Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04

GRAND ARMY Is
LAUDED BY TAFT
FOUNDER OF G. A. R. lNSTlTU-
TlON is EUL0GIZED
PRESIDENT MAKES ADDRESS AT
WASHINGTON
Speaks in High Terms of Dr. B. F.
Stephenson, by Whom Veterans
of the Civil War Were
Organized
CBy Associated Press.)

HJ ASHINGTON. July 3-Declaring
wv unlike the "Pretorian guard OF
Rome. the men who made up
the Union forces during the Civil War
were in favor of free institutions. tnat
thew fought for them and did not IN
fond to sacrifice them to anything
else" President TAFT today. as the
principal speaker at the unVellhg OF
a memorial to DR.. BENJAMIN trankIli
Stephenson founder of the Grahu
Army of the Republic, paid a glowing
tribute to that organization.
Congress having contributed to the
cost of the memorial, President Jaft
said he was present in his oillcial
capacity. 81
The president spoke, in part, as fol-
lows
I'VE are met to dedicate a memorial
to a Union soldier who served lour
years as a surgeon in the civil war
and who also builded an institution oy
which there has been united In the
bonds of fellowship all the sweet as
sociation. all the deep lessons Of 10y
atty and all the pride of patriotism that
such a Civil War as that could arouse
in millions of hearts.
when men at the formative peflod
of life-from Is to 22-are associated
in any work, whether it be in college,
in society. in church, or otherwise, they
carry with them afterward the fond
est memories and associations Tor eac1
other because they have passed
through a common mould.
Bond of Union Is Strong
~ can conceive of no bond of union
stronger than that which unites the
men who fought from 81 to 90 In the
Grand Army. and it was to the credit
lI.,-.. Of f4n
the Republic that he saw the soma
basis on which such structure as that
society could be erected.
You will recollect there were
nrophets of evil with respect to the
fate of the United states after the war
should cease and 1t was said the ag-
ereration of a million men in arms
fhreatened our free institutions But
all those prophecies faded INTO noun
ingness. The men who composed that
million were men in favor Of free lnsu-
+utions who had fought for them and
did not intend to sacrifice them 10 any
thing else. 1t was the marvel OF other
countries that this great body OF or
eanjzed force, than which there was
newer q stronger or better disciplined
army. faded out and disappeared INTO
the paths of peace, preserving nothlhs
hut fhe sweet memory and the assoc1a-
tion they had formed during the war
and the consciousness they had IN tnelr
own hearts of having rendered the
greatest service, the preservation or
their country.
Lauds Organizer 5t
"Stephenson organized this Grand
Army of the Republic to preserve the
essence of that army il its flne char-
service to the government IN tne
patriotism. The Grand Army Of the
Republic knows no Limitation but
sibleservice to the government IN the
Civil War: and therefore II is thaI
congress, recognizing the usefulness or
such an organization in preserving pa
triotism, properly contributed $lO,0OO
to this memorial and recognized the
Grand Army of the Republic as an
institution that may well have ma
tional gratitude and nationals recog-
milton.
more than that, the Grand Army of
the Republic is most useful IN thls-
It represents the concentrated opinion
of the men who fought in the war 10
preserve the Union. and it Therefore
NAV give authoritative expression
which no other body and no other part
of the people can give, to wit: For
getfulness of the strife that existed
during the four years of the war /
am glad to say that while that bitter
ness may in a few instances obtain,
YOU will never find it to exist between
the men who actually exposed their
lives on one side and the men who eX-
posed their lives on the other.
THE union of the two sections has
been nodded strongly and more strong
" by those meetings between the blue
and the gray, which ought to be en-
Coura gcd to occur as often as pos
EillpP