The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-02-06


NV ancestor stood with Thomas at
Nashville, with Sherman at Atlanta,
with Meade at Gettysburg and with
Grant in the wilderness or with King,
Green or Hale in the Philippines.
Our mission is to see that no man
who helped to write, upon the pages
of history, Anteitam, Gettysburg and
from Atlanta to the sea or Santa Ana
is a tramp or pauper; to see that no
boy or girl whose father gave the best
DAYS of his life to his country, is UNI
cared for.
1--WE believe in liberty and we believe
in progress. and we believe also in the
right of property and in the supremacy
of the law The soldiers of the G. A.
r. and the United Spanish War Vet
There has been too much red flag per-
mitted in this country, people who do
not like the country and its institu-
tions and it's laws should get out of
1t ana go DdCk u Tic pldCe IL Olll w 4ii-ii
they came, be it Japan or Italy.
This is a great, strong, free and
mighty nation, but nowhere is there
room for, nor should there be tolerated
any flag other than the Stars and
Stripes.
Recently 1 have been glad to wit
ness a more vigorous Americanisnn
than I remember to have seen before
and by Americanism I do not mean
that Wanting pride in our institutions
that was formerly INDUCED in by some
Iauthors and orators, until they made
us ridiculous to foreign nations, but
l mean that love of our country, that
pride in it's institutions more often re-
flected upon. than spoken; those swell
ing thoughts which inspire and ex-
pand the thinker until his heart fills
with his country to it's uttermost limits.
1T is the desire in the mind of every
loyal American (and when l say
American) 1 mean both those, who were
born on the soil and those who in good
faith have accepted our laws and have
become naturalized), it is the desire in
the mind of every American, that the
starry constellation shall burn in tne
armament where it was not seen in
years, it is the desire and aspiration
that the stripes shall float and wave
like the northern lights in skies I'M
visited before. / for one am glad to see
them float over the islands of the sea.
Il have witnessed another thing upon
which we can all congratulate our or
ders, as to the reviving spirit Of
Americanism; the flag that floats over
the little red school house as we'll as
over the larger ones.
Let us as patriots, regardless of
PARTY affiliations, stand firmly together
for the defense and perpetuity of our
free American institutions and let UNI
!iquivocal loyalty and equitable qualifi-
cation be indispensable to public Office
I'm the event of war with Japan or
any other nation let us remember the
\
80, sons of America. list to the cry,
The loud fearful warning that rings to
the sky
hall foul. blackened falsehood be born ?
And Americans be branded with unie-
served insults and scorn?
Strike! Strike, for country, the freedom
We crave
Religion, and home, and the Puritan
grave:
10, fight as they fought, on land and on
sea,
And die as they did, but leaving It
free
Comrades, the trumpet of God is
sounding, it is not the bugle call of
battle. The roar of cannon and the
rattle Of musketry have ceased, the
sabre and bayonet flash only on par
ade, the bivouac, the camp and the
march are only a dream. The shat
tered and glorious banners which you
/ followed are carefully laid away in
! legislative halls. The grass grows
green over the soldiers grave and the
bitter means of sorrow mellow into
the song of sadness.
| Comrades, year by year our ranks
are being depleted. Last month nearly
five thousand of the G. A. r. and
Spanish American War Veterans
answered the last roll call on earth;
soon the G. A. R. will marshal on the
other side, but while We live, let us not
forget the mighty inspiration of heroic
days of the past, and let us strive by
the victories of peace to keep in purity
in honor and in integrity and to rise to
higher. glory that government of the
people for which we fought. Then ii
may be that grateful hearts will strew
flowers of affection on our graves, and
| our children evoke inspiration from our
example as we do from our immortal
dead"
Mr.. Fisher closed his address with
an appeal for better organization of
veterans of all wars into one great So
ciety to be known as Union Veterans
Union.
Past Commander Speaks.
! The Spanish American War veter-