Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-30

SOiQlefS nave feaUZeu national luealS ana
have made theirs a humane war for hu-
manity's sake.
Even a criminal Is accounted guiltless,
In the eyes of the law, until he has been
proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by
a jury of his peers And 1 question the
sanity well the honesty of any man
who can foul the nest of our common
America nism and give currency to vile as
PERSONS against the honor of loyal soldiers
and distinguished commanders, such as has
been done since our men came home.
Satan himself, in his mad infatuation
for the 6amnation Of a soul, could not de-
wise a more Internal species of falsehood
than has been trumped up by some of our
long range critics of the conduct of the
war The soldier can do nothing but wait
for history to vindicate his policy and his
conduct feeling sure that as the autumn
is the best yndication of the spring, time
will be the witness upon which he can az
ford to rest his case.
with Shakespeare S Viola:
81 hate ingratitude more In
Than lying, vainness, babblng. drunkenness.
Or any faint of vice. whose strong corruption
Inhabits frafl blood.
1.-The Spanish war was too short to be any
sort of test for this great nation. but II
was long enough to test the men who had
a part in 1t. No man can die but once And
every man must wait till the bullet comes
his way. 1t is of no Importance whether
soldier falls in the first battle or the last
battle of any war. When he takes his place
In the firing line his sacrifice to his country
is complete. Actual death is only Incidental.
And If the average citizen could only know
how it feels to have bullets coming his way,
not one at a time. but in voleys, he would
rea lie that every man, even though he
comes from the din unscathed, has stood
with his life in his hand and has lived for
days like these, not because he lodged the
missiles, but because the cnemys marks
manshiD was poor.
This is why we class all our men to-
gether-the men who fell on the field and
the others who fingered longer, to die at
their homes-because every man TOOK MS
chance at death whenever an engagement
came and all as the equal SharerS in their
offering Of life, are entitled to scpulcher
III common ground, as partners In COM
mon sacrifice.
A Threadbare Subject.
at has been suggested to me that 1
should not speak of the threadbare topic
as to how the foes in a former war have
become comrades in the later one. But !
cannot forbear some slight allusion, be-
cause it has to do with the results of the
war.
1T was worth a good deal to our people
to have practical demonstration of the fact
that patriotism is not determined by the
points of the compass. Loyalty is not a mat
ter of geography. Under God this great
country is one. All dove depends upon
knowledge. And when sectional regiments
live in a common camp and march be-
meath the same flag against a common foe
1t is an education for all concerned. 1t was
time we had it. because the strength of the
nation depends upon the strength and
hesion of its members.
There is no question of loyalty any long
er. The soldiers have gotten together and
blazed the way for the churches 1t isn't
merely fraternity-the courtesy of tolera-
tion-that We want, but unity. 1t is safe to
say that war has done more to weld the
sections of this great land into practical
unity than anything else. and it is given
into the hands of the religious bodies of
the country, many of whom are divided
upon sectional lines, that they carry On the
work which has received such impetus from
the soldiers of both sections. until no Chris
tian sect can orient itself by a compass or
limit itself by a geographical line.
Peace has come, but it brings call to
idleness. Because the soldier, in the main,
has beaten his sword into a Dlowshare it
does not mean that the citizen has nothing
to do The mechanism of peace. as in
great sciopticon, has dissolved the soldier
into the citizen before our eyes, but the
problems of the war abide. and they will