The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-01

of duty done that should satisfy the most exaetins lover of his country.
 Tt now becomes my pleasant duty to dedicate this monument to the memory to the regular soldiers of the republic who gave up their lives at Gettysburg and who contributed in large degree to the three Hateful days in the country's his tory
 Dickinson's Speech.
 Standing on the battlefield where vir- tually was decided the sanguinary con flict between the north and the south. Secretary of War Jacob M. Dickinson southern man by birth, turned over to the Gettysburg national park commission on behalf of the people of the United States the handsome monument erected by Congress to commemorate heroic serv- ices of the union soldiers who surren- dered their lives on this spot that the union might be preserved.
 'The overthrow of the south Gas al- ways occurs after fierce war, when the defeated and helpless and the more conservative of the victors are for a while dominated by the fiercest and most aggressive leaders," said Mr. Dickerson, was immediately followed by sufferings and humilations that for a long time admitted of nothing but lamentation over a result that could bring such woes. Keen and bitter as they were time and mant- festation of more generous sentiment brought a mitigation of sorrow and clearer vision of the tremendous evils to all the states which would certainly and immediately have followed upon the establishment of the southern Confeder acy.
 "Its very cornerstone was pre-ordained to disintegration. Commercial and other conditions would sure as fate have brought about a dissolving confederacy. What would have come from this, we can only conjecture, but it is well with in the bounds of reason to assert that the good would have been dwarfed in comparison with the evil.
 Hate and Rivalry.
 There would have been a hate and rivalry between the north and the south as intense as that between France and Germany, with a border line far more extended. People much less amenable to control and causes for friction far more numerous.
 A cordon of forts would have stretched from the Atlantic to the western border of Texas Army and naval establish ments would have devoured the sub stance of the people and mlitarism would have dominated .@ivi government. The civilization of all states would have developed on different and more critical lines. It may be that in the logic of events the war had to come-that 1t was the fierce cruel and inevitable crucible which was to fulfill destiny-that of making us, as it did, a stronger and harmonious people, united with solid front to meet the great problems that now confront our race.
 We are no wiser nor more patriotic than were the men who were concerned in that great drama. We look backward and our vision is not obscured by the tempestuous atmosphere which surrounds them, and we stand upon different pin nacle in the march of history. They passed through the valley of the shadow of death and we by their trials have at tained to a mount of wider vision than was permitted to them.
 Mirth With Sadness.
 God grant that in the great national drama which. act by act, blend of mirth and sadness; mixture of comedy and tragedy is always In progress de- veloping day by day these things which will shape the destiny of our country, we may enact our part with the grandeur, heroism and patriotism which they illus trated
 At this day there are but few, if any, dispassionate thinkers in the north who question the patriotism of those of the south. who on this stricken field gave an example of American valor that will forever thrill their minds and hearts and of all mankind in all countries and in all ages
 At this day there are in the south but few, if any who would not turn swiftly with sentiments of abhorrence from any suggestion that 1t would have been better for the south if 1t had suc- ceeded in establishing an independent government. And this is true even of the survivors of
 ""rhose who on this very ground Saw a gigantic ghost
 Receding through the battlecloud, And heard across the tempest loud, The death cry of a nation lost
 with one mind and heart the people of this great country said MT. Dickerson. in conclusion, looking to future with no rivalry but in generous patriotism and cherishing no hate, but only the glor- ious memories of this bloody field, can with hearty accord proclaim in the lam guage of a southern poet commemorative of this very struggle.
 Fold up the banners. melt the guns, Love rules, her gentler purpose runs. A mighty mother turns in tears, The pages of her battle years, Lamentng all her fallen ones.'"
 Observance at Washington. Washington, May 31.-Memorial day was generally observed here today. All the government departments and prac- ticaly all of the business houses wers-- closed. The principal exercises were con ducted at Arlington, under the auspices nf Grand Rennhlio.