Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-01
AUGUSTUS TRIBUTE.
Continued From Page Thirteen)

| Ilenl over anu OUe-lliil
| dollars and this does not include the
cost Of establishing and maintaining
the national homes. Three ard one
third billions Of dollars for pensions
alone! 1t is hard to grasp the signin-
canoe of such sum. The total assessed
valuation OF our own State of Maine
| is about $50 million dollars. This means
| that the government has paid out in
pensions more than ten times the total
valuation of our own great State.
This enormous sum has been distrib-
uted among the destitute widows and
helpless orphans, and has gone TO make
more easy for the surviving veterans
themselves the pathway of their de-
clning years. We all know of cases
where deserving persons have failed to
get their due proportion. But they are
the exception and not the rule. On the
whole and in the great aggregate the
system has worried fairly and Well,
doing more good than mortal tongue
can measure, and standing before an
adlniring wcrld as an everlasting mon
uplent to the gratitude and generosity
of our republic. More than this and
better still, our pension system has
been so conducted that no old soldier
graded or Inundated by receiving a
share Of this bounty. On the contrary,
it has been regarded as mark of dis
tinction and something to be proud OF;
as the payment of something due them
and the discharge of just debt.
1t is not only in this practical FORM
the payment Of pensions,--that our
country has shown its gratitude
through these forty years and is show
ing it today. There is deeper graft
tude which words cannot express and
the payment of money cannot repre-
sent The flowers with which VIC streW
the graves today and the little flags we
plant at their heads, are cmblens OF
that deeper gratitude with which the
great heart of the nation throbs. This
day, singled out Of the Springtime and
dedicated to you and your comrades
VINO are mustered out, is an expression
of that deeper gratitude. And i'll this
| land where we sometimes boast That
class distinctions are not known, II is
not to be denied that the public loves
to honor the veterans as in class
above other citiZens-a class deserving
of special attcntion and consideration.
1t is forever to your credit that you
have not demanded this consideration
or sought this attention. 1t has come
to you naturally and as your just due,
and is another evidence of that deeper
gratitude of which we have spoken.
In this land of the free where ranks
and orders are unknown, there is no
prouder and more honOred badge worn
by man than that of the Grand Army
of the Republic. 1t is an eloquent TACT
that of the six men chosen by the
people to the presidency since the
close Of the Civil War four were
soldiers of the Union Army. Every
city has its Soldiers monument and
every college has its Memorial Hall.
Yes, indeed, the nation is grateful for
what you and your comrades did. That
gratitude finds expression in many
forms, and it shall be as enduring as
our national life itself.
Again,-it may be asked today, how
has our country prOfited from the war?
Are we really better off because it was
fought? The question answers itself.
The reader of history knows that the
war had to be fought. The republic
could not exist half Save and half free,
nor could it continue indefinitely with
the question of the rights of the in
dvidual states undetermined. The
civilizations of the Puritan and the
Cavalier had to clash sooner or later
before they could blend into
harmonious whole. But once the
slaves We're free, once secession had
been proved impossible, and once the
North and South had washed out their
differences in blood, a new and greater
49, - nf hot
and under the blessed sunshine of
peace it has grown i'll population and
power and wealth as no nation ever
grew before. The blood and the tears
of the war were not shed in vain
They were the seed, and the harvest
you behold today in our united
country. its flag without stain and its
people happier more prosperous ana
in the, enjoyment of more blessings
than those Of any other land.
There have arisen many great
national problems since those which
caused the war, some Of them growing
out of the war and some of later
origin but they have been met and are
being met in an honest and fearless
spirit. There may be bad leaders and
individuals may do wrong, but it is
SAFE to trust the great conscience OF
the American people. The lessons of
the past have been learned. Recon-
struction and expansion had their
dangers; the consciousness Of great
and national growth has its dangers;
individual and corporate greed has it's
danger. But the Hand which guided
the Ship of State through the bloody
seas of the sixties is still at the helm;
the craft bears as its freight the high
est hopes of humanity, and it cannot be
a part Of the purpose and program Of
the Almighty to wreck such Il craft or
turn it from its course. Yes. we may
truly answer, our country is greater
and better and faircr because the Civil
War was fought. 1t has prOfited from
the war in thousand ways and it's
influence and good effects can never
cease this side of eternity.
A third question which inevitably
suggests itself today is regarding the
relations between the North and
South. Is the Union really united,