The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-08-03

hold their own peculiar notions to be
superior to the law.
The other day / saw picture which
left deep impression on my mind. 1t
was that of the room or section at Ellis
Island where those who had sought to
come to this country from beyond the
Atlantic were being detained. One
group smaller than the others was stand
ing with their hands grasping the iron
caging before them and were looking
longingly towards the land of which
they had so often dreamed and perhaps
for which they had directed many pray
ers. 1t was known to them that they
could not enter the United States. Some
affiiction or disease which each of them
possessed had caused the examining Of
fcers to demand their return to their
distant homes, and they were looking
for the last time and possibly for the
first time upon the land in which they
had so longed to live and share its life.
Much that was pathetic in the picture
there was, but the action of the officers
was undoubtedly the part of wisdom.
And yet, as I.looked at that picture |
thought / would rather take those poor
afflicted ones as citizens of our country
even though the fear that they would be
burdensome should prove true, than to
accept any of the many who come here
possessed of inclinations which bid de-
fiance to law and possessed of theories
and purposes which cannot live and
thrive side by side with our ideals of
government by the people. Tolerant
and patient we are to the last degree
and perhaps that is the best. But in my
opinion the time has come when the
right minded people of the United
States should say to this oncoming horde
and to those who of that breed who
now affiict our country, thus far and no
farther forever shall your unworthy
movements go. Your creeds belong
where the American home is unknown,
and your conception of rights and privi-
leges can have no place in land where
peace and order and law must give to
each man his share of liberty and de-
mand from each his share of loyalty.
Whatever may be our sectional and
political differences, whatever the lines
of disagreement and the issues decided
upon for determination at the ballot
box, some sympathies we must hold in
common and some declarations we must
as American citizens stand by, regard
less of all things upon which we may
not agree. And the very expression of
that fundamental demand reveals to me
anew the depth and breadth of the
work now being performed by the re-
publican party. l am glad to know
through day by day experience with its
responsible leaders that it is not section
al or provincial; that the people of the
South and of the distant West and of
the East as well as of the North are in
its thoughts and purposes and share in
every policy and principle it proclaims.
And because it is national in all its pur-
poses, and because it recognizes that
only through the good of the many can
the real enjoyment of any be secured
has the republican party through almost
fifty years retained its place as the in
terpreter of the ideals in government of
the greatest people and the most in
huential nation known to civilization S
history.
Sometimes in our seasons of self-con-
graduation there is danger of forgetting
from whence has come very much of
the glory and strength of this nation.
Sometimes l fear that l am overmuch
of a bipartisan. j have never traced the
mere party lines along which our coun-
try has been assisted in making its way
that have not been thrilled with that
peculiar pride that only memory can
give. And there is value in that pride,
too. What father has ever looked into
the face of the boy in whom his love and
affection was vested that did not wish
himself to be better man for that boys
sake He knew that in the years to
come the ambitions and the ideals of his
child would be influenced by the appeal
that memory would make for good or
for bad, as there might come from his
life to that boys life influences that
would strengthen or memories that
would weaken And so should we, my
friends, recognize that here today as re-
publicans we represent heroic traditions
and possess the inspiration of lives that
perhaps more than we know are the
guiding and ruling influences so for
tunate for our country.
And there is another direction in
which we should give generous recog-
milton. My attention was called to
statement few days ago to the effect
that the old soldierssf the Union were
passing away at the rate of five thou
sand each month, or more than one
one hundred and sixty each day. March
ing away are the boys who more than
forty-five years ago began their response
to Abraham Lincoln's call. Marching
away are the members of the Grand
Army of the Union who under the stars
and stripes fought to a successful issue
the greatest war this world has ever
known. Mere boys many of them were
then, but children of parentage that
had given to them courage such as made
new records in history's pages. March
ing away with banners furled and muf-
fled drums, bidding goodbye to those
that loved them, and waving last fare
wells to trembling and faltering com
rades. Thus they are entering the val
ley and the shadow, the last heroic
march of the Grand Army of the Re-
public. The appeal which they have
made who are taking part in this march
will never cease to be an influence in
the life of our country. Time has played
its tender part in obliterating the hates
and prejudices of sections and the bit
terness of other years. The heroisms of
American soldiers North and South are
almost now common possession. But
never in our love or gratitude should
any place be fully occupied which be-
longs to him who wore the blue, and
never should we forget in all our boasts
of greatness and strength and power
that more of the possibility of such
boasts than we can ever know came as
the precious gift of this rapidly receding
Grand Army of the Union. Let us give