Asks for Proper Observ-
ance of Memorial Day.

The following patriotic address to
| the people of Kansas was adopted by
! Lincoln post No. 1, department of
Kansas, Grand Army of the Republic,
at its regular meeting May 6, 1905.
4 with the request that the newspapers
of the state publish it, and that AN the
! Grand Army posts take similar action
To the Grand Army posts and people
! of Kansas:
For a third of century the people
| of the United States, inspired by a
| sentiment Of reverent respect for the
memory of our heroic dead have by
/ unanimous consent dedicated the Goth
| day Of May to ceremonies in honor of
the soldier dead of our country; those
/ Who either gave their lives, or, having
given their services to save the life of
4 the republic have since answered their
/ last roll CALI and been mustered
out of the ranks Of living men.
No words of ours will add to the
! glory or brighten the fame of the gall
4 liant host who from 81 to '65 came
| thronging from the farms, shops, Of
fees and schools of our country to
| fight, to suffer, to die that the Union
might live. But the story of their
sublime self-sacrifice and dauntless
courage should be kept a perpetual
! memory in the hearts and minds of the
/ children and you Of our land for all
| time So long as men and women
teach their children to revere the
memory Of patriot heroes, so long as
/ the peaceful present honOrs and emu
| lates the example of the war worn
! past no fear will come that the dead
4 have died in vain, or that "a govern
ment of the people by the people, for
/ the people" will perish from the
earth
While we recognize the steadily
| growing popularity of Memorial day,
and the universal interest taken in its
! beautiful and impressive ceremonies,
as evidence of one of the most hopeful
/ developments of American sentiment,
we deem it a patriotic duty to call at
tention to the fact that there are those
who show inability to discriminate be-
/ tween the many holidays that are set
1 apart for the observance of anniver-
saries that bring only joy and gladness,
and this one day, that by the president
and every executive department of the
United States, and by the solemn en-
actment of the Kansas legislature has
| been set apart as Memorial day 1or
/ our dead. The day which OF all others
! marks the fact that during the dark
and bloody days a half million men in
/ Iife's prime died upon their country s
altar.
That more than a million worn
! heroes who had survived wasting dis
eases and the shock of battle, returned
| bearing in their own persons grievous
wounds, from which they suffered in
describable pains. and unspeakaple
anguish, until, their physical strength
/
these heroic survivors of the war, now
sleep in our cemeteries. The day that
calls attention to the fact, that the
/ veterans of the war are dying at the
4 rate of one hundred per day, ana thal
/ in a few years at most, no veteran S
voice can be raised against Dissertation
4 of this Day of Days We therefore
| deem it a patriotic duty at this Tune,
when the beat of muffied drums, the
| chant of the funeral dirge, and the
| hating steps of those, who forty-four
years ago in life's prime, with spring
/ ing steps, rushed to the rescue OF our
country and the flag, but whose teet
| even now, treading IN the shadows OF
| the valley, remind us that this is
national funeral day. to earnestly pro-
test against all efforts to change the
purposes of the day, and to make of
! it a day of hilarity, of games and
sports.
In giving this expression, we but
| voice the patriotic impulse that leads
| US to revere the memory of those
| with whom we once touched elbows
! on the battle line. If those who would
| make Memorial Day an occasion of
railroad excursions, horse races, bail
| games and other amusements are pa
| tronizeG and permitted to succeed, all
its venera ton of our heroic dead, its
| patriotic education Of the young, as TO
the cost in blood and treasure OF our
/ flag, with all that the flag stands for
/ and means. will be lost and the result
will be degeneracy of patriotism.
We therefore, While earnestly pro-
| testing against all misuse and desc
| Grafton of the coming Memorial Day,
earnestly request and urge all citizens
! old young and middle aged, to join
with US in the spirit of the day to
commemorate it. to the end that each
of us may fully realize what It means,
not only to US, but what II shall mean
to the generations that are to fol-
| low rs