The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-05-30
at Unwilling of LavtOn
Monument: Makes Notable Address

Aere this afternoDn.at the unwilling OF
Roosevelt said:
For more tnant one reason / am pc
,cuI iarly giade that this year | SPEAK
ION Memorial tday in the state OF lndI-
lana. There is no, other class of our
lcitizens to whom we owe so much as
to the veterans. ofsthe, great war. To
them it was. given3to perform the one
feat with which ,no other feat can be
compared, for to,them it was given TO
lpreserve the Union. Moreover, you men
who wore the blue, blessed beyond the
Ivictors in any other war OF recent
times, have left to your countrymen
more than the material results of the
triumph, moreover thantth achieving
the triumphs itself. You have left a
country SO genuinely reunited that all
of us now. in whatever part of this
Union we live, have a right to feel the
ikeenest pride, not only in the valor
men who woresthe blue, but also in the
valor and seH-devotion of your gal
liant opponents who wore the gray.
The hero whose monument we today
unveil. by his life bore singular testi-
mony to the completeness of the reun-
ion General 'Lawton in his youth
fought gaIlantlySin the Civil war. Thir-
ty-three years afterward he again
marched to war, this time against a
foreign foe. and served with distin-
guished ability and success as a gen
eral officer, both in Cuba and in the
Philippines. When he thus served 1t
was in an army whose generals in
cluded not only many Of his old COM
rades in arms. but some of his old op-
ponents, as General Wheeler and Gen.
Fitzhugh Lee. Under him. both among
the commissioned officers and in the
ranks, were many men whose fathers
had worn the blue serving side by side
with others whose fathers had worn
the gray; but all Americans now. and
nothing but Americans, all united in
their fealty and devotion to their conf
mon flag and their common country.
and each knowing only the generous
rivalry with his fellows as to who
could best serve the cause for which
each was ready to lay down life itself.
To General Lawton it befell actually to
lay down his life; a tragedy, but one
Of those noble tragedies where our
pride rises above our sorrow. For he
died in the fullness of time. serving
his country with entire devotion-a
death that every man may well envy.
Greatest War Governor.
indiana in the Civil war furnished
even more than her share of brave sol
diers. 1t also fell to Indiana to fur
nish the greatest of all war governors
who upheld the hands of Abraham Lin
coin; for when history definitely
awards the credit for what was done
In the Civil war, she will put the
services of no other civilian, save
alone those of Lincoln, ahead of the
services OF Governor Morton. No 9TH
ar man who rendered such services as
he rendered worked under such ter
rible disadvantages. and no man with
put his iron power could have achieved
what he achieved during the last two
yearS of the war, when he managed
the state government of Indiana sole !
" ON money obtained by pledging his
own personal honor and personal for
tune; and yet never for one moment
relaxed in the help he gave to Lincoln
and Chase and Seward and Stanton in
The cabinet, to Grant and Sherman and
Sheridan and Thomas in the field 1t |
was work that only the strongest man
could have done, and it was work vi |
tally necessary for the sake of the
nation to do.
The men of the generation which |
fought the Civil war had their great |
tasks to perform. They met them as
strong men should have met them
They did them, and we, their children
profit by their mighty deeds. But |
no generation can ever plead the great |
leeds of its predecessors as an excuse
'or failing to perform it's own duties.
Dur duties are those of peace and not
If war. Nevertheless they are of the
Utmost Importance; of Importance to
ourselves and of still greater import
snce to the children who in a few years
will take our places as the men and
women of this Republic. If we wish
, show ourselves worthy heirs OF
he men of the Civil war. we must do
ur tasks with the thoroughness with
Shich they did theirs.
Great Problems Exist.
Great social and industrial prob
ems confront us. and their solution de-
hands on our part unfaltering courage.
md yet a wise. good-natured self-re-
traint; so that on the one hand we
hall neither be daunted by difficulties
Tor fooled by those who seek to per-
uade us that the difficulties are in
uperable; while on the other hand we
ire not misled into showing either
ashness or vindictiyeness Let us
ry as people to show the same quail
ties as we deal with the industrial
md social problems of today that Abra-
lam Lincoln showed when with in
omitable resolution but with a kind
mess, patience. and common sense !
uite as remarkable. he faced four
weary years of open war in front. of
detraction and intrigue from
ehind. and at the end gave to his
ountrymen whom he had served so
Fell the blood bought gift of race
reed and nation forever united