Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1908-11-25
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/ the 'front.' 10 FISK everything, tnclud-
Ing life itself, and to spend the days
Of their strongest young manhood In
Valorons conflict for an ideal. often
we Americans are tainted with hay
ing only q material ideal. The empty
folly Of the taunt Is sufficiently
shown BY the presence here today Of
you men OF the Grand Army, you the
comrades OF the dead general, the
men who served with and under him.
In all history we have no greater in
stance Of subordination OF self, OF
the exalting Of the lofty ideal over
merely material well-being among
the people OF a great nation, than
was shown by our people in the civ
Il war.
And you, the men who wore the
blue, would be the first to say that
this same lofty indifference to the
things Of the body, when compared
70 the things OF the soul, was shown
BY your brothers who wore the gray.
Dreadful was the suffering, dreadful
the loss. of the civil war. Yet il
stands alone among wars in this,
that, now that the wounds are heal
ed, the memory OF the mighty deeds
Of valor performed on one side no
less than on the other has become
the common heritage OF all our peo-
pie In every quarter OF this country.
The completeness with which this Is
true Is shown by what Is occurring
here to-day. We meet together to
raise a monument to a great Union
general, In the presence of many OF
the survivors of the Union Army;
and the Secretary of War, the man
at the head Of the army, who, by vir-
tue OF his Office, occupies special
relation to the celebration, Is him
self man who fought in the Con-
federate service. Few indeed have
been the countries where such a con-
junction would have been possible,
and blessed indeed are we that in
our own beloved land 1t Is not only
possible, but seems SO entirely natur-
al as TO excite no comment whatever.
There Is another point in General
Sheridan's career which 1t Is good
for all Of us to remember. Whereas
Grant, Sherman, and Thomas were
Of the old native American stock, the
parents OF Sheridan. like the parents
Of Farragut, were born on the other
side Of the water. Any one OF the
Ave was just as much a type Of the
real American, OF what Is best In
America, as the other four. We
should keep steadily before our
minds the fact that Americanism is
a question of principle, of purpose,
OF idealism, OF character; that II is
not matter of birthplace, or creed,
or line of descent. Here in this
country the representatives OF many
old-world races are being fused to-
gether into new type. type the.
main features OF which are already
determined, and we're determined at
the Revolutionary war; for the cru
chile in which all the new types are
melted into one was shaped from
1776 to 1888, and our nationality
was definitely fixed in all ITS essen
tials by the men OF washington's
day. The strains will not continue
to exist separately IN this country
az In the old world. They will be
combined In one; and Of this type
those men will best represent what Is
loftteat In the nations past, what is
finest In her hope for the future, who
stand each solely on his worth as
man; who scOrn to do evil to others.
and who refuse to submit to wrong
doing themselves; who have in them
no faint OF weakness; who never
fear to Hght when fighting Is de-
manded by sound and high morali-
", but who hope by their lives to
bring ever nearer the day when JUS
tice and peace shall prevail within
our own borders and in our rela-
lions with all foreign powers.
Much OF the usefulness OF any ca
reer must lie in the impress that II
makes upon, and the lessons that Il
teaches to, the generations that come
after. We OF this generation have
our own problems to solve. and the
condition OF our solving them is that
we shall all work together as Ameri-
can citizens without regard to diff
ferenees OF section or erveu or birth
place. copying, not-,he divisions which
80 lamentahly sundered our fathers
one from another, but the spirit of
burning devotion to duty which
drove them forward. each to do the
right as II was given him to see the
pfuhf IN fha Nraak vaars, v,yha,, fy.n4