Arizona republican., 1906-05-31

war have died away till in 1898 the prompt response of all sections to the cOuntry's call to arms demonstrated that not a spark remains. The captur- ed battle flags of the lost cause have been returned to the hands that once so bravely carried them. And con- gress by unanimous vote has recently appropriated $2OO,OOO to care for the graves of the Confederate dead. Eight years ago the martyred Mckinley la Atlanta, Georgia, declared that the time had then come when the nation on each recurring Memorial Day should deck with flowers alike the graves of the union and confederate dead. and today we claim alike the valOrous achievements of the blue and the gray. The storming of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg and Sherman's March to the Sea are all the common heritage of a common country.
 We have passed the time of sectional feeling and national discord, and have entered upon a new era of unity and good will never before approached in our national history, and today our citizenship is firmly cemented, human liberty is entrenched in our fundament- al law, and government by the people securely established in the hearts of our citizens. In the enjoyment of these manifold blessings, and in the flush of the higher and fuller life, individual as we'll as national, which flows from these conditions, We today can realize even better than did the Boys of '61, the tremendous import to humanity If that terrific struggle and how fraught
 Rv,, s,,,, Today We know that the preservation of this republic and the perpetuation of the principles for which it stands, merited any sacrifice and justified any cost.
 So today a grateful nation gathers to do homage to the heroes, living and dead, who so wrought that government by the people still endures, who | through the darkest hours of national disaster could yet see with eyes of faith the future triumph of human lib- 1 erty and gained new courage from 1 their vision, who counted their lives as naught that freedom might live and 1 that freedoms emblem might continue ! to wave over a united country, with not stripe erased nor a single star i obscured." To them the nation has | set apart this day to commemorate i their valor and devotion, and we come i together today to do them reverence
 with honor and cheers for the living; with flowers and tears for the dead. Soon, too soon twill be all flowers and tears" for the Grand Army of thC
 Republic is rapidly being mustered out The sacrifice, deprivation and hard
 ships of war have shattered the con- stitutions of the survivors and Sget A.n- they gather to decorate with blossomt the graves of their fellow comrades and each year their heads are winter
 their step more feeble, their rank
 more depleted. Each year as We gath
 CT to commemorate their gloriou! struggle, we miss from their ranks ia
 miliar faces that We knew and loved
 one-two, three years ago.
 The memorable Reaper, is gathering
 them home at the rate of 5000 a mOntl
 and in a few years the last will hav
 joined his fellows waiting for the fina
 reveille.
 But long after the last heroes shal
 be laid to rest, the memory of theI
 deeds shall bless, and the echo of thei
 martial tread shall thrill the Ameri can heart with renewed hope and high CT aspirations.
 So, Soldiers of the Grand Army O
 the Republic,
 To those who are living We say, God bless you, God speed you; And over the ones who are gone " pray,
 God rest you, God keep you. l The decorating of the graves of tn soldiers who are buried in Phoeni
 cemeteries had been done by the mem ? bers of the Woman's Relief Corps a an early hour yesterday morning } Many of the wreaths were very attrac tive. The graves of all soldiers weT l decorated whether the departed on had fought with the Union army or tn army of the south or in the late war.