The National tribune., 1909-07-08

great audience on the refrain.
As all this was going on three Daugh-
ters Of Veterans, Mrs. M. Geneyieve
Spencer, Mrs. Hester B. Tritipoe and
Miss Emma F. Haywood. removed the
Flag from the bronze medallion of Mai
Stephenson, and then each carried a
tremendous laurel wreath to the three
faces of the monument and deposited
them.
President Taft was then presented
formally to accept the monument for
the United States Government He was
greeted with prolonged cheers. He
spoke deliberately, with tremendous
force, and did not use note. His
strong, clear tones penetrated to the
verge Of the crowds.
The Presidents Speech.
1--WE are met to dedicate a memorial
to a Union soldier who served four
years as a Surgeon in the civil war and
who also builded an institution by which
there should be united in the bonds of
fellowship all the sweet association. all
the deep lesson of loyalty and all the
pride of patriotism that such a civil
war as that could arouse in millions of
hearts.
when men at the formative period
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 fondest
memories and associations for each 9TH
er, because they have passed thru a
common mold. But how much greater
must be the sweet association and the
bond of union between men who, for
four years, passed thru the dangers of
the civil war; those who survived think
ing of the tender memories of those
who gave up their lives for their coun-
fry. fhOca SuryiNino CARVING with thprl>
the sweet association, the stories of
courage and tales full of humor and of
pathos.
Il can conceive no bond of union
stronger than that which unites the
men who fought from 1861 to 1865 in
credit of the founder of the Grand
Army of the Republic that he saw the
solid basis upon which such a structure
as that great society could be erected.
You will recollect that there were
prophets of evil with respect to the fate
of the United States after the war
should cease, after the end should be
accomplished, for which the North was
fighting. 1t was said that the aggrega-
ton of million men in arms threat
ened our free institutions.
They recalled that the Pretorian
Guard of Rome was an instrument in
furthering the ambition of those who
"ouiu iSuppftSS Tree INSTITUTIONS ana
who We're to assume despotic power
But all those prophecies. faded into
nothingDess
The men who composed that million
were men in favor of free Institutions
who had fought for them, and did not
intend to sacrifice them in anything
else. There was no man with the ambi-
tion 10 use that army as an instrument
even If 1t had been willing to furnish
Itself as such.
The Marvel of Other Countries.
And so it was the marvel of other
countries that this great body of organ
ized force, than which there never was a
stronger or better disciplined army. faded
out and disappeared into the T. paths Of
peace, preserving nothing but the sweet
memory and association they had formed
during the war and the Consciousness they
had IN their own hearts of having rem
dered that greatest service, to wit, the
preservation of their country.
Stephenson organized this randJArmy
OF the Republic to preserve the essence
of that army in its finest characteristic, in
It's democracy and in its patriotism.
Far be it from me 10 criticise in the
slightest such organizations as the Gin
cinnati and the Loyal Legion. They are
great organizations, and those who belong
to them may well have pride in them.
But the Grand Army of the Republic
knows no limitation but service to the
Government in the civil war. And. there
fore, it is that Congress, recognizing the
usefulness of such an organization in pre-
serving patriotism, in maintaining in its
intensity during those years when CONNER
cial greed seemed to make most people for
get it, properly contributed $4,000 to
this memorial and recognized the Grand
Army of the Republic as an institution
which may well have National gratitude
and National recognition.
More than that, the Grand Army of
the Reptile is most useful in this: 1t
represents the concentrated opinion of the
men who fought in the war to preserve
the Union. 1t therefore may give authori
tative expression which no other body and
no other part of the people can give to
wit: Forgetfulness of the bitterness of
the strife which existed during the four
years of the war.
The Men Who Fought.
81 am glad to say that while that bit
terness 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 exposed their
lives on the other The union Of the two
sections has been nodded strongly and
| more strongly by those meetings which
| ought to be encouraged between the blue
and the gray to occur as often as pos
sible.
"Even within my recollection on occa-
sions like this, and ON Memorial Day and
| Fourths of July, have seen the ranks Of
| the Grand Army thinned. l know there
are many who with jaunty step and keep
| ing their hats on rather lend to deceive
the people as to their age. But the fact
| is, that those ranks are thinning from day
| to day. Perhaps hundred day are go
ing to their long home
| at is fitting that such an association,
which in the course Of the next generation
will pass away, should have such an en-
during monument as this to testify not
only to the patriotic service that they rem
derei during the war, but also to the
service to the country that they have rem
dered by their holding high loyalty and pa
"Mr. Commander-in-Ch Chief of the Gran'i
Army of the Republic. inasmuch as Con-
gress contributed to this monument and
provided for its erection, l am here Oiii-
cially to accept at your hands, on behalf
of the Government of :he United States,
this fitting memorial of Fraternity, Char
ity and Loyalty"
Veterans In Line.
The most interesting feature of the
parade. however, was that division
formed by the veterans of the Grand
Army of the Republic In the line,
which was headed by the Department
of Potomac, some 1000 strong, under
the command Of Col. Edwin III. Hal
brook, was the Department of Mary
land Col, Taylor Commander. The