The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-06-01
WE GO TOO FAR.
In Our Devotion to Material Things,
Says Secretary Tart.

New York, June LIN his Memorial
day speech at Grants tomb Secretary
Taft spoke in part as follows:
MY fellow citizens: The custom of
decorating the graves of those who
have died in war for their country is
beautiful and useful one. 1t brings
us to a contemplation of those crises
in our history in which our country
men. numbered by hundreds of thou
sands from sense of duty, solely,
parted with all that the nation might
live.
Greater love hath no man than this:
Inat ne lay down his life for his
Il do not know any place which
thrills ones bosom with patriotic
ecstasy as does the sepulchre of the I'M
known dead in Arlington cemetery.
The thought of the heroism and sacri-
fice of those who without murmur
credit or glory gave up all to maintain
sacred cause, makes all motive OF
personal advancement or ambition
seem small and sordid. This day which
brings back to us the awful losses that
the war entailed and renews the fond
memories of those known and unknown
heroes whose devotion to duty is an
everything assurance of the patriotism
of this people, should take us out Tor
a time from the atmosphere OF self
seeking, of money-mak1ng or pleasure
hunting and of peaceful sloth that we
NAV value again the many instances 1t
revives Of mental and physical courage,
self-denial, self-restraint and self
sacrifice The day, with its reminis-
cences, assures us that the hearts OF
our people today. eager as they seem
now in the search for wealth and COM
fort, would furnish response to the
nations call as full, as clear and as
willing as the response when the strug-
gle for the nations existence began in
81.
We Dislike Shanns.
1--WE are humor-loving people. We
dislike shams. Our sense Of the ridic-
ulous is very keen. almost too keen.
and in the mercantile spirit which has
been rife, we are prone to make light
of exhortatiOns to patriotism and the
forms and symbols through which
patriotism finds expression. I think We
have gone too far in this direction.
Patriotism is a virtue and the forms
or symbols which suggest it and by
which we recognize it's existence and
our respect for it are proper reminders
| of a serious duty and keep us in touch
| with it as an elevating motive. The
disposition to dispense with all form
which characterized our puritan an
cestors has, / think, been greatly mod1-
| fed, and reasonable persons now recog-
| nize the advantage of ceremony-not
only in religious worship, but also In
| the discharge of many other functions
analogous to religious worship in the
| sacred character. Take the adm1ntstra-
| ton of justice. 1t is we'll that the
judges should be clothed in robes. not
| only that those who witness the admin
istration of justice should be advised
| that the function performed is one diff
| ferent from and higher than that which
a man discharges as citizen in the
ordinary walks Of life; but also in order
that the judge himself with the con-
| slant consciousness that he Is hlgn
| priest in the temple of justice and Is
surrounded with obligations OF a
| sacred character that he can not escape
| and that require his utmost care, at
tention and self-suppression, so Wner
the national anthem is played every
true hearted American should make
known his sense of the presence of tht
vital essence Of nationality in the notes
of the Star Spangled Banner. by rails
ing his hat.
Lest We Forget.
Mere form though those may be
they are evidence Of the existence OF {
love of country, and the more frequent
ly we are conscious of the presence II
us of such a feeling, the more certain
we can be that our acts OF courage ant
self-sacrifice will respond to 1t whe1
occasion arises. Hence the CeleDTdlioi
of a day like this or the Fourth of Jul,
or Washington's birthday. lest we for
get the obligations that are on US a:
citizens of our common country-les
we forget the gratitude we should fee
to our ancestors who founded our ma
ton and to their descendants Wht
saved it in the civil war from dissolu
ton and destruction. 1t always give:
force and emphasis to our interest II
memorials of this character if we have
in our minds the concrete conception
of the persons who made the sacrifice
that We celebrate; if we have relative:
who gave up their lives and whose
graves we can reconsecrate each re-
turning Decoration day. And to thos'
of us who do not have this inspiring
association of kinship for some hero O.
the war, it gives personal touch ant
the necessary concrete element to TAXI
up and review the life of one of the
leaders of the struggle and learn from
the vicissitudes Of his career the max
ings of greatness and the tests O
patriotic devotion.
TT is appropriate therefore, for us t.
gather at this magnificent structure
dedicated to the memory of one who's
name in the history of the foundation
and maintenance of this nations lif
will always be associated with thos