The Alamogordo news. (Alamogordo, N.M.) 1899-1912, 1906-06-02

0Culs
"0f the 4OS, 600 who fought on
the Confederate side 131, 900 are
estimated to have been killed OIL
died prior to May q, 1866. Since
that time fully as many more
have passed to the Unseen World
thus making q total of 262,OOC
dead, and leaving less than 15O,.
600 living ext -Confederates among
us today.
Our total American soldier
dead number not far from 1879
600. 1t is to honor the memory
of this vast thrOng-this mighty
army-this heroic host-that we
have assembled today.
Gould this army be marshall
ed in single file, elbow to elbow,
lit would form line 900 miles
long, or reach from AlamogordO
to Denver-AlamogOrdo to Wich-
Electromagnetic to Ft. Worth.
Gould you communicate with
the members of this immense
army of Blue and Gray, no doubt
/ their advice would unanimously
follow these lines: ''Stand to-
gether. Build up a great united
nation. Cultivate a spirit of
broad Americanism. Honor our
country and uphold its flag"
| I'VE boast of our greatness.
We are great, but our greatness
does not consist of the things
usually enumerated. To my
mind, the fact that we can frat
ernize-we who were once ene-
mies-fraternize without men,
tai reservation or secret evasion"
is the principal proof of national
greatness.
mo other nation can cite such
examples. In one month from
today it will have been PIG years
since the battle of Boyne. Yet
the strife between Orangemen
and Hibernians is still in evil
dence.
In six weeks it will have
been Ill years since the fall of
the Bastile. Yet much of the
bitterness of the warning factions
exists among Frenchmen today.
"The echoes of the last gun at
AppomattOx had scarcely ceased
to disturb the April air before
the Union and Confederate SOL
diers were sharing rations, shak-
ing hands and heartily fraterniz-
ing. And the real soldiers-the
ones who did the actual fighting
have been the warmest of friends
ever since that day.
Armies of brave men sur
rendered without a cheer being
heard from the victors. Another
proof Of greatness. There were
cheers in those days, but they
were for the dawn of peace. In
this both armies went wild in
their JOY. AS boy-soldier,
nothing impressed me more than
the JOY, the enthusiasm and the
ecstacy, almost to the verge of
insanity, that animated both
armies-in April 1865.
but what conditions confront
ed many Of the returned soldiers
of both armies-especially those
who enlisted from border states
like Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis-
souri,, Arkansas, West Virginia
and Maryland! No positions
opened to them! Occupations
gone! Homes ruined! Families
scattered-many of them to new.
er be reunited! Tens of thous-
ands Of both armies met these
conditions.
but the greatness of the
American nation was shown
again to a wondering and scof-
fling world. More than 1000, 900
men, of the two armies, went
quietly back to civil life and be-
came peaceable and law-abiding
citixens-something the critics
Of free institutions in Europe had
pronounced an impossibility.
They predicted that this army
would overthrow the government,
and use its almost unlimited
power to install its favorities-in
short, create q reign Of terror
and anarchy. But nothing Of
the kind occurred.
I'm peace as well as in war
the Confederate has proven his