The Washington herald., 1907-05-31

The exercises at Arlington Cemetery, in
charge Of officers Of the G. a. r. of the
Spanish War Veterans. the Women's Re
lief Corps. the Women of the Loyal Le-
gion. the Union Veterans Union and
Ladies Auxiliary, and the Sons of
Veterans was Of an imposing and elabo-
rate character Music for the occasion
was furnished by the Marine Band and
a selected chorus Of fifty voices from
Takoma.
Col. Newton Ferree presided, Rev. II.
y. Couden recited the speech Of President
Lincoln at Gettysburg. and Comrade
James Tanner. past commander, G. A.
r. delivered the address.
Tribute 10 Soldier Dead.
Corporal Tanner spoke in part as fol-
lows.
over this broad land to-day millions of
our fellow-citizens have laid aside the
daily duties Of life. and in solemn pro-
cession. with bugles calling and beat Of
drum. with song and speech. in the great
cities and in the hamlets by the country
side. they seek 10 do honor to our loved
ones gone before.
Those who would fail 70 honor the
services, sacrifices. and the memory OF
those who died 20 preserve their country
as a mighty nation of States would evi-
dence a weakness which. thank God. is
not inherent in our nation, and can never
~. 44- vfrFfn of 6
and loyal people.
In the long go, when the Black Eagle
Of Illinois. the greatest volunteer soldier
OF his time. John A. Logan, issued. as
commander-in-chief Of the Grand Army.
his order defeating this day as Memorial
Day. many short-sighted souls deprecated
the wisdom of the act. criticising It as
calculated to keep alive the animosties
of the war How greatly mistaken they
were we all know now, and have for
many years.
One Side Right; One Wrong.
Il said then that I knew one old mother
who. if the fortunes OF war had sent her
boy into a soldiers grave instead Of re-
turning him to her sadly shattered, would
have had no bitterness toward her stricken
sister in the South when she went out
% laurel her lost ones grave but that
rather there would have been an electric
sob of sympathy running from the grave
under the naples Of New York to that
under the magnolas of Louisiana. /
think I am no msinterpreter of public
sentiment when l declare that not only
OUT people generally, but my surviving
comrades as mass. have br0adened ire
mendOusly since our days OF warfare l
go so far as to assert that s5 per cent
of the membership Of the Grand Army
cheerfully concede to-day that the vast
majority Of the men who stood in battle
against US under the stars and bars were
as sincere in the course they pursued as
were we Of the Union host
But. conceding that, we still maintain
that II is incontestibly true that one side
was wrong, awfully wrong, one side, and
one side only. was right, and that was
the nations side. and the God of right
proved the truth Of our contention at
Appomattox.
The Cost of War.
THE North and the South contested on
two thousand fields Of battle aud sKir-
mish Dead on the field. or dead in hospi-
tai or prison pen, the Union forces left
10000 Of their comrades. Besides these, a
vast army Of crippled and permanently
diseased comrades and hosts Of widows
and fatherless children.
we seemed 20 be repeating the history
Of PharaOh's time-in so many homes did
the first born lie dead.
a vast difference in point has existed
ever since between those who endured and
L. -.
the cost Of the war, and l am frank to
say in this great presence that my very
soul revolts when hear men speak Of the
cost OF the war and undertake to put II IN
dollars. On this occasion, SO sacred to MS,
I refuse to consider the cost of the war
on any financial line in the slightest de-
gree. The real cost Of the war, its mighty
cost, the only cost, which ought to rise in
the thought and to the lips cf patriotic
men when they speak Of what the war
cost should be computed in relation TO
the splendid manhood of the nation. South
and North which went to premature
graves I'm that mighty conflict.
IF IL had not been for that war and its
awful holocaust there would have been
az least three-quarters Of a million more
Of homes in this country than exist to-
day.
Help for Orphans and widows
"A few days ago. in speaking Of this day
and Of the address. which he is probably
delivering this moment at indianapolis.
the President said that, while the day is
pre-eminsutly the day Of the Grand
Army. and while Of course we felt right
Iva great sense Of loss in the death of our
comrades. still there was a large COM
pensation therefor for they died glori-
oJsly and for "a great purpose, and that
be thought our greater regret and grief
might we'll he for the wives and children
they left behind. who suffered such ir-
reparable loss. ! agreed with him, and l
did not hesitate to inform him that the
next move Of the organized forces Of the
Grand Army would be when Congress
meets again. and il viii be in an effort TO
give the widows and orphans OF our COM
rades something more than S or $l2 per
month He will help us. No man among
US realizes more fully than Theodore
Roosevelt that. while bouquets Of flowers
and speech are fragrant and pleasing.
bread is the first necessity.
4 have a word of reproof 10 utter TO my
comrades who survive. Il is over forty
two wears since the buglas sang truce at
Appomattox. and flags were furled. | find
that many Of our comrades speak impa-
tiently Of the ignorance or Indifference
manifested by the people Of to-day, to a
considerable extent. regarding the events
Of those times. I would ask them TO
pause and consider these facts. When the
storm of the civil war broke upon us the
population Of this nation numbered a lit
tie over thirty millions Of people OF those
millions it is safe to say that Of those who.
when Sumter was fired upon. had reached
years OF understanding even in the first
int q