The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-04
TRIBUTE OF TAFT
TO c. A. R. HEROES
President Principal Speaker at
dwelling of Memorial to
Founder of Organization.
LESSONS OF HISTORY
STRIKINGLY REVIEWED
DR.. Benjamin Franklin Steph-
ensOn HOnOred by Special
Ceremonies.

WASHINGTON, July 3,-Declarin;
that unlike the Prctorian guard o
Rome, the men who made up the onloi
forces during the OlVll war were IN Ia
vor of free, lnstltutions. thaI 1he, =
fought for them and did not intend tt
sacrifice them to anything else; Presi
dent Taft today, as the principal speak
er at the unveiling of memorial tt
DR.. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson
founder Of the G.. A. r., paid glowing
tribute to that organization. Congress
having contributed to the cost of the
memorial. President Taft said be was
present in his official capacity.
The president spoke rs follows;
President Address.
eve arc met TO dedicate memorial
to Union soldier, who served -four
wears as n 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 as
sociations, all the deep lessons Of loyalty
and all the pride Of patriotism that such
civil war as that could arouse In mil
lions of hearts.
''When men at the formative period
of life-from is to 22-arc associated
in any work, whether 1T be in college,
in society. in church or otherwise, they
carry with them afterward the fondest
memories and associations for each
other. because they havo passed through
n common mould. [ can conceive no
bond of union stronger than that which
united the men who fought from '6l TO
'65 IN the Grand Army, and ii was to
the credit Of the founder of the Grand
Army of the Republic that he saw the
solid basis upon which such structure
as that great society could be erected,
Prophets of Evil,
"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. and it was said that the ag-
gregation of q million mon in arms
threatened our free institutions. They
recalled that the Pretorian guard of
Rome was an instrument in furtheTing
the ambition of those who would sup
press free institutions and who were to
assume despotic power. But all those
prophecies faded in nothingness. The
men who composed that million were
men in favor Of free institutions, who
had fought for them, and did not in
tend TO sacrifice them TO anything else,
There was no man with the ambition to
improve that army as an instrument of
despotIsm, oven il II had been willing
TO furnish itself as such, and so ii was
the marvel of other countries that this
which there never was stronger or
better disciplined army, faded out and
disappeared into the paths of peace
preserving nothing but the sweet mem
ory and association they had formed
during the war and the consciousness
they had in their own hearts of having
rendered the greatest service, to wit,
the preservation of their country.
Purpose OF Organization.
Stephenson organized this Grand
Army Of the Republic to preserve the
acteristics, in its democracy and III It's
patriotism.
Far be it from me to criticize in
the slightest such organizations as the
Cincinnati 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 SER
vice to the government in the civil
war; and therefore IT is that congress-
recognizing the usefulness of such an
organization in preserving patriotism,
properly contributed $4,000 TO this me
mortal, 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 Republic is
most useful in this: It represents the
concentrated opinion of the man who
fought in the war to preserve the union,
and it therefore may give authoritative
expression which no other body and no
other part of the people can give, to
wit;
No More Bitterness.
Forgetfulness of the strife which
existed during the four years of the
war, and ! am glad to say that while
that bitterness 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 err
couraged between the blue and the gray
to occur as often as possible
F'It is fitting that such an associa-
ton, which in the course of the next
generation viii pass away, should have
such an enduring monument as this to
testify not only TO the patriotic ser
vices they rendered during the war, but